Baptism of the Lord Year A 2020

 Baptism of the Lord (A)
(Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17)

Our readings today began with God saying through the prophet Isaiah:

Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Chosen One in whom My soul delights!

Those words were echoed in our reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew, where the voice of the heavenly Father was heard to proclaim:

            This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.

There can, therefore, be no doubt about the focal point of our celebration today: we must look afresh at, and learn to appreciate more, Jesus our Saviour, God’s chosen Servant in Whom His soul delights, the Father's beloved, sent-among-us, Son. 

Notice first of all, that whereas John the Baptist pointed out Jesus to some of his disciples by telling them of the mission Jesus would fulfil (John 1:29):

Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world;

at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, however, the Father does not reveal Jesus to us by saying "this is your Saviour" or any other such words indicating what Jesus was going to do for us; far from that, and infinitely more than that, He proclaims the very Person of Jesus, and, in doing so, reveals His own Self, with the words: 

            This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased!

With that proclamation the Father gives us a glimpse of the very essence of Divine Life and Beatitude in which the Father and Son are eternally One in the Holy Spirit of Love; and, by manifesting His Own sheer delight in His Son made flesh, He thereby invites us also to delight in Jesus to our utmost; not simply, nor even primarily, because of what He does on our behalf, but because of Who He is, among us.

Since -- in the process of canonization -- it has to be shown that candidates had practiced Christian virtues to a heroic degree, it might easily be thought that holiness demands, first of all, the practice of virtues; and, under that impression, some devout but misguided people regard the spiritual life as a matter of consulting, compiling, drawing up, a list of virtues to be given special attention -- one by one -- until, hopefully, all are mastered; while always, of course, rejecting sin and avoiding the slightest occasion thereof.  Such zeal, however, is very Pharisaic:  is not only mistaken in its appreciation of Christian spirituality, in which -- as the very word itself proclaims -- the Spirit should lead us to, along the way of, Jesus; it is also dis-figured by over-reliance on human cogitations and endeavours, thereby projecting an impersonal, most unattractive, perhaps even inhumane, picture of the Christian spiritual life of love for  God in Jesus.

In truth, Christian holiness cannot be characterized by anything other than a delighting in God, above all and in all.  The practice of virtues and avoidance of evil should flow freely and unconstrainedly from that transforming and transcending love as the ‘unconscious’ fruit of a P/personal relationship which fills one’s life.

First of all, therefore, we must want, seek, and pray to appreciate the Person of Jesus shown us, given to us for us, by the Father; and then, in Jesus and by the power of His Spirit, we should try to recognize, appreciate, and respond to, the Father Himself, so that we begin to share in Jesus' own love for the Father.  Only in that way can we fulfil our calling to become true disciples of Jesus, and in Him, true children of the Father, by the Spirit. 

In our endeavour to appreciate Jesus, therefore, let us turn back our attention to the prophet Isaiah who told us, in the first reading, about the Servant:

Behold! My Servant Whom I uphold, My Chosen One in Whom My soul delights!  I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

And then let us recall what Peter told us in the second reading:

You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

Both passages clearly relate to St. Matthew’s account in today’s Gospel reading of Jesus' experience on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist:

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

Now, John had not wanted to baptize Jesus, as you heard:

John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"

Jesus, however, insisted; He had come to do His Father's will  -- that is, "all righteousness" -- which meant that His life could not be lived in accordance with merely human standards, nor could it be thought subject to human judgements, not even those of one so holy as John the Baptist:

Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness." 

Isaiah had foretold what mission the Father had in mind for Jesus:

            He will bring forth justice to the Nations.

Few words, indeed, but full of meaning, because the prophet’s "justice" means God's truth and love, God’s own righteousness, to be fulfilled in us and in our lives.

Moreover, the prophet foretold how the Servant would go about His work, and so, indirectly, gave us some idea about what sort of person the Servant would prove to be:

He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 

He will not, Isaiah says, take advantage of simple people by bombast, nor indulge in any haranguing of emotional crowds; He will proclaim His message of justice and truth calmly, and with full respect for His hearers.

Isaiah went on to show us another engaging aspect of God's Chosen Servant, when he said:

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.

And so, though anointed with the Spirit and with power, Jesus would be characterized, the prophet said, by gentleness and respect; and this St. Peter confirmed in our second reading when he said:

He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Nevertheless, since Jesus had been given the mission to bring forth true justice on earth, He would inevitably meet with opposition in a sinful world, and this prospect led Isaiah to give another characteristic of the Chosen Servant and Beloved Son:

He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth.

