The Epiphany of Our Lord 2014

The Epiphany of Our Lord (2014)

(Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12)

This great solemnity of the Epiphany evokes the majesty, glory, and power of the One come from heaven to live among us for our salvation: a majesty testified to by the Father Himself speaking from heaven at His baptism in the Jordan; a glory manifested and confirmed again by the voice of the Father at His Transfiguration on the mount; a super-abundant power and saving compassion displayed at the wedding feast of Cana where He changed water into rich and copious new wine.  These signs of His majesty and glory, power and compassion, give us unshakeable confidence that what He has promised – freedom from the power of sin and death here on earth, and the hope of eternal salvation in and with Him in heaven -- He can and will fulfil in and for His Church, in and for you and me gathered here in His Church today to praise His most Holy Name.  

As you heard in the Gospel reading, this humble Lord of majesty, glory, and power, is the One to Whom the heavens themselves, nature’s primeval powers, gave obedient witness by means of a guiding star that disclosed His very birth- place;  the One Whom Israel’s inspired prophets and ancient scriptures had long foretold would come; the One recognized and worshipped this very day in Bethlehem of Judea by Magi from the East and first-fruits of the Gentiles, as King of the Jews, Prophet, and Priest.  Yes, indeed, People of God, we join with the mystic potential of creation itself, with our ancient fathers and forebears in faith, and with all those who, through the ages, have been and are humbly searching for God in accordance with their possibilities; and on the supremely solid basis of such a privilege, we have very, very good reason to rejoice on this day.

Our Blessed Saviour, however, does not clasp this glory to Himself exclusively, as we are invited and solicitously encouraged to understand from our first reading:

Rise up in splendour, Mother Church! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.   See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears His glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.

In these days of scandals, contradiction, and rejection, we must never forget the truth of Isaiah’s prophecy, for Mother Church is, even today, supremely privileged as the Spouse of Christ.  All nations of the world can walk surely by the light of her teaching, and the shining radiance of her saints is inspiration for all those called to share with Jesus His victory over the sin of the world and give glory to God in the highest.

Let us consider those prophetic words a little more closely:

            Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.

Mother Church can, and does, enrich the world with her proclamation of the truth; nevertheless, besides the light of Mother Church’s teaching, the shining radiance of her people’s lives is required that the nations may be brought to walk humbly yet confidently along the way of the Lord.   That means, that all of us -- each and every ordinary member of the Church -- has an essential role to play in enabling her to fulfil the commission given her by the Lord Jesus to continue in our world of today the work of evangelization and salvation that He started by His own life, death, and resurrection.  How can we rise to such a calling?

Jesus once told a Samaritan woman asking Him for the water of life (John 4:22s.):

You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.

 

The world around us manifests far greater ignorance than did the Samaritans of old concerning whom Jesus thus plainly spoke; for, worshipping above all money and power, ever-seeking pleasure and plenty, they aspire to nothing better than self-satisfaction and popular esteem; and to this day are found rejecting and mocking that salvation coming from the Jews who believe in Jesus and live by His Spirit, as St. Paul teaches:

One is not a Jew outwardly. True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh.   Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter.   We are the (true) circumcision, we who worship through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh. (Romans 2:28s.; Philippians 3:3)

But let us not truncate Jesus’ words for, having denied the world’s gospel and exposed its false gods, He went on to tell the Samaritan woman and ourselves how we can show forth the shining radiance of Mother Church:

The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

And that, People of God, is the only worthy programme we can set for ourselves as disciples of Jesus in the world of today, to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; that is, to worship the Father in the power of the Spirit given us in Jesus’ Sacraments and by personal and loving response to the Truth made known to us in the Good News of Jesus: handed-down, proclaimed, and proferred to all men and women of good-will throughout the ages by Mother Church.

