MONDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 4:2-6 [Cycle I only]) or Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11

FIRST READING (Isaiah 4:2-6)

We are beginning our Advent preparations to welcome the coming of the Son of God among us as one of us. Right from the beginning, a central theme is highlighted. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, will be the light of the nations. He will open the way for millions of people to know God, to know his love and to be drawn irresistibly to him.
So, in the First Reading we read:
Then will the Lord create
over the whole site of Mount Zion
and over her place of assembly,
A smoking cloud by day
and a light of flaming fire by night.
For over all, his glory will be shelter
and protection:
shade from the parching heat of day,
refuge and cover from storm and rain.
The cloud by day and the fire by night were the signs of God's presence among his people as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. This promise of shelter is now going to be extended to the whole world with the coming of Jesus. And this is anticipated in the Gospel story when the Gentile centurion asks for the healing of his servant.

ALTERNATIVE FIRST READING
(Isaiah 2:1-5 - Cycle II)

We are now entering the season of Advent and making our preparations to welcome the coming of the Son of God among us as one of us. The Child, born in such obscure surroundings, will become the Light of the Nations.
Our First Reading today, as for much of the Advent season, is taken from the early part of the prophet Isaiah.
It begins with the lovely prophecy:
The mountain of the Temple of the Lord
shall tower above the mountains
and be lifted higher than the hills.
All the nations will stream to it,
peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...
that he may teach us his ways
so that we may walk in his paths'.
In the ancient Near East temples were seen as the places were gods lived. Frequently too they were built on the tops of mountains. Isaiah is primarily thinking of the Temple in Jerusalem to which he sees peoples from all over coming to pay homage to the one true God.
For us, of course, at this season we are thinking of the Temple of the New Covenant, which is the Incarnate Word of God. Eventually, he will be raised up in glory and, in a very different sense, will 'tower over the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills'. And his is a Temple to which over the centuries nations and 'peoples without number' have streamed. Who would ever have thought in those early days of Christianity that the fellowship would one day number a billion people (a number which was not in any vocabulary in those days)?
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Mount Zion and Jerusalem are one and the same. After the disciples of Jesus were filled with his Spirit, following the resurrection and glorification of Jesus, the word of the Lord did begin to go out from Jerusalem until it spread to every corner of the world. Jerusalem is no longer the centre because wherever there are Christian communities, there is the Temple, the very presence of the Risen Christ.
And the message that is going out is the message of love and peace. A message that has been heard by many but needs to be heard a lot more.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples,
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nations,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Indeed there are nations which have gone a long way to being havens of peace and justice and which have reduced their weapons to a minimum. Unfortunately, the arms industry still thrives as there are still many who think that only violence solves problems.
As Christians we have a lot of work to do to bring the spirit of Christ and the Gospel into our world. To do that effectively we need to hear and respond to the invitation with which our reading closes:
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!

GOSPEL (Matthew 8:5-11)

The Gospel describes an unexpected level of faith in a Gentile which even amazes Jesus: 'When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him: 'In no one in Israel have I found such faith... I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven'.'
The Kingdom which Jesus comes to proclaim is for all peoples everywhere. It is the central message of Christmas. This is not just a time for celebration and for parties. The birth of the Prince of Peace in the poverty of the stable is a challenge to us to carry on his work among God's children everywhere. Jesus has not failed; it is we who have done so little to carry on what he began. Advent is a time for us to reflect on the real meaning of God coming to live and work among us and on the responsibility of his followers to carry on the work of making the Kingdom a reality for all.

TUESDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 11:1-10

We have today a messianic poem describing the principal features of the coming Messiah: he is of Davidic stock; he will be filled with the spirit of the prophets who went before him; he will establish a society reflecting the peace and harmony of God himself.
The reading is a beautiful portrait of Jesus, although that was not in the mind of the prophet when he wrote. It is a description of a future kingdom of peace. There is some dispute as to the author and the time of its writing. The emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit seems to point to a later period.
'A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse.' Jesse was the father of David, and Jesus, of course, came through the Davidic line. The line is described as a 'stump' rather than a tree because, after the Babylonian exile, very little of the Davidic dynasty remained. But it is enough to produce the shoot that will be Jesus, the messianic King.
He is endowed with the beautiful gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is seen operative right through biblical history. It is first seen hovering over the abyss at the beginning of creation. It will inspire the Judges, give Joseph his wisdom and guide the prophets (the false prophets follow their own spirit). Later, that same Spirit will come down on Jesus as he is baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan. It is the same Spirit which we wish to be the guide of our own lives, too.
The Spirit's gifts are listed in three pairs. Only six of the usual seven are mentioned here; the seventh, the 'spirit of piety', is added by the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, which early Christian writers often used.
The prophetic spirit confers on the Messiah the outstanding virtues of his great ancestors: the wisdom and insight of Solomon, the heroism and prudence of David, the knowledge and fear of God characteristic of patriarch and prophet, of Moses, Jacob and Abraham. (New Jerusalem Bible, loc. cit.)
Endowed with these gifts, the coming Messiah will be gifted with deep insight that goes beyond just what the senses perceive. 'He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear.' This will result in justice for the poor and the weak but death for the wicked.
This combination of spiritual giftedness and deep sensitivity for those in greatest need brings about an environment of peace, symbolised by normally hostile animals lying down together in harmony. The sign that true justice prevails is the presence of enduring peace and harmony.

GOSPEL (Luke 10:21-24)

As Christmas and all it means approaches, the Gospel reminds us of the tremendous privilege that has come to us through our knowing Jesus Christ.
'Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it."
These words were spoken by Jesus just after seventy-two of his disciples had returned from their mission of proclaiming the Kingdom and doing the same work as he was doing. They echo words he had spoken to them earlier: 'Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that 'they may look but not see and hear but not understand' (Luke 8:10). Words which are to be taken not in the sense that only the disciples are offered insight and understanding but rather that the disciples are, by definition, those who open themselves to hear and to see and to understand the message.
So for us today is a day of special thanksgiving for being so blessed. But with privilege comes responsibility. It is for us to see more clearly who Jesus really is and to have a deeper understanding of his vision and of his ways. It is for us to listen ever more acutely to the Word of God so that it really penetrates our consciousness and is absorbed into our very being.

WEDNESDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 25:6-10

Both readings are about the abundance that comes from God.
The theme of an eschatological banquet is common in early Jewish and early Christian literature. See Matthew 8:11-12, where Jesus, after healing the centurion's servant says that 'many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven
', and again in Matt 22:1-14 (and Luke 14:16-24), where Jesus tells the parable of the banquet to which those invited made excuses not to come.
As in the Gospel parables, there is a universal tone to the words: 'The Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food
' It is not just for God's people. People from all nations will pour in to join this immense banquet with the Lord. God calls every single person to experience his love and share his eternal presence.
It is not surprising that this image should be used as a vision of the future life. It was used by peoples who all too often experienced hunger and thirst brought on by drought, floods and poverty. A future life beyond death was easily conceived as an unending banquet at a table groaning with rich food and the finest drinks, things which in this life only the tiny minority of the rich could enjoy.
Today's Gospel about the feeding of the 5,000 in the desert confirms what the prophet is foretelling.
At the same time, the Lord will put an end to death symbolised by the shroud that envelopes the peoples and the sheet covering the nations. In fact, 'he will swallow up death forever', a phrase quoted by Paul in 1 Cor 15:54.
He will 'wipe away the tears from all faces'. Later, in the Book of Revelation we read in the hymn to those who have sacrificed their lives for the Gospel that 'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Rev 7:17) and again in Rev 21:4 'he will wipe every tear from their eyes, death will be no more'. In the Third Eucharistic Prayer, when we pray for the dead, we also say: 'There we hope to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away.'
'For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain', that is, Mount Zion on which the Temple of Jerusalem was built.
With the coming of God (remember we are in Advent and Jesus is on the way) there comes comfort in all our sorrows. Every tear will be wiped away. This is what salvation means €" the fulfilling of all our needs: spiritual, emotional, social and physical.
What is promised in Isaiah will become a reality in Jesus.
In our world today there is an abundance. Food production outpaces population growth. No one need go hungry. If there is hunger, malnutrition and other unmet needs, it is because we, God's stewards, are failing in our task of distribution. If there is hunger and suffering and death in many parts of the world, it is certainly not the work of God.
It is ours.

GOSPEL (Matthew 15:29-37)

The readings are about the abundance that comes from God. This is what salvation means €" the fulfilling of all our needs: spiritual, emotional, social and physical. In the Gospel, full of trust and confidence, people bring their lame, the crippled, the blind and dumb. Jesus healed them all and the crowds were amazed.
There then comes a scene which is a kind of parable of what Jesus stands for: the compassion of God and his desire that the needs of all be supplied. They have been with him for three days and are hungry. They must be fed. There's not much to feed them with €" seven loaves of bread and a few fish. It is enough for Jesus. And again and again people who have dedicated themselves to caring for the hungry and homeless have found what they needed turning up on their doorstep.
At the end seven (a perfect number) baskets are still left uneaten. All this symbolises the care God takes of his people. And yet, where is it happening in so many parts of the world today? There is a crucial element in today's Gospel we cannot overlook. It was not Jesus but his disciples who distributed the food. In our world there is an abundance. Food production outpaces population growth. If there is hunger, malnutrition and other unmet needs, it is because we, God's stewards, are failing in our task of distribution. If there is hunger and suffering and death, it is not the work of God. It is our failure to work.
Christmas is a time of giving. We could ask ourselves: To whom are we giving? With whom are we sharing what we have or can afford to buy? Perhaps we could widen the circle this Christmas with gifts that mean life or death for the receivers. Beneficiaries who will never know who their benefactors are and who will not be able to give anything back. Did Jesus not say something about giving so quietly that the left hand will not know what the right hand is doing?

THURSDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 26:1-6

Today's reading is a psalm in praise of Sion. There is a contrast with what had been said in an earlier chapter (24:10-13):
The city of chaos is broken down,
Every house is shut up so that no one can enter.
There is an outcry in the streets for a lack of wine;
all joy has reached its eventide;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city,
The gates are battered into ruins.
For thus it shall be on the earth and among the nations,
As when an olive tree is beaten,
As at the gleaning when the grape harvest is ended.
Contrast that with today's upbeat statement:
We have a strong city,
He sets up victory
Like walls and bulwarks.
Jerusalem is now fortified by Yahweh and is a place of refuge for the upright. This is in contrast to what is said lower down in the text:
For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height;
The lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
Casts it to the dust
It now lies open to the poor and needy:
The foot tramples it,
The feet of the poor,
The steps of the needy.
'Open the gates' to introduce a joyful procession. Again in sharp contrast to the previous passage where
the mirth of the timbrels is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
The images parallel those used by Jesus in the Gospel, where he speaks of those who listen to his words and live them out in their lives as being like a man who builds his house on a solid rock foundation, as opposed to the man who hears Jesus' words but does not carry them out in his life and is like a man who built his house on sand. The first house was able to withstand the worst that wind and rain could do; the second collapsed.
Isaiah, speaking of the 'holy city', says it comes from putting one's full trust in the Lord, identifying with him fully.
Trust in the Lord forever
for in the Lord God
you have an everlasting rock.
That is what Jesus is saying too.

GOSPEL (Matthew 7:21,24-27)

Today's Gospel reading reminds us of what true discipleship means. People often confess that they have not said their morning and evening prayers or that they have not been to Mass. Perhaps they should remember the words of today's Gospel: 'It is not
those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord', who will enter the kingdom of heaven...'
On the other hand, those of us who always do say our morning and evening prayers and never miss a Mass also need to remember them. Something more is needed than just being a pray-er. What is needed is that we 'do the will of the Father'.
What is that will? It is that we be filled with the spirit of the Kingdom and work to make that Kingdom a reality in our world. It involves constant outreach beyond ourselves. We have to go to God by finding him present in the world around us and helping others to be aware of that loving presence also. We will not do that by piously calling on God's name while ignoring the needs of our brothers and sisters. To do that is to build our house on sand.
That is not to say that prayer is not important. We cannot effectively do God's work unless we spend time listening to and responding to his Word in times of undisturbed quiet. But our prayer is only genuine when it becomes the spur for us to go out and bring something of God's love and compassion into our world.

FRIDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 29:17-24

Today's Mass is about seeing.
The First Reading gives promise of a future full of hope. The prophet presents God's plan of redemption in terms of happenings that could hardly be hoped for in normal circumstances, such as the cedars of Lebanon becoming a source of fruit and the fruitful field becoming a forest.
But more striking still is that the deaf will be able to hear and the blind will be able to emerge from their world of darkness and see.
The meek, that is those who are without power or influence, will find fresh joy in the Lord while the neediest will rejoice in their God.
On the other hand, the tyrant, the scoffer and the doer of evil will come to a sad end. Those especially mentioned are those who corrupt the administration of justice.
Abraham is proposed as a model to be followed. Just as he answered God's call in faith and journeyed to a promised land he had never seen, so he becomes a model for those who return to Judah and Jerusalem from their period in exile. Abraham had been called out of a land of idolatry and so it is with Jacob, that is, the descendants of Abraham of whom Isaiah now speaks. (Jacob was also known as Israel.)
If they have the spirit of Abraham, 'those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction'. Their eyes and their ears will have been opened.
Today is a day for us to be aware of our own blindness and our own deafness. Like the Israelites of Isaiah's time, we have difficulty really hearing the Word of God and how many us can claim that we can see Jesus as he really is?
In our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, we must learn how to listen to God's Word, with understanding and acceptance, and learn how to see deeply into the meaning of his life as it is presented to us in Jesus.

GOSPEL (Matthew 9:27-31)

Today's Mass is about seeing. The Gospel speaks about the healing of two blind men. It is a story which we find in Mark's gospel but here with significant differences. For instance, Mark has only one blind man while Matthew has two. We should not just read this as just another miracle, another proof of Jesus' divine power. It begins with two blind men going after Jesus calling after him in desperation: 'Have compassion on us, Son of David!" There is already an element of faith in calling Jesus by this messianic name and it also points to the healing power of Jesus. Jesus is more than an ordinary rabbi.
When they catch up on Jesus, he asks them 'Do you believe that I can do this?' Without their trust in him, Jesus cannot do anything for them. We remember what was said about the unbelieving people of Nazareth. These men say they do believe. 'Your faith deserves it, so let it be done for you.' They get their sight back. They can now see. Jesus tells them not to say anything about it. Jesus is not interested in being a sensation, he does not want people to have a wrong idea of his real mission. But they ignored his appeal and went about telling everyone of what had happened.
There is more here than meets the eye! What we have here is not just the restoration of their physical sight. They have gained in-sight. They can really see. They can see who Jesus really is, the Word of God, the Action of God and they simply have to share that experience with everyone else. It is not something that they can keep to themselves.
It is significant that the following story is about the healing of a dumb man. There are several instances of Jesus healing deafness and blindness in the Gospel. As disciples of Christ we need to be able to see and understand the message of Jesus and then we need to proclaim it everywhere.
Today is a day for us to be aware of our own blindness and our own deafness. We often have difficulty really hearing and accepting the Word of God and how many us can claim that we can see Jesus as he really is? If we are to celebrate Christmas properly, we must learn how to listen to God's Word, with understanding and acceptance, and learn how to see deeply into the meaning of his life as it is presented to us. And it starts right there with the baby in the stable.

SATURDAY of Advent Week 1

Isaiah 30:19-21,23-26

The promises of the First Reading are shown being fulfilled in the person of Jesus in the Gospel.
The first part of the reading consists of words of consolation for the people of Zion, who are God's people. They shall weep no more and the Lord will respond to their cries for help. This is so even though 'the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction'.
This is always a mystery for many: how a God who loves us so much can allow us to endure pain and hardships. Two reactions one encounters are either that God wants us to suffer, that he sends us sufferings or else that a God who tolerates such sufferings is not a loving God at all or simply does not exist.
Yet, if we reflect, we will understand that the sufferings we endure either have natural causes which can be explained or else are the result of the distorted actions of other human beings. But as to why I should suffer a particular mishap rather than someone else is something we cannot understand in this life. More than 3,000 people died in the 9/11 disaster but a far larger number, including those in the buildings, escaped. As Jesus once asked, on the occasion of a tower collapsing and killing a number of people, were those who died greater sinners than those who survived? Jesus did not think so.
Let us rather listen to the promise in today's Reading: 'The Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher
your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'. God, who in the past taught through the veiled language of the prophets, will at a future time help his people to understand his teaching more clearly. A clear pointer to the coming of the Prophet Jesus, whose teaching made so much clear.
That time will be one of great fertility and fruitfulness. The prophet expresses it in agricultural terms, a language easily understood by the ordinary person of the day.
Rain for the planted seed
producing plenteous grain
cattle grazing in rich pasture land and feeding on abundant silage
an abundance of running water.
Even the light of the sun and the moon will increase sevenfold.
But, with the coming of Jesus as indicated in today's Gospel, it will be a different kind of fertility, 'when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow'. Jesus will bring healing, wholeness, freedom and peace into people's lives. And this is not only the work of Jesus but also the work of his followers.
That is the paradox: although there is healing, it does not mean the end of pain or hardship or unexpected tragedies. Jesus himself, in the midst of the most terrible pain, died in peace and in a relationship of total acceptance and self-surrender to his Father. Jesus is our Teacher and inviting us to walk this way.

GOSPEL (Matthew 9:35-10:1,6-8)

The promises of the First Reading are shown being fulfilled in the person of Jesus in the Gospel. We can read it in three sections:
1, Jesus is shown constantly on the move, teaching in synagogues all over the region, proclaiming the Good News of God's reign coming among them and bringing healing to all who are sick and diseased. Matthew does not use the title of Good Shepherd for Jesus but he does indicate the deep compassion of Jesus for all those are harassed and depressed, people with no direction in their lives, who are like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus is clearly the Shepherd who can lead them back to where they belong.
2, He then says to his disciples that there is a huge harvest waiting to be reaped. Up to this he has been working alone but he needs help, especially after he has gone. There are very few people available to work in the harvest field. He then calls the Twelve and hands on to them his own powers to liberate people from evil powers and to heal all kinds of sickness.
The harvest is still great and the need for labourers is as great as ever. In asking the Lord to send labourers into the harvest, we have to ask ourselves what is the role of each one of us. It is not just a question of priests and religious. Jesus was not talking to priests and religious (there was no such thing at the time the gospels were written) but to every one of his followers €" to every one of us who has been baptised. Every one of us is being called to be a harvester. Each one of us can reach a corner of the harvest field that is accessible to no one else. These include my family, my neighbours, my work colleagues and others who come into my life. I may be the only person who brings Jesus with his healing and compassion into their lives.
3, And what are we to do? Let people know that the Reign of God is very close, because God himself and Jesus are so close. Once we say Yes to God and his Son, they become part of our lives. And we are to do the same work he told his to do:
Heal the sick: by our sympathy and support, which can often do more than any medical treatment.
Raise the dead: perhaps not literally. But there are many who are intellectually, emotionally and socially dead. They are physically alive but they have stopped living meaningful lives. We can help them to find life again.
Cleanse the lepers: all those people who are on the fringes of society, whom we neglect, ignore, despise, reject, avoid. There are the dropouts, the drug addicts and alcoholics, the HIV/AIDS victims, the homeless, single mothers, 'sex workers', gays... Let them know they are accepted and loved by God.
Cast out devils: help people liberate themselves from the demons of fear, anger, hatred, violence, from drugs, alcohol, nicotine, sexual abuse (themselves and others), greed for money...
There are so many people who need to hear and to experience the message of Christmas.
There are many, alas, for whom Christmas is Bad News, a time of misery, depression and loneliness. Let's change that.

MONDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Isaiah 35:1-10)

The First Reading expresses the excitement and anticipation of God's coming in our midst.
The passage comes from a longer passage (chaps 34-35) which speaks of the ultimate triumph of Jerusalem. It is sometimes known as the 'Little Apocalypse'. It describes the final terrible battles, which will be waged by Yahweh against the nations in general but against Edom in particular. This is followed by the prediction of a final judgement when Jerusalem will be re-established in all its glory.
Why was Edom picked out especially as the object of God's anger? "The land of Edom" extended from the head of the Gulf of Akabah, to the south shore of the Dead Sea. It is a wild and rugged region, traversed by fruitful valleys. At the time of the Exodus the Edomites refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land, and ever afterwards maintained an attitude of hostility toward them. After being conquered by David and later by Amaziah, they regained again their independence, and in later years, made war against Israel. They took part with the Chaldeans when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held possession of the south of Palestine as far as Hebron.
Clearly, all this did not endear them to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Some feel the present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of the prophets' warnings. After an existence as a people for above 1,700 hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and even their language is forgotten forever. In the capital, Petra (also known as Sela), "where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles".
Today's reading is in sharp contrast to the destruction of Edom described in chap. 34. Instead, there comes a description of the blessings which are in store for Jerusalem. It is similar to the description of the return from exile in Babylon found later in chapters 40-55 (Second Isaiah).
In contrast to the desolateness of Edom, the barren areas of the land will bloom and all shall see the glory of God. "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert... like the crocus... shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing."
Words of encouragement are to be given, perhaps by the prophets: "Strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees."
Not only will life return to nature but all kinds of disabilities will be removed from people's lives -- the eyes of the blind opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leaping like deer, the tongue of the speechless singing for joy. A prophecy we find constantly confirmed by the works of Jesus and foretold by him at the beginning of his public life (Luke 4:18), using a similar prophecy from Isaiah, (61:1).
And so, today's Gospel is graphic example, describing the total healing -- in body and spirit -- of a man who was paralysed.
The former wilderness, too, will be transformed by an abundance of water -- something that people in the Middle East can probably appreciate much more than us. And, with the coming of water, the whole land bursts forth into new life, a land is transformed.
All this we see now as a symbol of the spiritual richness that Jesus would bring into our lives.
And so the passage concludes with "A highway shall be there and it shall be called the Holy Way". The "unclean" will not travel on it; they will go their own way, on the broad road that leads to their own destruction. "But it shall be for God's people" so that "no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray". Again, Jesus is that Way. As long as we are on that Way we have nothing to fear.
Finally the "ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing". Instead of the baggage the ordinary travellers carried on their heads, these will come with everlasting joy on their heads. Joy and gladness will be theirs and "sorrow and sighing shall flee away".
This is what we look forward to in our coming Christmas celebration. The birth of the Child is the beginning of all that is foretold here. May we be part of it.

GOSPEL (Luke 5:17-26)

The First Reading from Isaiah expresses the excitement and anticipation of God's coming in our midst.
The Gospel is an example of this promise being realised. It is Luke's version of the healing of a paralysed man who can only reach Jesus by being lowered through the roof of the house. The efforts which the sick man's friends make to get him to Jesus is an indication of their tremendous faith and confidence in Jesus.
However, the man may have been somewhat surprised to hear the words of Jesus: "My friend, your sins are forgiven." That was not what he came for. He hoped something could be done about his paralysis. But the Pharisees and Scribes present were even more shocked. "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sin?" Of course, they were perfectly right but they did not put two and two together and identify the presence of God in Jesus.
So Jesus asks them: "Which is easier to say: 'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Rise up and walk'?" Naturally, the first is easier to SAY. But to show that Jesus has the authority really to forgive sin he says to the paralysed man: "I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home." Immediately, the man stands up before them all, picks up his mat and goes home.
To understand what is happening here we have to realise the perceived close relationship in those days between sin and sickness. Sickness, especially something chronic like paralysis or blindness, was often presumed to be the result of or punishment for sin. So if Jesus can totally remove the sickness, it must mean the sin which caused it has gone too. Jesus can forgive sin.
We may not express things quite the same way now but there was a lot of truth in the belief that there was a relationship between sickness and behaviour. A large proportion of people are sick and even in hospital because their bodies are revealing symptoms of dis-ease which has its roots in their hearts and minds and feelings. The healing power of Jesus, which we all need, has to extend to every part of our being -- body, mind, heart and in our relationships with others.
There are intimations in this story of resurrection, new life, when the man now stands up, something he could not do before. And, now able to walk, he goes home, that is, he goes to the place where he belongs. We too need the healing of Christ which removes the things which paralyse or handicap us in our following him. We need to stand anew in the Life that he gives and then find our way to our true home, which is to be with him.

TUESDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Isaiah 40:1-11)

Today we begin a series of readings from what is known as 'The Book of Consolation'. It consists of chapters 40 to 55 of Isaiah and its unknown author is referred to as 'Second Isaiah'. He is writing -- much later -- at the end of the Jews' exile in Babylon and speaks with confidence of their returning to Jerusalem.
The name 'Consolation' comes from the first words of today's reading -- "Console my people, console them." Comfort is the prevailing theme of this section compared to the more threatening prophecies of the first 40 chapters.
The opening part is actually a cantata for several voices. The time of suffering in exile is coming to an end, the "time of service is ended". The return to Jerusalem is seen as a new Exodus. The exile was seen as a punishment for Israel's sin and infidelity. There is now to be an end of punishment and suffering. "Her sin is atoned for" for "she has received from the... Lord double punishment for all her crimes" -- punishment by exile and further punishment by being treated as slaves and mercenaries of the conquering power.
"A voice cries... ". The identity of the voice obeying the order to "speak to the heart of Jerusalem" is left unknown but, during this Advent season, it will be applied to John the Baptist who announces the coming of the Saviour.
"Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord." It was the custom in Babylonia (where the Jews were exiled) for triumphal ways to be made ready for the coming of a god or a victorious king. People would go ahead to prepare this way. John the Baptist will fulfil that role but it is for each one of us too to prepare the way for Christ to come into the lives of those who do not yet know or accept him. During Advent we will reflect on just how each one of us can do that most effectively.
As we approach Christmas, we can ask ourselves what are the obstacles in our lives preventing the coming of Jesus into our hearts.
Here the way is the road by which God's people will make their new exodus back to their home country. It is a road with all obstacles removed and an occasion when "the glory of the Lord will be revealed". It will be revealed by the return of God's people to their own land but, as we read this passage in Advent, ultimately, the glory of the redeeming God will be seen in Jesus Christ and in all those who live by his Spirit. This is what we are preparing for during this time.
The voice commands again: "Cry!" and the prophet asks, "What shall I cry?" The answer comes: "All flesh is grass and its beauty like the wild flower's." The greatness and beauty of the Babylonian empire -- like all empires -- is coming to an end. It is going to be replaced by that of Persia, which itself will in time disappear, as has every empire since. Only "the word of God remains forever". This is the God in whom the Israelites have put their trust and he will not disappoint them. It is a message that Jerusalem is to proclaim to all the people. God's message is never to be kept to oneself.
This is a time to shout from the mountain tops. Shout without fear: "Here is your God!"
That is what it is all about. Jesus, our God, is coming. It is for us to remind people that that is why we have all those lights and celebrations. All those preparations we are now making for Christmas. All those gifts we are buying or hoping to get. All that food and drink we will put away. What will be left in the days and months that follow? What will we take from Christmas that will still be around in March, in June, in September?
He comes as a God of power, subduing all things before him. But it is a very special kind of power. "He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes". What a beautiful image of our all-powerful God! What tenderness is expressed here! It is one that Jesus will develop and he, too, will call himself the Good Shepherd (cf. Matt 18:12-14, John 10:11-18). And it will not be a coincidence that the first people to pay homage at the stable in Bethlehem will be shepherds.
Christmas is a time when many people come back to church, if only for one day. Is not this the time for them to be reminded that this is the God we believe in? The God that we all need to know?
We all need to hear the words of today's Gospel, spoken by that gentle Shepherd, "It is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost."

GOSPEL (Matthew 18:12-14)

That was a wonderful Advent reading from Isaiah today. But now let us look at the Gospel reading.
It comes from chapter 18 of Matthew in which we find one of the five long discourses of Jesus found in this gospel. The discourse deals with various issues involving relationships in the Christian community, and especially when those relationships break down.
Just before this Jesus has been talking about scandal, that is, about actions by a Christian which are the cause of a fellow-Christian doing something wrong. It is bad enough to go against God's will oneself but to make another fall is much worse. Jesus says it would be better for such a person to be drowned in the sea. This is especially the case if one is dealing with one of the 'little ones'. These 'little ones' are not exactly children -- although they are clearly not excluded -- but rather those who are weak and immature in their Christian faith and so can easily be misled.
It is at this point that Jesus speaks the parable of the shepherd. A shepherd who has lost just one sheep out of one hundred. He leaves all the 'good' ones and goes in search of the stray. It does not say why this one sheep wandered off. All that matters is that it has got lost and is separated from its shepherd. And, when he finds it and brings it back, he is happier over this lost sheep than he is over the ninety-nine who never wandered away. This being a parable there is probably a little exaggeration here because, of course, the real Shepherd loves all his sheep equally. But a point is being made: that our God loves us unconditionally and is not only ready to have us back in the fold but is positively overjoyed about it.
This parable can be applied both to those 'little ones' who were led astray or those who did the terrible thing of leading them astray. Both will be welcomed back with equal joy.
As we approach Christmas and the birth of that loving Shepherd (how appropriate that the first to greet his arrival were shepherds!) we could well reflect on how we look on those who have gone astray morally or on those who may have been instrumental in causing their behaviour. How judgemental are we? And how ready to receive back the wrongdoer not just grudgingly but with joy?
Let the words of Jesus be deeply etched on our hearts at this time: "It is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost."

WEDNESDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Isaiah 40:25-31)

We continue our reading from the 'Book of Consolation' or 'Second Isaiah'.
Does God seem far away at times? Today's reading invites us to go out some clear night and look at the skies. Thousands of stars, each one a mighty sun, can be seen and they are only a tiny fraction the billions of stars in our universe. Imagine the greatness of the God who is creator and master of all these and who calls each single one by name!
However, far away from home and living in bitter exile, God's people wonder if their God has forgotten about them. They seem to be comparing their God with the gods of their captors. Their God is letting them down.
The people cry out in pain, "My destiny is hidden from the Lord, my rights are ignored by my God!" Yet God is fully aware of his people's situation and he will soon show his love and power as they return to their homeland.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth." Our God "does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength."
Even young people, with all their energy, can run out of steam and grow weary and exhausted
but not those "who wait for the Lord". They "shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint."
The reading is a message for all those who feel that life is working against them. Some can sympathise with the words of the song: "Into every life a little rain must fall but too much is falling in mine." It must certainly have been the feeling of the Israelites as they languished far from home in a hostile and cruel land. And yet, their deliverance is very close.
The coming of Jesus for which we are now preparing makes the same promise and offers the same invitation in today's Gospel: "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus reaffirms what Isaiah says, that we have a caring and tireless God who takes care of his own. "I am gentle and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus does not promise painlessness, does not promise to take away every yoke but he will share the burden with us.
Jesus never promises to take away pain. What Jesus does is to help us go through the pain. He knows what we go through. He experienced a level of pain in his own life which we are not likely ever to have to face.

GOSPEL (Matthew 11:28-30)

In spite of what we at some times feel, both today's First Reading and the Gospel remind us that our God is never far away, especially in times of trouble.
In the Gospel Jesus makes this promise and gives an invitation. "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus reaffirms what Isaiah says, that we have a caring and tireless God who takes looks after his own. "I am gentle and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus seems primarily to be referring to the burdens which the Mosaic Law laid on people, especially as interpreted by some of the Scribes and Pharisees. Under them, it was next to impossible not to put a foot wrong somewhere. And, as they saw it, perfection in the eyes of God was the scrupulous observation of the tiniest obligation. Jesus liberates us from all that. It does not mean that we do what we like but all is now reduced to simply one commandment, the commandment to love God and all our brothers and sisters unconditionally. That is not always easy but we will find that keeping the commandment of love has a liberating effect. It helps us to become the kind of people we were meant to be. In being a law-keeper, I take care of my own 'perfection'. In following the law of love, I benefit but my brother or sister benefits too.
Jesus does not say that if we go to him that we will have no more troubles, no more pain, no more disappointments... There will be "yokes" to carry but he will carry them with us.
Someone has suggested that the 'yoke' that Jesus is referring to is a double yoke used for two oxen pulling together. Jesus then is saying that he carries the yoke together with us.
Jesus never promises to take away pain. What Jesus does is to help us go through the pain. A life without any pain, without any failure or disappointment, a life without difficulty or challenge is no life. When children are so protected by doting parents that their every whim is answered and every negative feeling anticipated, what do we end up with? Spoiled brats.
Jesus will not spoil us in that way. The challenges of life are necessary for us to grow and mature. But they are easier to bear when he carries them with us, when we know
that we are never alone in our difficulties and sorrows. And, because of our own pains, we are in a much better position to help others carry their yokes of sorrow or pain or sickness. Strange as it may seem, it is probable that a world without pain would be a very selfish and individualistic one.

THURSDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Isaiah 41:13-20)

We continue reading from 'The Book of Consolation'. The Jews are coming to the end of their period of exile in Babylon. Today we have a message of encouragement. God is coming to help, to redeem his people. For us during Advent, the message points clearly to Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour.
The theme of today's reading is that God will protect Israel against its enemies and meet its needs in the desert wilderness. Israel's enemies will vanish, the empire of Babylon will be no more but God's people will continue under his loving protection.
"Do not be afraid, Jacob, poor worm, Israel, puny mite." Israel seems so insignificant when seen in comparison with its powerful conquerors. But it is a deceptive weakness; there is a Strength on their side.
The prophet tells the people that God, "the Holy One of Israel" is their 'redeemer'. The word in Hebrew originally refers to the nearest male relative who will avenge the blood of someone who has been murdered. He is also the one pays off a debt and frees the debtor from prison; his duty also is to protect the defenceless. Leviticus (25:47-55) also speaks of a situation where a person has to sell himself to a foreigner. He can be 'redeemed', that is, bought back by a brother, or uncle or cousin or any other relative. (The word 'redeemer' comes from the Latin redemptor, meaning 'someone who buys back'.)
It then comes to refer to God as one who protects the oppressed and who liberates his people. The word is used frequently in this sense in Second Isaiah. The word then was applied to Jesus, who is the Redeemer and Liberator of us all.
Far from being weak, God tell his people, "I turn you into a threshing-sled". Just as the emperor Cyrus reduced his enemies (including the Babylonians) to dust (Is 41:2), so too Israel will deal with its enemies. "You shall thresh and crush the mountains", namely, their powerful enemies.
For the Israelites good times are coming as they leave their place of exile and return to their homeland. This is symbolised in the provision of an abundance of water, the formation of rivers and lakes. It is reminiscent of Moses who produced water from the rock for Israelites during the Exodus. The desert is thus transformed by all kinds of magnificent trees. Some of these trees are named later in connection with the adornment of God's sanctuary. Acacia wood was used for the tabernacle. In chapter 55 we are told that pine and myrtle replace thorns and briers.
In fact, King Cyrus, who crushed the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, is seen as an instrument doing God's work. Through all these manifestations, the writer foresees the coming of the Messianic age, "so that all may see and know, observe and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this".
Commenting on this text, the Christian Community Bible rightly comments that now the Israelites, depressed by their exile experience, are being reminded to stop looking back at the 'good old days' or their glorious past and to look forward to a promising future. "For centuries the Jews had looked upon their past, always expanding the memory of the wonders worked by God in their departure from Egypt. Now, they must look to the future. This time, a new departure is being prepared from Babylon, and it will be accompanied by wonders greater than those of the first Exodus."
We, too, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas need to remember that our celebration is not just a nostalgic look at the past but a renewal of hope and energy in working for the building of the Kingdom in the year ahead.

GOSPEL (Matthew 11:11-15)

Jesus today has high words of praise for John the Baptist. John had a unique role which sets him apart from all others: he was the one to announce the long-awaited arrival of the Messiah.
John is the last in the line of the great Old Testaments prophets, men who spoke in God's name pointing the way for God's People, at times denouncing their behaviour and at others pointing to a great destiny ahead. John is an Old Testament figure but he forms a kind of bridge between the Old and the New. He died -- in fact, was executed -- before the mission of Jesus was completed. The New Testament or Covenant was sealed with Jesus' blood on the cross. John never saw that; he never was fully a disciple of Jesus.
And so, Jesus says, even the very least in the Kingdom of God, inaugurated by Jesus, is in a more privileged position than John. John was not able to share in the abundance of life that was released through the death and resurrection of Jesus as every believing Christian can do.
There are at this point some strange words: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force." The meaning is not immediately clear but it seems to refer to those who are using violence to prevent people from entering the Kingdom and pulling away those who have already entered. In the context of Matthew's Gospel, this could apply to those Jews and others who were bitterly opposed to Jesus and his message and who both tried to prevent people entering the Christian community or tried to make those already members to defect. This we know from the letters of Paul was happening in many communities. And it is still happening today, sometimes with violence (e.g. persecution) sometimes in much more subtle ways (it is not 'PC' to be Christian).
John, too, is described as "Elijah who is to come". We know that the prophet Elijah did not die a natural death. He was carried off to heaven in a chariot. However, it was a Jewish belief that some day he would return to leave this earth in a normal way and join the dead in Sheol. But the important point was that his return would be the immediate prelude to the arrival of the Messiah. In calling John Elijah, Jesus is clearly pointing to himself as the Messiah. And so Jesus says: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Those with real insight will know what Jesus is saying. They will listen carefully to his words and recognise Jesus for who he really is and accept him as Lord.
We might conclude by reflecting that the role of John the Baptist is one that each follower of Christ is called to fill. It is up to us to prepare the way for Christ and his vision of the Kingdom to enter the lives of people. In the words of the Benedictus, a hymn said every day in the Church's Morning Prayer:
As for you, little child,
You shall be called a prophet of God the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
To prepare his ways before him. (Luke2:76)

FRIDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Isaiah 48:17-19)

In a passage where Second Isaiah speaks of King Cyrus being chosen as God's instrument to liberate his people from Babylon and enable them to return to their homeland, we have today's short reading, a new prophecy inserted in the text.
It is a reflection on what the destiny of Israel might have been if she had remained faithful to God's calling. The sufferings of the Exile are seen by the writer as a punishment which Israel largely deserved.
If they had remained faithful, their prosperity "would have been like a river" and their integrity "like the waves of the sea" -- symbols of free-flowing abundance. If they had remained faithful, they would have enjoyed the promises made long ago by Yahweh. Instead of being a dwindling remnant, "your children would have been numbered like the sand, your descendants as many as its grains".
This is reminiscent of prophecies made to Abraham by Yahweh, such as: "I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring can also be counted" (Gen 13:16); "I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore" (Gen 22:17). It is a promise that goes right through the Bible, especially in Deuteronomy and in the sayings of the prophets.
Listening to God is the theme running through both readings today. In the Gospel, we will see Jesus upbraiding the people for not listening either to John the Baptist, who preached a message of austerity, nor to Jesus, who brings a message of compassion and inclusiveness.
In our celebration of Christmas, let us look at ourselves and our response to the call of Jesus which we are hearing all during this Advent period. To 'hear' in the Gospel implies total acceptance and assimilation of what we hear and incorporating it in our daily lives.

GOSPEL (Matthew 11:16-19)

Today's readings are about listening to what God is saying to us.
The Gospel reading follows immediately on yesterday's passage about John the Baptist as the one preparing the way for the Messiah. It ended with the words, "Whoever has ears ought to hear."
So in today's reading Jesus upbraids the crowds for not listening. He compares them to children in the market place who complain to their playmates: "We piped to you and you did not dance; we wailed and you did not mourn."
Thus, when John came in great austerity, neither eating nor drinking, fasting and wearing a garment of camel's hair, people said he was possessed by an evil spirit. On the other hand, when Jesus came "eating and drinking", they said, "See, a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners."
If we do not want to hear what God is saying to us through the people and situations in our life, we can so easily rationalise and reject the bearer's frailty and in the process reject the Gospel as well -- which is actually quite illogical. "A priest shouted at me in confession or made a pass at me, so I don't go to church any more." It would be like rejecting democracy because of the corruption of a democratically elected official.
We do need to distinguish very clearly between the central vision of the Kingdom which Jesus left to us and the ways in which that vision has been lived out through the centuries. It was Paul who said a long time ago that we Christians carry the message of the Gospel in vessels of clay, easily broken, often leaking. It is important for us to realise that God can and does speak to us through very unexpected media and agents. It is probably true to say that some of the greatest saints had serious weaknesses. In fact, many of them became saints because of their weaknesses and through their weaknesses (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, where Paul thanks God for working through his weaknesses).
It is important, as Jesus urges us, that we really try to listen to the essence of what Jesus left us, his vision of the Kingdom. Very few of us hear the message without some form of filtering due to our history or our personal idiosyncrasies. As a preacher, I often say that when I preach to 20 people, 20 different messages are heard. And there is nothing wrong with that provided each one of us really tries to hear what God is saying to me and do not immediately push away something I do not like to hear.
The passage is nicely summed up in the last phrase: "Wisdom is vindicated by her works." Jesus is the embodiment of the Wisdom of God. Jesus needs no justification beyond the results of his life shown in all that he said and did, especially with the ultimate manifestation of love shown on the Cross. And the same can be true for each one of us.

