Christmas Dawn Mass 2012

CHRISTMAS DAWN MASS

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

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

make known the message that had been told them about this child.

And though mention is next made of Mary, the shepherds are still by no means entirely dismissed, for we are told:

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

Finally, the whole gospel passage is concluded with the joyful picture of the shepherds singing the praises of God as they go back to their work:

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

Why are the shepherds so very important for the Gospel story, so firmly established centre stage?

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

From the very situation of His birth, therefore, Jesus began His life most emphatically proclaiming: I am the good shepherd. 

At Mass of the Day attention is directed to the divine Person and heavenly Origin of Jesus, and there our worship is called for and His glory exalted: 

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

Here, however, at this Dawn Mass, our love is provoked by the manifestation of His great goodness and the utter selflessness of His life-long intention to be a good shepherd, qualities rudely and humanly manifested for us by the shepherds around His crib: men who were often lonely for long periods and regularly sleep-starved; men who had to be prepared to face up to hyenas, jackals, wolves and even bears, wielding only their iron-bound cudgels and large knives; men used to experiencing ‘burning heat by day and biting frost by night’ according to the patriarch Jacob who once served as Laban’s shepherd. 

Jesus had a well-known, deep, regard for and appreciation of, shepherds, saying once:

            A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

The shepherd’s life was hard and public esteem for them was generally low; but Jesus openly acknowledged His admiration for those of them willing to lay down their lives for their sheep.  That viewpoint is not generally appreciated today and can even be attacked as being wasteful of human life.  For Jesus, however, it was a self-centred life -- no matter how cultured or eminent – that was supremely wasteful; while, a life embracing self-sacrifice for love of the good (even the good of mute and, at times, stupid sheep), evoked such admiration and love from Jesus that, no matter how humble, mis-esteemed or unappreciated by others it might be, He most readily saw Himself embodying it: laying down His life for His sheep, unhesitatingly going off into the desert in search of perhaps only one, stupidly lost sheep, and  most wholeheartedly rejoicing could He but carry such a lost one back to the flock on His shoulders!

For a true shepherd there was a ‘substantial’ reward quite apart from whatever pittance they might have been able to earn from the owners of the flocks: a mutual bond of trust and appreciation.  A good shepherd loved his sheep which, though they might number thousands, were, of themselves, quite helpless, and totally dependent on him for both good pasture and protection; and, living together continually for long periods, a strong bond of affection developed between them, as the sheep, quickly and easily, came to recognize their shepherd’s commitment and to trust him completely.  The shepherd’s morning call as he led them out to drink was unique and became immediately recognizable to the sheep of his flock, and he would often play upon a pipe or flute for them as they walked along the way to water or pasture; indeed, there were individual sheep so tame that they would respond to their name being called by that voice they so clearly recognized and so completely trusted.

And so, People of God, we who are sheep of His flock, should be able recognize and most gratefully appreciate the love that filled Jesu’s own Most Sacred Heart from the very first moment of His living amongst us.  What did He expect in return?  Since Jesus came to give, not to receive -- self-love being totally alien to Him -- I think we must conclude that He expected nothing for Himself.  Nevertheless, since His ability to give would ultimately depend on mankind’s ability or willingness to receive what He offered, then out of love for us He must have deeply desired to be received as Shepherd by the sheep He came so selflessly to serve and to save.

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

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

That was the supreme tragedy of Jesus’ life: humanity (as represented by His own Chosen People) rejected Him; His own disciples (save John at the foot of the Cross and frightened Peter...probably watching from some sufficiently safe spot) temporarily abandoned Him.   And as regards His hopes, His endeavours, for His Father, the most He could say before dying was:

Righteous Father, the world does not know You, but I know You, and these (His most intimate disciples) know that You sent Me.  (John 17:26)

However, His self-less love for us triumphed over that rejection both on the Cross and in His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and that triumph has been shared with us by His Gift of His own most Holy Spirit and  of His most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  He comes anew to us, today, as Shepherd … the Good Shepherd offering Himself to us and for us … and we, today, have, by the power of His Spirit with us and in us, the opportunity to change the wretched record of history by giving Him a welcome into our own hearts not unworthy of that relationship between Shepherd and sheep foreshadowed in the stall at Bethlehem those long years ago.

