The Holy Family Year B, 2023

             

(Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Luke 2:22-40)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today I am going to speak to you about Catholic teaching on a most contentious and disputed aspect of human life and society … I will not be speaking to  you as ‘a Government trained and sponsored official’ ... not as one who has got any University degree in social sciences … not even as a specially sympathetic person speaking from my own experience of life … although the latter qualifications could possibly be the best of the three just mentioned!!  No, I will be speaking to you about Catholic (not ‘Synodal’) teaching, the teaching of God first of all, through Moses, the Law of Moses, the teaching of the great Prophets – that is the Jewish teaching in which Mary of Nazareth was brought up – the teaching that Jesus Christ – the Son of God made Flesh –  came among us to live to perfection for love of His heavenly Father, and bring to its ultimate fulfilment for the eternal salvation of all who, through faith in His Gospel tidings, could become – in Him and by the Gift of His Spirit – children of God. 

Today’s feast and the readings chosen for it by Mother Church invite us to think on the characteristics of family life from the Christian point of view: the family life of a man and woman who have dedicated their union to Christ: for His glory, and also for their own fulfilment and salvation together with that of any children the Lord may give them.  It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; a domestic church.

Notice, first of all, the absolute importance of family for us Christians: the very Son of God would not enter into this world other than by being born into a family.  Deliberately adopted one-parent homes are not of God’s choosing and they are not endowed, nor are they generally able, to provide the human background, understanding and sympathy that God wants for each and every child.

Joseph and Mary were never to have sex our faith teaches, but Joseph was essential for the birth of Jesus: the family for God’s only-begotten-Son-made-flesh had to be made up of a man and a woman.  ‘Families’ of the same sex are not Christian families, they can neither pretend to be, or ever hope to become, such. Notice here that God the Father, when requiring that His Son be born as Man into a family made up of one man and one woman, was not just following an arbitrary rule or (Mosaic) law of His own making, He was doing it out of His over-flowing love of the future Child – His most beloved and only-begotten Son – Who was to become incarnate in human flesh.   Moreover, this unique Child-birth was not to be just a traditional blessing for the Jewish people; for God wanted His Son to be born into the family of Mary and Joseph for the greater good and the guidance, indeed for the salvation, of the whole world.

This fact of the supreme importance of some sort of family for the good of children and of society is not disputed among the great religions of the world.  Governments however, yield easily to popular pressures and they seek to promote not only what is good for the people but also, and at times, primarily, what is likely to be for their own good at the next election, as we see today.   At such times, popularity is of supreme importance … and   popularity means -- too often -- the lowest common denominator. 

Consequently we, as Catholic Christians, base our appreciation of the nature and role of the family not on any politically correct view but on the ages-long experience of human society, the inspired guidance of the Scriptures, and also the infallible teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and of the Church He has bequeathed us, through His chosen Apostles under the guidance and sustaining power of His Most Holy Spirit.

As in every body made up of several parts, the over-riding requirement is that of unity, for without unity such a body cannot function aright, and it will fragment.  That is why, St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians, when telling them how to give glory to God and how, in modern terms, to give good press to the Faith, spoke of that one basic and supremely important need for unity in Christian family life.  There was, of course, much else that he could have said about such family life, but at this point in his letter there was no opportunity for anything more than what was absolutely necessary, and so he wrote:

Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord.   Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.   Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.

I think that everyone will agree that -- for men in general -- their weakness, their ‘Achilles’ heel’ in their relations with women and in family life, is a tendency towards violence, together with an excessive love of, and absorption in, work at the expense of personal relationships of understanding and love.  However, when considering more particularly the question of violence between spouses, and having just acknowledged a man’s tendency towards violence, we must recognize the fact that a woman’s violence WITH HER TONGUE can often be most BITTER, and that such bitterness can provoke men to resort to slap-violence.  It is essential to recognize that violence of whatever sort is wrong before God, and feminine violence with her tongue can be equally as wrong as man’s ‘slap-hand’ violence.  Legally however, woman’s violence with her tongue – her more natural weapon -- is rarely considered as criminal, though the harm done by it can be enduringly hurtful and harmful, whereas a man’s slap with his hand – his more natural weapon under provocation – is much more easily condemned as criminal.

Wouldn’t it be strange then, if Saint Paul, writing in order to preserve and build up unity in the family, gave guidance to married men that is so pertinent and precise -- love your wives and do not be harsh with them -- and then was to be very far out in his prescription for women?  His words to them are, in fact, just as clear and incisive as those words of advice he gave for men, and he, in the name of Jesus, told women then, and the Scriptures still proclaim his teaching to women of today: “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”  Submit, that is, to your husband’s decision as being necessary for the family, so long as it is “in the Lord”.  Endless arguing should be anathema!