And so, though -- in His gentleness and respect -- neither breaking what was bruised nor extinguishing what might still dimly glow, the Servant’s anointing with the Spirit and with power will not allow Him to be either disheartened or crushed by His painful experiences of life in a sinful world.  He will face trials similar to those we now encounter in our daily lives, and indeed others far greater and more testing than any we will ever know, but He will live through them as the Servant obedient in all things to the Lord, as the Son, in all things loving, and witnessing to, His Father.  In that way Jesus will be like us, one with us and able to understand us; and yet, for all that, He will be unique, the only One to faithfully bring forth justice and fulfil all righteousness, the One Who will neither fail nor falter in His mission:

            ‘till He has established justice in the earth.

And that, People of God, means that Jesus will never give up in His endeavours to enable us to recognise and appreciate the Father's goodness and love, and to raise us up -- by His Spirit -- to become more worthy children of such a Father.

Today there are many who try to proclaim the love of Jesus us by telling us how much He empathizes with us in our sufferings because He too has suffered; how His whole longing and aim is to bring us comfort and release, joy, peace and love, now.  And they leave it at that, being unwilling or afraid to speak of any further suffering to be borne or efforts to be made by those who want to belong to God.   And that is a travesty of the full truth: a travesty which, though pleasing to hear, is deadly in its effects, for it is a half-truth that would leave us no longer looking up to heaven but resting here on earth. 

The true Jesus, the Scriptures tell us:

Will not fail nor be discouraged ‘till He has established justice in the earth

that is, true justice in the hearts and minds, the lives and loves of you and me, and all others like us throughout the whole world who will listen to His Good News and gradually learn to fight the good fight here on earth while hoping for, and aspiring to, a new, eternal, home being prepared for us in heaven.

People of God, we are not always ready, perhaps not even always willing, to lift our eyes to heaven, because the devil both abuses our weakness and hides our ignorance so that we do not know our own needs, nor do we want to see our own failings.  But Isaiah tells us clearly in the name of the Lord:

I will appoint You (My Servant) as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness from the prison.

Though we are all blind and prisoners to a greater or lesser degree, let us not -- through pride – reject, or -- in fear -- turn away from, God's gift of a Saviour, because He intends to free us from our sins and enlighten our ignorance by drawing us, as the prophet Hosea said:

            With gentle cords, with bands of love. (Hosea 11:4)

Or, as Jeremiah (31:3-4) told us in even more striking words:

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness.  Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt.

Therefore, People of God, let us resolve this very day to allow God to rebuild our lives as He seeks to draw us in the Spirit -- with bands of love -- to Jesus; in and from Whom we can learn to appreciate, and to love more and more, the Father revealing Himself to us along with Jesus, as the Gospel proclaimed:

After Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened (for Him), and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him.  And a voice came from the heavens saying, "This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased."        

The Epiphany 2020

The epiphany (2020)

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

In the Eastern Church today’s solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord has precedence over Christmas, whereas for us in the West, Christmas Day is the greater celebration; and the reason for this diversity is that these two solemn celebrations are complementary

. 

At Christmas we celebrate God’s inconceivable humility and wondrous goodness whereby His only-begotten Son puts on human flesh, becoming Himself fully and truly human in His divine Sonship, in order to involve Himself with us totally – sin alone excepted -- for a right understanding and resolving of the mess into which we had got ourselves and our world by deliberate and wilful sinning against God.   And that Christmas awareness of such amazing humility and goodness on God’s part is both a constant reminder of the ugliness and folly of our pride, and a persistently loving provocation to recognize and respond to the  beauty of His Son-among-us, and learn from Him to renew something of the original beauty of our creation by humble gratitude and trust as children of God in the Son sent to be our Saviour.

On Christmas Day we recalled the words of Elizabeth to Mary our Mother: 

Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled (Luke 1:45);

and we too, as her true children, at Christmas renewed the sincerity of our belief in Jesus our Lord and Saviour and the simplicity of our trust in God’s promises for our salvation.

