Mary Mother of God

As we end 2022 we pray for the late Pope Emeritus, Pope Benedict who passed away this morning May he rest in peace and rise in glory.  This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Mary Mother of God. It’s an opportunity to honour Mary, the Mother of God, and our mother too, who said “yes” in the name of all of us. Her “yes” enabled God to take flesh in the Person of Jesus, who came as a humble baby who would grow and walk in our midst, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Our faith cannot neglect a profound devotion to the Mother of God, as she shows us the easiest way to reach Jesus.  Mary is Christ’s mother, and since we are, through grace co-heirs with him, she is spiritually our mother as well. Supported by her prayers and encouraged by her example we can be helped towards responding positively to God. Mary was chosen to accomplish this astounding act of generous love. Throughout her life she had many secrets and treasures to store and ponder in her heart. With open eyes she watched the plan of God the Father unfolding; with a loving acceptance of God’s will,regardless of her personal happiness or safety she simply said yes to all that was asked of her.

This special relationship Mary has with God makes her the ideal person to pray to god for us as our spiritual mother.  But as we celebrate Mary as mother of God let’s not forget the shepherds who play an important part in the  Nativity story. Their story began with the angel’s visit to them in the fields. A new age was beginning with Christ’s birth, but the shepherds were afraid by the angel’s appearance. They were outcasts in their society. Their wandering life made them suspect: “Here today gone tomorrow” – and what did they take with them when they left town? They were treated like the dregs of society. When the angel showed up they must have thought that God’s wrath was about to come upon them. But, the first words they heard from the angel were, “You have nothing to fear” (2:10). Like the shepherds in the story, we too have had Christmas experiences, ones that have led us to believe in our hearts and live in our lives ‘what the shepherds had to say’. In the very ordinariness and humanness of that stable of Bethlehem, then, we have gained glimpses of God.

Once more. we who ‘walked in darkness have seen a great light’, the light shining on and from the Baby of Bethlehem, the source and inspiration of our hope, joy, love, and life.  During Christmas we are reminded  of the mystery of Mary as Mother of God, mother of the Incarnate Word, and mother of His mystical body, the Church.  In the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes the inscription on the mosaic over the Altar is to Jesus through Mary and the mosaic shows Mary with open arms, again at the wedding at Cana Mary told the attendants as she tells us do whatever he tells you. Mary did not take any of her sons glory for herself she points away from herself to Jesus and tells us to do what he asks us to do. These are two pointers for us in our modern day as to what we should do in order to follow the light of Christ. Mary is often given the title ‘Queen of Peace’ and today is also World Day of Peace. We know that sadly there are wars , threats of wars and many people and countries suffering because of violence and random acts of terrorism. Sadly some of these acts of violence take place in our own communities and in our own streets.  This weekend we pray to Mary, Mother of God, and Queen of Peace, to help us play our part in breaking down barriers of hate and fear and become bearers of hope so that we will be able to bring the Light of Christ out to the world at Christmas and throughout the new year 2023.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2022

At Christmas the Christian Churches throughout the world celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ  The Scripture readings of Christmas tell us “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” And the Angel tells us ‘Behold, I bring you news of great joy for all the people. To-day a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’ Every Christmas this marvellous message is announced to us too. Throughout the Advent season we have waited for the coming of our Savior. Now we celebrate His birth with unrestrained joy. But as joyful as we might like to be we remember that for a large number of people Christmas is not a happy time. We also  remember that in many places  things are not as good as they could be. During the Christmas season there is an extensive exchange of greetings and good wishes among friends. These greetings are a reminder of those “good tidings of great joy that shall be for all the people, for this day is born to you a Savior Who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11).

They are a reminder, too, that all blessings and graces come to us from God. During the Christmas season there is also an exchange of gifts. But with the exchange of gifts comes the responsibility to remember those who have little or nothing at all in terms of a roof over their heads and food in the cupboard especially this year with the current financial hardship that many people are having to deal with. At Christmas we celebrate the consoling truth that God came among us in Jesus. At Christmas we celebrate the great truth that God is not wrapped in silence, but wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. In the infant Jesus we see the one who will show us how close God is, who will teach us how to call God “Abba”, and the one who will die on the cross to prove the measure of God’s love for us. Christmas is a great celebration of our faith in Jesus the Son of God our saviour. We gather to celebrate light in the midst of darkness; we celebrate the new hope that Jesus has generated in people down the centuries. He is our light; he is our hope.