Again, our everyday experience confirms Paul’s teaching in this respect.  Modern day feminists see themselves as rivals to men not as complimentary to them; and even were the man to be their husband, their love for him as a person might well be insufficient to ameliorate their confrontational attitude towards men in general.  Moreover, because they set themselves up as rivals to, and independent of, men, they feel bound, frequently, to try to prove that they can do manly work every bit as well as men, claiming the right to be boxers, miners, front-line soldiers, etc.  There is no doubt that they can, indeed, do many manly things, but, at times, only at the cost of a certain loss of their own femininity.  A woman can drive heavy, long-distance lorries, slug it out in a boxing ring, dig coal, fight in battles; but what sort of woman will be the result?

The assertion of women’s rights is all to the good, it is the teaching both of Mother Church and the Scriptures that man and woman are of equal dignity and worth in God’s eyes; but the demand for equal rights carried to that excess which would claim equality in every respect, will only result in a society where there are fewer and fewer true men and women, and more and more human beings of no particular character: men  without spirit and strength of character; and women lacking female charm or grace of character, and much less able to sympathetically understand and positively guide and develop the volatile humanity of young people, and to form the bond of mutual appreciation and sympathetic help in family life, thereby promoting in a uniquely effective way social harmony and peace.

Paul’s last bit of teaching on family life concerns the young:

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

Christian parents should never be embarrassed by this their right to obedience from their children.  Children who obey their parents gain a blessing from the Lord, because, Paul tells us, such obedience is pleasing to the Lord, and that is because it is for the good of the children.  You cannot be a good parent if you abdicate your God-given right to obedience from your children.  Children -- young people especially -- should note that they have to show obedience to their parents out of love for the Lord, “It is pleasing to the Lord”; and so there can never be any question of children obeying in what is sinful.

The last admonition is addressed by Paul to fathers because of their tendency towards violence in general, but today we know that it applies equally to possessive and domineering mothers:

Do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 

Every aspect of Christian family life is ordained towards the good of the children, the fulfilment of the parents, and to the benefit of human society: parents in their attitude towards their children are neither to spoil them by releasing them from their duty of obedience nor are they to embitter them by their own harshness.  And the personal, mutual, relationship of husband and wife is, likewise, most necessary for the good of the children, and needs to be regulated with that end in view: therefore, the husband must love his wife, and the wife must respect her husband, both of them “in the Lord”, for family unity, peace, and cohesion, requires it.  Their personal fulfilment and sanctification as disciples of Christ and children of God go hand in hand, and are to be attained through that mutual fulfilment of, and submission to, God’s will; the nostrums of modern psychological or social theoreticians can in no way sound the depths of human nature or the splendour of mankind’s destiny.  It is noticeable that whereas modern society in the West recognizes, with St. Paul, man’s tendency to downgrade love, it is unable, unwilling, or even afraid (?), to publicly accept the equally noticeable tendency for women to downgrade respect.

Finally, let us have a look at the behaviour of Mary and Joseph in the Gospel.

I will just bring out one or two points for you to note.  First of all, Mary and Joseph both teach the Child obedience by themselves being obedient to the Lord and the Law:

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord. When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  

Simeon the Temple priest blessed both Joseph and Mary, but in the matter of the Child’s Personal destiny it was Mary alone he addressed: Mary’s personal dignity was not in any way lessened or compromised by her submission to Joseph in the family, for the family. 

Finally, try to imagine the joy of both Mary and Joseph when they began to see the fruit of their personal sacrifices:

The Child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon Him.

The development of the Child Jesus is meant to serve as a model for the nurturing of all Christian children: they need to gradually grow in human wisdom and in their endowment of divine grace, so that their fullness of their God-given personality may develop hand in hand with their physical growth.

People of God, make every effort to bring up your children in a Christian family atmosphere in accordance with the teaching of Jesus.  A true home, both earthly and heavenly, can only be attained by our walking in the power and holiness of the Spirit, along the path prescribed for our well-being by the Father Who calls us, and trodden, for our example, by His Son Who loved, died, and rose again, for us.

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God Year B, 2023

(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21) 

In the second reading we heard St. Paul telling his converts in Galatia:

As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

There Paul was urging his converts to recognize the wonderful privilege bestowed upon them by their faith in Jesus, a faith which enabled them to address God as ‘Abba, Father’ in all truth.  That mind-blowing privilege was theirs because the Spirit left by Jesus to His Church, to make up for His own bodily Ascension into heaven, was – and is -- the Spirit of God’s own Son, with power and mission to form all earthly disciples of Jesus into an authentic spiritual likeness of their Lord and Saviour, able to express their love and trust towards God, as did Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani, with the word 'Father' (‘Abba’ being Aramaic for ‘Father’).

The Spirit bestowed upon Mary, however, worked so wondrously in her, that she was led to respond to God the Father with a love and trust that enabled her to bring forth not just passing words of praise from her lips, but the Divine Word Himself -- the Father’s co-eternal Son -- become Man from her womb!   So intense, so complete and absolutely unreserved, was the response of Mary to God’s word delivered to her by the angel Gabriel, that Jesus always openly praised her for that aspect of her character above all else:

And it happened that, as (Jesus) spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!"  But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke 11:27-28)

"Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother." (Mark 3:33-35)

We can also compare and contrast Mary with Moses who, as you heard in the first reading, brought great blessings down on Israel.  There, we were told how God would bless the Chosen People of the Old Testament through the use of certain words of priestly blessing that He gave to Moses for Aaron, his sons, and their descendants:

Tell Aaron and his sons: ‘This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you!   The LORD let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!”   So shall they invoke My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.’

