The Holy Family Year C, 2024

 

Today I wish to bring to the forefront of our minds the Father, the Heavenly Father, wellspring and inspiration of our earthly iconic Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

The love of the heavenly Father for His only-begotten Son at Christmas is not generally adverted to, because people are emotionally enthralled by what is so immediately understandable and strikingly beautiful for our human sensibilities. When we think of Mary’s birth-giving love for her new-born, only born, God-Given-Son, we recognize that he was the source of sublime joy and gratitude for her, and that He is the pride and glory of our humanity, fallen though it be in us as yet. Nascent as our Lord and Saviour, He was yet destined to become a blood-stained figure, hated relentlessly by officialdom and ignored by the vast majority of those He came to save from the wounds of their own willful sinfulness and relentless self-seeking.

As Saviour of Mankind, He was born of a people prepared by God for over 2,000 years for His coming, by means of experiences evocative of God, by prophetic leaders and by their own growing religious awareness and the gradual structuring of their society according to such God-given sensibilities.  Ultimately they had become a people so endowed as to find its culmination in the flesh and blood of the immaculate Virgin Mary of Nazareth, through whom God was able  to prepare a suitable home where His own beloved Son might take on, assume, human flesh as Saviour – perfect God and perfect Man -- Who, though He would be seen to be of Jewish nationality, His mission would, nevertheless, be that very purpose for which He willed to be thus sent from heaven to this earth, the salvation of all mankind, be they of Jewish or pagan nationalities, citizens of historic and cultural powers, such as those of Greece or Rome, or of yet more contemporary origin, or be they simply members of Earth’s swarming and blindly warring tribes and dominions of whatever ilk.

The unmentioned, heart-wringing,  ‘love untold’ centre-piece of this most beautiful and joyful day of Christmas is the fact that today the Father has deliberately sent (Jesus’ own word) His beloved, only-begotten, Son into our world, knowing full well that He would end-up being betrayed, deserted, ignored by all save Mary and a handful of fearful disciples; knowing above all, that He would depart this world leaving behind a body tortured to perfection by the world’s supreme and most professional artists in such skills.

However, thus far, I have only told you the half of this divine drama … it get’s much richer, much deeper, for the Father sent Jesus on that prophetically foretold mission because He knew that His only-beloved Son wanted to undertake it.   That was because of His own, absolutely Filial and self-sacrificing, love for His Father:  because of His burning desire to heal His Father’s rueful awareness that so many of those He had created in His own image and likeness with free-will --- created them for their earthly joy and eternal fulfilment --- had been led astray, deceived, by the angelic LIAR, Satan.   Free will, what a gift!   A gift lost by Eve’s folly, Adam’s weakness, and Satan’s collusion!

Therefore, dear Catholic People of God, dear Orthodox and fellow, original, believers with us, dear believers of less clear vision but nevertheless total Christian commitment,  rejoice that Jesus has come as man, indeed as God-made-man for our salvation, to show us and enable us, how to use ‘free will’ for God our Father’s glory and for our own fulfilment and eternal salvation; and to teach us that this would be brought about by the indwelling of His ‘Gift’, the most Holy Spirit of both Father and Son, through our Faith, our belief, in both the Person and the Mission of Jesus.

Through that secret presence and mysterious working of God’s most Holy Spirit in our lives He will gradually form us into an ever-more authentic likeness of Jesus, for the glory of the heavenly Father, and for our ultimate and eternal destiny as sharers in the love and glory of the most Holy Trinity of life and love, yes, He will form us in Jesus as true ‘family’ of God, the Father of us all.     

Christmas Day Year C, 2024

 

(Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18) 

What a wonderful evocation of joy and gratitude Isaiah offers us in the words:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace. 

The city had been under long siege and neighbouring towns and cities had been taken and destroyed.  Hope was no more in evidence than the almost non-existent and much-disputed food, with no more than a few pitchers-full of water available from what had once been deep, brim-top-lapping, cisterns.  The army had gone out to fight indeed, but they left more in desperation than in expectation; some of the people had cheered them on their way, but the conviction was not there; prayers also had been offered, but with lips that trembled; and now those left inside the city walls waited in silence, with hearts unable to shake off a dark foreboding of what might soon befall them.

Eventually a runner was noticed in the distance by those keeping watch from the protecting walls.  He had been expected of course; but, as they caught clearer sight of him, they began to look at one another in disbelief: this runner is running strongly, running confidently; he is not pumping his arms in agonizing effort, he is raising them, waving them exultantly!   He is, surely, one who:

PUBLISHES PEACE, WHO BRINGS GOOD NEWS

At such a sight, first of all the watchmen on the towers, then, the citizens within the walls, in unconscious obedience to the prophetic words of exhortation:

Break forth together into singing  you waste places of Jerusalem;

They did indeed break out into a veritable delirium of thanksgiving and praise, while the priests – with now more firmly solemn voices -- began to intone:

            The LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem!!