When we want to know God, it is to Jesus that we turn; when we want to worship God, it is through Jesus that we sing  our praises.  We give glory to God in the highest for revealing himself to us. All of us  and many millions of people since the birth of Christ, have a new way not just of understanding life but of living it. It is a truth of history that for more that twenty centuries untold numbers of people have, have been caught up in the message, of Jesus the child from Bethlehem and have had their lives profoundly changed by him.  We are numbered among them here and now whoever we are wherever we are. At Christmas all of us  are invited to take the Christ child and welcome him into our hearts. In Jesus we have the sure and certain proof that God loves us, and we all need to live in the assurance of that love. Let us rejoice over this Christmas season in the one who reveals the face of God to us, Jesus  who is Emmanuel  the Son of God who is God with  us.

4th Sunday of Advent

This weekend we come to the last Sunday of the Advent season. In our churches we light the last purple candle leaving the white candle for the Midnight  Mass of Christmas Day. It’s only in this last few days  before Christmas that we begin to hear about the “Christmas story” itself. For the past weeks we have been preparing ourselves to greet the Lord, when he comes. Now we prepare to remember how he first came, by listening to the prophecies of his coming, and by listening to the stories of scripture about the events before Jesus birth. In the first reading for this Sunday Ahaz sounds like the great model of faith. We are taught not to tempt God by asking for signs to prove our faith. If we got those signs we wouldn’t have faith! God, speaking through Isaiah, invites Ahaz to ask for a sign–any sign from God: “Let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!” Ahaz refuses saying, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord.” Good for Ahaz, he is showing great faith in God.

He doesn’t want any proofs from God; he doesn’t want to test God–or so it seems. He will not ask for the sign; he will not put his and the nation’s security in God’s hands. But God decides to give a sign anyway: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel.”  The promise found in Scripture will be fulfilled.  By referring his readers to the scriptures, Isaiah reminds us that believers do well to put confidence in the word of God in order to sustain hope and strengthen faith in discouraging times such as we are in these days. God enters into our world: it’s a world where plans don’t always work out and where people have to adjust to the reality presented to them at the time. We  meet Mary in the Gospel for who had been prepared for the coming of the Messiah. She has received the angel’s greeting, and his strange news, and accepted her role in God’s plan Matthew is well planted in his Jewish tradition. He shows that from the very beginning of his gospel. Joseph was betrothed to Mary; Mary’s pregnancy turns Josephs world and his plans upside down.

Instead of exposing her, he “decided to divorce her quietly.” He was a “righteous man” and he will protect Mary from being publicly dishonoured. He is not vengeful and, though wronged, displays mercy. After his dream when the angel told  him do not be afraid Joseph took his wife into his home. The world God chose to enter was one of poverty, hard labour and political and military oppression. God took a big chance being born among us especially in those circumstances. Surely there must have been neater options for God, to make the saviour’s path and work a bit smoother. But who has a “smooth path” through life none of us that’s for sure? It’s good to know that Emmanuel, “God with us,” chose to be with us his people who live in  the real and messy world. God is with us in the mess of our daily lives!  We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it with the joyful  Christmas call, ‘God is with us! Our Advent journey has asked us to: stay awake to the coming of God, as well as preparing ourselves to receive the Lord, and to receive him with faith and love when he comes.As we look forward to the Christmas Celebration there is much to be thankful for even in our messy world with all its problems. The real message of Christmas is about God’s loving kindness, his compassion, his mercy, and his abiding, living presence with us who is Jesus the son of God Emmanuel who is God with us.