For – have no doubt about it -- the Good News of Jesus is God’s word, a word that does not return empty to God: 

The word that goes forth from My mouth shall not return to Me void, but shall do My will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) 

That means, that if we hear and embrace the truth of Jesus’ Good News in humble sincerity, seeking to understand, love, and serve Jesus and Him Who sent Him, then that Word, that Truth, will achieve the end for which it has been sent and  passed down to us and will set the Spirit at work in us: the Spirit of prayer Who supplies for our inability to pray at times; the Spirit of power Who enables us to resist all assaults of Satan and do what is beyond our natural powers; the Spirit of Love Who -- healing our sinfulness -- transfigures our weakness into the glory of the children of God.  That, People of God, is the programme we are invited to embrace today, to serve God with all sincerity -- as the prophet proclaimed:

True worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

As then you seek, in all sincerity, to read in private and hear in Church the Word of God, let the star that God’s unfailing Word will most certainly cause to rise within you -- usually without you even noticing it at first -- shine before you as you try to follow it as did the Magi of old; let it lead you to worship Jesus as the Father expects of you personally.  In that way Jesus will become a great joy for you; and, as you give your gifts to Him you will thereby begin to find your true selves, each one being formed in Jesus as a personal gift for the Father by the Spirit of Jesus.

Having found Jesus and worshipped Him in Spirit and in Truth, the Magi did not find it hard to leave without meeting Herod again.  There was, indeed, much splendour in his palace, many gifts were awaiting them on his tables, and flattery  a-plenty from his own lips and those of his courtiers, but what was all that in comparison with the peace, joy, and fulfilment, they had just experienced in the cave and at the crib in Bethlehem?  Could those who had been so privileged there as to hear or hear of the angels’ chorus, ever want to hear again, let alone be seduced by, the siren music of Herod’s dancers and the lascivious pleasures of cushions and wine.

For all who, in spirit, have made the Magi’s trip to Bethlehem and have begun to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, these words of St. Paul express all:

Forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13s.) 

Mary, Mother of God 2014

Mary, the Mother of God

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

In today’s second reading we heard St. Paul telling his converts in Galatia: 

As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 

Those words of St. Paul invite us today to consider how wonderfully the Spirit dwelt in the heart of Mary!   They show us, indeed, the magnitude of her blessing when we consider that the Spirit abided in and filled her whole being to such an extent that, whereas we are enabled by the Spirit, Paul tells us, to express our aspiration to and love for God with the human words 'Abba, Father'; Mary, on the other hand, responding to God’s call with love of such total commitment and a trust of such selfless abandon, was enabled to conceive in her womb and ultimately to ‘express’ God’s Divine Word Himself – allowing the Father’s co-eternal Son to find human ‘expression’ as Son of Man!   That was the faith for which Jesus openly praised her:

While He was speaking, 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 observe it.”  (Luke 11:27-28)

Indeed, it was that faith and commitment which Jesus appreciated in and associated with Mary above all else: 

"Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And (Jesus) looked around in a circle 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) 

And, although in this respect the following teaching from one of the Cappadocian Fathers in the early Church is both beautiful and uplifting:

Whenever you receive Christ’s word within you, and let it live in your heart, and build it up with your thoughts as in the womb, then you can be called Christ’s mother.

Perhaps the teaching of St. Augustine is more direct and inspirational:

Whoever believes with all his heart and is ‘justified by faith’ (Romans 5:11), he has conceived Christ in the womb.  And whenever ‘with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ (Romans 10:10) that man has given birth to Christ.   Be you therefore overflowing with fertility in the spirit, and at the same time unchanging in the soul’s virginity.

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 the use of Aaron the priest, his sons, and their descendants:

Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: “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.”   (Numbers 6:23-27)

Those are truly beautiful words used to confer a treasured blessing.  But consider how God the Father blesses us, and all who share with us in the New Testament covenant, through Mary and her Son.  For, Mary does not simply hand down, pass on, God-given words for occasional, though repeated, blessing in Israel; she receives and clothes with her own flesh and blood the One Eternal Word of God, and giving Him birth offers mankind its supreme blessing for all time and for eternity.  No longer simply a prayer invoking blessing for Israel, but God's gracious and unfailing 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 in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him.  In love, He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favour of His will, for the praise of the glory of His grace that He granted us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His grace that He lavished upon us.  (Eph. 1:3-8)

Holy Mary, you are indeed blessed above all women by God the Father, for you have given us the One through Whom and in Whom all the blessings of heaven itself are ours!