SATURDAY of Advent Week 2

FIRST READING (Sirach 48:1-4,9-11)

For today we leave aside 'Second Isaiah' and have a one-off reading from the book of Sirach. This is one of the so-called 'apocryphal' books, which are part of our Catholic Bible but are not included in the Bibles of the Jews or other Christian denominations. It is also known as 'Ecclesiasticus', and is not to be confused with Ecclesiastes, a book accepted by all denominations. This part of Sirach consists of a long list of eulogies of various personalities in the Old Testament. As the New Jerusalem Bible comments: "This eulogy shows how a devout Jew of the 2nd century before Christ thought of the history of his people."
The eulogy in today's reading is about the prophet Elijah. He is praised as the prophet of the Northern Kingdom who prophesied in the name of God against King Ahab about 869 BC. He also denounced the worship of the god Baal. Elijah's dramatic story can be found in the First Book of Kings, chaps 17-19 and in the first two chapters of the Second Book of Kings. Mendelssohn has a magnificent oratorio based on Elijah's exploits. A number of his deeds are referred to in today's reading.
Why read this passage today? There are at least two reasons. One remarkable thing about Elijah is that he did not die naturally. As today's reading says, he was "taken up [to heaven] in the whirlwind of fire in a chariot with fiery horses". It was witnessed by Elisha, who took over his prophetic mantle. But it was expected that one day Elijah would come back to earth and that his return would signify the imminent coming of the Messiah. He was "to allay God's wrath before the fury breaks, to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob".
Whether Elijah has returned yet or not, we do not really know, but the Gospel -- and Jesus himself -- implies very strongly that the role as forerunner of the Messiah has been in fact filled by John the Baptist. And some of the texts that we have been reading this week from Isaiah are applied by the Gospel to John.
Another reason is that today's Gospel is a passage immediately following the story of the Transfiguration in which Elijah appears with Moses talking with Jesus.
We can apply the final passage of the reading to ourselves: "Happy shall they be who see you [Elijah], and those who have fallen asleep in love." The exact reading and meaning of the sentence is not clear because of defects in the original texts that have been handed down. But those who would see Elijah return would also see the Messiah who followed soon after. We are among those fortunate to welcome the Messiah, Jesus Christ, into our lives and to learn from him the Way in which our lives are to be lived. And happy "those who have fallen asleep in love". For, filled with the love of God, a life face to face with God forever is assured.

GOSPEL (Matthew 17:10-13)

As mentioned, the Gospel also makes mention of the prophet Elijah.
The passage follows immediately after the Transfiguration, when three of Jesus' disciples -- Peter, James and John -- were given a glimpse of Jesus as the glorious Son of his heavenly Father. During that experience, they saw Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the prophetic tradition, speaking with Jesus and thereby clearly endorsing the mission of Jesus as Messiah, including what he had told them about his suffering, dying and rising again. A prophecy which had upset them very much.
On the way down from the mountain, the disciples ask Jesus, "Why do the scribes says that Elijah has to come first?" To which Jesus replies: "I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased." Jesus does not really answer the question but confirms that Elijah will come again. In fact, says Jesus, he has already come but he was not recognised and he was mistreated, just as Jesus himself will not be recognised and be rejected. The disciples immediately realised that Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist.
The role of the returned Elijah was to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah and that is exactly what John the Baptist did. The First Reading from the book of Sirach is a panegyric of Elijah but much of it can be applied to John the Baptist.
Once again, let us see ourselves in the role of John, sharing with him the responsibility of preparing the way for Jesus to come into people's lives. And, like John and as disciples of Jesus, we too can expect to have to face challenges, opposition and perhaps hardships. "The disciple is not above the master."

Advent -- Week 3

Monday: Num 24:2-7, 15-17

Today's first reading is from the book of Numbers. It is from that part of the Bible (the five books of Pentateuch) which deals with the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law to Moses, the long trek through the desert for 40 years and the settling in to the Promised Land. In today's reading, the Israelites are close to reaching their destination but, understandably, their arrival is not welcomed by those already in possession of these lands. The reading features the strange character of Balaam. He was a prophet or diviner from Pethor, near the River Euphrates in Mesopotamia. He had been asked by Balak, king of the Moabites, to put a curse on the invading Israelites. Babylonia was renowned in those times for divination.
Although he was in Jewish terms a non-believer, not one of God's people, Balaam does not seem to be able to carry out his mission, much to the surprise of Balak. Instead, he becomes an instrument of God's plan. The author of Numbers puts four oracles in the mouth of Balak and we have two of them, the third and fourth, in today's reading. They are inserted rather artificially into the narrative with which they do not seem to have a direct connection.
Our reading opens by telling us that Balaam sees the Israelites, encamped according to their tribes. He then speaks but the implication is that the words are not his own and certainly not what he was expected to say. He describes himself as a man with "far-seeing eyes", as "one who hears the word of God" and "sees what Shaddai [the Almighty] makes him see" and that "his eyes are opened". Earlier there had been the strange experience with his donkey. On his way to curse the Israelites, the donkey suddenly stopped and refused to go further because the way was blocked by an angel of the Lord. Even though he beat the animal severely, it refused to go forward. Eventually God spoke through the mouth of the donkey, and Balaam's eyes were suddenly opened to the presence of God before him. The implication is that even Balaam's donkey could see better than he could.
The words that flow from Balaam's mouth speak in high praise of Israel and of its prosperous future. "How fair are your tents, O Jacob!... Like valleys that stretch afar, like gardens... like aloes... like cedars beside the waters." Here is an image of the "land flowing with milk and honey" which Yahweh had promised earlier. The lushness of their new home is reminiscent of the fertility and peace of Eden.
"A hero arises from their stock, he reigns over countless peoples. His king is greater than Agag." Agag, representing the Amalekite kings, will give way to a greater king from Israel, perhaps indicating Saul, Israel's first king, whose victory over King Agag is described in the First Book of Samuel (chap. 15). Or it may be a reference to Saul's successor, David. In any case, it leads us on to the second part of today's reading which contains the fourth oracle of Balaam.
Much of this oracle is a repetition of the previous one, about Balaam being now able to see, able now to hear the word of God, one endowed with knowledge passed on to him by God. It is a statement which looks to the future, to a time when Israel will rule over the kingdoms on the east side of the Jordan - Moab and Edom - a prophecy realised under the reign of David. And what Balaam sees is leadership emanating from Israel, a "star from Jacob", referring clearly to David.
But it also points to the expected Messianic ruler who will be like a star and sceptre in his kingship and who will bring the ultimate victory over the enemies of God's people. And in that star we clearly recognise Jesus, the One truly chosen by God as leader not only of Israel but of the whole world. This is the star that the Magi followed until they came across the Child in the arms of his Mother.
The oracle shows how God wants to proclaim a wonderful future for his people before the whole world, coming from the mouth of a man who had been specially chosen to bring the curse of the gods on Israel. It is something we too need to consider. In the Gospel the chief priests and elders found it difficult to hear the voice of God in the words and actions of Jesus. In our lives, too, Jesus can speak to us through very unexpected channels. We need to be constantly ready and make no exceptions.

Matthew 21:23-27

As with the First Reading, the Gospel also deals with the issue of authority. It is clear that the way Jesus used to teach was a source of disquiet among many of the Jewish religious leaders. They approach him one day in the Temple and ask him, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus seldom directly answers provocative questions put to him and in this case, as he does elsewhere, he answers with a question of his own. If they will answer his question, he will answer theirs.
His question is, "Was the baptism of John the Baptist of divine or human origin?" Immediately his questioners are in a dilemma. If they answer "divine", they will be further asked why they did not receive John's baptism. We know that when John was baptising they came to observe but they themselves clearly felt no need to be baptised themselves. To do so would have been to put themselves on the same level as the sinful and the unclean.
If they were to answer "human", then they would run the risk of offending the people who had no doubts about the matter. They all held that "John was a prophet". Lamely they answer, "We do not know." So Jesus refuses to reply to their question.
Ultimately the leaders were being accused of a stubborn blindness, unable and unwilling to see the hand of God either in the mission of Jesus or of John. They could not see that the authority with which Jesus spoke clearly resided in himself. He was not just the bearer of a message; he was himself the source of the message.
Perhaps a word about "authority" may be relevant here. The word comes from the Latin auctoritas, which is itself an abstract noun from the verb augere. Augere means "to increase, make bigger". We find the same verb in the word "author".
A person with 'authority' is not just someone who wields coercive power over others. The exercise of genuine authority is not to control, to keep in line but, on the contrary, to be an agent in releasing the potential that is in people, to be an empowering agent. Jesus did not wield coercive authority. He invited people to follow him. He came to serve not be served. He came to give life, life in its fullness. He came to lead people into the full development of all they could be and were meant to be.
He did this dramatically when he got down on his knees and washed the feet of his disciples. This was an act of authority - the authority of outreaching love. It is up to each one to decide whether to follow the way of love or to go one's own way.
Perhaps each one of us could examine how we exercise authority in our own lives - as parents, teachers, employers, or in any capacity where we have some responsibility with regard to others. Very few of us have no authority at all.

Advent Week 3 - Tuesday

Zeph 3:1-2, 9-13

Zephaniah reflects a time early in the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC) before his reforms were fully developed. Zephaniah is very aware of the corruption and injustice prevalent in the Judah of his day. There is a harsh message of judgement but it is not without a promise and hope, which is reflected in today's reading. This promise seems to have rested with a just remnant of Israel, who were among the humble and not including the corrupt and disobedient leaders with whom Zephaniah must have been closely familiar, coming as he did from the ruling class.
The reading begins on an ominous note of warning to an unnamed city. It is generally agreed that it is Jerusalem, seen as representing the whole of Israel. Officials, judges, prophets and priests are all seen as corrupt and continuing to ignore the warnings they have received from God.
But change is on the way when the people are given "lips that are clean" and will begin to serve the Lord faithfully. The promise of "pure speech" is a symbol of forgiveness. It also points to a reversal of the curse of Babel and anticipates Pentecost when all will speak with the same voice and proclaim the same message. (cf. Is 6:5-7; Gen 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11). The nations will be converted and there will be a faithful remnant left in Israel. All together will obey the same Lord and God.
On that day there will be a humble and lowly remnant of Israel. This image of a simple and modest people, devoid of all arrogance and pride, has been described as one of the most perfect descriptions of the 'spirit of poverty' in the Old Testament. Earlier (in 2:3) the prophet had said: "Seek Yahweh all you humble [anawim] of the earth who obey his commands. Seek uprightness, seek humility: you may perhaps find shelter on the day of God's anger."
The anawim, the lowly in this world, play a significant role in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments (see Matt 18:1-7). The prophets are aware that it is the poor who are usually the oppressed. They continually call for justice for the weak and lowly and for those in need. In short the anawim are those Israelites who submit, not passively but actively, to the will of God. Later, the word anaw or ani will come to represent those who opt to lead lives of material simplicity for the sake of others. We see God himself doing this in the person of the baby Jesus born in the midst of poverty and deprivation. It is the ideal (not always lived out!) of religious communities through their 'vow of poverty'.
It is not mainly a question of being economically poor because where poverty indicates being deprived of what is needed for a life of dignity it is something to be removed. It is rather the attitude of those who voluntarily have little and are open to receive everything from God. The word 'poverty' formerly implied failure; but now, it will be the condition needed to seek God. After that time, the "poor of the Lord" will mean all those in Israel who hope to find God. The Gospel, especially the Gospel of Luke, will proclaim the happiness of the poor (see Luke 6:20). With this 'poverty' there necessarily goes a high level of integrity. "They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies."
The overall message of both readings today then is that it is never too late to start listening to God and to follow Jesus in his life of simplicity and dedication to the well-being of others.

Matthew 21:28-32

It helps to be aware that today's Gospel reading follows immediately on yesterday's when the authority of Jesus was called into question. Today Jesus offers the religious leaders a parable. It is about two sons who were asked by their father to go and work in his vineyard. One refused to go, but later repented and went. The other son said he would go, but did not. The question is then: "Which of the two did the will of his father?"
The parable can be read on two levels. On a more general level, it is the common theme of the Gospel that doing is more important than mere words. "It is not those who just say, 'Lord, Lord' who will enter the Kingdom... " The important thing is actually to carry out the will of God in our daily lives.
On a more particular level, the parable points to the situation which Jesus was facing.
The religious leaders and many of the apparently religious people, who believed they were following God's ways, refused to believe in John the Baptist and, after him, Jesus himself. On the other hand, people who were rated as deeply sinful and violators of the Law - tax collectors and prostitutes, responded to the call of John to repentance. They were deeply moved by John's preaching, changed their ways and were baptised by him in the Jordan. Even after that, the religious leaders still made no move. When Jesus came, again the religious leaders refused to see God's hand in all he was doing, while huge crowds gathered round him.
The religious leaders are like the son who said 'Yes' to the Lord's word but did not follow it out in their lives. They were experts in the wording and interpretation of the Law. The sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, who had constantly violated the Law of God, repented and changed their ways. It is clear which group is finding its way into the Kingdom.
Of course, we are not reflecting on these readings just to know how proud and arrogant the chief priests and elders were. They are for us to reflect on for our own lives. Do we think that because we are practising Christians we are in a privileged and untouchable position? Do we spend a lot of time praying in church but not doing much loving outside of it? Do we find ourselves speaking in a critical or condescending way of less devout Christians or of people who do not seem to be very moral by our standards? We have said Yes to God by our baptism and membership of the Church but can we say that we always carry out what God is asking us to do?
Probably, after some honest reflection, we would have to admit that we are not really in a position to sit in judgment on others. Given the gifts and graces we have received as Christians, we may not be doing very well compared with those who have never enjoyed the support of a Christian faith and a Christian environment. As Christmas approaches, let us be followers of the Lord in deeds as well as words.

Advent Week 3 - Wednesday

Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-26

We return again to the Book of Consolation of Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55).
Today's reading is part of a statement made by Yahweh to King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus, by his defeat of Babylon where the Israelites were being kept in exile, is seen as an instrument of God to liberate his people. In fact, he is the only non-Israelite who is called the 'anointed one of God', titles normally confined to Israelite kings like David. It is the title given also to Jesus (Messiah = Christos = Anointed). It is an indication of the way in which the exiles saw Cyrus as their saviour. History tells us that Cyrus was seen as a "father" to his people and the Bible remembers that the first thing he did after the conquest of Babylon was to restore freedom to all those living there in exile (see Ezra 1:1).
"Apart from me all is nothing, I am the Lord, unrivalled." Cyrus -- and the people of Israel -- are being reminded that the ultimate power comes not from a conquering king, even one seen by some as a god, but from the One God. This power extends from the rising of the sun to its setting in the west, in other words, embraces the whole earth (words we use in the Third Eucharistic Prayer).
"I form the light and create darkness" -- everything ultimately comes from God, whether it is seen by us at the time as good or bad. The history of Israel is a story of light and darkness, as is the history of mankind throughout the centuries.
"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness... " Words which form one of the beautiful hymns we sing during the Advent season (Rorate, coeli desuper... Drop down dew, you heavens, from above... ). It is an expression of abundance and is a poetic way of describing the liberation and 'saving justice' that is to come to the exiled Israelites through Cyrus but ultimately from God himself. By inserting the words 'Upright One' and 'Saviour' St Jerome has the prophecy point directly to Christ -- as we do at this Advent time.
"Let the earth open that salvation may spring up". A direct reference to what the Persian king, as the agent of Yahweh, is going to bring about -- delivery for God's people and a situation where peace and justice prevail. God's work and humanity's cooperation are joined in a unique endeavour of bringing us to the goal of all we do for the world.
Cyrus is only a forerunner of the real Saviour who will break into our world, a Jew born of Jews, truly one of us and yet sharing the very being of God. And, as Cyrus carried out the work of God, so we too are called to do the work that Jesus initiated. Justice and Salvation need still to be brought to huge numbers of people in our world. This is the building of the Kingdom and among its chief agents are those who form the Body of the Risen Christ.
To put the work of Cyrus in context, the passage ends by speaking of the uniqueness of our God. "There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Saviour". And the call goes out to the whole world: "Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth!... To me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear." These last words will be repeated by Paul in his Letter to the Romans (14:11) and in his Letter to the Philippians (2:10) where he applies it to the Lordship of Jesus.
Taking this beautiful passage as a whole, we are asked to see in Cyrus the work of God being fulfilled in the world by people who do not even know him. This has always been the case and Christ continues to act through people who do not believe in him and may even reject him. The Church is not by any means the whole of the Kingdom reality but its sacrament and visible sign.

Luke 7:19-23

The disciples of John the Baptist had seen many of the wonderful things that Jesus was doing and came back to tell John about them. John then told two of his disciples to go and ask Jesus if he was the one who was to come or whether they should continue to look for someone else.
It is not clear in today's Gospel whether John really wanted to know the answer to this question or whether it was primarily for their benefit. It is reasonable to suppose that some of John's disciples may not have felt too happy to see their leader being eclipsed by an unknown newcomer. And we know from John's Gospel that some of the Baptist's disciples actually transferred their allegiance from him to Jesus (John 1:35ff.).
The question they are told to ask Jesus is: "Are you he who is to come or shall we look for another?" This seems to refer to the return of that fiery reforming prophet, Elijah. This was to happen "before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day" (Malachi, 3:23). As so often happens in the Gospel, the answer comes indirectly. When John's disciples reached Jesus they actually saw him curing many people of their diseases, plagues and evil spirits and giving sight to people who could not see. Then Jesus says to them:
"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up,
the poor have good news preached
to them."
And that is a perfectly clear and unambiguous answer to their question. Why? Because in a well-known Messianic prophecy Isaiah long ago had said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound... " (Isaiah 61:1-2) Elsewhere Isaiah had also said: "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy" (Isaiah 35).
All these signs of the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah, are clearly being realised in Jesus. In fact, at the beginning of his public life, in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus had read this passage and then announced that it was being realised before their very eyes. He could not have given a stronger indication of his identity. The answer then is clearly, "Yes. Jesus is the One who is to come" because all these things are happening before their very eyes.
We should also notice what are the signs of the Messiah's presence. It is not in any manifestation of political power and domination or the destruction of traditional enemies nor is it found in a complex set of doctrinal beliefs but in the healing of the sick, the disabled and the weak, the restoring of people to wholeness in their individual and social lives and in their relationship with God.
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the One who comes, let us remember that the work of Jesus to liberate the lame, the deaf, the blind, the poor, the ostracised -- in every sense of those words -- still needs to be done and that it is the responsibility of each one of us to make our own contribution. And let us pray to be liberated from the blindness, deafness, dumbness and paralysis that prevents us from making that contribution to the building of the Kingdom.