Dear People of God, Jesus comes to us each year at Christmas like that runner, giving us  supreme cause for our brim-full joy: our God reigns over sin and death!  Whatever the past year may have witnessed and no matter how miserable our own record might have been over that period, Jesus comes to assure us that:

The Lord has bared His holy arm, and all the ends of the earth  shall see the salvation of our God. 

He comes, as we heard in the reading from the letter to the Hebrews, as One Who:

Is the radiance of the glory of God and the express image of His nature.

Therefore, seeing Him, we can be confident and sure that God is able and willing to reign for us, both in us and through us, if we -- for our part -- are humble and brave enough to look away from our sinful projects and ludicrous gods (money, power, pleasure etc.) and return faithfully to Him with hopeful sincerity and humble obedience in all our needs.

This Christmas rejoicing calls for much more than mere joy of heart, however; for Jesus, as our second reading told us, is:

God’s Son … heir of all things, through Whom also He created the world; Who upholds the universe by the word of His power;

to which St. John, in our Gospel, adds:

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Therefore, Jesus’ coming means not only passing joy for our heart, but fulfilment for the whole of our being, since He is most truly our Lord and Saviour: our Light to guide us, our Hope to sustain us, and our Life that leads to the eternal peace and joy of our heavenly home.   His coming manifests and indeed offers to us:

            His glory, as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth;

and, by sharing that glory with us, He wills to transform all who believe in Him from human beings subject to sin and death into children of God, as St. John again tells us:

To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

Children reborn, that is, no longer from merely human stock through the will and/or passion of our parents before us, but born anew of water and the Holy Spirit: God’s Fatherly gift expressing to the full His infinite Goodness; and our free-will responding with appropriate  filial longing by the obedience of faith. 

And it is thus -- as children reborn of water and the Spirit -- that we can repeat:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Dear People of God, our ability to catch passing glimpses of saving beauty and power, to understand snatches of divine truth concerning the glorious reality  of the Word-made-flesh, proves not only that He has become with us, as one of us,  in our Marian flesh and blood, it proves not only that He has deliberately chosen to be for us in all things, but it proves that we – though caked-over with all sorts of filth -- are, root-down, mysteriously like Him, because He is, has become, our Brother.  He has, most wondrously become one of us while remaining infinitely, savingly, above us; and that is our share in the glory which is His as the only begotten Son of the Father, as the letter to the Hebrews puts it:

As much superior to  angels, as we have, by adoption in Him, obtained a more excellent name than they.

And thus, being able to be reborn and renewed in Jesus, and able to share His glory which enables us to live through faith, by His Spirit, our Christmas joy and hope is crowned and completed by the Father Who now says (2 Corinthians 6:18):

I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters.    

Once reborn in Jesus with the right to become children of God for all eternity, we have an endowment that our sincere endeavour to live a life of faith and filial love will bring to glorious maturity.  Each year Jesus comes to visit us, to see and encourage our progress, and that is why, during Advent, Mother Church cries out to us encouragingly:

            Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him! (Matthew 25:6)

Every Christmas we do just that, we go out to meet the Lord with lighted lamps that shine with love, praise, and gratitude.  Ultimately, the time will arrive – and we are now already preparing, at the deepest level, for that time -- when the Lord will come for each and every one of us, calling us from this world as He did Lazarus from the tomb, to meet Himself.  Let us, therefore, dear People of God, welcome Him this day as we wish to embrace Him on that our final day, when earth’s fading and fitful light will be transformed into the prospect of eternal glory.       

4th Sunday of Advent Year C, 2024

 

(Micah 5:1-4a; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-44) 

It has been noted from early times in the Church that John the Baptist, while still in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, ‘leapt for joy’ at the proximity of Jesus being carried by Mary.  whereas Elizabeth responded to the presence of Mary.  Is that interpretation unquestionable however?  Let us study the words of Scripture.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.   And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  

We are literally told: When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth herself greeted and praised YOUNG Mary for honouring her with her presence for her own (Elizabeth’s) joyful giving-birth, acclaimed, thanks to local friends and relative’s having made a collective decision to a safe-guard this first child-birth of elderly Elizabeth by their own long, caring and calming, experience.  Elizabeth had learnt much from her husband’s experience as  ‘doubting Thomas’ and she immediately recognized and proclaimed the ultimate cause of Mary (a young, inexperienced relative)’s  presence: Blessed is she who believed;  a gift she and her husband Zechariah had only learned to embrace after much suffering.

Why did Elizabeth rejoice at the immediate presence of Mary herself rather than at the close proximity of the Child Mary was carrying, a Child which she acknowledges as being ‘her Lord’?

Listen again carefully to Elizabeth’s words of greeting to Mary; her first words – at the instigation of her own child leaping for joy at Mary’s proximity -- are words with reference to Mary as mother of the Child she was carrying:

Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Then she goes on to speak, as a senior, more experienced woman to a young virgin, as woman to woman, Israelite to Israelite:

Blessed are you WHO BELIEVED that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.  