However, we must recognize that though sheep can be stupid as regards their own safety, they quickly learn to recognize their shepherd, their good shepherd; human beings, on the other hand, can be -- and for the most part are -- quite good at looking after themselves, but, does our dear Lord’s human flock, do we -- that is, you and I -- learn so quickly to recognize, so exclusively to follow, and so humbly and whole-heartedly to obey Him, as those ‘stupid’ sheep??

That is why we prayed at the beginning of this Mass:

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that as we are bathed in the new radiance of Your Incarnate Word, the light of faith, which illumines our minds, may also shine through in our deeds. 

St. Paul told us in the second reading that:

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

God takes the initiative, He leads, He guides, He calls … it is our part, our duty, and surely, ultimately our joy, to LISTEN, to UNDERSTAND, and to RESPOND.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a wonderfully happy and most beautiful morning, for the shepherds have been invited to the grotto where Mary and Joseph adore the Lord Jesus in manger familiar indeed to shepherds, and the Child is wrapped in swaddling clothes just such as would be available to shepherds’ own families; and their presence, so delightfully prepared for, so carefully and repeatedly stressed, assures us of this most beautiful and comforting truth: Jesus wants us to welcome Him this day as our own most loving Shepherd, and invites us anew to become more humble and obedient sheep of His pasture: sheep who recognise His voice, trust Him totally, respond whole-heartedly to His call, and thus come to know how to rejoice in His presence and rest in His care.

                                        

Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year C) 2012

^Fourth 

 Sunday of Advent (C)

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

It has been noted from very early times in the Church that whereas the child John the Baptist -- still in the womb of his mother Elizabeth -- ‘leapt for joy’ at the  proximity of Jesus, Elizabeth responded to the presence of Mary:

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?   For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” 

There is no question that Elizabeth appreciated that the Infant being carried by Mary (the mother of my Lord) was indeed the Lord God of Israel:

And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord -- who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled -- should come to me? 

Why then did not Elizabeth, together with her as yet unborn son, rejoice at the proximity of ‘her Lord’ rather than at the presence of Mary?

As of old, some Protestants may, still today, feel their ‘traditional’ jealousy for the honour of Jesus which had been foreshadowed by Joshua’s passionate reaction to what he feared was the demeaning of his master Moses (Numbers 11:27-29): 

When a young man told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!   Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”   

Such a reaction by Joshua and such rigidly protestant sentiments, however, were and are far too narrow for the whole-hearted love of God, and far too shallow for the depth of His wisdom; since we should recognize immediately that it was under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit of Jesus that Elisabeth addressed herself to Mary, so that together with her son, the proclaimer and precursor of Jesus, they  might show Catholics and Christians of all times how, fittingly and without fear, to welcome God’s good news of great joy for all people(s).  

Mary was and is immaculate; the handmaid of the Lord Who had done great things for her.  All that she has is of His great goodness and mercy; so that those well-known words of Jesus:

            What God has joined together, let no man separate

are supremely significant in her regard.  God the Father Himself, by His Spirit, joined Mary to Jesus through her physicality and by her faith; thus, she is, always and irrevocably, one with, and totally committed to, her Son.   And that no jealousy should ever, or in any way, try to separate them is the most important truth Elizabeth and her unborn son would proclaim and teach to all willing to listen and learn for love of Jesus.

St. Augustine puts it most succinctly 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 observe it.” 

In our account of the Visitation, Mary is shown as a figure, a foreshadowing, of the Church.  She is, by Jesus’ gift, our heavenly mother; the Church is our mother on earth.  For, as Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Church herself gives birth to disciples of Jesus, born from her womb -- the baptismal font -- by the power of the Holy Spirit bestowed on 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 should recognize this mystery of oneness between Jesus, Mary, and the Church, and learn from Elizabeth and John’s individually distinct reactions to Mary’s Visitation how best to welcome and appreciate God’s Good News: by reverencing Mary and the Church she foreshadowed and by devoting oneself to Jesus, carried on the bosom and in the heart of the Church, commissioned by Him uniquely to proclaim the fullness of His truth and dispense His saving grace.