Advent Week 3 - Thursday

Isaiah 54:1-10

This is our last reading from the 'Book of Consolation'.
"Shout for joy, you barren women, who bore no children!" Words addressed to Jerusalem (representing Israel), especially during the exile. The Israelites, in exile, are apparently abandoned by their 'husband' God. Humanly speaking, they seem to have no future as a people. In the Near East, barrenness was considered a terrible disgrace. Now, however, they can shout for joy. They are going to be fertile again.
The passage brings a message of comfort to the Israelites in exile with the promise of Jerusalem's restoration. The people are called on to prepare for great changes, changes for the better. Israel, personified in the feminine figure of its capital, Jerusalem, which had remained desolate and uninhabited during the exile, will soon overflow with a burgeoning population.
The people are called on to enlarge their tents to accommodate greater numbers of God's people. "You will burst out to right and left. Your race will take possession of the nations and people the abandoned cities." A promise that they are going to go back to their homeland and fill their cities and towns again with their people.
The past can be left behind. "You will forget the shame of your youth and no longer remember the curse of your widowhood." In describing the sufferings the Israelites have been through, the prophet uses traditional images -- the barren wife who becomes fertile, the repudiated wife who is taken back. It is a more positive message than that found in some of the other prophets who often see only more punishments in store.
There is now no need to be afraid. God is a faithful spouse who will not abandon his people for ever. They can now forget the "shame of your youth", a shame brought on by their exile, they can forget "the curse of their widowhood", when God seemed to have abandoned them.
"Your creator will be your husband, his name, the Lord of hosts". God will be their new husband and the source of a new fruitfulness. "Like a forsaken wife" they are now being called back. This was no separation, only a brief estrangement.
"I did forsake you for a brief moment, but with great love will I take you back. In excess of anger, for a moment I hid my face from you." Was it God who had abandoned his people, or was it they who had, by their faithlessness, distanced themselves from him? For he has never been far from them. "With everlasting love I have taken compassion on you, says the Lord, your redeemer." This is God's unchanging and unchangeable love, the love of a good father for his children or of a loving husband for his wife. A love freely and unconditionally poured out as a free gift.
The promises made after the Flood in the time of Noah are recalled: "When I swore that Noah's waters should never flood the world again." Now, God repeats his promises and reminds his people of his unchanging love for them -- "for the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love you will never leave you and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken."
The Israelites have attributed their sufferings to the anger of the Lord but God is never angry. Their sufferings have been brought on themselves by their failure to remain faithful to the covenant God had made with them. In the Exile they have paid the price but now is coming a time of reconciliation with their return to the homeland they have so bitterly missed for so many years.
As we approach Christmas, we see the same covenant with our God renewed in the coming of the Incarnate Son of God in our midst. On the one hand, it is an occasion for us to leave behind our self-centred ways. In Jesus we are given in the clearest possible terms the Way our lives are to follow if we are to be truly one with our loving Lord and Creator.
Here we have the story of God's love for us: the total love of God, our infidelity, our sin. The Bible describes the mistakes of men, and then the infidelity of the people loved by God. But the prophets announce the New Jerusalem, Yahweh's bride which will never again be abandoned. We know that the Church is this new People united to God in an eternal covenant.
It is quite true there are wrinkles on the face of the Church: dull parishes, existing but not really alive; institutions where one would look in vain for the Spirit of Jesus; leaders of the Church subservient to the powerful [including the powerful in the Church!!]... Somehow the New Jerusalem is in the church of Christ, but it is also true that we continue to look for it. Therefore, we are open to hearing and meditating upon this proclamation of the merciful love of God. (Christian Community Bible, loc. cit.)

Luke 7:24-30

Today's Gospel is a continuation of yesterday's. Jesus had been asked by disciples of John the Baptist whether he was the One who was expected. And Jesus had given an indirect but very clear answer in the affirmative. He was indeed the One. After the messengers of John had left, Jesus then began to comment about John to the people around him.
What, Jesus asked them, had they gone out to the desert to see? "A reed shaken by the wind?" Someone who shifted his position with every passing fashion, someone who just said what people wanted to hear? No. People went out to hear someone who spoke the truth without fear or favour, who was not afraid to say what needed to be said even if people were not too happy with what they heard, even when it pointed directly at them.
Did they go out to see "a man clothed in fine garments"? Someone who was rich and famous, who lived in the lap of luxury? No, "those who are gorgeously apparelled and live in luxury are in kings' courts". They went out to see a prophet and, indeed, more than a prophet. A prophet is someone called to convey to the people a message from God. A prophet is someone who has a deeper insight into the way people should live their lives. His or her role is both to announce and denounce and call people back to their senses and to right living.
But John is even more than that. His special role is to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before your." Among the long line of prophets his is a unique privilege. "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John."
And yet -- "he who is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he". Jesus is the one who inaugurates the Reign of God among us in his own person and in all those who accept his Word as their way of life. This was a privilege that John was never to know.
But with privilege comes responsibility. Our fellowship with Christ is something for which to praise and thank God. It is humbling to think that we are in a way more privileged than John who knew Jesus personally. This privilege also carries with it expectations and challenges touching on all our lives.
We can ask ourselves that when people look as us: Do they see a reed shaking and bending with every breeze of fashion? Do they see people who set great store by status, luxury and an obsession with the material things of this world? Or do they see people who fearlessly and consistently proclaim the Way of Christ in all they say and do?

Friday & Saturday

=> see Advent II

December 17

FIRST READING (Genesis 49:2,8-10)

Jacob is on his death bed and he is making his last statement to his family. It is the longest poem in Genesis. Today's reading is part of what is known as the 'Blessings of Jacob', although they are more like prophecies than blessings. This is especially true of the section in today's reading. And it is directed not so much to the sons of Jacob but more to the tribes who bore their name.
Although it ostensibly refers to Jacob's immediate descendants, in fact, the final writing dates from the time of David much later, with possibly some earlier elements contained in it. Its contents really concern the time of the Judges and the Kings. It was at this later time that it would have been inserted into the Genesis narrative. Put together from pre-existing songs and sayings, it looks at the tribes of Israel in their early days in Canaan. It is put here to signify the closing of a historical period, that covered by the Book of Genesis.
Two of the tribes stand out -- Judah and Joseph. Judah is seen as coming to dominate all the others until the coming of "the one who will be in charge", a reference to the Messiah. Judah will be the one through whom the promises made to Abraham and Jacob will be fulfilled. He was the fourth born to Jacob's wife Leah and also the fourth son born to Jacob, but his three older brothers, for various reasons, lost their right to family leadership.
He is shown as pre-eminent over his brothers. "Your brothers shall praise you... your father's sons [his brothers, in other words] will do you homage." From the time of the second journey of Jacob's sons to Joseph in Egypt, Judah acted as their spokesman. Judah, under the name of Ephraim, did in fact become the most influential of the northern tribes and would form the nucleus of the future kingdom of Israel. And, through his descendant David, he would be an ancestor of Jesus. And hence the purpose of today's reading.
He is called a "lion's cub" as a symbol of power, strength and courage. In later times he is often pictured as a lion and, in Revelation (5:5), Jesus himself is called the "Lion of Judah".
The meaning of the closing prophecy is obscure but it is often read in a Messianic sense, fulfilled first of all in David and ultimately in Christ, the Messiah. It is to Jesus Christ that the 'sceptre', the ruling power ultimately belongs.
Both the First Reading and the Gospel, which contains Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, emphasise Jesus' roots going back to the very beginnings of Israel. Jesus was a Jew through and through and linked with many of the most significant characters in Israel's turbulent history.
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Child Jesus in Bethlehem, we need to remember that the content of today's readings is an important aspect of the Incarnation. Jesus did not just appear as an isolated human being. He came from God but he is also is intimately and crucially linked with the history of his own people. And, because of that, so are we.

GOSPEL (Matthew 1:1-17)

Perhaps this is regarded as one of the dullest Gospel readings of the year! It consists of a long list of names, many of which mean very little to most Christians. But it has one resounding message: Jesus fully entered our human condition, with all its virtues and vices.
One of the main purposes of Matthew's Gospel, which was written for Jewish Christians by Jewish Christians, is to show the continuity of Jesus in the history and tradition of Israel. Jesus was no upstart. Still less was he a rebel or a traitor. On the contrary, he was the natural development of the long process of God's relationship with his people. Not only was he the natural development, he was the long-awaited climax. He was no less than the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed King of Israel.
Today's passage from Matthew is the opening of his Gospel. It is introduced with the words: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." These two names are the most significant in the family line. Jesus as the Christ will be a King in the line of David. And he is descended from Abraham to whom God had said: "... in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing" (Gen 22:18).
The genealogy is divided into three significant parts, each with fourteen generations. This is probably because the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in David's name amounts to 14. The third and last list actually only contains 13 names. Perhaps Matthew meant Jesus' name to be part of the list. After all, the genealogy of Jesus continues beyond him to his followers. Or perhaps a scribe somewhere along the line got his numbers mixed up.
The first part is from Abraham down to David, the second from David to the deportation to Babylon, and the third from the deportation to Joseph and Mary.
Of course, it is not a complete genealogy. The names mentioned all appear one way or another in the Hebrew Testament. There are four women mentioned -- Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Mary. Each one of them interesting characters in their own right. There are also a number of scoundrels in the list. Even David, one of the most outstanding servants of God, was an adulterer and a murderer (apart from those he killed in war).
When the Son of God became a human being, he really did become one of us. The Gospel makes no effort to "sanitise" his origins, or the members of his immediate family. There is no shortage of skeletons in Jesus' cupboard. When John says, "The Word became a human being and lived among us", he said no less than the truth.
And, if Jesus was totally incarnated in the world so that he could communicate the message of God's love to the world and for the world, then we, too, must be totally incarnated. We are not true to our calling if we think that, in order to be true to Jesus, we have to separate ourselves from a material and sinful world. We cannot be the "salt" of the earth, unless we are fully inserted into it. But only when we also fully identify with the values and concerns of the Kingdom. Otherwise we are salt without taste.

December 18

FIRST READING (Jeremiah 23:5-8)

Today's reading comes from one of three prose sermons which seem to originate either from the period of exile in Babylon or soon after the return to Jerusalem. After scolding Judah's rulers for scattering Judah, God -- in today's passage -- promises to establish an upright member, a 'Branch', of David's line over a restored Israel.
Branch is elsewhere used as a messianic title. Zerubbabel, whose name means 'branch/shoot of Babylon', was one of the leaders in the return of the Jews from exile. And he was a descendant of David.
The Messiah, unlike any previous descendant of David, will be the ideal King. He will sum up in himself all the finest qualities of the best rulers, and infinitely more. He will rule responsibly before God as a real king and not as a puppet like King Zedekiah. He will be a true shepherd for his people, free of the corruption found in so many of Judah's rulers. He will be "wise, practising honesty and integrity in the land".
He will be called 'Yahweh-is-our-justice'. This is in contrast with the present ruler, Zedekiah, whose name in Hebrew meant 'Yahweh-is-my-justice'. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon originally gave this name to Mattaniah when he was appointed king. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah (597-587 BC). He was a tragic figure. He tried to enter into an alliance with surrounding peoples, including Egypt, to rebel against Babylon. But he suffered defeat and was led off to Babylon. Here his two sons were executed in his presence and then his own two eyes were gouged out.
Although Zedekiah did not in any live up to his name 'the Lord is my Justice', the new Lord of Justice will bring many blessings to his people and give them all that they need to be truly God's people.
A new era is on the way. People will no longer be thinking of God as the one who brought his people out of Egypt. Rather, they will think of him as the one who brought his people from their place of exile to live once more on their own soil. This will be the 'New Exodus', one of even greater significance than the earlier one. And it will not be complete until the Messiah comes and establishes the Kingdom of God not only in Israel but throughout the world -- bring true justice and peace to all.

GOSPEL (Matthew 1:18-24)

Today's passage follows immediately on yesterday's account of Jesus' genealogy.
There were three stages for Jews getting married in Jesus' time. There was the engagement, then the betrothal, and finally the wedding. The betrothal was a serious commitment. It was already the first part of the marriage. There would be no sexual relationships as the couple would not yet be living together but it was a binding relationship. Normal married life began some months later when the husband took his betrothed into his home. To violate the betrothal by having sexual relations with another person was equivalent to adultery.
Imagine, then, the horrific dilemma of Joseph. He discovers that the woman to whom he is already betrothed but with whom he has not consummated their relationship in marriage, is already pregnant. There could be only one explanation; she had been unfaithful and was having another man's child. It was a very serious matter and, if brought out into the open, would have made Mary liable to death by stoning.
But Joseph was a "righteous" man. As a devout follower of the Mosaic Law, he would want to break the union with someone who had so seriously broken the Law. And yet, because he was such a good man, he did not want to expose her to a terrible punishment. In this, for his time and indeed for our own time, he shows extraordinary forbearance. Few men would accept such a situation with such calmness and self-restraint. Most would find it a terrible blow to their manhood.
It is at this point that there is divine intervention and God communicates the true situation to Joseph who is assured that no other man is involved, that she has conceived through the power of God's Spirit. Joseph is further instructed to call the newborn child Jesus. Jesus, in Hebrew Joshua, had the meaning at this time of "Yahweh saves". Jesus is so called because he will save his people from their sin.
And, as Matthew likes to do, he shows that all this is in fulfilment of an Old Testament prophecy (following the Septuagint text of Isaiah 7:14) that a virgin will bear a son and he will be called "Emmanuel" or "God-is-with-us". This will be re-echoed when, at the very end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus says to his disciples just before he ascends to his Father: "I will be with you all days to the end of the age". Jesus remains with us for ever.
Joseph, now at peace, took Mary to his home as his wife. And he had no sexual relations with her until after Jesus was born. Thus there is no mistaking the origins of Jesus. He has a human mother but a divine Father. He will be the perfect Saviour of his people: in a fully human person the power of God himself will be at work.
Jesus is still our Emmanuel, God still lives with his people. And he does that through the Body of the Risen Jesus, the Church, the Christian community and its communities all over the world. Each one of us is called to be Emmanuel. Through us people can meet God and hear the message of love and salvation and forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us renew our commitment to be Emmanuel for the people in our lives.

December 19

FIRST READING (Judges 13:2-7,24-25)

There are in the Bible a number of incidences where elderly women who had never borne a child are, through the intervention of God, blessed with a child, usually a son.
Today's First Reading recounts one of these -- the birth of Samson. What is special to all these stories is that the child to be born has a very special role given to it by God. It is as if to say that God had played a role with the mother in the birth of this child. He was, in a way, God's child. And that is what we also see in today's Gospel which speaks about the circumstances in which the elderly Elizabeth is blessed with a son, who will be John the Baptist
The reading is from the book of Judges. These 'judges' were really heroic figures from various Israelite tribes who were engaged in the struggle of the Israelites to establish their dominion over the land which they believed had been allotted to them by God. Not surprisingly, the present occupants of the territories were not too pleased and resisted strongly, with varying degrees of success and failure on both sides.
Our reading is concerned with one of these 'judges' -- Samson. Overall, he is presented as being physically very strong but in other respects very weak, particularly where women were concerned. And it was a woman, the notorious Delilah, who would bring about his downfall. Nor, in spite of some successes, did he ever manage to free his country from the Philistine enemy. His exploits were more concerned with himself than his people.
The Philistines, who will appear later in the story of David (Goliath was a Philistine), were a non-Semitic people, possibly from Crete, who settled on the coastal plain of Palestine about the same time as the Hebrews were entering the land from the east. Conflict between them was inevitable.
Samson can be seen in a way as a symbol of his people. The misdeeds of the Israelites are often pictured by the prophets in the light of the foolish pursuit of foreign women, some of them of ill-repute, and falling victim to them. During the Judges' period, the people constantly prostituted themselves in worshipping Canaanite gods.
Samson was from the tribe of Dan. His story is told from birth to death. We are only concerned today with his birth. His father's name was Manoah and came from Zorah, in the territory of Dan. (Dan was one of the twelve sons of Jacob.) The wife, whose name is not given, is sterile -- the greatest curse a married woman could suffer in her society.
She shares this fate with some other prominent women in the Old Testament -- Sara, the mother of Isaac; Rebecca, the mother of Jacob; Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel; and, of course, in today's Gospel, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist.
But it is then that an 'angel of the Lord' appears to her. She hears the wonderful words: "You will conceive and bear a son." Words which are repeated in Gospel and will be heard again during the Annunciation to Mary.
Samson's mother is to prepare for his birth by not taking wine or any food regarded as unclean. As a future liberator of his people, this son will be especially dedicated to the Lord. From his very conception he is to be regarded as a Nazirite. The word nazir in Hebrew means 'consecrated'. A Nazirite was obliged to abstain from drinking wine or having his hair cut. In early times, the nazirite vow was for life but in later times it could be temporary and termination would be signified by the cutting of one's hair. It is implied that Samson's uncut hair is the source of his great strength, which is lost when it is cut by the treacherous Delilah.
When the child is born, his mother names him Samson, a word which means 'sun' or 'brightness'. This could be an expression of joy over the birth of an unexpected child or refer to a nearby town, Beth Shemesh, 'house of the sun(-god)'.
The passage ends with the words: "The child grew and the Lord blessed him: and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him." This final remark refers to his future feats of strength. Compare this with the words about Jesus after he had returned to Nazareth following his presentation in the Temple by Mary and Joseph: "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him" (Luke 2:52).
Today, let us reflect on our own calling by God. Perhaps there was nothing very special about it. Yet, like John the Baptist, each of us has been called to be a forerunner of Jesus, to prepare the way for Jesus to come into other people's lives, especially those who have not yet had the experience of knowing him.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:5-25)

There are close parallels in Luke's Infancy Narrative between the birth of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. There are also significant differences. The First Reading, too, provides a prototype for today's Gospel story as it describes the birth of Samson.
Today we read about the annunciation to Zechariah, about the birth of a son to his elderly wife, already past child-bearing age. Clearly it was a birth which, in normal circumstances, should not have happened. In a society where having children, and especially boys, was a wife's primary duty, to be unable to produce children was a terrible shame. It was the ultimate failure. One had been chosen as wife for this purpose and this purpose alone. Love and affection had very little to do with it. And it was, of course, presumed that it was the wife and not the husband who had failed.
That is why widows in the Scripture are listed as among the most pitiable of people. Such women might still be quite young when they lost their husbands to war, an accident or disease but, as "second-hand material", they were not eligible for re-marriage (whatever about extramarital unions) and so could not be mothers. Being the mother of a son is what women were meant to be. A woman who could not be a mother was less than a person.
Right through the Scriptures -- in both the Old and New Testaments the births of significant people happen in circumstance which point strongly to some divine intervention. So there are in the Bible a number of incidences where elderly women who had never borne a child are, through the intervention of God, blessed with a child, usually a son. So here, too, Elizabeth's barrenness is seen less as a curse than as a preparation for something special.
As we see, today's first reading recounts one of these -- the birth of Samson. What is peculiar to all these stories is that the child to be born has a very special role given to it by God. So in today's reading, too, there is a sign of God's intervention in the birth of John the Baptist. He is no ordinary child. He has been chosen out for a very special purpose, to be the forerunner of Jesus, the last of the great prophets of the Hebrew Covenant.
The opening of Luke's gospel is a kind of diptych with parallel stories announcing the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. We are not dealing here with literal history, although Luke posits the story in a genuinely historical context, "in the days of Herod, King of Judaea". Luke writes in imitation of Old Testament birth accounts (like the one in the First Reading), mixing historical facts and legends. So we do not ask: Did all this happen exactly as described? Rather, we ask what does it mean? And primarily it is part of the answer to another question: Who is Jesus Christ?
In today's story we have the classical situation of the elderly wife who is childless. Then one day, the husband, Zechariah, a member of the priestly caste is spoken to by an angel while serving in the Temple. The birth of a son is announced and his destiny. He will not touch strong drink (like Samson before him) and be filled with the Spirit of God even before his birth. He will be the source for many to find their way back to God. Zechariah responds with some scepticism and is punished with dumbness for his unbelief. But, following this experience, Elizabeth conceives a child.
The stage is set for the next, and more important, Annunciation.
Today, let us reflect seriously on our own calling by God. Like John, each of us has been called to be a forerunner of Jesus, to prepare the way for Jesus to come into other people's lives, especially those who have not yet had the experience of knowing him.