Dear Chosen People of God, today Mother Church rejoices in, wonders at, and strives to understand and appreciate ever better, the heavenly Father’s wondrous gift to mankind of faith, believing-faith, in His beloved, only-begotten Son, in His chosen role as Redeemer of mankind.

The whole story of God’s dealings with His Chosen People started with God making a promise to Abraham that he and his wife Sarah would have a child despite their old age.  Abraham believed that promise of God, he believed you might say against all medical probabilities and despite the deep disappointments he and Sarah had suffered repeatedly over many years because of their childlessness, a state so alien to Israel’s traditions.  Abraham glorified God by putting more trust in His spoken promise than in his own years of bitter experience, and the no-doubt snide words of other Israelites not above commenting on their lack of offspring. 

St. Paul tells us that such trust in God:

            Was credited to his (Abraham’s) account as righteousness.  (Romans 4:3)

Thus, he was to be the father of all who believe, so that to them also righteousness may be credited.  (Romans 4:11)

He is our father in the sight of God, in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into being what did not exist. (Romans 4:17)

That is how God’s People came into being, through FAITH, and that is why Elizabeth, herself rejoicing in the fulfilment of a promise of God, greeted Mary personally by saying:

Blessed are you WHO BELIEVED that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.

St. Augustine puts it, artistically, very clearly when he writes that Mary conceived Jesus in her heart by faith before she conceived Him physically in her womb; words which are an echo of the teaching of Jesus Himself (Luke 11:27-28):

A woman from the crowd called out and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that carried You and the breasts at which You nursed.”   He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and (believing) observe it.”

And so, dear People of God, we who follow St. Luke’s lead and join with Elizabeth in her greeting to Mary, are brought back to Jesus immediately and with deepened conviction, for Mary’s faith is centred on the miraculous Gift of God’s own Son which no human mind could then conceive without God’s most special grace … given to Joseph (You shall call His name  Jesus), and to Elizabeth thanks to the closeness of her spiritual relationship with Mary.  Give thanks, therefore, to God, dear Catholic people, for the wondrous beauty of His truth and the glorious gift of our faith.

And how much we need Mary’s example and Elizabeth’s spiritual awareness this Christmas time where all the celebrations seem to trumpet but one thing: GIFTS manifesting human GOOD-COMPLACENCY!!   And people say, “Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?”  In our modern western world God’s Gift to man is forgotten, ignored, even denied, while so many people publicly rejoice about their own giving-gifts-goodness, without the need of any God interfering in their lives.

However, Mary has another supremely important lesson for us to appreciate in this Advent time.

God the Father Himself, by His Spirit, made Mary of Nazareth one with Jesus her Son through faith, love, and body-and-blood physicality; in no way are they to be separated. Mary is now living eternally in heaven for the glory of God, and her prayerful influence there for us on earth is totally for the glory of her dear, dear, Son in the hearts of all men, so that those well-known words of Jesus:

            What God has joined together, let no man separate

are most important and significant for our considerations today.

In Luke’s story of the Visitation of Our Lady, Mary is shown as a figure, a foreshadowing, of the Church:  Mary is, by Jesus’ EXPLICIT gift, our heavenly mother; the Church is our spiritual mother on earth.  As Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Church gives birth to disciples of Jesus who are born from her proclamation of His Good News or by birth from her womb -- the baptismal font -- by the power of the Holy Spirit bequeathed to her by Jesus. Mary is praised in Scripture as ‘she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled’ while Mother Church ‘unfailingly adheres to the faith … delivered once for all to the saints.     We have to recognize this mystery of the real oneness between Jesus and Mary, and also the spiritual oneness between Mary and Mother Church; and we should learn from St. Luke to reverence the Church as Elizabeth reverenced Mary; it is only the devil who works to separate what God has joined.

Jesus has promised to be with His Church to the end of time; He has given His Holy Spirit in fullness to His Church, to guide her into all truth.  When His disciples gather together as Church, Jesus is infallibly in their midst; and He has promised that He will defend her against the Devil’s attempts to destroy her.   As we heard in the second reading that:

For this reason, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me; holocausts and sin offerings You took no delight in.  Then I said, ‘As is written of Me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do Your will, O God.’”

The Son of God took a human body from Mary in order to do His Father’s will on earth for our salvation; so, now in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father, He still uses His body to continue His Father’s work: not the glorified fleshly body -- which is, as I have said, at His Father’s side in heavenly glory -- but His sacramental Body and Blood, in the mystical Body of Mother Church, of which He is the Head.

Mother Church is greater than any individual, even greater than Mary who is a member of the Church, and as such is of the Church, in the Church, not above her.  And so, we must reverence Mother Church given to us for our salvation by the Lord Who is her Master and ours.  He uses His Church, our earthly Christian-and-Catholic Mother, to guide us and bless us; and He never allows the inherent human weakness of her individual members to betray His divine Truth committed to her for protection and proclamation for the salvation of mankind.