Those are truly beautiful words used to confer a treasured blessing.  But consider how God the Father blesses us through Mary and her Son.  For, she does not simply hand down, pass on, special words, she clothes -- with her own flesh and blood-- the One Eternal Word of God given her, and gives Him birth for the ultimate blessing and  eternal good of all mankind.  No longer simply a prayer for the blessing of Israel, but God's gracious presence in Mother Church for the salvation of the whole world!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.  (Ephesians 1:3-8)

Holy Mary, you are indeed blessed above all women by God the Father, for through you there came to both Jews and Gentiles the One God and Saviour, through Whom and in Whom all the blessings of heaven itself are promised to those who believe in His ‘Good Tidings of great joy’!

Again, in our Gospel reading we learned that those who searched for the Child found:

           Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger.

Jesus told His disciples, through St. John at the foot of the Crosson Calvary, to take Mary to their hearts as their own Mother, meaning that, in their endeavours to become His true disciples, they would ultimately find that fulfilment only through her maternal prayers.  Mary is no mere addition, certainly no complication, for Catholic spirituality; but she is most certainly a challenge for many modern – formerly Catholic -- women whose main aim now seems to be proudly challenging men in human diversity, rather than fulfilling themselves -- and humanity itself -- through their share in God-given complementarity!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we believe that Mary leads each and every one of us to Jesus when we recall that she is not simply the model of the Church, but was the Church itself in its origins,  and that only in Mother Church can each and every one of us find Jesus truly and love Him fully.

Finally, we also need to understand that Mary, who is, for us, a temple of the Holy Spirit and a channel of blessing from the Father, is also our model and inspiration in our relationship with Jesus, in so far as the Scriptures tell us that she, our Mother, who was and is always most sublimely one with Jesus,

Mary kept all these things (that she had experienced and heard concerning Jesus) reflecting on them in her heart.

There is to be found the supreme example and the ultimate guidance for anyone  hoping and longing to find God -- our only true and sublimely perfect Father -- in and through Jesus: imitate Mary by treasuring the Good News of Jesus handed down to us by Mother Church who, with her teaching of the Scriptures, illuminates our minds to understand and appreciate the promised Christ of God; and, through the economy of her sacraments, enables us to fittingly welcome and worship His very presence in our midst, and receive Him with whole-hearted and personal love into our own individual minds, hearts, and lives.

As children of Mary, therefore, hear the Word of God proclaimed in Mother Church, with reverence and joy; treasure the mysterious presence of His grace in your heart; and, above all, dear People of God, seek to respond – by the Spirit – to God, the Giver of all good gifts, with that wholehearted trust and gratitude to which Mary herself gave perfect expression when she said:

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.   (Luke 1:38)         

Christmas Dawn Mass, 2023

           

(Isaiah 62:11-12; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:15-20)

Perhaps the most striking aspect of our Gospel reading this happy morn is the fact that it is all about the shepherds: from beginning to end.  Even when the story leads us into the presence of Mary, Joseph, and the ‘Infant lying in the manger’ the focus still remains on the shepherds, who:

Made known (to Mary and Joseph) the message that had been told them about this Child.

And though mention is next made of Mary herself, nevertheless, the shepherds are not dismissed, for we are told:

Mary kept all these things (told her by the shepherds), reflecting on them in her heart.

And the whole gospel passage is concluded with information concerning the shepherds:

They returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.

Notice carefully that final phrase; for the reading could easily have ended:

            They returned glorifying and praising God all they had heard and seen.

But that would not have been enough, those final words nailing our attention to the shepherds were added:

            just as it had been told them.

Why are the shepherds so very, very, important for the beginning of the Gospel story, why are they so firmly established, centre stage, as it were?

Surely the answer is that the Son of God was coming in human flesh that He might shepherd Israel, God’s Chosen People, and that they might become sheep of His flock: the flock whose integrity He would protect and lead to rich pasture, while sparing the ewes that were pregnant and cherishing the lambs still weak; the flock He would protect from all dangers, while searching for and rescuing individuals gone astray, tending the wounded, nourishing the sick, comforting the fearful and calming the foolish.

From the very situation of His birth, therefore, Jesus began His life most emphatically proclaiming: ‘I am (going-to-be) the good shepherd’. 

At today’s third Christmas Mass attention will be directed to the divine Person and heavenly Origin of Jesus, and there our worship will be called for and His glory exalted. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.

But here, at this early morning Mass, our love is provoked – not for the Child as such -- but for Him Who has come to be the promised ‘good shepherd’ for Israel.