So vitally important is this oneness of Jesus, Mary, and the Church, that the conflict over its validity is most crucial; on the one hand, it is the devil himself who is most deeply committed to the separation of what God has thus joined, while,  on the other, Jesus explicitly promised that to the end of time He would be with His Church to defend her against all the Devil’s attempts to destroy her.  And to associate her with Himself in this most vital combat He has given His own most Holy Spirit in fullness to His Church, to guide her into all truth, and with His own most precious Body and Blood does He continuously nourish her growth and deepen her love.  When His disciples gather together as Church, Jesus is infallibly in their midst leading their worship of the Father; and, in their individual lives, He has promised, that by the Spirit He will abide with His Father in the souls of all who love Him and will to obey Him,

Just as we heard in the second reading that:

When Christ 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’”

so now, in heaven at the right hand of the Father, He still uses a body to continue His Father’s work on earth, not a fleshly one (which is in heavenly glory) but a mystical body: His Church on earth, of which He is the Head and which He continually nourishes and feeds by His sacramental body, the Holy Eucharist.

No errant thinking resulting from human ignorance or devilish pride, no burrowing, nagging, human fears so prevalent these days, must ever separate what God has joined together.  Human beings, even those most highly placed in the Church, are ever weak, and, each in their own degree, personal sinners.   Indeed, even those recognized as saintly or acclaimed as Saints may at times manifest such human weaknesses, such personal failings and occasional sins.  But the Church is greater, far greater, than any of her individual members; even Mary is in the Church, as a uniquely glorious member indeed, yet not above her;  how much more, then, is the Church greater than any other individual or groups of individuals.  At times she suffers from, but is never to be condemned by, the lucubrations of proud scholars; nor can she be judged by the sinful behaviour of some -- always too many -- supposedly holy priests or religious.  Even when there are circumstances in which we must necessarily grieve with and for her, still must we ever reverence Mother Church, given to us for our salvation by the Lord Who is and ever abides her Master and ours: He uses her uniquely to guide us and bless us; He even uses her inherent weaknesses and human sinfulness for our warning and salutary punishment.   However, He never allows her to be led herself, or to lead us her God-given children, away from His divine Truth; and He always bestows His gifts of grace through her sacraments and in answer to her prayers.

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

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

With Elizabeth therefore, reverence, love, serve, honour, trust, stand up for, pray for, and delight in, Mother Church; do all these things not because of her earthly pomp or worldly successes, her prestige or influence, but because she is one with Christ, she is His Body, He is her Head, and His Spirit is her very life.

We should also learn from the overpowering and irrepressible joy shown by the unborn John: joy that One, as yet Himself unborn, has come; One Who would, by His own Spirit of Holiness, purge Israel of her sin, just as He was at that very moment sanctifying John himself, though still in his mother’s womb, by the same Spirit of holiness. This Child – mightier than John – was the One Whose way he, John, would prepare by his life of penance and preaching of repentance:

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Luke 3:3)

This was the joy of Simeon too, who, on receiving the Infant in his arms from Mary declared:

Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word.   For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)

Finally, this heavenly glory, this spiritual joy, is Mary’s very own, celebrated most sublimely in her great canticle of humility and gratitude:

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for 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 1:46-49)

Therefore, dear People of God, you who have been chosen in Christ, look forward to Christmas with spiritual joy; look forward, that is, to what the God of all faithfulness and truth, beauty and goodness, promises He will give, not what human desires solicit.  In this holy season our joy should be -- first and foremost -- like that of John, simple and sincere; a joy which encourages and enables us to open our minds and hearts, to offer our very lives, to the One who comes to do His Father's will; a joy that compels us with Elizabeth, to lovingly reverence and acknowledge His Church, asking  that through her, our mother, He might continue to teach us His ways and bless us with His empowering Spirit, so that we too -- as true disciples -- may seek with Him in all things to  promote the Father’s glory.  