At the Epiphany, however, we rejoice in the divine glory manifested in the earthly life and being of Him Who, though coming as Saviour, deigns to be like us:

As an Infant, Who, like some uniquely wondrous lodestone, draws the heavens (planetary movements of those times being apparently confirmed by modern computer simulation) and the Magi (men guided by their learning in science and philosophy and deeply motivated by their sincere religious commitment) from lands afar, to His crib in Bethlehem;

At His baptism, when His humility before John opened the very heavens, calling forth a divine witness as the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and the Father proclaimed Him to be His own beloved Son;

At the wedding in Cana, where as a passing guest He changed, at His mother’s instigation (!), water into rich and copious new wine; His power there being manifested and matched by His divine awareness, human generosity, and filial compliance. 

All these resplendent signs of His human majesty, glory, power, and compassion, give us unshakeable confidence that what He has promised, He can and will fulfil in and for His Church throughout the succeeding ages of her public proclamation of, and Spirit-guided witness to, His Good News, and for all His true disciples as they try to live their personal lives according to His teaching and for the praise and glory of His most holy Name. 

For us, therefore, who are disciples of Jesus, there should be a more than worldly, human, joy when we celebrate the birth, the majesty and power, of Jesus, because His Kingdom is not of this world, as He Himself said.   As you all are well aware, though human joy is most desirable, experience does -- at times -- show it to be equally unreliable; again, worldly joy can change some people into louts and hooligans even more easily than it makes others into happy and generous companions; and when circumstances change, such joy can quickly disappear, leaving behind it corrosive complaint rather than grateful and calm peace. 

Jesus the Lord triumphed for us by overcoming death and destroying the rule of sin in our flesh, and His renewed coming this Christmas season is a confirmation of His  promise that He will share His triumph with all who put their faith, and find their joy, in Him, becoming one with Him through baptism and the Eucharist.  His victories are eternally valid; for, in His Resurrection and Ascension human flesh has once again been restored to heaven and is now, indeed, at  the right hand of the Father in glory; and He, the Risen Son of Man, is both willing and able to triumph over the darkness of sin and ignorance, not only in the world around us, as was shown by His bringing to naught the schemes of that cunning and murderous tyrant, Herod:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and thick clouds the peoples, upon you the LORD will dawn and over you His glory will be seen;

but also, in our own very intimate, complicated, and shadowy, minds and hearts.

Just as at Christmas we rejoiced and renewed our humble and grateful trust in the promises made to us in Christ, in accordance with the teaching of St. Paul who most emphatically teaches us (2 Corinthians 1:20) that:

However many are the promises of God, their "Yes" (is) in Him; therefore the Amen from us also goes to God for glory;

even so now, on this feast of the Epiphany – a word which means the shining-forth, manifestation, of the glory of Christ – we should exultantly rejoice, and stir up anew the confidence which heaven alone gives, as the prophet Isaiah proclaimed:

Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall throb and overflow.  For the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations shall come to you.

Grateful trust and sure confidence, humility and power, patience and vigour, joy and peace, each is so necessary for, and all are so beautifully complementary in, the fulfilment of our Christian vocation and personal calling, just as Christmas and Epiphany are equally essential for the fullness of our appreciation and liturgical celebration of Jesus, perfect God and perfect Man, coming to serve us as our total and unique Saviour.

And so, though the deep darkness of human sin is so evident in the world around, and even though our own souls may know too much of its oppressive shadow at times, nevertheless, His glory will appear for those who firmly believe His promises and confidently commit their lives to His most loving, and supremely powerful, Providence.

Therefore, People of God, I urge you in this holy season to discover deeper peace by confirming your trust in Jesus’ promises, and to renew your confidence by stirring up your joy, as you celebrate His glory and power; for such are the signs given and the blessings offered us in this sublime culmination of the Christmas season which is today’s Epiphany.

The multitude of angels sang:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests! 

And the shepherds, having told their good tidings to all gathered around the Infant Christ, returned to their sheep in the fields:

Glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

Let all of us, too, dear friends in Christ, sincerely pray that our celebration of the Epiphany today may give glory to God and further the exaltation of Holy Mother Church, through the comforting and strengthening of all those who are her true children.  Amen.  

The Holy Family Year A 2019

The Holy Family (A)
(Ecclesiasticus 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 the relationships of family life, in particular the relationship between parents and child.
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.  Such 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 (Matthew 18:10):

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. 