People of God learn from Elizabeth; she was, as the Gospel tells us, ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ and the Holy Spirit led her to cry out:

And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  

Reverence and love, honour and delight in, Mary, now Queen of Heaven but ever our deeply-concerned Mother and multi-occasional (!) visitant; and in the same spirit pray and stand up for, trust in, Mother Church; not because of her earthly pomp, prestige or influence, but because she is the instrument Christ wills to use for our salvation and God’s greater glory; she is His Mystical Body, He is her Head, and His Spirit is her very life. Such is the purpose of God, dear friends in Christ, that, as loving and obedient children of her He has chosen to serve His purposes of salvation, His Spirit will fill our lives and form us ever more and more into the likeness of Him Who is to come, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is our present hope and will be our future reward.

3rd Sunday of Advent Year C, 2024

 

(Zephania 3:14-18; Philippians 4:4-7; Saint Luke 3:10-18) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus, here are three beautiful quotations taken from each of our three readings today:

Sing aloud, O daughter of Sion, shout O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart O daughter of Jerusalem! …. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst … a mighty One Who will save; HE WILL REJOICE OVER YOU WITH GLADNESS, He will quiet you by His love; HE WILL EXULT OVER YOU with loud singing … you will no longer suffer reproach. (Zephaniah)

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice … do not be anxious over anything … and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians)

I baptize you with water, but He Who is mightier than I is coming, … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.   (St. Luke)

Thanks to those readings we have an easily forgotten truth thrust to the forefront of our minds today: namely, that the loving faith and obedience of those of His children at Holy Mass today – that is you, dear People of God whom God the Father first directed to Jesus -- and your ‘quiet’ trust and confidence in His own fatherly love for you, is so very pleasing to God, the Father of us all that the prophet Zephania did not hesitate to describe it with words, as it were straining at the leash, to help us to understand them:

          HE WILL REJOICE OVER YOU WITH GLADNESS,

          HE WILL EXULT OVER YOU WITH LOUD SINGING.

Can one speak of God like that?  Isn’t that too human a way of speaking??

Zephania did not know about the HOLY TRINITY, he only knew of the God of Israel, but didn’t he express a most amazing fulness of divine rejoicing?

Rejoice and exult with all your heart O daughter of Jerusalem!  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst!

There he speaks of the Father; Jesus was not appreciated by His Jewish brethren!

A mighty One Who will save; HE WILL REJOICE OVER YOU WITH GLADNESS, He will quiet you by His love;

Now, those words do express Jesus’ love for His people.

Surely there we hear something of the Most Holy Spirit delighting, transporting, the awareness and majestic humility of God the Father?

Dear People of God, you who are today spiritually offering the crucified Jesus to the heavenly Father, thanks to the Holy Spirit guiding your heart and mind in sympathy with your sacrificing priest at the altar … you who are thereby fulfilling your Lord-and-Saviour’s dearest wish, and are also inviting the Holy Spirit’s most expressive joy to resonate within your own hearts … you dearly beloved Catholic Christians are -- in this sacred hour -- giving, causing, such joy for your heavenly Father, that Zephaniah’s words, wondrous though they are, are by no means enough.

That spiritual outpouring of Zephaniah needs to be expressed in Apostolic and Catholic fulness and truth by our other two readings from St. Paul:

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus;

and then from St. Luke quoting most appropriately St. John the Baptist concerning JESUS:

          HE will baptize you with the HOLY SPIRIT and fire.

Jesus always knew that His service was pleasing to His Father and that gave Him insuperable strength and an unbreakable resolve in seeking to do His Father’s will at all times for our salvation.  And a certain measure of that confidence and joy of belonging to, and being beloved of God in Jesus, should encourage and embolden each of you here in your relationship with the Father Who has a specific purpose for your uniquely  individual life as a child of His, even IN THIS WORLD OF DARKNESS.

Dear Catholic and Christian People of God, ‘rejoice in the Lord always’ and always endeavour to make His love the ultimate joy and delight of your life for Jesus.            

2nd Sunday of Advent Year C, 2024

 

(Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:3-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6) 

Some two thousand years ago, John the Baptist called upon his Jewish compatriots to prepare themselves for the fulfilment of their vocation as God’s Chosen People, by preparing the way for the coming Messiah: a ‘Lamb-of-God’ Man recognized as such by John  (son of the Virgin Mary’s  elderly ‘kinswoman’ Elizabeth). John had recognized Jesus ‘instinctively’ when in his own mother’s womb; and later – having lived many years in the desert and become John the Baptist – he recognized Him again, this time by the prophetic grace of God, as the One born of the immaculate Virgin Mary of Nazareth, so revered by his own blessed mother Elizabeth and saintly father, Zechariah;   now, John was to fulfil his own personal calling and his father’s prophecy by proclaiming Jesus as Christ the Lord, God, and Saviour of all mankind.

Today Mother Church recommends that we -- the faithful remnant of believers in Jesus’ offer of salvation -- carefully reconsider John’s inspired proclamation, because of its great significance for us who are now preparing to invite and welcome the same Lord, God, and Saviour, into our very own hearts and minds anew this Christmas.