3rd Sunday of Advent (Year C) 2012

 3^rd. Sunday of Advent (C)

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

7

2nd Sunday of Advent 2012

             2^nd. Sunday of Advent (C)

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

John the Baptist called upon the Jews to prepare for the first coming of the Lord, and Mother Church recommends that we carefully consider his proclamation because it is of great significance for us her children, who, by our Advent discipline and devotion, are preparing to welcome the Lord into our hearts and minds anew this Christmas, both in anticipation of the welcome we would want to give Him at His second coming in glory, and also that we might be enabled here and now to better prepare ourselves and our world for that coming.

Isaiah – whose message the prophet Baruch echoed in our first reading -- had said of the times immediately before the coming of the Messiah:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.   Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.

For St. Luke, John’s was that voice crying in the wilderness who, taking up the prophecy of Isaiah, had insisted that each and every one of us has something positive and, for ourselves essential, for the fulfilment of that prophecy; something that we can and should do.  We are not to be passive, waiting for, expecting, God to do everything; on the contrary, we must work for the remission of our sins before the Lord, by sincerely repenting of them and by bringing forth fruits worthy of such repentance, fruits giving right expression to our hopes thus firmly set on the Coming One.

John the Baptist is still relevant for us today, his message is still valid and of the utmost importance if we would prepare well this Advent; therefore it behoves us to recall to our minds and take to our hearts these words of him sent by God for the ultimate preparation of His people for the coming of their Saviour and Lord.

It is common among practicing Catholics to more or less forget about the obligation to prepare the way for the Lord in their own hearts and minds as they tend to become settled in their ways and perhaps a little stagnant in their aspirations over the years.  Many are content to limit themselves to taking care, being supremely concerned, that they ‘keep the Faith’, that they do not fall away from the truth they have long acknowledged and appreciated.  However, since Jesus the Prince of Peace and Light of the World, intends to come anew into our lives this, and every, Christmas, they should be prepared and indeed, most earnestly desire, in their loving welcome for Him, to grow in their Catholic Faith by responding to the purpose of His Coming.  These disciples of Jesus are regular in their observance of Sundays and holydays, and they take care to receive the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, frequently.  However, though they do these things regularly, which is good, the danger is for them to do them routinely, which is not so good; for, having done these practices, which they often call duties -- duties which can be counted and ticked off as having been done for this week or for this month -- they then attend to the world rather than watch and wait for the Lord.  They do not often think to undertake other, perhaps more interior -- even ‘one to One’ -- practices which are, most certainly, not such that can be called duties, since they are endeavours to respond to God’s secret invitation, to answer God’s Own loving call, made to them personally and indeed uniquely.

In the realm of nature think of the words of Scripture:

          How I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. (Exodus 19:4)

Previous to such ‘salvation’, the eaglet -- clinging to some ledge on a high cliff -- had to hear, recognize, and totally trust its mother’s call before throwing itself off the ledge into the void, so that its mother could then swoop down and catch it on her shoulders and take it with her back on high for further practice and ultimate perfection.  Think also of the chicks of the ancient murrelet, scarce two days old, drawn out from their shelter (at night for safety!), even just out of their egg shells, by an unseen voice, to scramble over rocks and -- avoiding predators --- rush into the shallows of hitherto unknown waters, waters getting deeper and deeper until they find themselves on the mighty sea itself, still following a voice only, before they suddenly meet their mother for the first time, as she comes toward them still calling but now offering welcome and love, safety and fulfilment.

So many Catholics hear the Church calling them from without themselves, but do not seem able to recognize, hear, and understand, God whispering within themselves, speaking to them in that secret place which is their soul.  In that way they confine themselves to relative mediocrity: because they are, in fact, grinding to a halt on that divinely planned journey which can only reach its ultimate target and attain fulfilment by their perseverance in following God’s call to advance ever further.  Coming to a halt after ‘duties done’, is mediocrity for one called by the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Jesus, ever more one with Him; and in Him, ever more truly, a child of God.  Observers might think highly and speak well of such persons, because they have maintained, apparently remained at, a relatively high level in comparison with others.  But that’s just it, God doesn’t compare one with another; if you stop, at whatever level, you will begin to stagnate, and that is, for you -- in the eyes of God the Father Who is calling you and the Holy Spirit Who wants to lead further along the way in answer to that call -- settling for mediocrity, settling for something much less than God wants of you, for you.