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

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 their children by the majority of parents, 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 communicate directly to the Infant Jesus, nor even to the young child 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 the special grace which is available to them  -- through sincere endeavour and personal prayer -- for bringing up their child as a child of God and as a respectful family member and positively 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 3 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 whole basis and foundation for the well-being, spiritual, psychological and physical, of their children; consequently, they should pay close attention to the words of St. Paul in our second reading today.  On no accounts should they allow their child to separate them; for the good of the child they should come first for each other (Colossians 3:12-15):

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. 
  

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 complementary 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 in that attitude; and that the father, likewise, 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 (Colossians 3:20) will be fulfilled:

Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

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 parents divine and authoritative guidance, together with the promise of sustaining grace and strength in response to obedience and prayer.   They can indeed ignore it, they can reject it because God has made us free; but they cannot do those things without cost, for they will, most certainly, never be able to find better guidance from our modern, pagan, and self-righteous society.

The teaching and tone of this address, dear People of God, are not for anyone and everyone but for those Christians and Catholics who have entered into matrimony with a specific purpose: offering their mutual love to God for His glory, their own personal fulfilment and for the greater well-being of mankind; and they are able to aspire to such purposes on the basis of God’s sacramental grace promised and ever available to them to transfigure their human endeavours so as to serve and further the infinite goodness of God’s loving intentions and saving plans for all men and women of good-will.

Christmas Day Year A 2019

Christmas Day  (A)   2019                                                      

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

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When we look at the world around us and consider the overall atmosphere of people’s understanding of and response to the Christian message of Christmas, despite the fact that the majority no longer recognize and accept that message as the root and inspiration of their Christmas celebrations while others distort it horribly, we cannot fail to see that Christmas above all other seasons in the Christian calendar is still thought to be a time for rejoicing, the time for rejoicing, with a joy that is singularly unaffected by any other considerations.

I am emphasizing the joy of Christmas because it is an essential element in our Christian life. Christmas is not just a season which comes around, apparently willy-nilly, once a year; rather, it has been given us to gradually form our Christian and Catholic character. Far too many Catholics today seem to have forgotten the joyous aspect of our Faith, of our relationship with the God and Father of Jesus, Who wants to be a Father for us too.  Many seem to regard the Faith mainly as a duty, an obligation, and God Himself as One demanding obedience under threat of punishment; not so much as a Father, but as One to be feared.   Such attitudes, dear People of God, are most serious distortions and even betrayals of the truth of what our response to, and relationship with, Him Whom Jesus taught us to call ‘Our Father’, should be like.

The Christian year as a whole is a comprehensive, balanced, and gradual presentation of the most emotionally formative aspects of Christian spirituality: first of all, Christmas Joy and Peace; then the strengthening, deepening, and personalising awareness of Gratitude and Love evoked by Easter; and finally the crowning Pentecostal fulfilment of Hope and humble Confidence through Spirit-bestowed strength.

Christmas, therefore, comes around each year to cement holy joy into and in our life, to make joy an essential part of our religious experience and psychology.  Of course, the pagan rejoicing at Christmas, being so often excessive, spiritually un-motivated, and even licentious, is an evil abuse and misrepresentation of Christmas joy; nevertheless, such abuse of Christmas does not, cannot, be allowed to undermine or diminish the abiding and enduring aspect of JOY as intended by God for His children, characterising not only this holy season, but the whole of their lives: this joy is spiritually motivated by a unique Child – one naturally beautiful by reason of its innocence and purity – and One awesomely, even piercingly, beautiful as a heavenly Child -- God’s most sublime gift to mankind -- through a totally Immaculate Virgin; a Child sent to bring, win, offer, salvation for and to mankind.

For many believers Christmas rejoicing has been gradually watered down into a merely human and childish rejoicing; and then, from being thus robbed of its inherent inspiration and spiritual dignity, it has subsequently been disfigured and degraded to such an extent that it has become a season of sensual pleasure-seeking and licentious excess.  At the best that pleasure-seeking is done through gifts, and then the merely human joy of giving and receiving gifts, is regarded as the ‘holiness’ of Christmas.  At the worst, those licentious excesses in our modern culture become totally unchristian, involving human exploitation, drug taking, anti-social behaviour, and even openly criminal activities; in such circles, a hang-over on wakening is commonly regarded as the amusing sign of what is considered to have been a ‘good night out’. 