Shepherds tending their flocks were often lonely for long periods, regularly sleep-starved; and they had to  be prepared to face up to hyenas, jackals, wolves, and even bears; wielding only their iron-bound cudgels and large knives. 

Meanwhile, they had to be prepared to experience ‘burning heat by day and biting frost by night’ according to the patriarch Jacob who once served as Laban’s shepherd. 

Jesus had, most certainly, a  deep-down regard for, and appreciation of, shepherds; as is shown by His famous words:

            A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

The shepherd’s life was hard and their public esteem was generally low; but Jesus openly acknowledged His admiration for those men willing to lay down their lives for their sheep.  That viewpoint is not generally appreciated today, and can even be attacked as being wasteful of human life.  For Jesus, however, it was, and is, the self-centered person – no matter how cultured or eminent – whose life was (is) supremely wasteful of a God-given opportunity.  A life embracing self-sacrifice to fulfil an obligation of trust, to express commitment to, not mere emotion for, the good – yes, even the good of mute and, at times, stupid, sheep -- evoked such admiration and love from Jesus that, no matter how humble, mis-esteemed or unappreciated by others it might be thought, He most readily saw Himself embodying it: laying down His life for His sheep, unhesitatingly going off into the desert in search of perhaps only one – very stupid indeed – lost sheep (Mary Magdalene and her 7 demons??), and most whole-heartedly rejoicing could He but carry such a lost one back to the flock on His shoulders!

For a true shepherd there was a ‘substantial’ reward quite apart from whatever pittance they might have been able to earn from the owners of the flocks, for a good shepherd loved the sheep of his flock, because he was their shepherd, he was their all in the desert.  And the shepherd was, in turn, loved by his sheep, which could number thousands; and being, of themselves helpless, the sheep were completely dependent on their good shepherd and trusted him implicitly and totally in return.  What is more, living together continually, through ‘thick and thin’ as the saying goes, there was a very strong bond of understanding between them:  the shepherd’s morning call as he led them out to drink was unique and immediately recognizable to the sheep of his flock, and he would often play upon a pipe or flute for them as they walked along the way to water or pasture; indeed, there were individual sheep so tame that they would respond to their name being called by that voice they recognized and trusted.

And so, People of God, we who are thought to be sheep of Jesus’ flock, should aspire to recognize, hear, and most gratefully appreciate the love that filled Jesu’s own Most Sacred Heart from the very first moment of His being amongst us, His future sheep.

What did He expect in return?

Since Jesus came to give, not to receive, and since self-love was totally alien to Him, I think we must conclude that He expected nothing for Himself.  Nevertheless, since His ability-, or opportunity-to-give would ultimately be dependent on mankind’s willingness to receive what He offered, then, out of love for us He must have deeply desired to be received as Shepherd, by the sheep He came so selflessly to serve and save.

Moreover, although Jesus expected nothing for Himself, He most certainly hoped for, strove for, and ultimately died for, whatever the best of human nature could be taught and brought to, offer, give to, and for, His Father.   What so shocked St. John and all the apostolic witnesses to Jesus was that:

He was in the world, but the world did not know Him.   He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept Him. (John 1:10-11)

However, His self-less love for us triumphed over that rejection both on the Cross and in His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and that triumph has been shared with us by His Gift of His own most Holy Spirit.  Today, Jesus comes anew to us as our Shepherd, offering Himself to us and for us;  and we today, have -- by the power of His Spirit with us and in us -- the opportunity to change the wretched record of current history by giving Him a welcome into our own hearts not unworthy of that relationship between Shepherd and sheep foreshadowed in the stall at Bethlehem those long years ago.  That is why we prayed at the beginning of this Mass:

Father, we are filled with the new light by the coming of your Word among us.  May the light of faith shine in our words and actions. 

St. Paul told us in the second reading that:

The kindness and generous love of God our Saviour appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done, but because of His mercy.

God, that is, takes the initiative, He leads, He guides, He calls … it is our part, our duty, and surely, ultimately our joy, to LISTEN, to UNDERSTAND, and to RESPOND.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a wonderfully happy and most beautiful morning, for the shepherds were invited to the grotto where Mary and Joseph adored the Infant Jesus in manger familiar indeed to shepherds, where the Child was wrapped in swaddling clothes just such as would have been available in the shepherds’ own families; and their unimportant, but truly essential presence, so carefully and repeatedly stressed, assures us of this most beautiful and comforting truth: Jesus wants us to welcome Him this day as our own most loving Shepherd, and become sheep of His pasture: sheep who recognise His voice, trust Him implicitly and whole-heartedly, respond joyfully to His call, and thus come to know how to find peace in His presence and rest confidently in His care, by the Spirit, for love of the Father.

Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B, 2023

             

(2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38)

Today, Mother Church puts before us two very significant readings from her sacred Scriptures, and their comparison can show us a fact of fundamental importance concerning our relationship with God, and provide us with sure guidance for the conduct of our spiritual lives.