December 20

FIRST READING (Isaiah 7:10-14)

The Gospel is the fulfilment of the prophecy spoken in today's reading from Isaiah
Among a number of bad kings, King Ahaz of Judah comes out as particularly bad. He revived the barbarous custom of human sacrifice. "He even burnt his son as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel" (2 Kings 16:3). He followed other religious customs of the neighbouring idolatrous religions. When the king of Syria attacked Ahaz' capital of Jerusalem, he appealed to the Assyrians -- "I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me... " (2 Kings 16:7). He then took treasures from the Temple and sent them as a gift to the Assyrian king. He also made an exact copy of an altar he saw in Damascus and set it up in the Temple and removed the bronze altar of the Temple to one side. On this new altar, he made offerings in the Assyrian manner, which included throwing blood on the altar.
Ahaz' reign lasted 16 years and he was succeeded by his son Hezekiah, whom the Bible speaks as being one of the best of the kings. His reign lasted for 29 years but it was a very trying period for the Jews. During it the famous Sennacherib "came down like a wolf on the fold", laid siege to Jerusalem but his whole army was suddenly decimated by some highly contagious epidemic which swept right through it killing, according to the Bible account, more than 100,00 soldiers. The siege had to be called off.
All of this, of course, is only indirectly connected with today's reading but it does give some idea of the context in which the prophecy was made.
The reading begins with the Lord (through the mouth of Isaiah) urging Ahaz to ask for a sign either from God or from Sheol, the place of the dead. Ahaz, however, declines because he does not want to put his God to the test. Nevertheless, although God (and especially his prophet, Isaiah) is clearly not pleased with this rejection of the Lord's offer, Ahaz will be given a sign anyway.
The statement is a prophecy and is very positive in meaning. It denotes God's blessing on the Kingdom of Judah and on God's people. It is also seen as a messianic prophecy. It promises a king and an heir to David who will bring salvation to God's people, who, at this time, are being attacked by the Syrians on one side and by the Assyrians on another.
Even though it seems that Isaiah is immediately thinking of a successor to Ahaz, namely, his son Hezekiah, the formal nature of the prophecy and symbolic name given to the future heir indicates he was speaking about a more decisive intervention by God and the establishment of a messianic kingdom.
The prophecy reads: "A young girl is with child and will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel, which means 'God-is-with-us'." This is clearly meant to be an encouragement to Ahaz about the future of the kingdom now under siege from so many sides. The original text does not say explicitly that it is a virgin who will give birth. The Hebrew word almah simply means a young girl.
However, in Gen 24:43 almah refers to a young woman about to be married (and hence still a virgin). The pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint and made by Jews, translates almah as 'virgin'. It is this version that Matthew uses and reads it as indicating that Mary is a virgin when she conceives Jesus.
And, of course, from the time of the gospels, especially with Matthew who quotes from today's passage, the prophecy has been understood as pointing to the birth of Christ, who is Immanuel, God-with-us. And Matthew will emphasise this at the very end of his gospel when, just before leaving his disciples, Jesus in his final instructions promises, "I will be with you all days even to the end of time" (Matt 28:20).
This Child does not only give us God's blessings, or miraculous and divine liberation, but through him, God becomes present among humankind and the promises heard so many times come true: 'I will be their God and they will be my people.'
We see the beginning of the fulfilment of all this prophecy in the Gospel which speaks of Mary being invited to be the Mother of the Saviour, who will be both God's Son and hers. Even Isaiah is not likely to have dreamt of the implications of all this -- when the Word was made flesh and lived among us as one of us.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:26-38)

For us Christians, the heart of today's Gospel passage -- continuing immediately from yesterday's text -- is a turning point in the history of the world. As it is also even for those who do not know Christ or who refuse to believe in his origins.
As the story is told by Luke, Mary must have been truly alarmed at the words of her unexpected visitor. Her cousin Elizabeth is now pregnant six months. The incident is taking place in Nazareth, not exactly the centre of the earth, or even of Palestine. A future disciple of Jesus will be heard to say with some cynicism, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Truly in the eyes of the more sophisticated it was something of a backwater. Yet this is the place God chooses to enter our world -- not Rome, not Athens, not Alexandria nor any of the other great centres of power, culture and learning in the world of the time.
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" is the greeting of the angel Gabriel, the same one who spoke to Zechariah. How did Mary react to such an extraordinary salutation? The Gospel says that she was "greatly troubled" and well she might be. As a young girl in an obscure little town what could the words possibly mean? "Full of grace" really means that she is being showered with God's special favours. It is more something that is happening to her than something she already has. The nature of that favour is expressed in what follows -- she is to become the mother of a Son whom she is to call Jesus (meaning "God saves") and who will be a King "of whose kingdom there will be no end".
What really disturbs Mary is that, although she is already betrothed to Joseph, she is not yet married to him. In other words she is not sleeping with him as his wife. How can she become a mother? It will happen because the conception will be the work of God, the "overshadowing of the Spirit" so that the child who is born will be, in a very special sense, the Son of God. He will also, of course, be the son of Mary. In this way we have the deep mystery of the Incarnation expressed in the language of a story. Jesus will be at the same time someone who is fully divine and fully human. Jesus will be the unique bridge between God and his creation. He will be human "like us in all things but sin". He will also, through his whole life, his words and actions, be the "splendour of the Father".
In a great leap of faith and trust in the angel's message, Mary says 'Yes'. "Behold, I am the slave girl of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." For us Christians, the moment of that 'Yes' is a turning point in the history of the world. As it is also even for those who do not know Christ or who refuse to believe in his origins. It is the moment of Incarnation, when the Word became flesh and began to live among us as one of us. The world would never be the same. In a way, this is a more important moment than Christmas but it is understandable that we should tend to celebrate more the visible presence of God in Jesus at Bethlehem.
Mary had yet to learn what that 'Yes' involved but it was made unconditionally and it was never withdrawn. Through a life of trials and tribulations, of which we can know surely only a fraction, right up to those terrible moments as she stood beneath the Cross and saw her only Son die in agony and shame as a public criminal, she never once withdrew that 'Yes'.
There is a clear message there for us. We too have been called in our own special way to give birth to Jesus in our lives and in our environment. We too have been called to say 'Yes', an unconditional 'Yes' to following Jesus. Now is the time for us to renew that pledge with Mary's help and example.

December 21

FIRST READING -- from the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon 2:8-14)

We have a choice of two First Readings today. The second, which is from the prophet Zephaniah, is for those who may find the passionate love implied in the passage from the Song of Songs a little strong for a liturgical celebration.
The Song of Songs (also known as The Song of Solomon) is a collection of about 25 poems or parts of poems about human love and courtship, suitable for singing at weddings. "The poetry is graceful, sensuous and replete with erotic imagery and allusions to the ancient myth of the love of a god and a goddess on which the fertility of nature was thought to depend. (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, loc. cit.). The pronouns (He, She... ) imply that the speakers are a bridegroom (Lover), bride (Beloved) and chorus. Although it is called 'The Song of Solomon' the actual author is unknown. And, although dating from about the 3rd century BC, the symbols and motifs date from early mythology and have become the language of human love and courtship.
Strangely enough, the book has no obvious religious content compared to other books in the Bible and it can only be given such an interpretation by finding a deeper symbolism in its highly graphic language. Its inclusion in the Old Testament can be explained by the Lord being called the "husband" of his people (Hos 2:16-19). In the Christian tradition, it has been understood as an allegory of the love of Christ for his bride, the Church (Rev 21:2,9), or as symbolising the intimate experience of divine love in the individual soul. The links between mystical experience and sexual ecstasy are not so far apart. We should be grateful that such a beautiful work has been included in our collection of God's Word.
The choice of the reading for today is obviously linked to the Gospel account of the Visitation of Mary and Jesus to Elizabeth and John. The love expressed in the First Reading clearly points to a close, warm relationship between Jesus and John, where John represents each one of us. Perhaps we do not use this kind of passionate language when speaking to Jesus but there have been mystics who have not hesitated to do so. One thinks of John of the Cross or Ignatius of Loyola and even more of Teresa of Avila.
As the passage opens, it is the Beloved, the girl who is speaking. She is living with her parents in the city. Not unlike the lover in one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, the Lover appears at the Beloved's window. The door is closed and there is a forbidding wall. "He looks in at the window, he peers through the lattice." He urges her to come away with him to the countryside. "Come then, my love, my lovely one, come."
The cold of winter, which is also the rainy season is past. It is now spring, the time of new life. Nature is bursting out in leaf and flower and the migrant birds have returned to make their nests. The cooing of turtle doves is heard, the first figs are appearing and the vines are in fragrant flower. And, of course, for humans, too, it is the season of love.
The Beloved is hiding in the clefts of the rock, a euphemism for her home, a place inaccessible to the Lover. "Show me your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face beautiful."
Jesus, too, is still hidden in the womb of his mother. His mother's voice is enough to create a joyful reaction in John, in Elizabeth's womb. He knows that where the Mother is, the Son must also be close by.
It is important to realise that our Christian faith is not just a list of intellectual doctrines. Ultimately it is a life based on love, intimacy and affection for our brothers and sisters.

ALTERNATIVE FIRST READING -- from the prophet Zephaniah (Zephaniah 3:14-18)

Zephaniah was a prophet during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC) who did much to restore traditional Jewish religious customs. But his example was not followed and Zephaniah foretold disaster and this indeed happened with the collapse of the Assyrian empire brought about by the Babylonians who went to attack Egypt, an ally of Assyria. Josiah took sides with Egypt and was killed in a battle. It was to set the stage for one of Israel's most painful memories -- the
Babylonian Captivity. While much of Zephaniah is a condemnation of religious infidelity, the last part from which today's reading comes is a promise of better times to come for those who wait patiently for the Lord.
Today's passage consists of two psalms or hymns looking forward to the full restoration of Jerusalem to its former glory and religious faithfulness. The whole people ("daughter of Zion... daughter of Jerusalem") are invited to celebrate the coming salvation. Words echoed in the words of the angel to Mary: "Rejoice! The Lord is with you."
In today's celebration, it is the close presence of the Lord which is emphasised. "The Lord, the King of Israel, is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear." And again: "The Lord your God is in your midst."
Again, "The lord your God is in your midst...
He will exult with joy over you,
he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you... "
There is also an air of joy. "Shout for joy, daughter of Zion!.. Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem."
All of this can fittingly be applied to Elizabeth as she welcomes Mary and Jesus and indicated by John jumping for joy in the womb of his mother. Let us too share their joy as we prepare to welcome the coming of our God among us in Jesus.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:39-45)

We continue reading from Luke, picking up from yesterday's text.
In the last two days we heard about the two annunciations -- to Zechariah and to Mary -- about the birth of two special children, John the Baptist and Jesus. Obviously, both mothers, cousins to each other, must have been very excited about the birth of their first child. They were anxious to share together their joy and happiness. In one way, it would make sense for Mary to visit Elizabeth, because the younger should visit the older. On the other hand, Elizabeth should be the one to visit because Mary's child was a person of such rank and dignity, God's own Son.
In a way, the story is more interested in the children than in the mothers. And Luke uses his Infancy Narrative as a vehicle to present in advance some of the characteristics of Jesus' future life.
Here it is the characteristic of service that he illustrates. Jesus later on will say, "I have come to serve and not to be served." And so, still in his mother's womb, he comes to visit his cousin, John, rather than wait at home to be visited.
The power of the Spirit is also much in evidence. John leaps in his mother's womb at the very sound of Jesus' voice. His mother recognises this as the power of God in Jesus reaching out to her son. Elizabeth herself is also filled with the Spirit and recognises in her young cousin the Mother of her Lord.
As we saw, the choice of the First Reading is interesting. It is taken from the Song of Solomon, a poem of the passionate love between two young people. It is a fitting expression of the love that should exist between Jesus and his followers and between the followers themselves.
There is no such thing as a purely 'spiritual' love. True love literally 'em-bodies' the whole person -- spirit, mind, emotion and body.
Mary, filled with the Spirit, will soon break out into that wonderful hymn of praise that we call the Magnificat, a hymn that will proclaim the message of liberation Jesus will later deliver by word and action. We will see that tomorrow.

December 22

FIRST READING (1 Samuel 1:24-28)

The reading comes from the beginning of the First Book of Samuel. In our Bible, there are two books but originally they were only one in the Hebrew. They speak about three principal characters -- Samuel, Saul (Israel's first king), and his successor David. The accounts of Samuel and Saul are found in the first book while half of the first and the whole of the second deal with David.
Like many of the more significant characters in the Old Testament, Samuel was born of a woman who was barren and had lost hope of having children. We mentioned already the cases of Sara (Gen 17:16-19), Rebekah (Gen 25:21-26), Rachel (Gen 29:31; 30:22-24) and the mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-17).
As we saw in the case of Samson (Dec 19), a woman giving birth late in life indicated that God played a special part in the birth of the child, who was destined for some outstanding service to God and his people. And so it is, too, with Samuel.
It all starts with an ordinary couple living a familiar drama in a hill town. A woman, afflicted with sterility, complains to Yahweh -- she is not resigned to a seemingly useless life. Yahweh listens to the afflicted and his answer always exceeds what they ask for. He not only gives Hannah a son, he also gives his people a prophet.
God likes to choose his servants precisely from those families who have no hope of having children. It is God who gives life to the dead and hope to those who have none. The same happens with the birth of Isaac and John the Baptist (Lk 1:5). In the book of Isaiah is a poem which starts with these words: "Shout out for joy, oh you who were barren!" (Is 54:1). (Christian Community Bible, loc. cit)
Hannah is gifted with a son but, as we saw earlier with Samson, he does not belong totally to her. The language suggests that he is 'lent' by God to her because she will give him back to devote his whole life in the service of Yahweh. She dedicates the child, even before his birth, to be a minister in the sanctuary. And, like Samson, his hair remains uncut as a sign of total dedication to God's service. And she confirms this in the final words of the reading: "For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord." (Many a mother must have prayed like this when she saw her son leave home to become a priest or Brother or her daughter leave to become a Sister.)
Following immediately on the reading is the Responsorial Psalm. It is not from one of the Psalms but represents the hymn of praise and thanksgiving Hannah makes for the birth of her son. "My heart exults in the Lord... " It is an ancient poem, originally thought to have nothing to do with Samuel's birth but it fits perfectly into the context. In language and context, it bears many similarities to the Magnificat, the prayer of praise and thanksgiving that are put on the lips of Mary on the occasion of her Visitation to Elizabeth and which is the Gospel for today. The Magnificat, however, is more personal in tone.
Hannah and Samuel, then, are seen as prototypes of Elizabeth and John the Baptist but also, though in a different way, of Mary and Jesus.
For us, it is an opportune time to see how God has called us to his service and to what extent we are following that call. Every one of us has a 'vocation' -- we are all, through our Baptism, called to love and service of brothers and sisters and to working together to build God's Kingdom on earth. We might also at this time give thanks to our parents who brought us into this world and set us on the road to Life.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:46-56)

The Magnificat is not exactly what one would expect to hear from the lips of a simple village girl. It has been described as a highly dangerous revolutionary statement with strong political overtones. It is Mary's response to the greeting she received from her cousin Elizabeth, who protested that the "mother of her Lord" should come to visit her when it should have been the other way round.
The song is full of joy, especially because Mary recognises that God has acknowledged the presence of a simple girl living in a small place -- in the eyes of the world a person of no consequence. But, where God is concerned, everyone is of equal consequence. "My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low state of his handmaiden."
Then, considering her present obscurity, she makes an extraordinary prophecy: "For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me." Blessed indeed with the unique grace of being chosen as Mother of the Incarnate God. Yet the prophecy has more than been fulfilled and is as true today as it ever was.
Mary then goes on to say that she is not the only one of God's "little Ones" who will experience a reversal of affairs:
His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
It almost reminds one of that famous manifesto when the workers were told they had nothing to lose but their chains. God has great things in store for his people. It is again a vision of the Kingdom, of God's will being done on earth. It is Good News.
All this is very much in line with the picture of Jesus that Luke will show emerging as one reads through his gospel. It is a gospel where the poor, the weak, the marginalised, the outcast and the sinful have a special place in the eyes of Jesus.
We, too, can rejoice with Mary in the long list of good things that we have been gifted with by our loving Lord. Those gifts are not just for our enjoyment. Our task is, in accordance with those gifts, to make sure that the love of God is tangibly experienced by the poor, the weak, the marginalised, the outcast and the sinful in our own midst.
The realisation of what Mary sings about will only take place when we all work together with Jesus to bring it about. With Mary, let us say today a resounding 'Yes' to God's plans for his children.

December 23

FIRST READING (Malachi 3:1-4,23-24 [or 4:5-6])

The prophecy of Malachi appears as the very last book in the Old Testament and is followed immediately in our Bibles by the Gospel according to Matthew. Nothing is known about his person except that he probably lived in the period 500-450 BC. He speaks frequently of the Covenant and shows great respect for the supplementary priestly teaching of the Torah. His emphases on sin, judgement, and repentance in preparation for the Lord's coming mark him out as a prophet, even though his writing style is different.
"I am going to prepare a messenger to prepare the way before me." The Hebrew for 'messenger' here is mal'aki, the name given to the author of today's reading but the messenger Malachi speaks about is traditionally believed to be Elijah who would return to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. Matthew, however, will apply this text (Matt 11:10) to John the Baptist, whose birth and circumcision are described in today's Gospel.
John, in fact, will bring the Old Testament to a close. He carries on where Malachi, the last of the prophets, left off and himself then bows out as Jesus inaugurates the New Covenant of God with his people, who are now the people of the whole world. In fact, the Gospel sees John as more an Old Testament figure ("the least in the Kingdom is greater than he") because he died before the redemptive work of Jesus was competed.
The return of Elijah was an important tradition in Jewish belief but Jesus will say that Elijah came in the person of John the Baptist. "John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted" (Matt 11:14). And, after the Transfiguration [where Elijah was seen speaking with Jesus], Jesus says to his disciples: "'Elijah is indeed coming first and he will get everything ready [for the coming of the Messiah]. But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognise him, but treated him just as they pleased... ' Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist" (Matt 17:11-13; cf. also Mark 6:14-15).
It will be the role of John as the 'messenger' of Malachi's prophecy to announce the Lord's coming -- in the person of Jesus -- and bring about the fulfilment of God's work in history. "He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers... " In Luke's gospel (Luke 1:17), this is foretold as being precisely what John the Baptist would do.
And Jesus, the 'messenger of the Covenant', in his turn will come as a refiner and purifier to purge his people of their sin and their infidelities. He will do this through his life, suffering, passion, death and resurrection.
At the end of today's Gospel, the people ask, on seeing the circumstances surrounding John the Baptist's birth, "What will this child turn out to be?" The answer is in the Gospel. But we might turn the question on ourselves. What was I expected to turn out to be? How have I, in fact, turned out? Whatever my answer, there is still time to turn myself in the direction I know God is calling me to follow. And part of the answer will be, like John the Baptist, to go ahead of the Lord and help bring him into other people's lives.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:57-66)

As we approach the day of Jesus' birth, the Gospel today speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. It is a day of particular joy for Elizabeth as her shame is wiped out. She can now stand tall in the presence of her family and neighbours. "Her neighbours and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and they rejoiced with her."
In accordance with custom, the boy is to be circumcised on the eighth day and a name given to him. Everyone presumes he will be given the name of his father but Elizabeth says his name is to be John. People protested: "There is no one in your family with that name." Zechariah, the father, is consulted. Since his dialogue with the angel he cannot speak so he is given a tablet on which to write. Simply he states: "His name is John." And with that his tongue was loosed and he could speak and praise God.
This incident became the talk of the whole district and people began to ask each other, "What then will this child be?" They knew that these unusual happenings all pointed to a special calling for the child.
The circumstances of the birth and circumcision of the child emphasise John's incorporation into the people of Israel. We will find the same emphasis with Jesus.
Luke shows that those who play crucial roles in the inauguration of Christianity to be wholly a part of the people of Israel. At the end of the Acts of the Apostles, he will argue that Christianity is the direct descendant of Pharisaic Judaism" (New American Bible, loc. cit.; cf. Acts 21:20; 22:3; 23:6-9; 24:14-16; 26:2-8, 22-23).
I too can ask the same question about myself: "What then am I called to be?" No matter what age I am there is still life ahead of me, be it long or short. What is my destiny? What does God want of me? What contributions can I make to other people's lives? God has expectations of me, based on the gifts he has given to me. Let me reflect on what they might be and how I can make good use of them.