Some 700 years before John, the prophet Isaiah had spoken of the messianic times to come in Judah by evoking:

A voice (that) cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God   Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. (40:3-5)

For our evangelist St. Luke, John the Baptist was that very voice crying in the wilderness, and the greatest of all those born of woman, as Jesus Himself would later declair. John taking up Isaiah’s prophecy, insisted that all those awaiting the imminent coming of the Messiah had to do something to further both the advent of the Messiah in their days, and in fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy.  And Mother Church, setting Luke’s Gospel message before us today, suggests likewise that we -- each and every one of us who believe in Jesus and desire His Advent blessing this year – do something in accordance with John’s inspired proclamation, something that we alone can and should do: first, acknowledge with sincere sorrow our own personal sins, and accompany  that by fruits expressive of such repentance, above all, however, by awaiting the Coming One with hearts full of gratitude, eager to receive and embrace Him as the Only-begotten Son of God, sublimely gifted to us, as One of us, the very Lamb of God, Jesus Who alone can enable us to fulfil our divine calling and live as truly adopted children of God, and Jesus’ own brothers and sisters.

It is so easy for still-faithfully-practicing Catholics in these modern times of popular faithlessness and rank-and-file betrayal of Jesus, to settle down, limiting themselves to holding firmly to the Faith they were originally taught, taking care they do not betray or fall short of it.  In fact, however, Mother Church -- as she prepares to suitably welcome Jesus, the Prince of Peace and Light of the World -- is being called to witness a renewal of her living faith and loving witness by refreshed lives this Christmas.  She needs her children to show authentic joy by growth in that Faith and deepening of that love – our grateful love – meant to enwrap it: embracing and reviving the love of so many martyrs, confessors, and fellow faithful Catholics who have treasured and handed the Faith down to us over centuries.

Devout Catholics are regular in their observance of Sundays and holydays, and they intend to receive the sacraments well.  However, though they do these things regularly, which is good, they can also tend to do them routinely, which is not quite so good.  For, having routinely done these practices, they then tend to wait for the Lord.  They do not often think to undertake un-burdensome heart-and-mind approaches, which are not things that can be called duties, but are endeavours to respond to God’s secret invitation, to answer God’s Personal call being made to them individually, personally.

Too many Catholic disciples of Jesus hear Mother Church calling them in the name of God, from without themselves, but they do not seem to hear God Himself whispering within themselves, from within that secret and most holy sanctuary which is their own soul.  Thus, they confine themselves to mediocrity: because they are, in fact, coming to a halt, settling for obligations and duties -- long known and recognized -- faithfully observed each and every year, but going no further, no deeper. Now such a ‘coming to a halt’, at whatever level, is mediocrity for one called to allow the Holy Spirit to lead him or her throughout their life to become more like Jesus, ever more truly a child of God.

Dear fellow disciples of Jesus, God the Father Who first called you to Jesus  is still calling you to Jesus by the Holy Spirit Who wants to lead you further along the way of Jesus that He might bestow on you  what He, God, wants and plans FOR YOU.

Paul was very proud of his converts in Philippi and he acknowledged that not only were they indebted to himself, but that he too was indebted to them for the assistance they had given him in his need.  He prayed for them as special friends:

It is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. (1:9)

Now, that should be the programme for all of us: for our love can abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.  Now, don’t immediately think that is not for you, that you can’t do that!  Of course you can’t!!  But God can and He does want to do it for you, to bring it about in you.  You might not, indeed, be the reading, the studious, type, you might not be a particularly deep thinker, but that does not exclude you from taking up God’s invitation: because it is a special invitation to you from Him Who knows you best of all; it is an invitation to lead you to the fullness of your vocation, to give Jesus all your love, in your uniquely personal way.  If you are not a reader, not a deep thinker, O.K., don’t feel any need to force yourself into periods of tedious and fruitless study or reading.  Do what you do best.  Perhaps you like to be with people rather than with books: try, then, to do your best to be with Jesus more.  I don’t necessarily mean kneeling in Church, you might have too many duties and tasks for that: then, just try to be more with Him in your mind and heart using such words as, “I thank You, I trust You, I love You” meaningfully, just as you are naturally so often with your children or your grandchildren in your mind and heart.  If your life seems burdened with other people’s troubles, then understand this: worrying is no part of a Christian vocation, it is a devil’s deceit!  Some people find they can’t keep their attention on prayers which tend to become just empty words: they might however, find great peace in just being in Jesus’ presence in the Church without saying anything: content and happy simply to know that He is there and they are in His presence.  I can’t go through all the ways of deepening love for Jesus here, that is spiritual direction, much ignored today; but be quite sure of this, you ARE invited, called, urged by God the Father, Who wants to help your love for Jesus, His Son, to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight: not knowledge of facts or insight into problems, but personal knowledge, awareness, appreciation, of the Person of Jesus, that is, understanding of, and empathy with, commitment to, love for, Him.  Such knowledge and insight will enable you to grow just as Paul wanted his beloved Philippians to grow:

That you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. (1:10)

Some people, even some good Catholics and Christians, try to set good works for others at variance with oneness with Jesus.   They tend to think that they ought to be doing something for Jesus, some good work, some visible, tangible, work that helps to free at least one corner of the world from its overwhelming burden of suffering and sin: work of that nature, they feel, is much better than just ‘becoming holy’.