 Let us look first of all at our Gospel reading:

(The angel Gabriel) said, "Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you! ..... Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Mary said: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”

 While some scholars have imagined that Mary consecrated her virginity to the Lord in her early years, others have disputed  such an idea as being inconceivable for a young girl living devoutly among the Jewish people who held marriage and childbirth in such great honour.  Such respect, even reverence, was indeed the attitude to childlessness in Mary’s own family background where her highly respected cousin Elizabeth considered childlessness to have long been ‘her reproach among men’ which the Lord had finally deigned to take away through the birth of her son John, the future Baptiser.

Moreover, today’s readings show us that the idea of a formal consecration or dedication of her virginity by Mary is not necessary if we rightly follow the teaching available to us in the first reading about King David, and use it to carefully appreciate Our Lady’s answer to the angel Gabriel.

David, you heard, had planned to build a temple for the Lord:

 

When the LORD had given King David rest from his enemies on every side, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” Nathan answered the king, “Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.”

 It was God, however, Who would build the temple He wanted, when the time was right.  Therefore, He sent Nathan back to David with this message:

             Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build Me a

house to dwell in? I, THE LORD WILL MAKE A HOUSE FOR YOU. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.  I will be a Father to him, and he shall be a son to Me.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before Me.’

Dear People of God, whatever we do before, and above all for, God is essentially secondary to the attitude in which we do it; and David was adopting a rather condescending attitude towards God, Who knew David’s heart far better than David understood his own enthusiastically chosen words:

             Should you build Me a house to dwell in?

 David, we are told, was a man after God’s own heart, but here he had spoken from his position of newly-gained security, power, and personal satisfaction, all of which had led him to express ‘generous gratitude’ to God.

 Therefore, the prophet was instructed to make it crystal clear to David, WHO was doing the leading and guiding, WHO would protect and save.  That was something  essential for a man of David’s character and capabilities to know.

 Mary, on the other hand, could never think, like David, of bestowing anything on God. Because of her wondrous humility she had no treasured physical virginity to offer Him; her humility was total, and embraced her whole being. And so, Her  life-long desire to belong entirely to God was her virginity because it was absolute. Momentous HUMILITY and un-imaginable VIRGINITY are ‘part and parcel’ of the wondrous beauty of Mary, and that overwhelming passion was not – like a supposed vow would have been -- alien to Jewish aspirations, as we know from St. Paul  (1 Corinthians 7:25, 34), who had been himself a supremely observant Jew:

 

Brothers and Sisters: In regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who, by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy … an unmarried woman, a virgin, is anxious about the things of the Lord so that she may be holy in both body and spirit, (but) she who is married cares about the things of the world.

 So, in her reply to Gabriel, Mary could only speak from that looking-to and longing-for God which was fundamental to her character; and, on hearing the angel addressing her, no marriage-envisioning question such as ‘who has been chosen for me?’ came to her mind, nothing but those simple words:

How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?  Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

She had always been, and had always longed to “better-be”, ‘the handmaid of the Lord’; and whereas David had spoken to God ‘generously’ out of his present fullness, Mary … with complete humility and total longing … found nothing to offer other than that abiding and absolute commitment to, and longing for, God, which we rightly call her spiritual and physical virginity, the TOTAL VIRGINITY, supreme and spotless, of her Immaculate Being.

And – note this most carefully dear Friends in Jesus -- Mary’s most beautiful virginity, catholic doctrine, and the spiritual ideals they caused to arise in receptive hearts and minds conquered the hearts and minds of women – powerful women, influential women – in vice-ridden Rome.  Yes, the beauty of Gospel Christianity conquered the hearts and minds of all those sick of the pleasures and advantages of pagan practices --- recognized as being pagan by the new, and full-, pure-, blooded, Christians of Apostolic times.  Words of personal condemnation were not used, following Our Lord Jesus’ Own example, but neither were gratuitous blessings or favours bestowed to win worldly favour.

David lived long enough before God in his restored humility and hope, not only to gladly look forward to, but also to prepare for, the beginning of the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise through his son Solomon, who did indeed build an earthly Temple for the Lord in Jerusalem.  However, that first Temple would be destroyed by the Babylonians after some 350 years  and it was not seriously replaced until a most splendid Temple was later built by the wicked King Herod, who did indeed produce a wonderful structure which amazed the world of its time, but was in no way pleasing to God in so far as it had not been built for God’s glory, but for Herod’s own glory, and the renown of his kingdom under the watchful eyes of his imperial overlords in Rome.  And, in the event, it was those very Roman overlords who -- as Jesus foretold -- not only destroyed, but  totally ‘razed to the ground’, that symbol of Herod’s glory before one hundred years had passed. 

 And so, God’s word to David by the prophet had been aimed over and beyond Solomon, for it envisaged and intended Jesus Himself, Whose risen, glorious, Body would become the ultimate Temple of God among men: a Temple not built by human hands, and one where Jews and pagans without distinction would have access to the Father in the one Spirit.