In our Gospel reading we learned that those who searched for the Child found:

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

Matthew, however, in his Gospel (2:11), makes no mention of Joseph when the Magi come into the presence of the new-born King of the Jews:

On entering the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother. They prostrated themselves and did Him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Perhaps Luke was intent, as was his wont, to give us the historical picture, whereas Matthew gives us his more theological understanding of the scene.   Whatever the reason, Matthew’s version is exact for all of us today: in our search for Jesus, we find Him with Mary.  For, when Jesus was on the point of dying on the Cross of Calvary, He addressed all His future disciples in the person of John, the one apostle standing there at the foot of the Cross, and told him to take Mary to his heart as his own Mother: 

            ‘Woman, behold your son!’   Then, to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother’

And so, Mary is no mere optional extra, and -- most certainly -- no unwarranted or unwanted complication, for Catholic spirituality.  For we recognize and appreciate that Mary leads each and every one of us to Jesus when we also recall that she is not simply the model for the Church, but the Church itself in its origins, and 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, as it were, Mother Church’s conductor for the Holy Spirit’s lightning and a channel of countless blessings, is also our model and inspiration in our personal relationships with Jesus, in so far as the Scriptures tell us that she, our Mother, was always sublimely one with Jesus: 

Keeping 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 longing and hoping to find God our most loving Father in and through Jesus.  Imitate Mary by treasuring the Good News of Jesus handed down to us by Mother Church who, through her presentation and preaching 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 presence in our midst by receiving Him with whole-hearted personal love and commitment, allowing Him to rule our lives as disciples on earth and beseeching Him to fulfil our aspirations as children for heaven. 

Therefore, hear the Word of God proclaimed in Mother Church with reverence and joy; treasure the goodness of His grace in your mind and with your heart; and, above all, seek to respond – by the Spirit – to the Father, 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)

Let us close our considerations with heartfelt words of gratitude and praise for Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, and His most loving gift to us:

 You are the glory of (heavenly) Jerusalem, the surpassing joy (and) splendid boast of (of all reborn in Christ).  With your own hand you have done all this; you have done good and God is pleased with what you have wrought.  May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever!  And all the people answered, “Amen!” (Judith 15:9-10)

So be it, today: Amen, amen!  Deo Gratias!!

Holy Family Year A 2013

  The Holy Family (A) 

(Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23)

Today’s readings are concerned, as we should expect, with human relationships, particularly those of family life.  In our modern society, where parental responsibility is, at times, notably and tragically lacking, there is a marked tendency for the government and society in general to “take over” from parents, and a corresponding tendency to give children rights against their parents.  This political support of, and encouragement for, children against their parents, has no parallel in the Bible.

There, children have rights indeed, and Jesus Himself tells us to reverence and respect them:

See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

 St. Paul tells his converts in the Church at Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:14) that:

Here for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek what is yours, but you; for children are not responsible to save up for (their) parents, but parents for (their) children. 

The Scriptures are not ignorant of the abusive behaviour of some parents but, notwithstanding those failings of the few, hold firmly to the best teaching and only model for the wholesome upbringing of the many, as you heard in the first reading:

The Lord honours the father in his children, and upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.  Whoever respects his father is atoning for his sins; he who honours his mother is like someone amassing a fortune.

We read in the Gospel how God Himself dealt with His Son as a human child.  The Father in heaven did not by-pass Mary and Joseph to communicate directly to the Infant, nor even to the young boy Jesus.  The heavenly Father spoke to Joseph and to Mary: they were the ones who would tell the Child and the Boy what to do and how to behave; they were the instruments of God for the Child, even though the Child was God’s own Son.  Consequently we can easily recognize the Christian attitude and teaching as regards parenthood: it is an honour and a privilege to be a Christian parent, it is a position of authority and also a position of responsibility; authority given by God and responsibility before God.  In all that is good, for the spiritual and the human good (both physical and psychological) of the child, the parents have a God-given authority and also a God-given backing: they do not need to have degrees in child psychology, nor certificates in human and social studies; seeking sincerely the good of their child, in favour with God and man (as the Scriptures say of Jesus), they will be guided by God in all the normal situations of life, and even in the extraordinary circumstances where no human help can be found.  No Social Services, no child experts, can supply for God-given parents, and no legislation should be allowed which insinuates otherwise, nor should parents themselves ever begin to doubt their own special grace for bringing up their child as a child of God and as a positive and helpful member of society.