Of course, when they put it in that way to themselves, they are loading the dice for their own purposes, because, comparing supposedly generous works for others with the implied selfishness of oneself trying to become holy before God is totally wrong.  True holiness is the most unselfish state possible, it is entirely God centred: true holiness is love of God that will lead to total forgetfulness of self, and such self-sacrifice in the likeness of Jesus, is only authentic and true when it is a spontaneously free gift, brought about indeed by the Holy Spirit, but allowed, accepted, embraced, and whole-heartedly followed, by the recipient. Such holiness is most un-common and no easy option.  True holiness, it was, that sustained the early martyrs suffering persecution under the Roman Empire; and still today continues to manifest itself in the lives of those enduring and dying for Jesus under modern fanatical or totalitarian regimes, or those saddened and oppressed by their own compatriots’ rejection of Jesus’ demanding love, for easier and more pleasing worldly and/or fleshly options (2 Timothy 4:3–4):

The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but, having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions  and will turn away from listening to the truth.

God can always find many people to do things for Him; for many there are, who will do good things for motives such as self-approval or public appreciation; frequently, the very relief of working at something that occupies their mind and distracts their heart is enough for them.  Indeed, there are those to be found, as St. Paul himself experienced who will even do good things for evil reasons: 

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.  What then?  Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. (Philippians 1:15–18),

Even now there are a number of people who will do good things for Jesus, but those who want to love Jesus Himself are much rarer ‘birds';

Therefore, let us turn back to our second reading where St. Paul spoke (1:5) to the Philippians of:

Their partnership (with him) in the gospel from the first day until now.

In that spirit of loving appreciation and gratitude he prayed most especially that:

(Their) love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

Dear People of God, our fellowship St. Paul with in proclaiming Christ in today’s hostile world requires that work of us which he so persuasively urged his friends at Philippi to undertake in all confidence.  It is, precisely, our essential part in the missionary work of Mother Church today; and ultimately, only such a partnership of the whole faithful Christian people in the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel will lead to the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy:

            All flesh shall see the salvation of God. (Luke 3:6)

1st Sunday of Advent Year C, 2024

(Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36) 

Our readings today began with the God of our father Abraham, and the God of Israel pin-pointing – through His prophet Jeremiah -- the breaking point between our initial, Christian and Catholic, Abrahamic Faith, and the Jewish faith of Israel past and present:

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah … I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute  justice and righteousness in the land.  

That righteous Branch -- Jesus of Nazareth -- was indeed ‘sent’ to Israel,  but He was to be  rejected by the two ‘native’ powers in Israel: the  self-serving, power-conniving, Temple rulers, and the proud, self-appointed, ‘spiritual spokesmen’ of Israel’s, sinfully-inclined, people.

Now, it is not possible to speak of the events of those latter days using ordinary language, for they will be events unseen before and beyond all human anticipation and imagination; that is why, in the Old and New Testaments -- even when Jesus Himself is speaking  -- the language used is of a special character, called ‘apocalyptic’ language, full of strange and extreme events: cosmic at times in their immensity and impact, always awesome, and often terrifying for mere human beings.  Therefore, because those times will also be times of divine judgement -- when the divinity of Jesus and the supernatural majesty, holiness, and power of the all-Holy God are revealed -- they will be times of deep darkness, and, for the ungodly,  dreadful times of great personal distress, of which only nature’s primeval powers can give us any realistic impression:

There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars; on the earth nations will be in dismay.   People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

In the first reading therefore, speaking of those who would hear and obey Jesus’ words, we heard:

In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely.  And  this is the name by which it (the righteous Branch) will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness'  executing His  justice and righteousness in the land;

Jerusalem will dwell securely because there will be some of her children thus clothed with justice -- the supernatural God-given gift of righteousness -- says the prophet Jeremiah; and that is what St. Paul had in mind in our second reading:

Finally, then, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God – just as you are doing – that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Mere human beings, who refused to live in a way pleasing to God, and who consequently, would not be clothed with the righteousness of the Lord, would be unable to survive the manifestation of divine holiness on the day of His coming.  We are forewarned about this, dear People of God, every returning summer for, whether we have good eyes or weak eyes makes no difference, all of us can be blinded by the direct glare of the noon-day sun.  Likewise, immediately before the coming of the Lord, personal confidence, courage, riches or ability, much less overflowing rage and anger, or self-pity, will be of no comfort whatsoever, when primeval, instinctive, terror strikes the human heart at the sight of the tumultuous seas, mountainous waves, or the rivers of flaming volcanic lava in full spate.