             The Jews said to Him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”  Jesus                   answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise                it up.”   The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six               years, and you will raise it up in three days?”  But He was speaking about the               temple of His body.   (John 2:18-21)

 

Consequently, our Gospel story was all about God choosing When (in the fullness of time), by Whom (His own Son), and through whom (the immaculate virgin Mary of Nazareth), salvation would ultimately be offered to humanity:

 

Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.  Behold, you will 

conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

  

It is God alone Who gives salvation and works wonders.  However, we are by no means excluded from His purposes, for we are called – in Jesus and by the Holy Spirit -- to share in and contribute to His work.  Although the Lord did not allow David himself to build the Temple in Jerusalem, his desire to do so was most pleasing to Him, and therefore He rewarded David with great blessings, the greatest of which being that He, the Lord, would build David a house, and from that house the Messiah Himself, Israel’s supreme King, would eventually come. 

 With Mary, on the other hand, her desire was so supremely pleasing to God that it would be immediately and most sublimely fulfilled in the way God wanted: Mary would remain a virgin.  Notwithstanding that however, she would give birth to a Child, her Child indeed, but above all, the very Son of God Himself, incarnate, clothed in Mary’s spotless human flesh.

 The Lord has looked upon the lowliness of His handmaid.

 My dear people, it is a fact that God alone does the work of salvation, for to Him alone is glory and power.  Nonetheless, He wills to associate us in the work His own dear Son accomplished in human flesh and blood, to the extent that even the bread and wine we offer Him at daily Mass must be, and must be declared to be, ‘made’ by human hands.  Moreover, God does not use human beings like tools: for, in Jesus, we are called to co-operate with Him as true children trying to please and glorify their heavenly Father; and it is through such work that we are enabled to receive, by the Holy Spirit, the gift of a personal share in God’s own infinite holiness and eternal blessedness.

 Do you want to make something of your life with and for God, to love and serve Him faithfully and supremely?  Do you want, most sincerely, to become a true Child of God in Jesus?  If you can say “Yes” to such questions, and if you can keep on aspiring to serve Him even though, despite your efforts, you see little of real worth in your life … if you will keep on telling God of your desire even though you have not yet been able to hear any reply … then you will indeed be used by Him for His purposes, and you will become a disciple after Jesus’ own most sacred heart, and in Him, a true child of the heavenly Father.

 Of course, that is not easily done, for it is a lifetimes’ work.  But those whose mind and heart are firmly centred on God, though they may -- at times -- be painfully aware of their own nothingness, do not allow themselves to become downcast or disheartened; precisely, because their mind is always occupied with desires for God’s good-pleasure and greater glory, and thus they are always looking forward and hoping in Him rather than despairing of themselves. 

 People of God, following our Mother Mary,  let us, welcome Jesus -- the very Word of God made flesh -- into our lives anew this Christmas with like sentiments of love and longing, of trust, hope and commitment:

             I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your Word.

 There is no surer way to find Christmas joy and peace. 

 

Third Sunday of Advent Year B, 2023

  

(Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1: 6-8, 19-28)

The great prophet Isaiah spoke most assuredly about God’s forthcoming work for the glorification of Zion and salvation in Israel, and in today’s reading he portrays one majestic figure yet to come:

I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for, like a bridegroom adorned with diadem,

Who was Isaiah foreshadowing there?  Whom did he have in mind when saying:

He has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice.

Above all, who could he imagine to be:

            Adorned, with a diadem …

Indeed, with the diadem of the MOST HOLY SPIRIT (cf. 61:1)

Isaiah was not of course ‘imagining’ anyone, he was speaking under divine inspiration of one of whom only God could authoritatively speak, Jesus, the Beloved and Only-Begotten Son of God: incarnate, that is, clothed in, wrapped in, flesh given Him by His immaculate mother, Mary the Flower of Israel, herself adorned with jewels, that is, the privileges of her Immaculate Conception.

And the ultimate reason for all this rejoicing?  It is indeed a most sublime reason, pre-eminently worthy of such rejoicing, because it fulfils and answers both the eternally-loving purpose of Our God and Father, and mankind’s own deepest longing since being cast out of Eden and away from God’s presence:

THE LORD GOD WILL MAKE JUSTICE AND PRAISE SPRING UP BEFORE ALL THE NATIONS.

Notice, dear People of God, that PRAISE is associated with ‘justice’ essentially!!  One fully justified instinctively rejoices in the Lord, such a one cannot not-rejoice in the Lord!

And yet, when that promised Coming One -- Son of the Virgin Mother -- was about to  begin His work of making ‘justice and praise spring up’, the greatest of all the prophets, John the Baptist found himself confirming Isaiah’s prophecy by making use of much more sober language in order to reveal with all clarity a truly disconcerting reality:

I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord; for there is One among you Whom you do not recognize, the One coming after me, Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.

That is the setting for our Advent preparations to welcome the Lord coming to His spouse -- Mother Church – this Christmas, to make her more recognizable as ‘a bride bedecked with jewels’.

Dear People of God, look all around you this Advent time at the great majority of Christmas celebrations and you will have no doubt about the truth of the Baptist’s words:

            There is One among you Whom you do not recognize.