Third Sunday of Advent

This this weekend we celebrate Gaudete Sunday. The term Gaudete refers to the first word of the Entrance Antiphon, “Rejoice”. Rose vestments are worn to emphasize our joy that Christmas is near, we also light the rose candle on the Advent wreath. In many places the Parishes celebrate Bambinelli Sunday when the Children are asked to bring the baby Jesus Crib Figure to get a special blessing and then they place the baby Jesus in a wee bag and place it under the Christmas tree until Christmas morning when the put the baby in the Crib. In these weeks before Christmas our reflection and prayer focus our minds on the various ways that the Lord is near to us: he is the One who is continually coming into our world with his good news of peace and joy.  The readings for this Sunday, express this theme of rejoicing at the imminent coming of the Lord.

When John the Baptist was in prison, he heard about the things Jesus was doing; so he sent his disciples to inquire: “Are you ‘the one who is to come,’ or do we look for another?” Jesus said to tell John “what you hear and see: ‘Look around you’, they are told. ‘The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor and happy are those who believe.’ We rejoice that through the coming of his Son Jesus we have been saved. We do our best to follow his Gospel as we wait.  We wait with hope in our hearts for the culmination of all things in Christ and the prayer that is on our lips is ‘thy kingdom come!’ We expect much from the Lord who gives us much. His gifts challenge us to pass them along to others. As Jesus has freed us from need, so we, too, must free others from need. Sometimes, however, all we can do is stand in awe as we see god working through the people around us. We remember all those organizations such as the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent DePaul who do so much good at this time of year for so many people.  

Many in our world live without this expectation, without hope. Some believe but live with dread and fear.  But at each mass, we are verbally reminded of the blessed hope of the coming of our savior.  The Church continually presents the hope of his coming and his work of redemption as we go through the liturgical year.  Advent is the season of expectation. It is a time when all of us young and old make lists of what we have to do or what we would like to find under the Christmas Tree. But Advent means more than that. We anticipate and hope for renewal and deepening of our faith during this time when we are looking forward to the coming of Jesus at Christmas to give us sight where we are blind-to open our ears to what we have not heard to cleanse us of the past that weighs us down in order to make us bearers of his good news to those who need us. The customs of the advent season are announcements of one single message: Christ is born for us, so let us rejoice and be glad. As Christmas approaches we pray that we will be strong in faith  and hope as we await the coming of the lord for he is near.

Second Sunday Of Advent

Christmas is coming! If you are not already busy preparing, I am sure you will have people telling you it is time you started getting ready and that is what John the Baptist is telling us this weekend as he tells us to prepare the way for the Lord. As the people of faith we need to start thinking about welcoming Jesus and the preparations that we are have  to make as his followers. We must prepare the way for the Lord to enter our lives, to enter the lives of those around us, and to enter into our world with his word of peace and forgiveness. This weekend  we recall the ministry of St John the Baptist. Jesus said about John: among those born of women no one has been greater than John the Baptist (Mt 11:11) his mission was to prepare a people who would receive the Lord when he came.

We see John as the culmination of the work of the prophets, and now on the brink of the coming of the Christ he announces: ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. John’s task was to announce the coming of Jesus and to point to him when he came. He was called to reawaken a sense of expectation among a people that had grown tired and distant from God as many have done in our present generation.   John attracted thousands to come to see him and be baptized by him. Tradition sees the desert as the place where God speaks to the heart of his people. It is from this solitary place of spiritual combat, the desert bordering the Jordan, that John appears “with the spirit and the power of Elijah” (Luke 7:17). By his word and his baptism with water, john called the children of the covenant back to the Lord their God as he calls us today to come back to the Lord our God.

The figure of John serves as a warning, to all believers, that we need to draw our strength from God alone, rather than going with the Fads and fashions of the time.  The Church is here in the present as it has been in past times to proclaim and live the message of Jesus in every generation in order to prepare the way of the Lord whether people like it or not.  The Church in every age must become like John the Baptist, who was an uncomfortable reminder of how we must allow the truth of Jesus to break into our lives to lighten the darkness that is there. As our Advent journey continues, John the Baptist’s call to conversion sounds out in our communities. It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Son of God who comes among us to make the kingdom of God manifest. As we continue our personal Advent Journeys  let us hear the call of John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Lord and put it into action in our lives in our preparations for Christmas.