Only those prepared by sincere conversion and divine endowment, fortified by actual prayer and sought-for personal love of God, will find themselves able to survive those days, as Jesus warned us:

Stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

Since this will be the situation when God comes to bring time to a close and to destroy sin from the face of the earth; and most especially, when you think that we only have one life, that is only one chance, and whoever gets it wrong cannot come back and try again, it is surely amazing that many put their trust in merely human self-appointed and self-opiniated, teachers, gurus, prophets, and guides!  Divine holiness, majesty and power will be manifested; all-seeing knowledge and inscrutable wisdom will be deployed; and yet, you find some devilishly proud and presumptuous people saying to others who are, incredibly, foolish enough to listen to them: “Follow me, do what I am doing, see how I am enjoying myself!  It won’t be that hard at the end … we just go to sleep, there is nothing after that!”  Issues that have exercised human minds and involved human hearts and consciences from man’s beginning, which have provoked a morally unanimous religious awareness, appreciation, and response from humankind, are challenged and called into question by individuals whose pride is overwhelming and whose life but a fleeting shadow.  They spew out teachings which, seemingly human, are ultimately devilish: sexuality is not something given by nature but something to be ‘more or less’ genetically arranged according to personal preference; homosexuality is an equal option for life alongside marriage between a man and a woman; or again, there is no right and wrong, there is no truth, it is only a matter of social or political correctness and human upbringing; what used to be called ‘sin’ is but the result of genetic disturbance; and human life has no other dignity than what we accord it.

Dear People of God, life for us believers, is a wondrous mystery:  what is its true meaning; has it an ultimate purpose? Of ourselves, we could only guess. Mysterious too are the essential elements of the life we experience:  what is love; how can one find happiness and peace of heart? why is life so tasteless without hope? what is truth? where is justice??  Again, why do we feel, inside, that some things are wrong; and why – having done such things, even though in secret -- do we feel disturbed, ill at ease, indeed, under threat???  Such questions as these are of vital importance, because both reason and experience teach us that life is problematical: money cannot buy happiness, worldly success or renown cannot guarantee peace of heart, nor can present pleasure foster future hope.

Here then, as we begin the season of Advent, we are urged by Mother Church to do some serious thinking.  We are urged look into our hearts, to sound those hidden depths that we so rarely penetrate in our everyday life and activity, for only there can we find some appreciation and understanding of the mystery of our make-up as persons, as individuals who have been made in a divine likeness.  For all of us do believe that we are special: none of us can tolerate injustice done against us, and we all hate lies and love truth as they affect our lives.  Who is there that does not know that life inspires hope, while death, on the other hand, provokes despair?  Inexplicably, we feel ourselves made for life, even though all things else are made and are content to die a natural death.

People of God, we Catholics are Christians -- the original and authentic Christians -- called to bring the Gospel, the Good News, to the whole world, throughout time.  And the message we are commissioned to bring is that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the mystery of human existence and the supreme hope for our human destiny: He alone can bring peace and hope into our hearts and minds, together with the strength to live and love aright both in society and as individuals.  Above all, we are to proclaim Jesus Christ as the only One Who can raise us up to aspire to a heavenly destiny; a destiny before God the Father which will be the glorious and eternal fulfilment of all our possibilities, powers, and longings.  Our teaching is certain and clear:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)  I and My Father are One. (John 10:30)

Because the Father Who calls us to Jesus has committed all things to Him, so we too, who answer the Father’s call, come to Jesus as His disciples, commit ourselves totally to His Spirit that He might form us in the likeness of Jesus as true children of the Father: there is nothing hidden or horrible in our lives where His presence cannot bring healing and hope, where His rule will not bring peace and fulfilment. 

In all such ways does God’s Providence and Love govern, sustain, and guide our lives that we might ultimately be made able to humbly accept and whole-heartedly embrace what is sure to come:

The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (And) when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.   

Christ the King Year B, 2024

 

(Daniel 7:13-14;  Revelation1:5-8;  St. John 18:33-37) 

Today we are gathered to celebrate our King, Jesus Christ, Son of God,  ‘sent’ to be Our Lord and Saviour; and today is the very best time for us to recall that supreme memory of Him: Jesus Himself, explaining to Pilate, the Roman Governor in Jude , just WHO He was:

Pilate said, "So you are a king?".  Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice."
         
Jesus is King, and as King He bears witness to the truth.  Notice that Jesus says He witnesses to the truth, not just to truth, but to the truth, THE ETERNAL TRUTH that should guide and rule men’s lives here on earth and will ultimately determine their destiny.   Bearing witness to the truth is the distinctive sign of His Kingship.
 
That gives us something to ponder, because we are, or want to be, disciples of Jesus; and He Himself has told us (Luke 6:40):
 
Everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
 
Now we, as Christians and above all we Catholics, are very much aware of truth because we believe that there is an objective truth about Jesus to be learned and passed on to future generations; just as we have received it, through Mother Church from past generations, and ultimately from the Apostles themselves.  We also believe that as individuals we have to practice that truth, meant to both lovingly guide us how to live, and occasionally to rule us, in order to protect us from all sorts of lies that are wrong and sinful, because they are harmful to humanity created in God’s own image and likeness.
 