Among some Catholics the reason for this lack of true Christmas joy in the practice of our religion is partly due to the fact that we also – as practicing Catholics -- have witnessed Easter being gradually de-formed by the sheer physicality of Christ's sufferings being given excessive and unbalanced prominence in popular preaching and devotional  practices  to ‘make up for’, counterbalance so to speak, the weight of human physical sinfulness.   Easter has been gradually deprived of that which is of supreme importance, namely, the example and inspiration of Personal, spiritual, love -- Jesus’ love for His Father and for us -- and the call to hope and confidence in the Risen Lord.

In that way, Christmas joy for too many of the faithful -- starved of deep Easter love, humble Pentecostal confidence and hope -- is no longer deep, pure and spiritually powerful enough to characterise their lives today; at the best, faithfulness and duty, obedience and fear, are the  pretty dismal residue from the original glorious endowment of joy, love, inspiration and hope.

People of God, we should try to open our hearts anew to the joy of Christmas, let us pray most ardently to the Holy Spirit that He may renew refresh and restore our lives according to those parting words of Jesus:

I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:11).

Joy in the Lord is part of our Christian and Catholic heritage, and we should not deprive ourselves, or allow ourselves to be deprived, of that which is meant to characterise us in Jesus.  We must not, however, repeat past mistakes, it is a joy that God gives, not one that we procure for ourselves.  Now, don’t think I am wanting you to eschew, reject, human joys, far from it, for I repeat that those human joys which are according to Christ are a gift also from God.  However, the Christmas Gift of Joy is above all a cause for spiritual, supernatural, joy; it is a Gift given to those who, first of all, pray for it, and who then try to delight in the Lord and live for His glory. 

As you heard in the Gospel reading:

Jesus, the true Light, was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him;

and that is still the condition of all present-day pagan revellers who in no way intend to celebrate the Name of Jesus at Christmas.

            He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

That too is still the present situation in the case of those who are merely nominal Christians and Catholics.

For ourselves, however, and for all who are sincerely seeking the Lord, we are then told that:

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name;

and that is the source, aspiration and hope, of our Christmas joy.  Because we believe in Jesus, we are told that we have been given a new life, born anew:

Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Therefore, in Jesus, those words we heard in the second reading apply to each of us:

            You are My Son, (My child), today I have begotten You.

And again:

            I will be (to you) a Father, and (You) shall be to Me a Son (My child).

My dear People of God, we have wondrous cause for rejoicing at Christmas, or rather, wondrous cause to re-new and re-fresh our rejoicing, a never-ending, ever-deepening and developing, spirit of rejoicing in our lives as Christians and Catholics.  Make no mistake, though, while God gives the cause of our rejoicing, He expects us, freely and personally, to do the rejoicing.  How, therefore, do we learn to rejoice?

For this we should turn to the other principal character in the drama that is Christmas: turn to Mary, to the one addressed by God’s angel with the command to “Rejoice” (Luke 1:28):

Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!

Mary began her rejoicing first of all by trusting wholeheartedly in God: adultery by one betrothed (as seemed to be the situation opening up before Mary) was punishable by stoning to death in literal accordance with the Law; but, far from worrying herself sick about her future possible-predicament, Mary hurried off help her cousin Elizabeth cope with pregnancy in her advanced age.  Mary’s total trust in God’s word enabled her to be totally forgetful of self and totally available for others.

Mary continued, strengthened, and deepened, her rejoicing in the Lord thanks to her great gratitude:

My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, for He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed, for He Who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. (Luke 1:47-49).

Those are the two essential ingredients for Christian rejoicing: complete trust in God, and, on the basis of that trust, the ability to look at things from His point of view and learn gratitude.  The Annunciation could have been -- depending on how Mary looked at it -- either a cause for deep anxiety or one of great rejoicing, death and dishonour or blessing and renown.  Mary, however, had no hesitation, no doubt:

He who is mighty has done great things for me; henceforth all generations will call me blessed

Anyone who would become a true disciple of Jesus should learn from Mary to rejoice by steadfastly trusting in the Lord; by consistently refusing to indulge solicitous considerations for personal well-being and advantage; and also by developing a grateful awareness of blessings already received from God: blessings such as good parents and family; loyal and true friends; personal talents; guidance received and help given; health of mind and body; hopes that draw you on and ideals and aspirations that inspire you … few have all these blessings, none, however, are bereft of all of them, every one of us has some cause for gratitude to God; and such causes, once recognised and gratefully acknowledged, readily multiply themselves so as to be seen with increasing clarity, and appreciated with ever deeper gratitude, as time goes on.