Why is Jesus not recognized today by those, so many of them, who were formerly professing Catholics or Christians?  It is, to a certain extent, because many have succumbed to the lure and enticements of popular sin, or have fainted or despaired under the burden of personal and worldly cares.

There is, however, another cause for Jesus being unrecognizable for too many of our fellows, be they merely nominal Catholics or Christians or just present-day unbelievers, and that is because they have long been out of touch with, and have become unaware of and insensitive to, the real Jesus of Mother Church’s authentic teaching and apostolic traditions.

Dear Catholic People of God, as Catholics we are members of the original body established by Jesus as His Church, on the foundations of His Personally chosen and Spirit-endowed Apostles, to whom He uniquely said:

I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told YOU everything I have heard from My Father.    (John 15:15)

Moreover, He promised those original Twelve that:

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name — He will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you.    (John 14:26)

Those original Apostles are thus the source of Mother Church’s doctrinal teaching and traditions,  and it is absolutely necessary that those Apostolic memories of Jesus’ words --- addressed Personally and directly to them as His friends for the good of further friends to come through their ministry -- that those Apostolic traditions learned from Jesus’ very actions and attitudes, and witnessed by their own eyes and heard by their own ears, remain intact and appreciated in Mother Church today.  No one -- not even a Pope -- can sever us from Jesus’ love and guidance handed down through the ages in those Apostolic doctrines and traditions.

There are difficulties today for a faithless generation wanting to justify itself and acquire worldly popularity: it tries to confuse issues by subtly ‘updating’ certain texts of the Gospel, that is, by teaching them in accordance with modern preferences while, on the other hand, simply trying to consign to oblivion other authentic teachings that cannot be thus ‘updated’.

This is due to the fact that (as Jesus Himself said, John 14:17):

This is the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you.   

The world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth because it does not, will not, believe in Jesus: 

And when He (the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth) comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me.   (John 16:8–9)

The Apostles, on the other hand, know the Spirit of Truth, because He already abides with them as leaders of the future Catholic Church of Jesus, and will be in them individually, as faithful disciples of and witnesses to Jesus their Lord and Saviour.

The season of Advent is a time of great expectancy, when devout Catholics and Christians  look forward to the coming of the Lord; and being certain that His coming anew this Christmas will be for our blessing, let us all beseech His most Holy Spirit to prepare us to welcome Him with hearts and minds authentically attuned to Him in the Apostolic purity of Mother Church’s authentic teaching and traditions.

We are also aware that at the appointed time -- we do not know precisely when -- He will come in glory to judge the world, to triumph over all His enemies and cast out Satan; and then, after having ultimately established the Kingdom of God, He will lead all His faithful ones to worship and rejoice in, the supreme Lordship of His Father. This is what St. Paul explained when writing his first letter to his converts in Corinth:

As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.   But each one in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  For, He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet; the last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for, "He has put all things under His feet."  (1 Corinthians 15:22-26)

This season of Advent is a time of joyful expectancy indeed, but it is a Christian joy, sieved, as it were, through a God-given awareness of his/her human weakness, ignorance, and personal sinfulness; it is a most-truly Christian joy: gladdening-the-heart and also humbling-the-mind of those called to become true children of God, loving Him in all and above all, as Jesus Our Saviour would have us do by the Gift of His own Most Holy Spirit.

And therefore, all true Catholics and Christians can share, take part in, with all confidence and simplicity, humility and sincerity, that blessing enshrined in Isaiah’s great oracle: 

I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my GOD IS THE JOY OF MY SOUL.

Second Sunday of Advent Year B, 2023

 

(Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2^nd. Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8)

John, a desert-dweller enormously popular with Jews seeking both liturgical purity and greater personal moral integrity, came to the river Jordan to proclaim his God-given message and to ‘baptize’ the crowds flocking  in their thousands to hear him and receive his baptismal ministrations.  John’s God-given message was definitively clear and authoritative proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins to those  who were both religious and humble enough to want to hear and follow his guidance:

One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thong of His sandals. I have baptized you with water; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist -- as he is now known -- the greatest, as Jesus said, of all those born of woman, was chosen by God to immediately precede Jesus and personally introduce Him to God’s Chosen People.   John fulfilled that commission perfectly by proclaiming Jesus as the Bridegroom, the Messiah of Israel’s expectations, the One who alone could and would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

John -- the Bridegroom’s precursor and friend to the end -- would be murdered in a lonely, royal, dungeon cell, for witnessing to God’s truth against the displayed pride, indulged salaciousness, and the hidden weaknesses, of a tyrant, himself subject to Rome’s  ever-more-scrutinizing approval.

John’s proclamation of Jesus was no threnody, however, dear People of God; on the contrary, it was an introduction to the supremely Christian song of glory, gratitude, and joy: for, all who would believe in, and be baptized into, Jesus, would receive life from Him Who was willing to die – even on a Roman cross -- to save them, through His own Spirit of Truth and Love, from sin and death.