Nevertheless, despite this our strong, Catholic awareness of truth, it might possibly come as something of a surprise to renew our awareness of Jesus’ own attitude to truth.

First of all we note that He told Pilate:
For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

Indeed Jesus’ even went on to say on another occasion when speaking to His disciples (John 14:6):
          I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus is the Truth, and was sent by His Father to become a man, in order to bear witness to the truth of His Being.  In that case, surely, we can with both gratitude and appreciation, recognize Mother Church’s fundamental mission to proclaim Gospel truth: she cannot change the Gospel given her, to suit changing worldly preferences or satisfy popular demands.  You will remember that, when Jesus established Peter as the rock on which He would build His Church, He said:
          The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

How could the gates of Hades, Satan’s dominion, overcome her?  Listen!  Jesus once told us (John 8:44) of Satan, the Devil,

He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

So you see that “the gates of Hades”, the kingdom of the devil the father of lies, could only overcome Mother Church by leading her away from the truth into falsehood, by lies or obfuscation.  Such a church could never be allowed to bear the glorious appellation Catholic.   Founded on the rock of Peter’s confession of the truth about Jesus, the Catholic Church can never -- Jesus Himself solemnly promises us -- be led by the devil away from the truth.  Mother Church exists to proclaim and bear witness to the truth although, alas, the German synodal church is still under dark clouds, thanks to her leaders listening to the devil’s obfuscation, and proudly yielding to embrace his offer of ‘plenty’.

Finally, the disciples of Jesus, those called by the Father, those whom Jesus welcomes, are characterized by the following words of Jesus:
Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice. (John 18:37)

Jesus is the truth, Mother Church proclaims and protects the truth, we are on the side of  truth, and we listen to her proclamation of Jesus.
When Pilate heard those words of Jesus, we are told that:
Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"

Our modern Western society repeats Pilate’s question, and many don’t know what ‘truth’ is or means;  they don’t even bother themselves about it, trying desperately to fill their lives with pleasure and activity in order to forget the question of truth, because truth, as such, governs rational men, and our modern Western world wants, above all, to be free from all possible powers of coercion.

Just think of the glory of Jesus, our Saviour and Risen Lord as He was seen in Daniel’s vision (7:13-14)

He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.  And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom; that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Jesus, we learnt from the second reading, is:
The Alpha and the Omega, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.
And  when He comes, His majesty and power will be manifest to all:
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him.  Even so.  Amen.

Now He -- the Lord of Glory -- is Truth, and His whole kingdom, power, authority and glory, is founded on truth.  His disciples, too, have all been drawn by His Father, to His truth, for His truth.

Truth is our life as Catholics.  How do we live it?  Is it just a matter of trying not to tell lies of whatever sort?  That, of course, is absolutely essential.  The devil is the father of lies, we cannot serve him.  But we can only come to share in the Kingdom of God with Jesus our King if truth rules in our hearts, in each and every aspect of our life as Catholics and authentic Christians.

Our King is Truth, our Church proclaims and defends the truth, and we are drawn to Jesus because we are on the side of truth.

If we are to be truly sincere as disciples of Jesus, we have to endeavour to understand the ramifications of truth.  For example, can anyone who is always worrying be recognized as an authentic disciple of Jesus?  To love Jesus means also, surely, to trust Him!  Again, if, when trouble comes along, a disciple instinctively and repeatedly turns to human beings for help and consolation without recourse to Jesus in prayer, can such a disciple be considered an authentic disciple?  We have to be true to Jesus and to ourselves if we want  authentic disciples.  Again, if – in a free society -- we never speak up for Jesus, His teaching, and His Church, no matter what people say against Him, can we be considered authentic and true disciples?  Can parents who leave the teaching of their children exclusively to the school, without themselves speaking of Jesus with their children, be regarded as authentic Catholic, Christian, parents?

People of God, Jesus is King and He wants us to share with Him in the joys of His Kingdom.  Truth is the light that must shine in our lives if we are to be able to live with Him in the Kingdom of His Father as children of light.  Each and every one of us must think for ourselves: is Jesus indeed my King, first and foremost in my life?  Does His truth rule me? 

We all have been called by the Father, because we have come to Jesus in the Church.  However, the way we all have to travel is long and it can be steep and hard in places, Future heavenly promises might then seem unreal, and our faith unrewarding.  That is the devil’s work.  He is a liar.  The pleasures he offers are only for a time and they become inevitably less and less delightful as the years go by; and one can be robbed of them at any time by sickness or unforeseen circumstances.  Heavenly promises, on the contrary are eternal, they may seem small, like the mustard seed, to begin with, but they grow ever more wonderful over the years, and not even death itself will be able to rob us of them.

Look to yourselves, therefore, dear friends of Jesus and fellow Christians, take legitimate pride in your calling and above all in your King.  You are called to become like Him Who is the Truth: so persevere in truth; be His true disciples and His truth will make you free, able to reign (co-heirs) with Him in His heavenly Kingdom.