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The Law was a challenge, a requirement, written down as a legal document.  The Gospel of grace and truth, on the other hand, is a call, an invitation.  In the Gospel message and in the Person of Jesus, God is manifesting Himself, making Himself known so that He might attract and lovingly draw those who, through faith in Jesus and baptism in the Spirit, will become His children.  And surely, it is no hard thing to encourage such children to learn to trust, and show gratitude to, the Father Who so lovingly approaches them as does Our heavenly Father through Jesus, and in the Spirit?

Learn to trust, People of God, grow in gratitude, and joy will fill your heart.  Look at Mary; imitate her attitude to life: shall I worry about possible threats and difficulties or shall I trust God wholeheartedly?  Can one who has been reborn in Jesus by the Spirit, one who has been made a true child of the Father, one to whom the Father promises:

            I will be (to you) a Father, and (You) shall be to Me a Son (My Child),

have any hesitation?  Follow Mary!  After all Jesus has given us to her and her to us as our mother.  Follow Mary, and learn to rejoice anew in your practice of the Faith: it is not just a Law to be obeyed, it is a Father’s loving invitation and call for us to learn to know and love Him more and more.  And because it is your Father’s call, it does not just come from outside and hit your ears; you are His child and His call to you re-echoes in your heart, and in the deepest, perhaps still secret and unknown to you, recesses of your being its reverberation provokes the response of like to like:

Come my beloved (child), (there are) all manner (of blessings), new and old, which I have laid up for you.  Come. (Song of Songs 7:13)

And here dear People of God is the unique aspect of Christmas: Jesus comes as One of us, our Friend, proof and confirmation of our human dignity and perpetual incitement to mutual love and human respect, that He might become the Saviour of each of us in a Personal relationship leading from earth to heaven, even to the Father's presence and embrace. 

4th Sunday of Advent Year A 2019

4^th. Sunday of Advent (A)
(Isaiah 7:10-14; St. Paul to the Romans 1:1-7; St. Matthew 1:18-24)

The People of Israel had only come into existence by God's own call: from a motley gathering of enslaved ethnic groups they became a People by God’s choice; and as the People of God they could only prosper in existence by growing in their trust of the God Who had called them into being.  As the prophet Isaiah (30:15) would tell them:

In quietness and confidence (before the God Who called you) shall be your strength.

Ahaz, king of Judah the homeland of God’s Chosen People, was, however, a totally selfish and unreliable person, and a disastrously faithless king.  He sacrificed to the gods of the Canaanites and, when pressed by enemies, would not put his trust in the Lord God of Israel as God’s prophet urged him to do, but rather turned to the current super-power, the Assyrians, for more immediate and appreciable, military, help.

In the Old Testament, and in the Mediterranean world of that time, the King of a country was regarded as son of the country’s God.  Whoever the god of a nation might have been, the king was regarded as his son and his chosen instrument to bless, guide, and protect the nation.  This was also the common understanding of the "father/son" relationship between Yahweh, the only true God, and the reigning king of Judah and God’s Chosen People.

Thus the words of Yahweh in Psalm 2:7:
  
            You are My son, today I have begotten you,

were understood as a formula of adoption for the day of the king's coronation.  The king was called God's son because, after having ascended to the throne, he was understood to have entered into a special relationship with Yahweh which set him apart from other mortals, in so far as he -- the crowned king -- was regarded as the visible guarantee that Yahweh -- the Lord of Hosts -- was with His Chosen People for their blessing and protection; the king was, it can be said, son of God because of, for, the People of God.

You can imagine then the disgust Isaiah felt for this present king Ahaz who -- supposedly a son of God for Judah, an instrument of God for the blessing of His Chosen People -- was, in reality, faithless before the God of Judah and indifferent to the well-being of the nation, being entirely devoted to his own self-interest.  Therefore, Isaiah prophesied in the name of the Lord as you heard:

Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?  Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel, a name which means "God-is-with-us". 

The Great King who was to come, the Messiah, Emmanuel, would be, quite literally, GOD-WITH-US.  Ahaz had neither the faith nor the trust to live in difficult times as God's instrument of blessing for His People; the King to come however – Emmanuel -- would be God's very presence, not simply on the basis of human faith and fidelity, but on the fact of His divine origin and dignity: truly, the only Son of the only God; no mere instrument of blessing, but God’s most Personal Blessing Himself.