And it is in that way that obedient and faithful Catholics today already share in some measure -- even here on earth -- the life of the Most Holy Trinity:  called by the Father to faith in His beloved and only-begotten Son, and ‘gifted’ with the Holy Spirit, they share  eternal sustenance as living members of the One True Church which is the Body of Christ, constantly guided and protected in the Truth of Jesus’ Gospel by the Holy Spirit, to worship the Father as His truly adopted children in Jesus, His Son and our Saviour.  

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (1:14-15):

For the authentic Christian understanding and practice of repentance, we need to look closely, very closely, at our readings today in order to appreciate Mother Church’s teaching in this matter.   What was it that John the Baptist said?  What did Isaiah proclaim? 

John said ‘repent’ first; and then next –  on seeing Jesus passing by -- he said to Andrew and another of his disciples, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’.

That, dear People of God, is the composite nature of conversion: first turn from sin, then turn to the Lord.

Turn from sin, try to correct the ravages it has caused in your life; which is what Isaiah proclaimed in those words:

Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!   Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.

Such indeed is the first requirement of repentance, turn away from sin in all sincerity, and then, by walking in the ways of Jesus, allow the Spirit of Jesus to enter our life, and form us anew in the likeness of Jesus, for love of the Father :

Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.   

Notice too that Isaiah’s prophecy provides us with a sure way to test the truth of our repentance: is the glory of the Lord being revealed to you?  Do you, as you grow older, see and admire in Jesus gradually more and more of the glory, that is, of the goodness, the beauty, the truth, and the wisdom, of God?  Do you, as the years pass by, become ever more grateful to the Father for His goodness in calling and guiding you to Jesus?  Do you find yourself gradually more willing to trust Him completely, above all else?  Do you aspire, more and more, to know, love, and serve Him with your whole being?  If you can say “Yes” to questions such as those then, indeed, you are both sincerely repenting, and truly seeking the face of the Lord; and, moreover, I could confidently say that the glory of the Lord is also, indeed, being gradually revealed both to you and in you.

But what if -- as the years go by, when you seriously look at yourself and sincerely question yourself before God -- you recognize that you are thinking less and less of Jesus because you are increasingly absorbed in worldly interests and aspirations; that you are more and more preoccupied by cares about money and people’s opinions or attitudes in your regard, and less and less attentive to God speaking through your conscience or drawing upon your heart-strings?  Do you feel yourself obliged to respond in kind for every little benefit you receive from others, a Christmas card for a Christmas card, an invitation by an invitation, a gift for a gift, and yet never think that you owe a debt of gratitude to God for all the many blessings He has bestowed on you throughout Hyour life?  Are you gradually becoming tolerant of failings you are aware of -- you might like to call them ‘mere peccadillos’ -- in your daily living?  All these things are quite possible where Christian people are found to be no longer looking to God, for God, but looking at others, and looking-after themselves.

People of God, let us now for a short time look at God in our Gospel reading trying  to look after Herod, despite his multitudinous failings.

God speaks to each and every one of us – without exception – in one way or another, for our GOOD, for our eternal salvation; and in today’s Gospel we heard how He kept on trying to straighten out Herod’s hitherto most miserable life: a collaborator with the hated Romans, a most blatant sinner with his own brother’s wife, and add whatever else you like …. a murderer? a rapist? a great hater? a supreme exponent of the art of betrayal? …. All most helpful for one wanting to become a royal figure with a measure of authority in those hectic days and seasons after the death of  Herod ‘the Great’, who had been a superb servant of  Rome, and whose sons – including the Herod-Antipas of our Gospel reading – were doing their very best!! – to win Rome’s favour by whatever means.   

Dear People of God, God was still trying to communicate with Herod Antipas, encouraging him, right to the end, to hear, and in certain measure, to listen to John the Baptist speak of Israel’s faith!   But now, although he in-his-way reverenced John, Herod couldn’t go-back-on his foolish word to the lascivious daughter of his scheming, adulterous, and murderous wife!  He didn’t dare give cause for his nobles and ‘mighty men’ to look down on him and question his authority … so he ignored his God’s spiritual life-line and plunged head and shoulders into yet greater sin and deeper spiritual disgrace.

Dear People of God, no matter what might be the state we find ourselves in at this moment, Mother Church urges us to aspire once again this Advent time to prepare to welcome Jesus anew into our lives that His truth might enlighten us, His love inspire us, and the Gift of His most Holy Spirit might protect, guide, and sustain us along His way to the Father.   Time is irrelevant to God, it of this world, not of His heavenly Kingdom, our future home. 

With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

What is essential for us, therefore, is that here and now, we have the will to prayerfully aspire to the blessings He has prepared for us, and that we have the humility and fortitude to forget our self-solicitude and, by our daily prayer and Christian living, learn to rejoice as He gradually makes those promised blessings an ever more real experience for us.

As St. Peter’s put it:

Waiting for the coming of (Our Lord and) God, you ought to be (found) conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion; eager to be found at peace, without spot or blemish before Him.