December 24 (morning Mass)

FIRST READING (2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16)

The reading from the Second Book of Samuel speaks of David's concern to build a fitting house for the Lord.
David has just settled into his new palace and it is becoming a source of embarrassment to him that, while he lives in such comfort, the Lord -- whose presence is represented by the Ark of the Covenant -- is still housed in a tent, as was the case during the long years of wandering in the desert from the time the Law was given on Mount Sinai up to the present situation where David now rules as king in Jerusalem. When David tells the prophet Nathan about this, the prophet seems to agree: "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you." He seems to have made this statement on his own initiative.
Because, on that very night, a very different message came to Nathan from the Lord. "Go and tell my servant David: "Are you the one to build me a house to live in?" The Lord then goes on to say [not part of today's reading] that since the days they left Egypt up to the present time he has been moving around in a tent with his people. What is more, the Lord never once complained about this arrangement; he never once was heard to say: "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"
There is some conjecture that here we have an echo of an opinion that was opposed to having a temple, which seemed to make Israel follow the religious practice of some of its hostile enemies, especially the Canaanites. And, of course, with the death of Jesus the Temple came to an end for his followers and the Lord's presence was henceforth found in his people. "Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!... For God's temple is holy and you yourselves are his temple" (1 Cor 3:16-17). The new and enduring temple is the Christian community which is the Body of the Risen Christ, his visible presence on earth.
But the Lord goes on to say that David had been taken "from the pasture" (where he was a shepherd boy) and made prince over his people Israel. God has been with David and his people, has protected them from their enemies and will make David's name great. It is a new development in the people's relation with Yahweh. From Moses' time, Israel was a people of twelve tribes. Now it will be a nation organised in their own land, with a central and stable authority: David and his successor kings.
In due course, the Lord will give his people a house where he will dwell. It will not be built by David but by his offspring, specifically, his son Solomon. Eventually a magnificent temple will be built, one of the wonders of the ancient world. It would be rebuilt even more magnificently by Herod the Great and, in fact, the construction was not yet finished in the lifetime of Jesus.
Today's passage ends with the words: "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever."
The key to understanding the whole of this passage (there are verses omitted in our reading) is to be aware of the meanings given to the word 'house'. It refers to the palace that David has built for himself; the temple that Solomon will build; and the dynasty which David will inaugurate. David will not be the one to build a house for the Lord in the sense of a temple building but he will lay the foundations for a different kind of house, the House of David, the dynasty and long line of kings who will come after him -- some of them good men and others utter scoundrels. Nor, in fact, did David's dynasty last for ever. It fell in the year 587 BC, probably after these words were written.
Nevertheless, in the New Testament the line of David is seen reaching down to Jesus, who in the Gospel is often referred to as 'Son of David'. And the Gospel for today is the Benedictus, the hymn of praise sung by Zachary after the birth and circumcision of his son, John the Baptist. There we read: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people, he has come to their rescue and he has raised up for a power for salvation, in the house of his servant, David."
The implication of this passage for us in today's Mass is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the new temple where God lives. We call her the Ark of the Covenant. A fitting place, a place of perfection without any trace of sin or evil. But later on, Paul will remind Christians that each one of them too is now a temple of God, of the Spirit of Jesus. In the New Covenant there is no longer any temple building but "you are God's temple", a temple of which each one is a constitutive part.
And so we could well remember that what pleases God is not so much the beautiful churches we build for him, but the spiritual temple he wants to build in people themselves.
Once again, we ask the Prince of Peace to come and take up his abode in each one of us and let us radiate that peace to all we meet.

GOSPEL (Luke 1:67-79)

The Gospel is the great hymn Benedictus (meaning 'Blessed' from its opening word in Latin) which is sung or said every day in the Divine Office at the end of Morning Prayer or Lauds. Luke puts it into the mouth of Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth and father of the newly born John the Baptist. For doubting the word of the angel, Zechariah had been struck dumb but when, at the circumcision of his son, he confirmed that the boy's name would be John, he recovered his speech and broke out into this song of praise.
God is praised and blessed because "he has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant", a clear reference to Jesus.
Zechariah thanks God for having -- in the person of Jesus -- "visited his people" and "come to their rescue" just has he had promised through the mouths of the prophets down the ages.
He remembers his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham
that he would grant us, free from fear,
to be delivered from the hands of our enemies.
Our 'enemies' are not those to whom we are hostile for there should be no such people. Rather they are those who wish us harm, simply because of our adherence to the vision of life that Jesus has given us.
What was the purpose of this deliverance? So that we could gloat over the defeat of those who wishes us harm? No, it was that we could "serve him in holiness and virtue in his presence, all our days". There is enough there already for us to reflect on with deep gratitude.
But Zechariah goes on to speak of his newly-born son. "You will be called a Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him." That will be John's special role, to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus our Saviour. He will do that by giving "his people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins", a salvation that will come through Jesus giving them the experience of being reconciled and reunited with their God. It is clear that what is said by Zechariah of his son John applies very much to us also. For it is our calling to "to go before the Lord to prepare his ways" for others.
All this will happen "by the tender mercy of our God who from on high will bring the rising Sun to visit us". That Rising Sun, of course, is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. He will "give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow of death". That surely includes all of us in some way. In the brightness of that light he will "guide our feet into the way of peace". The realisation of that peace and harmony in each one, in every community and throughout every society is a sign that the Kingdom has come.
We all realise how much that peace is needed in our world, in our own society, in our own communities, in our homes and in our own selves. May the Prince of Peace come and dwell among us this Christmas.

DECEMBER 24:
Mass for the Vigil of Christmas (evening)

Isaiah 62:1-5; Acts 13:16-17,22-25; Matthew 1:1-25

This beautiful Mass is not often celebrated, especially when the first ('midnight') Mass of Christmas takes place in the early evening, say 8.00 pm, as is not unusually the case in large parishes. There are three readings, each one of which deserves our attention and prayerful reflection.
The Gospel is the opening of Matthew's Gospel and consists of a combined re-reading of the Gospels we had on December 17 and 18 -- the genealogy of Jesus and the birth of Jesus (Matthew's version).
Many find the genealogy a rather boring and incomprehensible list of unpronounceable names. That only goes to show how much the Hebrew Testament is a closed book to so many of us. It begins with Abraham, the father of God's people, and is in three parts, with 14 generations in each part. It ends with the words, "Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ". The parenthood of Joseph is carefully excluded but Jesus' family line comes through him.
It would be worth our while some day to go through that list of names and then we would learn something about the kind of people from Jesus was descended. They were by no means all saints; there are real ruffians among them. There are also four women.
By giving us this list of names Matthew is emphasising, especially to the Jews of his day, that Jesus' lineage goes back to the very beginnings of Israelite history beginning with Abraham, the father of the nations, and including David, Jesus' kingly ancestor. Jesus is the natural continuation of God's long connection and involvement in the history of his people. He is in fact the long awaited climax to that history. He is the Messiah King.
This is further emphasised by his telling in the second part of the Gospel how Jesus came to be. The conception, the beginning of the life of the Child in the womb of Mary, takes place after she and Joseph are betrothed but before they are married and begin to live together as husband and wife. Clearly, the agent of bringing the new life into existence is not Joseph but God himself. It is God who is the Father of the Child and Mary is his mother. This is the Incarnation, when the Word of God is made flesh and begins to live among us.
This puts this Child in a totally different category from that of all his ancestors and yet he shares their blood and their genes while, at the same time, being Someone quite other.
The Second Reading from the Acts of the Apostles represents a speech which Paul gave on his first missionary journey to fellow Jews in the synagogue at Antioch. In it he gives a brief history of the Jewish people leading up to John the Baptist and the appearance of Jesus, the Saviour of his people. Here too there is the emphasis on the continuity between the Jewish people and the emergence of Jesus as a Saviour arising from among them -- their Saviour and ours.
The First Reading is a beautiful passage from Isaiah. It is a message of consolation for Zion but can easily be applied to the Church and to all of us in the community of Christ who look forward to the birth and the coming of our Saviour.
Let us just pick out a few phrases worth reflecting on:
I will not grow weary until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation shines like a torch.
The nations then will see your integrity... and you will be called by a new name...
Integrity is a precious gift needed by the Church as a whole and by each one of us. Integrity means that we are everything we proclaim to be, that there is no hidden agenda, no false fronts but total transparency. "What you see is all there is."
No longer are you to be named 'Forsaken', nor your land 'Abandoned', but you shall be called 'my Delight' and your land 'the Wedded'...
Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.
The three readings combined sum up beautifully the context in which the Child Jesus will be born in the strange surroundings of a stable in Bethlehem. All is now about to fulfilled for each one of us as we prepare this evening to celebrate the birth of God's Son among us as one of us.

Christmas Season | December 26 -- January 7

December 26 | St Stephen, first martyr

FIRST READING (Acts 6:8-10,7:54-59)
It is very fitting that the first feast celebrated after Christmas should be that of the first person recorded as giving his life in the service of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ and for the vision of life that the Gospel represents.
Stephen was one of those chosen earlier to attend to the material needs of Hellenists among the early apostolic communities. The Hellenists (the word comes from Hellas, 'Ellas, the name for Greece in Greek) refers to Jewish Christians from the East Mediterranean region whose native language was Greek and who spoke little or no Aramaic. (Hebrews indicated Christians among Aramaic-speaking Jews.)
However, it is clear from the Acts of the Apostles that Stephen was being called to more than corporal works of mercy. He became a powerful voice in proclaiming the message of Jesus and very soon was running into opposition especially from overseas Jews who were converts to Judaism. These people, known as 'Freedmen', could have been descendants of Jews carried off to Rome by Pompey in 63 BC. They were sold into slavery but later released. They might also be former slaves who came from North Africa or Asia Minor. When it comes to race or religion, exiles can be far more fanatical than those living 'at home' and hence Hellenist Jews who became Christian were targets of their anger.
What truly roused their anger was that they could not better him in their arguments. Like Jesus, he was filled with wisdom and was guided by the Spirit in all that he said.
Eventually opposition grew to such an extent that Stephen was arrested and brought to trial in Jerusalem. It is not recorded in today's readings but in the course of his defence he gave his judges a lesson in salvation history, showing clearly how Jesus was the expected culmination of all that happened in the course of God's intervention among his people over the centuries.
Finally, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand -- the vindication of all that he had been saying. "I can see heaven thrown open," he says, "and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." The words echo those of Jesus during his own trial: "You will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Almighty" (Matt 26:64). This was more than his listeners could bear. They stopped their ears at what they regarded as utter blasphemy. He was seized, dragged out of the city and stoned to death. As he died, again in imitation of his Master, he prayed for forgiveness on his executioners.
The similarities between the trial and death of Stephen and that of Jesus are striking and are clearly deliberate. Stephen is the perfect fulfilment of the challenge that Jesus put to his disciples in the Gospel. He is the perfect disciple.
Finally, the witnesses -- who also according to the Jewish Law were his executioners -- had left their clothes at the feet of a Pharisee called Saul. Was he actually the instigator of all that was happening? Soon he would show himself a zealous persecutor of these 'Christians', these heretical Jews who had to be crushed. But his time would come and there would a miraculous turnaround. Far from being a fanatical Jew, he would become the Apostle of the Gentiles, bringing the Word of Christ not only to his own people but even more to the whole world.

GOSPEL (Matthew 10:17-22)

Today's passage from Matthew is taken from the discourse which Jesus spoke to his disciples, sending them out on their mission to do the same work that he was doing and instructing them on how to go about it. In today's section he foretells what they can look forward to. They can expect to be "handed over" (a key word in the gospels) to governors and kings, which will give them an opportunity to bear witness before unbelievers. At the same time, they are not to be anxious about what they should say. The words they need will be given when the time comes. This has been consistently confirmed by people arrested for their beliefs in recent times. They find in themselves a strength and confidence they never knew they had.
Again, Jesus sadly predicts that following him will result in families being broken up -- father against child, children against parents. Alas, this prediction, too, has been fulfilled all too often both in the past and in recent times.
"You will be hated by all on account of my name," says Jesus. A strange fate indeed for those whose lives are built on truth, love and peace. Yet a fate only too sadly confirmed right down the centuries to this very day. Jesus had said that all those who wished to follow him would have to take up their cross and go after him. The servant is no greater than his master. "Whoever loves his own life will lose it; whoever hates his own life in this world will keep it for life eternal. Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am" (John 12:25-26). Stephen clearly is a perfect model of such a Christian disciple.
Some of us may find it strange to be talking about such painful things during the Christmas season. If we think like that then it may indicate that we do not fully understand the nature and purpose of Jesus' birth. We tend to insulate the whole Christmas scene with romanticism and even a great deal of sentimentality but there was nothing sentimental about the Child being born in those rough surroundings, far from home, already ignored by the religious leadership of the day and whose only visitors were a group of poor and marginalised men and some mysterious visitors from out of the "pagan" darkness.
Ahead of this Child was a life of total service ending in the sacrifice of his life in shame and humiliation as the necessary step to our total liberation and sharing in his life. Christmas is the beginning of all this and Stephen is its eloquent symbol.
From December 27 to January 11 the First Reading is taken from the First Letter of John

December 27 | St John, Apostle and Evangelist

FIRST READING (1 John 1:1-4)
The first four verses (1:1-4), which are today's reading, form an Introduction to the letter.
Already at this early stage in the Church there were those who could not accept that the Son of God could have taken on a genuinely human body. In a mistaken zeal for the spiritual, they condemned everything material as evil and so they held that the humanity of Jesus could only be a mirage, an appearance. To be fully united with God meant to withdraw as much as possible from everything material.
The people who held such views were known as Gnostics and, because they are such a concern of the author of this Letter, we might list some of their main ideas:

The human body, which is matter, is evil. It is to be contrasted with God, who is totally spirit and therefore good.

Salvation is escape from the body, achieved not by faith in Christ but by special knowledge. The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis, gnwsis and hence their name.

Christ's true humanity was denied in two ways: [a] some said that Christ only seemed to have a human body, a view called Docetism, from meaning 'to seem'; and [b] others said that the wekod, the Greek dokeo, divine Christ joined the man Jesus at Baptism and left him before he died, a view called Cerinthianism, after its most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. It is this second version that we meet in 1 John 1:1; 2:22; 4:2-3.

Since the body was considered evil, it was to be treated harshly. This ascetic form of Gnosticism is the background to part of the letter to the Colossians (2:21-23).

Paradoxically, this dualism also led to licentious behaviour. The reasoning was that, since matter -- and not the breaking of God's law (1 Jn 3:4) -- was considered evil, breaking his law was of no moral consequence.

The Gnosticism addressed in the New Testament was an earlier form of the heresy, not the intricately developed system of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Mention of Gnosticism can be found in John's letters, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and 2 Peter, perhaps in 1 Corinthians.
The writings of John are a total rejection of this position. The Word not only became a human being, John, in his Prologue, says provocatively that the Word was "made flesh". He fully entered into our material condition, blessed it and sanctified it.
And in today's reading too he emphasises contact with a real, bodily Jesus. Although the Word "has existed since the beginning", what "we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, what we have touched with our hands." (Similarly after the Resurrection, Jesus invites the sceptical Thomas to touch and feel him. "Put your finger here and look at my hands; stretch out your hand and put it in my side.")
And it is this physical, truly human, touchable Jesus that the Church proclaims. Over the ages, there has always been in the Church the tendency to withdraw from the material. In particular, there have been many problems with the human body and its sexual functions and even today, as Christians, we may feel awkward or embarrassed to speak about these things especially in a religious context.
Everything that God made is good. And as one medieval mystic liked to say, Every created thing is a Word of God. To those who can see, every created thing, living or inanimate, speaks of God and the Creator. Few poets have expressed this as well as the English Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins. "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things" and "The world is charged with the grandeur of God".
This has all been affirmed by the Incarnation, by the infinite Son of God sharing our bodily human nature and all its functions.
And that Word is life in the sense of being the source of all real living, not just existing. In John's gospel we read, "I have come that they may have life, life in its fullness" (John 10:10). This sharing of life is an idea most central to John's spirituality. Union between all Christians results from common life shared by Christ between each Christian and God. It is that fellowship (a lovely word) expressing a close union of the believer with Christ (we think of the vine and the fruit-bearing branches) as well as communion with the Father and with all fellow-Christians.
Today's passage presents a striking parallel to the prologue of John (Jn 1:1-18) but, whereas in the gospel passage the emphasis is more on Jesus as the pre-existent Word, here it is on the apostles' witness to the 'fleshiness' and the 'touchability' of the Jesus they knew. In the best sense of the words, Jesus was a 'real man'.

GOSPEL (John 20:2-8)

The Gospel tells us that John was the brother of James and the son of Zebedee. He and his brother were among the first to be called (together with Peter and Andrew) by Jesus. John, with Peter and James, were particularly close to Jesus and were privileged to experience the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in the garden.
To John also is attributed the authorship of the Gospel which bears his name as well as the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) and three Letters (John 1,2 and 3). He is often identified as the "beloved disciple", who is only mentioned in the Gospel of John. Tradition says that John died a natural death at a great age in Ephesus (on the west coast of modern Turkey).
Today's Gospel describes the scene where Peter and the "beloved disciple" rush to the tomb of Jesus after being told by Mary Magdalene that the body is no longer there. Although the "beloved disciple" got there first, he deferred to Peter who went in first and saw the burial cloths. One of them -- the piece that was wrapped around the face -- was rolled up in a separate place. When the "beloved disciple" went in, "he saw and he believed." In other words, he understood the significance of the cloth and he knew that his Lord had risen.
Later, the Risen Jesus will say to Thomas, "Bless are those who have not seen and have learnt to believe." Here the disciple did not see the physical Jesus. Nevertheless, on the basis of what he did see, he believed.
The question is: what exactly did he see? What he saw was that the cloth which had covered Jesus' head was not with the rest of the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Why should that trigger his conviction that the Lord had risen? The book of Exodus (chapter 34) describes how Moses, after coming down from the mountain and conversing with God, was so radiant with light that people were afraid to approach him. And so, he put a veil to cover his face. But "whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded. Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord" (Exod 34:34-35).
Now some believe that the word 'veil' used in John is a Greek translation of the word in Hebrew used about Moses. In other words, the veil covering the face of the dead Jesus is now no longer needed because he has gone face to face with his Father. This veil was the humanity of Jesus which enabled us to look at our God. Jesus now has a new human body -- his Church. And that was what led to the "beloved disciple's" conviction that his Master had risen to new life.
For some commentators, the "beloved disciple" is not actually John but represents any person who has totally committed himself or herself to the following of Jesus, anyone who deeply believes and anyone who is passionately fond of Jesus. At times, as in today's Gospel, the faith of the "beloved disciple" is shown as surpassing that of Peter. While the disciples we know of had fled after the arrest of Christ, it is the "beloved disciple" who stands with the Mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross.
Nevertheless, John as the author of the Fourth Gospel and the three letters attributed to his name, reveals a depth of faith and insight into the meaning of Christ's life, death and resurrection that borders on the mystical and clearly reveals a faith of extraordinary depth. It is a faith and insight we can pray to have for ourselves.

December 28 | The Holy Innocents, martyrs

FIRST READING (1 John 1:5-2:2)
The first part of the letter (1:5-2:28) can be entitled 'To walk in the light'. It is divided into four 'conditions' for doing this. Today the reading gives the First Condition, which is 'to break with sin'.
Light is to be understood here as truth and goodness; darkness is error and depravity (cf. John 3:19-21;17,17; Eph 5,8). To walk in light or darkness is to live according to truth or error, not merely in an intellectual sense but morally as well. Fellowship with God and with one another consists in a life according to the Truth as revealed to us in God through Christ. Whoever lives in union with God must live a life of light, virtue and love, and keep God's commandments, especially the commandment to love all human beings. Faith and love are thus the visible evidence of true union with God. These will be dealt with more fully in the course of the letter.
The first condition for us to walk in the light is to break our links with sin. 'Sin' is a key word in this letter and occurs 27 times altogether in the Greek.
"If we say, 'We have never sinned', we make God a liar and his Word has no place in us." Denial of the condition of sin is a form of self-deception and prevents us from going in search of the light. On the other hand, open acknowledgement of our sin opens the gate for God to extend his forgiveness to us.
It is a strange fact but it is awareness and acknowledgement of our sin that opens the way for God to come into our lives. The greatest saints were deeply aware of how far they were from being perfectly in harmony with the God they loved. When people we regard as holy saw themselves as great sinners, they meant it. The deeper their intimacy with God the more they were aware of how far they were from him.
On the other hand, one meets Christians, who lead very lukewarm Christian lives and, when it comes time for Confession, they can't think of anything to say. The more we are in the light, the more we are aware of the shadows. And we cannot break with sin, if we are not aware of where the sinfulness is in our lives.
'My children' is a term used in this letter a number of times and like the other term 'Beloved' is a term of pastoral affection and love. This letter not only speaks about love but practices it as well. It is a term found also in John's gospel (Jn 13:33; 21:50) and used by Paul in his letter (1 Cor 4:14). Jesus also said that "Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom" (Matt 18:3). We are to be children, of course, in our simplicity and docility to God's message but not in an immature childishness.
If we do sin -- and we certainly do and will -- we can know that we have an 'advocate' with the Father in Jesus. 'Advocate' in Greek is parakletos (paraklhtos), a word which originally refers to an attorney in court who pleads our case before a judge. It is a word also applied to the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete, through whom the Risen Jesus continues to bring us God's forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus did this especially when he became "the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only ours, but also those of the whole world".
If then, we are to go to God in love, if we are to reach out to brothers and sisters in love, then we must also at the same time remove from our lives everything that comes in the way of reaching out to God and to those around us.