He would in no way be a descendent of Ahaz the unworthy, because His mother would be a virgin.  She would, indeed, be totally unlike Ahaz who was most miserably and cynically failing his people through distrust of God, for she would have such full and perfect trust in the Lord, that Elizabeth -- under the impulse of the Spirit of God -- would declare such faith and trust to be Mary the Virgin’s supreme characteristic:

Blessed is she who has believed for there will be a fulfilment of those things which were told her from the Lord. (Luke. 1:45)

Let us now, therefore, look at both Ahaz and Our Lady and learn what they, in their very different ways, teach us about the meaning of Emmanuel, God-with-us; for God is with us not only as Saviour for all mankind, not only with us as Head of the Body which is His Church, but also with each and every one of us who believe, for the right living and fulfilment of our earthly lives and the attainment of our ultimate reward in heaven.

Despite the Lord's promise of divine blessing and help made through Isaiah the prophet, Ahaz perversely put his trust in the military might of Assyria, opting for a quick-fix that would provide personal advantage and security though at the cost of crushing taxes for the people as a whole.  Mary, for her part, would totally ignore her own personal reputation and, trusting the Lord, would seek only and totally to know and to do His will, putting her total confidence and trust in His word given her through the angel Gabriel.

Ahaz feared for his throne and his life; Mary dedicated, consecrated, her humble virginity totally to the Lord, despite thereby -- according to the Law – possibly putting her life at risk.  Ahaz’ faithless gamble turned out predictably -- or should we say prophetically -- to be disastrous both for himself and his people.  Mary’s total trust that God would protect her was vindicated, and since then she has been proclaimed blessed above all women on earth and will be so praised throughout all time.

Therefore God-is-with-us means that He is always with us to guide us into and protect us along the right way, if – setting aside both our human fears and our personal pride -- we will, with confidence and trust, accept that guidance.   God-is-with-us to enlighten us, watch over and help us, in all our needs, but -- that grace and power can only flow into us through our faith and trust in Him.

Finally, we can say the God-is-with-us means precisely what it says: He is with us as our constant companion: always with us, sharing, and being involved with and for us, in every aspect of our life experience; in all situations He wills to be at our side -- whatever we may have done, whatever we may have made of ourselves -- if only we will turn to Him, humbly open ourselves up to Him, and trust Him.  As the negro spiritual puts it so eloquently: “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus”.

He is there, moreover, not only for our guidance, comfort, and strength throughout our earthly pilgrimage, but also to lead us to the Father, our eternal destiny … that we might learn to love Him as Jesus would have us love Him Who is, indeed, the supreme love of Jesus’ Being.

Soon we will be able to celebrate with true joy and gratitude the birth of Emmanuel -- Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God become Son of Man, and for us adults in Christ there is a most important question to ask ourselves: have we, over the years, become more like Ahaz than Mary?  The gifts that Ahaz wanted could not be asked of God, Ahaz did not appreciate, could not even understand, what gifts God might offer him.  Do we now not have that abiding confidence in God, that steadfast love for Him, and that ever-hopeful awareness of the wonderful gifts He bears with Him for our supreme well-being; that confidence, love, and hope, I say, that pushes us to make requests of Him?  In other words, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, do you really have a deep longing and desire for any of the gifts that Jesus will come offering us this Christmas, or have you grown old, and not venerably old, as a Christian, if not yet as a person?

It is eminently fitting, therefore, that today -- before the wondrous Son of God, the most beautiful Child of Mary is with us anew -- we should celebrate her from whom the Son of God took flesh in order to become the Lord and Saviour of mankind.   It is most truly fitting that today, we celebrate Mary precisely as the one who most perfectly surrendered herself in trust and faith to the promise made her by the Lord, since it is in this regard, supremely, that she is our model as well as our Mother; for St. Paul tells us that faith and trust in God's word is the very essence of the Christian life for all in Mother Church when -- as you heard in our second reading – he declares:

Through (Jesus Christ our Lord) I received the privilege of an apostolic commission to bring people of all nations to faith and obedience in His name. 

Holy Mary, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, that we may have the grace both to live life fully and to die peacefully, trusting in the promises of Him Who, in His great goodness, has already blessed us with faith to believe in His only-begotten Son, and endowed us with His Spirit, to lead us to the home that He has promised is already prepared and waiting for all who prove themselves to be true children of  her who is the God-given Mother of all believers.