Parents, being aware of their position of authority and responsibility, should be ever on the watch to help each other in the acceptance and fulfilment of that position.  You will recall how Mary, the mother, spoke to her Child when He had been lost for three days:

And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you." (Luke 2:48)

Mary was concerned, first of all, for Joseph’s authority; she wanted first of all to remind her Child of the respect He owed Joseph:

His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you."

“Your father and I”, that was the order of concern for Mary: Joseph’s position first, her own, second.  That is a model for all parents, for the Christian husband should have as his first concern that his child should love its mother; whilst the mother, like Mary, should always first teach and inculcate the child’s obedience to and respect for the father.

Finally, today, Christian parents should recognize that they, together, are the basis and foundation for the well-being -- spiritual, psychological and physical -- of their children; consequently they should pay close attention to the words of our second reading today.  On no account should they ever allow their child to separate them, for the good of the child they should come first for each other:

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.   (Colossians 3:12-15)

Remember also those other words of St. Paul:

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives, and do not be embittered against them.

Those are not words of domination but of co-operation for the good of the children, the words mean what I have already explained and what Mary has already shown: that the wife should be concerned that her children respect and obey their father, and she should give them an example of that attitude; and that the father, in his turn, must insist that his children follow his example in loving their mother.  It is on that firm and solid foundation that the other words of Paul will be fulfilled:

Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)

In this respect we can discover something of the particular reason for Joseph’s position in the Holy Family.

Joseph was not the physical father of Mary’s child and it might seem, for that very reason, that he could never be really essential for the coherence and establishment of that family.  He was legally necessary for Jesus’ Messianic descent from King David; he was personally necessary for Mary’s comfort and strength by sharing with her the public opprobrium of an apparently inappropriate conception; and he was physically necessary to protect the Child and His mother, above all when they were under threat from Herod’s persecution of the Holy Innocents.  But, since it was Mary who -- having given, exclusively from the human standpoint, both body and blood to the Child -- would be largely responsible for the mental and spiritual formation of His human character, wasn’t Joseph therefore, for the essentials, somewhat superfluous, supernumerary?  

By no means, for here we touch on the contribution of St. Joseph to Jesus’ human make-up – not just for His protection and upkeep, His health and security – but indeed for His make-up as a human-being, and above all, as Son-in-human-flesh before His heavenly Father.  For Jesus, as man, had to learn about God, to recognize and respond to, His heavenly Father through the understanding and awareness of His human mind, and the experience and sensitivity of His human heart; and in order to do this He had first to learn what ‘father’ meant for Him as a child, a son, in a human family,  above all, He needed to learn not simply what the word ‘father’ meant, but  what was to be expected of a father and how a true child should relate to its father.   As a child at Mary’s feet -- in her constant company and under her watchful guidance -- He would read and learn, love and appreciate, the Scriptures speaking of God’s love of and concern for, Israel His child, and in the synagogue He would learn to respond as an Israelite to such a God and Father.  However, at home, He would learn to respond as an individual person to a human father through His Personal experience of Joseph’s individual presentation of fatherhood, and also from observing His mother Mary in her own attitude and response to Joseph as father in the family.   Initially, such experiences would be very influential in helping the Child relate to the Heavenly Father -- uniquely His own true Father -- speaking to Him through the Scriptures, hearing and responding to Him in His life of human prayer and worship.   Joseph would thus, initially, be supremely important for what was of supreme importance in Jesus’ life: promoting and guiding His initial sensitivity and responsiveness to, His growing appreciation and love for, His heavenly Father.

People of God, we should all recognize that the Scriptures do not offer mere options for our consideration, options that we can ignore or reject as the fancy takes us; nor is the Spirit of the Scriptures subject to the spirit of modern times.  Holy Scripture, with its example of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, gives us divine and authoritative guidance together with the promise of sustaining grace and strength.   We can indeed ignore it, we can reject it, because God has made us free; but we cannot do those things without cost, and most certainly, we will never be able to find better guidance, strength, or fulfilment from the prevalent ideas of currently acceptable worldly wisdom, the lurid examples of many news-making lights in today’s decadent society, or again, the preferred easy options of the many whose main aims are earthly pleasure and plenty, and conformity with the prevalent attitude of current society.