GOSPEL (Matthew 2:13-18)

They are called 'martyrs' but they were really victims of circumstances. After they had gone to visit Jesus, the wise men had been instructed not to go back to Herod and tell him where the child could be found but to return to their home country by another way.
At the same time, Joseph was also warned to take the child and find refuge in Egypt until the threat from Herod had passed. On that very night they set off for Egypt and did not return until after the death of Herod. Egypt was a traditional place for people fleeing danger in Palestine. But Matthew has a reason of his own in this symbolical account, which does not have to be taken as literally happening. By going to Egypt, Jesus will be able to fulfil a prophecy of Hosea, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." The "son" in Hosea's text is really Israel but Matthew applies it to the "son of God" -- son of David, of Abraham, of Mary and Joseph but, above all, of God.
Realising that he had been let down by the Magi, Herod is angry -- and also frightened. He cannot afford to have a potential rival continuing to exist so near. He gives orders for the killing of every male child of two years and under. By this he hopes to make sure he has wiped out the "King of the Jews" the Magi spoke to him about.
We cannot say for certain that Matthew is speaking of something that actually happened although the massacre was totally in keeping with Herod's known character. But it gives the evangelist the opportunity to quote from the Hebrew Testament, this time from the prophet Jeremiah. It shows Rachel, the wife of the patriarch Joseph weeping for the abduction of her children (that is, her descendants at a much later time) taken into exile during the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom in 722-21 BC. They are seen has her 'children' because Bethlehem is identified with Ephrath, the place near where Rachel was buried. Ramah, on the other hand, was about 10 km north of Jerusalem but the wailing was so loud it could be heard at a great distance.
The story is telling us that Jesus escaped this horror but only for a while. He would, in Matthew's framework, be called back by his Father to Israel and, in the course of time, would fall foul of the leaders of his people and their Roman overlords and give his life for us.
Perhaps today we could remember all those who, as infants or young children, become the victims of war and famine and disease and the results of sexual irresponsibility. The numbers are so great in all parts of the world, both rich and poor, that it amounts to a massacre.

December 29 | 5th day in the Octave of Christmas

FIRST READING (1 John 2:3-11)
Today we look at the Second Condition of the four mentioned yesterday, if we are to 'walk in the light'. And that condition is 'to keep the commandments, especially that of love'.
The reading begins by saying that we know we have come to know God when we keep his commandments. Anyone who claims to know God but does not keep his commandments is a liar and that person is without truth. These words are clearly directed against the Gnostics who said that all that mattered was to be united with the spiritual. The material was evil and devoid of any reality. Hence anything done on the material level did not matter, including what we would regard as immoral, indecent, hurtful and violent actions against others. The commandments, therefore, in so far as they involved the material, including our own bodies and those of others, had no validity in their way of thinking.
We might add that, though we may not see ourselves as Gnostics, 'knowing' God is not something merely intellectual, it is not an obsession with doctrinal orthodoxy on which some people seem to base their adherence to the Church. To 'know' God is much more something relational, calling for love and intimacy and based on experience.
The letter says that anyone who follows the guidance of God, including of course actions involving what is material, is 'in God'. And we have a very concrete example to follow: "Whoever claims to remain in such a person must act as he acted." It is clear that the 'he' refers to Jesus, who is the human paradigm of God on earth and who is the example we are to follow. He is the Way.
The letter now goes on to say that what has just been said represents both an 'old' commandment but also a 'new' one. This section begins with the greeting: 'Beloved'. The word is translated in various forms e.g. 'my dear friends' in the New Jerusalem Bible. The Greek is agapetoi, 'agaphtoi, and comes from the word for 'love', agape, 'agaph, which we will be discussing at length later on in this letter.
The 'old commandment' is expressed in the instruction to love God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves, a commandment going back into the Old Testament and still valid. It is also embraced by the Ten Commandments.
Yet, the letter is also bringing a new commandment. It is the 'new' commandment that Jesus gave, during the Last Supper: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). In the Old Testament, the commandment to love the neighbour was one among many and there was some doubt as to who the 'neighbour' might be (cf. Luke 10:29). Jesus went much further. He asked his followers not just to love their neighbour as themselves but to love each other as he did. And, to make that perfectly clear, he later said that the greatest love a person could show was to give their life for their friends -- just as he did. And that love was to be unconditionally extended to every single person. That is the way God himself acts -- his love is extended to all, just as the sun shines and the rain falls on all equally.
Therefore, "whoever claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in darkness". The Gnostics, through their 'special' knowledge, believed they were in the light but by acting harmfully against their brothers and sisters, they were still in darkness.
On the other hand, "anyone who loves his brother remains in light... but whoever hates his brother is in darkness". This is all we need to know live in the light -- to extend an unconditional hand of love to every single person. So simple and so difficult! Those who refuse to live in this way are "walking about in darkness, not knowing where they are going". Without this kind of love, they are blind.

GOSPEL (Luke 2:22-35)

The Holy Family was a Jewish family and both Jesus and his parents are shown as faithfully carrying out the requirements of the Law. In today's Gospel there is a double ceremony described: one is the purification of the mother and second is the offering of the first-born child to the Lord. In the past, we used to refer to the feast on February 2 as the Purification but now we prefer to speak of the Presentation.
Clearly, the notion of the need for a mother to be purified after giving birth is not something we feel comfortable with now. For the Jews the spilling of blood was a source of uncleanness and so, after giving birth, there had to be, after a designated number of days, a ceremony of purification. Sometimes the husband too went through a similar ceremony. Given the special circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, the idea of purification seems even less desirable although Luke does not seem to have any problem with it.
According to the Mosaic law (Lev 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a boy was not allowed to touch anything sacred for 40 days (in the case of a baby girl, the period was even longer) nor could she enter the Temple precincts because of her ritual "impurity". At the end of this period, as mentioned by Luke, she was required to offer a year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a turtle dove or a young pigeon as expiation for sin. Those who could not afford the lamb could offer two birds instead.
The parents also presented their first-born son as an offering to the Lord, again in accordance with Jewish law (Exod 13:2,12) but this did not have to be done in the Temple. Presenting the child in the Temple seems to re-echo the scene in the First Book of Samuel where Hannah offers her son Samuel for services in the sanctuary. There is no mention in Luke's account of the five shekels that was supposed to be paid to a member of the priestly family to 'buy back' the child.
The account now goes on to mention two elderly people -- Simeon and Anna. (Anna will not appear until tomorrow.) They represented all those devout Jews who were looking forward to the expected coming of the Messiah and the restoration of God's rule, God's kingship, in Israel.
Simeon had received a promise that he would not die until he had laid eyes on the Messiah. Under the promptings of the Spirit he enters the Temple just as Mary and Joseph are there with their child. He recognises who the Child is and then says a prayer of thanksgiving and surrender to his God. We call this prayer the Nunc dimittis ('Now you may send away... '), a hymn which is now used during the Night Prayer of the Church. In harmony with Luke's vision of Jesus, he describes Jesus as a Light for the Gentiles and the Glory of the people of Israel. And so, Feast of the Presentation is a feast of light which we sometimes call 'Candlemas'. It is a time when candles are blessed and lit to reflect Christ as our Light.
Meanwhile Mary and Joseph are astounded at what is being said about their child. Even they have not yet come to a full realisation of just who he is.
But all is not sweetness and light. Simeon goes on to say some hard-sounding words. The Child, he says, "is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that is contradicted". To say that Jesus brings about the fall of people is a difficult idea to come to terms with. It seems to fly in the face of the loving, forgiving and compassionate Jesus of the Gospel. And yet the paradox is that many, for reasons of their own, can totally reject the way of life that Jesus proposes. In doing so they also turn away from the direction where their fulfilment as persons lies. Jesus' life is a sign, a sign which points us in the direction of God but there are many who contradict that sign and go in other directions.
But Simeon has more to say. To Jesus' Mother he says: "You yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Mary will not know the meaning of these words for many years to come, although a small foretaste will come when Jesus is lost as a boy in Jerusalem. Mary may be full of grace but, no more than her Son, will she spared from sharing some of the pain which he will endure. It is all part of that unconditional 'Yes' which Mary made to the angel in Nazareth. It is contained, too, in the offering of her Son that she has just made to God his Father.
There is a scene in the gospel of Luke where a woman, having been impressed by the teaching of Jesus, cries out: "Blessed is the womb that carried you and blessed is the breast that you sucked!" A great tribute to Mary for having produced such a magnificent Son. But Jesus replies: "Blessed, rather, are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Mary's true greatness is not in the privileges bestowed on her by God but in her unconditional acceptance of everything God asked of her.
For each one of us it is the same. Today, let us say a big 'Yes' to God no matter what he sends us.

December 30 | 6th day in the Octave of Christmas

FIRST READING (1 John 2:12-17)
We come to the Third Condition in order 'To walk in the light'. This is 'detachment from the world'.
The writer reminds his readers that their sins have been forgiven through the name of Jesus. And he addresses his words to the different generations in families -- to the fathers, the young, the children and the parents. In various ways he says basically the same thing: they have come to know Jesus, "the One who has existed since the beginning", and the Father and have overcome 'the Evil One', who is not, however, as in the Gnostic way of thinking, to be identified with the material world. He is rather the Source of Darkness who leads people away from the Light that is Life.
At the same time but not in a Gnostic sense, the author tells us not to love the 'world' or what is in the 'world'. The word 'world' has two meanings in John's writing. On the one hand, it can refer simply to the material environment in which we find ourselves and includes everything in our planet and the whole universe. In other words, it refers to God's creation which the Creator found 'very good'. "God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good" (Gen 1:31). We are called by the Gospel to be very much part of that world, to be fully inserted in it. "You are the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13. And indeed we are an integral part of it: we come from it and at the end we go back to it -- "Dust you are and back to dust you will return."
On the other hand, 'world' also refers to all that thinking among people which is far from the thinking of God, as presented to us in revelation and especially through the witness of Jesus the Word. So, in this sense, we speak negatively of people being 'worldly'. "If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in him." By embracing those things which are in conflict with the vision of God, we close ourselves to his love for us. This is the 'world' from which we must be detached.
These 'worldly' inclinations are summed up in the letter by "desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, pride in riches". 'Desire of the flesh' includes not only sexual indulgence but every form of uncontrolled physical gratification. 'Desire of the eyes' includes all forms of greed and envy for what others have. 'Pride in riches' points to all forms of arrogance or ostentation in one's lifestyle where people put themselves as the centre of attention with little regard for the needs of others.
These three tendencies refer to uncontrolled sensuality by which other people and oneself are reduced to mere objects of pleasure, to uncontrolled greed to have everything one lays one's eyes on (what today often comes under the term 'materialistic consumerism') and an uninhibited desire for personal wealth and the power over others that goes with it. These are all in total contradiction to the vision of the Kingdom where the over-riding passion is to find one's happiness in the well-being of others, in living one's life with only what is really necessary and a desire to create a world of sharing, where everyone gives and everyone gets.
"The world, with all its disordered desires, is passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains for ever."

GOSPEL (Luke 2:36-40)

The Gospel is a continuation of yesterday's reading about the Presentation in the Temple. It deals with the second person who was present on that day. Her name was Anna and she is described as a prophetess, in other words a person who was a spokesperson for God. One does not often meet women prophets in the Scriptures; most of them are men. She was also elderly and had only lived for seven years with her husband. She was now 84 and had been a widow all these years. Again, widows were at the lowest rung of the social ladder. They could not produce children nor had they much chance of getting re-married. In many ways they were social nobodies.
But Anna was a deeply spiritual person who spent her waking hours in the Temple, praying and fasting. She also came on the scene just as Jesus and his parents were in the Temple. She, too, must have realised the true identity of the Child and gave thanks to God. She then began to speak about the Child to everyone, especially those awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
This short passage says a few important things:
- Our social status is of no consequence where our relationship with God is concerned.
- If we want to be close to God, prayer has to be a very important part of our day.
- Jesus can come into our life at any time and in any place -- it may be a church or it may be a disco.
- Once we really come to know Jesus, we cannot keep it to ourselves but must share the experience with the people around us, especially those who are looking for some meaning in their lives.

December 31 | 7th day in the Octave of Christmas

FIRST READING (1 John 2:18-21)
Today we look at the Fourth Condition for 'walking in the light'. This calls for us to be on our guard against 'Antichrists'.
"This is the final hour," the writer tells his readers. It is the last hour in the sense of being that period between the death and resurrection of Jesus and his Second Coming in glory and judgement. The early Christians believed that the Second Coming would happen even in their lifetime. They believed that they were living in the 'final hour' and one of the signs would be the appearance of anti-Messiahs and false teachers. However, by the time this letter was written towards the end of the 1st century AD, that expectation was being modified.
Nevertheless, it is a warning that we need to take seriously. Our planet as we know it may continue for thousands of years (although we are doing our best to prevent that happening!) but what is much more relevant is that the 'final hour' of each one of us is not far away. Some of us will go on to a ripe old age and slip away when we have reached the fullness of our time but many others, perhaps the majority, will be cut short by sickness, disease or some other unforeseen happening. The warning today is timely.
Before that final day, the letter warns that the 'Antichrist' is coming. It is a term only found in the First and Second Letters of John. However, both Matthew (24:24) and Mark (13:22) speak of 'false Messiahs'. Speaking of the 'last days' Mark quotes Jesus as saying: "Then, if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'Look, there he is!" -- do not believe him. For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear" (Mark 13:21-22). In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thess 2:3) there is mention of "the Wicked One". The gospels of Mark and Matthew and the Book of Revelation speak of several persons rather than just one.
1 John seems to make a distinction between an 'anti-Christ' who comes from outside the community (personified in the Roman emperors who persecuted the church) and those false teachers who come from inside. The Church has always been and always will be attacked from without and within.
'Antichrists' in the plural are linked to all those who are spreading false teaching about Christ and the Gospel within the community. And their presence is, says the letter, an indication that the 'final hour' is already on its way. However, many of these have since left the community, an indication that they never really belonged. Those who have been truly anointed by the Spirit are those who stay. "They have received knowledge". In other words, they are genuinely in touch with Jesus and with God. The 'knowing' is based on personal experience and not simply on a set of ideas.
As Christians today we are constantly bombarded from within and without by people who, wittingly or unwittingly, are trying to undermine the vision of the Kingdom which Jesus passed on to us. We should not be surprised at this. It is foretold again and again in the Gospel and the New Testament generally. And we have to admit that some of the accusations thrown against us are true. Many, however, are trying to undermine our central mission. What is important is how we respond. The only way we can respond is through word and action always to 'speak the Truth in love'.

GOSPEL (John 1:1-18)
We are reading from the first chapter of the Gospel according to John.

There are three occasions when we read the Prologue of John's gospel during the Christmas season. The first is at the Daytime Mass on Christmas Day, the second on the 2nd Sunday after Christmas and today, New Year's Eve.
This magnificent passage provides a powerful opening to this gospel. It lays out the main themes of John's gospel -- Life, Light, Truth, the World, Testimony and the Pre-existence of Jesus Christ. He is the Incarnate Logos or Word, who reveals God the Father to us. It was originally probably an early Christian hymn and parallels closely two other great hymns quoted in the Pauline letters -- one in the Letter to the Colossians and the other in the Letter to the Philippians. All speak of Jesus' special relationship to God as his Father.
Its opening words are the same as the very first words in the Old Testament, "In the beginning... " But, whereas Genesis is really speaking of the beginning of our created universe, John goes back much further to the infinite beginnings of God himself. And in those beginnings we find the Word already existing. The Word was in a close relationship with God and the Word was of the very same nature as God.
The term 'Word' has a number of inter-related meanings. For us a word can indicate a person (man, woman... ) or a thing (house, table... ). But here Word indicates an active and creative word (somewhat akin to the power a great work of art can express). The Word as distinct from the Father is also seen as the instrument through which God creates ("All things came to be through him and without him nothing came to be"). And Word also points to God as the ultimate source of all meaning and reality. Jesus then is the Word of God, God's self-communication -- through him the world came into being and through him we are led to God as the source of all meaning for our lives. That meaning is totally beyond the power of our human minds but Jesus opens the door a little for us to see more than we could manage on our own.
The two great gifts that come to us through the Word are Life and Light. Later Jesus will say, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life" and "I AM the Bread of Life" and he will also say, "I AM the Light of the world."
The Light that is Christ shines in the darkness of our world. It is a light that cannot be overcome because it represents the ultimate values of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Justice and Love, Compassion and Fellowship, Freedom and Peace.
The coming of the Light was prepared for by John the Baptist. He had been sent by God, just as Jesus himself is sent by his Father. John himself was not the Light but gave witness to the Light. In addition to John, there are many testimonies to Jesus: the Samaritan woman, the Scriptures, Jesus' works, the crowds, the Spirit and his own disciples. And, finally, we might add -- each one of us.
Jesus was fully inserted in the world, the world which owes its very existence to him and yet it did not know him. 'Know' in the sense of not recognising him or acknowledging him to be what he really is. The Gospel also records, surely with sadness, that the Word came to "what was his own", namely, Israel but his own people did not accept him. That, of course, is a generalised statement because there were many, including all the first followers of Jesus, who were Israelites. But the leadership by and large (again with exceptions like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea) did not accept him and even was instrumental in his death.
Those, however, who did accept the Word were given the power to become children of God. As such they are brothers and sisters of Jesus the Word. And this does not happen simply by natural birth or because they were born into a particular community but by the choice of God. A Jew was someone born of Jewish parents and circumcised and who chose to observe the Law.
Then comes the dramatic statement: "the Word became flesh". The Word took on our human nature in all its fullness. He did not have, as some people believed, just the external appearance of a human but was through and through a man "like us in all things". And he lived right among us. The Greek term literally means he "pitched his tent or tabernacle". In the Old Testament God was believed to be present to his people in the Tent of Meeting. The Word in his humanity is the new presence of God among us. And we might add here that in our times the Christian community, as the Body of the Risen Christ, is now the tabernacle of Jesus' presence in the world.
And then " we saw his glory", namely, the glory of God's visible manifestation of his power, which formerly filled the tabernacle and the Temple, is now found in the Incarnate Word, Jesus, God's only Son. It is a presence "full of grace and truth". 'Grace' is the love of God as experienced in our lives and 'Truth' is that wholeness and integrity which reflects the deepest values we associate with God.
And now, "from his fullness we have all received". That is the fullness of Grace and Truth, of which we are given a share, a share which we hope will grow with time. It is "grace in place of grace". The grace of the Old Covenant is now replaced with the richer grace of the New. Or it is "grace upon grace" as the grace of the Old Covenant is enriched by the grace of the New.
Obviously, the text is very rich and dense and needs a lot of reflection, more than can be shared in a brief homily. And, as I have said, the same message is really given by Luke in his more down-to-earth story of the conception and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. In truth, the two passages complement and enrich each other.

January 1 - Mary, Mother of God

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21
TODAY WE CELEBRATE the feast of Mary as the Mother of God. It is a title we Christians have become very used to. Yet, in a way, it is a very strange expression, one which our sister religions - Judaism and Islam - would find very difficult to comprehend or accept.
After all, how can God have a mother? He is eternal, with no beginning or end. As Creator, we understand him to be the source of all living things. There is nothing beyond or before him. How then can he be described as the offspring of someone else? The term seems either contradictory or meaningless.

Mother of Jesus, Son of God

Mary, of course, is primarily the mother of Jesus. She contributes from her own body to the formation of his human body. She is the mother of Jesus. But the Gospel speaks of his Father being God, not Joseph.
Jesus himself is very special. He has a fully human nature, like ours in every respect, except for sin. But he also has a fully divine nature. However, while Jesus has two natures, he is only one Person. That Person is the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Mary is the mother of the person who is Jesus but Jesus, through his divine nature, is also God. Mary, then, in that sense is the Mother of God. She is the mother of the Jesus who is divine but is not the mother of his divinity. On the contrary, she herself is a creature of God's making.

Scene in the stable

In today's Gospel Luke describes the simple scene in the stable at Bethlehem. We see a man, a woman who has just given birth, and a baby in a feeding box. Truly primitive surroundings and yet this Baby is the Son of God and that young woman is the Mother of God. This is the great mystery of the Incarnation.
And who are these people who are their first visitors? The shepherds, a group of poor and despised and marginalised people, the people God came especially to save and liberate.
We often portray Mary as Queen of Heaven, dressed resplendently in beautiful clothes with crowns, jewels and stars. But I think this Gospel scene is the one that is most striking. It is the one that says the most about what God is doing for us through Jesus and through his Mother.
No wonder that Luke says, "Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart". She had indeed a great deal to ponder about and understand. There was much that now and in later years she would have to reflect on with regard to this Child of hers.