We are called, invited, urged, by the Father, to continually prepare the way for His Beloved Son to come into our lives more and more as the years go by, but certain good people would wish to excuse themselves from answering such an invitation because such holiness, saintly holiness so to speak, involves a degree of selflessness which they find frightening; they insist it is not for them, they can’t do it.

In one sense they are perfectly correct, because no one can do it!  Human beings cannot make themselves holy by doing some special practices, this penance, or that devotion. Some will try, but, being motivated by the desire not only to become holy but also to be seen by themselves and perhaps appreciated by others as holy, they achieve merely a sham holiness, something which, if backed up with pride and ambition, is indeed an abomination before God.

Real, true, holiness, however, is God’s gift, not a human acquisition.  We have to want, hope and pray to be, to become, what God wants for us, and in that way we help to prepare ourselves to receive God’s gift.  But you know, it is not really good to want to be holy in the sense of wanting something for yourself, for that can so easily deteriorate into selfishness.  It is far, far better to be centred on God, wanting to love the Father to the utmost of your being, with your whole mind, heart, soul, and strength, in Jesus.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring this about and that is why such holiness, such love of God, is God’s most gracious gift: and it is a gift given only to those who prepare the way for the Lord; who patiently open themselves up to His secret working within them, by attending (a spiritual watching and waiting), desiring, and praying, for this supreme blessing, which is the gift of love, ultimately total love, of God.

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

And this I pray: that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

Now, that should be the programme for all of us: our love can abound more and more in knowledge and depth of discernment and insight.  Don’t 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 according to your measure, to bring it about in you, the real and truest you.  You might not, indeed, be the reading, the studious, type, you might not be a deep thinker, but that does not exclude you from taking up God’s open invitation: it is indeed an open invitation to all His children, but to you, it is a special invitation, a unique 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 the need to force yourself into long 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: just as you are so often with your children or your grandchildren in your mind and heart; if your life seems burdened with other people’s troubles, then mention those troubles to Jesus, ask His help, ask Him to bless those in need.  Some find they can’t keep their attention on prayers which tend to become just empty words, and among them, some might indeed find great peace in just being in Jesus’ presence in the Church without saying anything: just content and happy 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, but be quite sure of this, you are invited, called, urged by God the Father, to help in the development of 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 of Jesus, that is, understanding of, and empathy with, Jesus.  Knowledge and insight of this sort will enable you to grow just as St. Paul wanted his beloved Philippians to grow:

That you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

At times, even some good Catholics, try to set good works for others at variance with, or as a substitute for, deep personal holiness, oneness with Jesus.   They tend to think that they ought to be doing something for Jesus, some good work, some public, 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 works for others with the implied selfishness of trying to become holy is totally wrong.  God can find many people to do things for Him; for many there are who will do good things for motives that are not quite so good: such as self-approval or public appreciation; and frequently indeed, the very joy of working at something that occupies the mind and distracts the heart is more than enough for those easily oppressed by the hum-drum and uncertainty of daily life.

True holiness, on the other hand, is the most unselfish state possible -- which is why, as I mentioned earlier, the prospect of it frightens some -- being entirely God-centred.  True holiness is love of God that leads to total forgetfulness of self; and such self-sacrifice in the footsteps 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 not common or easy.  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.

Therefore, let us turn back to our second reading wherein St. Paul spoke to the Philippians of their:

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

That work of letting:

love abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

which St. Paul urged them so strongly to undertake, is precisely our fellowship with him in propagation of the Gospel, our part in the eternal missionary work of the Church; and ultimately, it is only such a partnership of the whole Christian people in the Church’s proclamation of the Gospel will lead to the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy that:

All flesh shall see the salvation of God.