Circumcision

The Gospel ends with the description of the traditional circumcision of the young child in accordance with the Law and, in fact, this feast used to be called the Circumcision. This ritual would mark Jesus clearly as a child of Abraham. The whole early life of Jesus and, even much in his later life, takes place within the ambience of the Jewish Law.
But, as Paul tells us in today's Second Reading, "God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as children." Born under the Law, Jesus led us out of the bondage of the Law, while, born to a woman, God's own Son led us to become, with him, children of God. No longer slaves and servants but heirs as sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of Jesus.
As Paul says, with Jesus the Son, we now can, like him, address in loving intimacy God the Father as "Abba", a Greek equivalent of Papa or Daddy. And on today's feast we need to remember that it is Mary who played a crucial role in the bridging of the gap between God and ourselves.

World Day of Peace

This is put very well in the Second Reading today. It is a very extraordinary statement if we listen to it very carefully. "Let us love one another," we are told, "since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love."

Love is all you need

Finally, just one more point. In recent years, today, the first day of the new year, has been designated World Day of Peace. It is very appropriate because today's gospel story is filled with a beautiful peace. In fact, it was in response to the angels' song, "Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth", that the shepherds had gone in search of the baby in the manger. On this day, the Pope asks all of us to pray for peace and to work for peace. There are many places in the world today where there is a great deal of violence and conflict. Untold millions of innocent people are the victims.
But, when we think of peace, we should not just think of the conflicts which make headlines in our newspapers. Conflict on a wide scale happens because of the conflicts on the small scale: in single nations, in single communities, in neighbourhoods and within families. We may not be able to do much about peace in Northern Ireland or in some other troubled spot (if we do not live there), but we can all do something about peace in our immediate surroundings.

Let it begin with me

All of us can and need to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation. We can all be peace-makers. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." As the song tellingly says, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with ME." We could hardly make a better resolution at the beginning of this new year.

2 -- 7 January (before Epiphany)

Readings from January 2-5 are read on all occasions.

Readings for January 6-7 are read when the Epiphany is celebrated on January 7 or 8.

Readings listed between January 7 (or Monday after Epiphany) and January 12 (Saturday after Epiphany) are on the DATE or DAY following the Epiphany.

If the Epiphany is celebrated on Jan 6, the DATE is followed (Jan 7, 8, etc)

If the Epiphany is celebrated on the nearest Sunday, then the DAY of the week is followed.

Usually some of the days will be omitted.

To avoid confusion, follow your Church calendar!

January 2

1 John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28
FIRST READING (1 John 2:22-28)
We continue today with the Fourth Condition for 'walking in the light' which continues the warnings about the Antichrist and false teachers in the community. In today's text an "antichrist" is defined as someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. The Antichrist is a "liar"; he is totally opposed to Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. "I am the Way; I am Truth and Life."
To deny the identity of the Son is also to deny the Father and, similarly, to acknowledge the Son is to acknowledge the Father. This comment seems to refer to the Gnostic Cerinthus. He taught that the Son of God entered the man Jesus only at his baptism and left before the Passion. But Jesus emphatically affirms elsewhere, "I and the Father are one".
"You do not need anyone to teach you." This needs to be properly understood. Since the Bible constantly advocates teaching (Matt 28:20; 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11; Col 3:16; 1 Tim 4:11; 2 Tim 2:2,24), John is certainly not ruling out human teachers and in fact he refers to them ("what you heard in the beginning"). At the time when he wrote Gnostic teachers were insisting that the teaching of the apostles needed to be supplemented with the "higher knowledge" that the Gnostics claimed to possess.
What John is saying is that the teaching that the Christians have received from their Spirit-guided teachers is not only enough but is the only reliable source of the true message. The author appeals to his readers to remain faithful to the teaching they heard from the beginning and not to be led astray. And it is not enough just to have heard the teaching or to know its content. (For the Gnostics knowledge was everything.) The message of the teaching has to be totally assimilated so that it becomes part of my whole life -- my words, actions, relationships. As Paul said to the Galatians 2:20: "I live. No, it is not I but Christ lives in me." Through this assimilation I become a "new" person.
The promise being given is that of eternal life. And that life is not just at some future time but begins immediately we attach ourselves to Jesus and his Way. Using a favourite expression the writer of the letter says, "You...will remain in the Son and in the Father" and that is the source of the life to be experienced here and now.
Through that union with Son and Father, one is "anointed" by the Holy Spirit who helps us to understand all we need to know to live the life that Jesus proposes to us. It is for us then to "remain" in him and then and only then will we be ready when he comes to call us to himself.
"So that when he appears we may be fearless and not shrink from him in shame at his coming."

GOSPEL (John 1:19-28)

From today until January 5 inclusive we will be reading from the beginning of John's gospel after the Prologue and up to the story of the wedding at Cana -- corresponding to Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2. It begins with John the Baptist's testimony about himself and then Jesus revealing himself to his first disciples. It finishes with the wedding feast at Cana, described as the first of the 'signs' performed by Jesus. There are seven such 'signs' altogether in his gospel. The whole section covers just one week which reflects the first week of creation in the book of Genesis. Here there is a new creation under way.
The section is divided as follows:
1, John the Baptist's negative testimony about himself.
2, His positive testimony about Jesus.
3, The revelation of Jesus to Andrew and Peter (in that order)
4, The revelation of Jesus to Philip and Nathanael (also in that order).
5, The wedding feast at Cana.
John the Baptist's negative testimony about himself.
Today we look at the first section. It is clear that John the Baptist was causing something of a stir with his preaching. So, officials were sent out from the Temple in Jerusalem to make some enquiries. Because he said he was not the long-awaited Messiah, they wanted to know who he was. He said he was not Elijah (whose re-appearance was expected to signal the imminent arrival of the Messiah) come again nor was he a Prophet like Moses. His questioners persisted. They had to bring back some information to the authorities in Jerusalem. John answered them with a modified version of words from Isaiah (40:3):
I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, 'Make straight the way of the Lord'.
This still does not satisfy and now some Pharisees -- distinct from the priests who were all Sadducees -- want to know why John is baptising when he is neither the Messiah, nor Elijah nor the Prophet.
John says that he is just baptising with water. "But there is one among you whom you do not recognise, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie". By these words he implies that someone who is really a Prophet is on the way bringing with him a much greater baptism. John is simply preparing the way by a baptism whose emphasis is on purification and repentance. The new baptism will bring the power of God's Spirit.
Obviously, there is much in John the Baptist's role with which we can identify. John preceded Jesus in time and prepared people for his coming. We rather are called to precede Jesus in other ways by making it possible for people to come to know him and to follow him. We are not the Light but we are called to give constant witness to the Light. Jesus said that he was the Light of the World (John 8:12) but he also said to his disciples, "You are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14). Do I see myself as reflecting the light of Jesus to others?

January 3

1 John 2:29-3:6; John 1:29-34
FIRST READING (1 John 2:29-3:6)
We now move on to the Second Part of the letter: 'To live as God's children'. In this part there are three 'conditions' to be fulfilled if we are to be truly children of God. The First Condition, part of which we read today, is 'to break with sin'.
It is a reading full of hope and begins with an introduction to this part of the letter. We are reminded that we are the special objects of God's love and in a very real sense can be called his children. And, if that is what we already are, what is in store for us in the life that is to come when we will see the Father face to face?
What we do know is "that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is". Whatever true holiness is seen in us is always a reflection of God's own holiness because he is the one and only source of all that is true and good. If we are faithful now, we are endeavouring to be like Jesus but, face to face with our God, we will be utterly transformed and united with him.
And when that truth and love, which is poured into our hearts, is allowed to express itself through our words and actions, then we become in a very special sense God's children, true reflections of our Father. If the world, that is, the world of sin and moral anarchy, does not recognise us for what we are, it is because it has not been able to see the presence of God in Jesus and his life.
The greatest sign of God's love is the gift of his Son (Jn 3:16) that has made us true children of God. True knowledge of God (not the Gnostic kind) will ultimately be gained by, with God's help, living virtuous lives in imitation of Jesus, God's Son.
And, if being God's children is a source of so much happiness and consolation now, imagine what the future life will be like! "We know that when [our future life] comes to light we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." That is something that is totally beyond our capacity right now.
Some of the mystics who have been given glimpses of the reality of God confess themselves utterly helpless in trying to express their experiences in words. But it has given them a terrible longing to have that full vision which is promised to us.
We now come to the 'first condition'. If we are to have that face-to-face experience there has to be a total break from everything that is contrary to God's way. To prepare to enjoy that vision -- the one and only goal of all living -- is, with God's help, to remain single-minded (pure) in our quest.
Sin is to be removed from our lives. "Sin is lawlessness" not just in the sense of failing to keep rules and regulations but in failing to live according to the deepest demands of truth and love.
To be without truth and love is to create huge obstacles to having that face to face vision with the Source of all Truth and Love.
We have here a reference to the activity of the Antichrist, expressed as hostility towards God and a rejection of Christ. Christians do not escape sin but realise that when they sin they cease to have fellowship with God. Virtue and sin distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil. For the Gnostics, behaviour is not important; only the right knowledge is what matters. To be close to Jesus and to live a life of sin is not possible. "The one who sins has not seen him or known him." This is again directed against those Gnostics who felt that the only thing that mattered was to have this special 'spiritual' knowledge and that what happened in our bodies was of no consequence. Immoral acts could be indulged in with impunity.
The secret of being free from sin in that sense is to submit totally to the Way of Jesus, who takes away all sin in those who turn to him in a spirit of reconciliation. "The one who remains in him does not sin." As we will see later in the letter, love and sin are incompatible.
Let us then pray that we may remain ever close, intimately close, to Jesus.

GOSPEL (John 1:29-34)

Yesterday we saw John the Baptist denying that he was the Messiah or any of the great prophets. Today he gives testimony to Jesus as the one he had been talking about.
The Baptist's positive testimony about Jesus.
The passage begins with "The next day... ". We mentioned already that the opening section of John up to the wedding at Cana represents a week, echoing the seven days of creation in Genesis. We will see that phrase occurring three more times in the first chapter and that brings us to the fourth day of the week. There is then a gap but the wedding at Cana is introduced as taking place "on the third day", that is, after the previous four, and hence is the seventh day.
As John saw Jesus approaching he said to those around him, "Look, there is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Another feature of this first chapter is that the author introduces the various titles of Jesus which he uses later on.
Why the Lamb? The central feature of the Jewish Passover feast was the lamb which was eaten during the Passover meal. It recalled the lamb which the families of the Israelites ate on the eve of their escape from Egypt and whose blood was painted on the doorposts of their houses. When the angel of God came to destroy all the firstborn, it "passed over" the houses of the Israelites, which had been smeared with the lamb's blood. This became then a symbol of liberation and one of the most important celebrations in the Jewish calendar.
For us, however, there is now a new symbol of liberation, a new Lamb. Jesus is both the offerer of the sacrifice and its victim and his death and resurrection inaugurate a New Covenant between God and his people. It is perhaps significant that in all the gospel accounts of the Last Supper there is no mention of a lamb being eaten during the meal. Because there was, of course, a new Lamb, who told his companions to take and eat, take and drink the bread and wine "handed over for you". And it is through the blood of this Lamb that we find salvation and liberation.
The title Lamb of God also recalls the suffering servant led like a lamb to the slaughter which we read about in Isaiah (53:7,10). In Revelation, too, we read of the victorious apocalyptic lamb who will destroy the evil in the world (Revelation 5-7; 17:14).
The Baptist then indicates the superiority of Jesus over himself. "He is the one of whom I said, 'A man existed before me'." In the context of the Prologue we read earlier, this is an intimation of Jesus' pre-existence as the Word with God. (For, chronologically, John was slightly older than Jesus.) John also explains why he was baptising; it was to make Jesus known to the people of Israel. His baptism did not have the power to forgive sin; this would be the prerogative of Jesus and his disciples. (He also says that up to this he had not known Jesus, which conflicts with the other gospels, where he is presented as a close relative.)
He then continues to talk about the baptism of Jesus, whereas the event itself is described in Matthew and Luke. He says he personally saw the Spirit of God come down on Jesus like a dove and it stayed with him, indicating the enduring relationship between God and his Father. The dove is a symbol of new life, recalling the dove which brought the olive branch back to Noah's ark and indicated that the Flood was over. At the same time, the One who told John to baptise with water also said that the One on whom the Spirit came down would in turn baptise with the Holy Spirit. And the Baptist concludes: "Now I have seen and give witness that he is the Son of God." Here we have another title of Jesus.
Each one of us has also received the same Spirit in our baptism. It was that Spirit which inspired Jesus in all his Messianic work climaxing in his death on the cross. May the same Spirit inspire us to follow in Jesus' footsteps and join with him in his work to build the Kingdom.

January 4

FIRST READING (1 John 3:7-10)
Today's reading is a continuation of yesterday's which reminded us that we must 'break with sin' if we are 'to live as God's children'.
The passage today enunciates a very important principle: "The one who acts in holiness is holy indeed." Jesus had said something very similar when he said that a tree can be known by its fruit. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. But it is important for us to realise that it is not the acts which make us holy; on the contrary, our good acts are rather a sign that God is working effectively through us.
Similarly, our reading today says that "the one who sins belongs to the devil". Bad fruit = bad tree.
Earlier the writer, speaking positively, had used expressions like: 'of God', 'from Truth', 'child of God', as an indication how someone was living under the influence of God. Now, speaking negatively, he speaks of those who are: 'of the devil', 'of the Evil One', to indicate those whose lives do not reflect the Spirit of Jesus.
"No one begotten of God acts sinfully because he remains of God's stock (or seed)." God's 'seed' here refers either to Jesus or to the Spirit. The image is of human reproduction. The 'seed' (in Greek sperma) of God's life has been planted in the believing Christian and, because of that, the child grows in the likeness of the Father.
Once we become closely united to God and allow him to work in us, sin is excluded. God and sin are mutually exclusive. That is why Jesus could say of the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee that there was no sin in her because she was so full of love (Luke 7:36-50). And, we might add, in the Gnostic anti-body context in which this letter is written, love expressed sexually is also included here. True sexual loving is a 'holy' thing and God is there.
Of course, we know that in practice our union with God is never perfect and we constantly fail in our love for him and for those around us. And what we often call 'love' is often self-centred, hurtful, or degrading. But, by and large, once we are fundamentally linked with God and with the Gospel of Jesus, that will show itself in all our relationships and our behaviour. Once we have the right vision our behaviour naturally follows. What we see, we do.
On the other hand, "no one whose actions are unholy belongs to God". And the same goes for "anyone who fails to love his brother or sister". To be close to God and to love one's brothers and sisters are two sides of one coin; one cannot have one without the other.

GOSPEL (John 1:35-42)

Today we have an introductory encounter between Jesus and his first disciples. The context is somewhat different from that in the other gospels. It is a very meaningful passage.
The revelation of Jesus to Andrew and Peter (in that order)
The passage opens again with the words, "The next day... ". John the Baptist is there with two of his own disciples. Just then Jesus walked by. This is a common feature of Jesus in the Gospel and it reminds us that Jesus walks by so many times in our ordinary day. Are we aware of that? And how do we respond? As he passed by, John says: "Look! The Lamb of God." Perhaps the disciples had already heard what John had said about the Lamb and so they began walking after Jesus. They are not yet disciples but more moved by a kind of curiosity about this man.
We will be told later in the account that one of the men was Andrew. But who was the other? A tradition likes to think it was John. Very likely it is the 'Beloved Disciple' -- not yet called that because his/her discipleship is just beginning. As such, it could have been anyone. It could be a man or a woman. So why not put oneself there with Andrew and share the experience with him? It makes this passage very meaningful if we do so.
At that point Jesus turned, saw them walking behind him and asked: "What are you looking for?" It would be good for us to hear Jesus asking that question of us too. We think we are following Jesus in our Christian life but have we ever asked that fundamental question, "What are you looking for?" And indeed what am I looking for in my life, or from God? It is good to realise too that God asks me that question. We often tend to think that it should be the other way round, that we should be asking God what he wants from us. But the answer to the first question is very revealing. Our answers could be very trivial, or very self-centred, or very altruistic. The answer to the question tells me a lot about where I stand with God, with other people and with myself. If my life depended on it, what would I ask of God? And my life in the fullest sense does depend on it.
How did these two men answer Jesus' question? They asked him one of their own. "Teacher, where do you stay?" Now, of course, that can be taken at face value in the sense of asking Jesus where his residence was. But, of course, in this gospel it has a much deeper meaning. Where does Jesus stay? ('Stay' is a key word in John's gospel and translates the Greek verb menein)
Where can Jesus be found? He is not in any one place; he can be found anywhere. Later on, Jesus will tell his disciples that he stays in the Father and that he also stays in them. Again we need to reflect on the answer to this question. Where do I think Jesus stays? Where can I find him in my life? In what places, in what people, in what situations? Is he only to be found in the tabernacles of our churches? As we read through the gospels we will find that Jesus is to be found in many places, some of them quite surprising.
And now, what is Jesus' answer to their question? "Come and see." It is the only way they will find out. Knowing where Jesus stays is not to found in theology or catechism books or in listening to theoretical lectures. The only way we can know where Jesus stays is by personal experience of meeting him where he is. That is something which everyone, even the most illiterate and uneducated can do, and it is something we need to be doing all the time. As the poet said, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God... " There is in fact no place, person or situation where he cannot be found.
So the two men went with Jesus and they stayed with him. They went and they saw. What did they see? We are not told but we do know the outcome of their experience. It was that the experience of staying with Jesus was something that simply had to be shared with others. One of the two men was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He went to his brother and said, "We have found the Messiah!" They had discovered the true identity of this Jesus. And then Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, who said: "You are Simon, the son of John, you will be called Kephas."
Here we have a perfect example of evangelisation. Andrew himself finds Jesus, stays with him, comes to know who he is and then goes to bring his brother to share the experience. It was another "Come and see" situation and Peter the fisherman was hooked! It is also worth noting that Peter, who would become the leader of the new community after Jesus left them, was not called directly by Jesus but by his brother. How many people, who could do great things for Jesus and the Kingdom, are waiting for me to bring them to Jesus?
I could also reflect with gratitude on the many people who have brought me in so many ways to a deeper personal knowledge of Jesus.

January 5

FIRST READING (1 John 3:11-21)
Today we have a very rich passage on the centrality of love in our Christian life. All our Christian living can be summarised in that one opening sentence: "We should love one another." It is all we need; all the rest is icing on the cake. And so, we are not, for instance, to follow the example of Cain who killed his brother simply out of jealousy and spite. "Why did Cain murder his brother Abel? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's upright."
And so, we should not be in the least surprised if the world, that is, the world of sin and self-centredness, hates us and wants to do us harm. And it is happening all the time. As loving Christians we would like to be loved in return. We might think that as a loving people it should be people's natural reaction to return our love. But the example of Cain is still to be found everywhere -- even inside the Church at times. People are hated so often not because they are bad but because they are good. Goodness for some people can be very threatening. Countless Christian martyrs have lost their lives simply because of this.
At the same time, the only valid sign that we are truly alive is the love that we show for our brothers and sisters, irrespective of the response we may get. Anyone -- and not just any Christian -- who hates a brother or sister is already a murderer and is himself dead. The life of God is not in that person. As the letter will say later on, God is love and whoever loves is in God and God is in that person. Without love, I am as good as dead.
Like Jesus himself we have to love others to the point of being ready even to lose our lives for them.
And, on a very practical level, God's love cannot survive in us if we refuse to share what we have with those who are in need. (See James 2:14-17.) God's love is only in us when it passes through us to others. In fact, it is that sharing love which is the only valid sign that we are united to the love of God.
So genuine love is found in actions and in truth and not in mere pious-sounding words. We might, however, observe that there can be times when love in words is more difficult and more effective than by doing what we regard as a loving act. It may be easier to send a gift to someone anonymously than to say face to face, "I love you" or "I forgive you from the bottom of my heart".
It is in this transparent love for others -- including those we do not know or who are against us -- that we know we are living Truth and will experience peace.
We are not necessarily living in truth simply because we adhere to orthodox teaching. No one was
more orthodox than the classical Pharisee and no one further away from the love and compassion of God. 'Truth' in the New Testament, and especially in John, means much more than being in possession of right ideas. It includes our whole way of living as being in total harmony with the Way of life presented to us in the Gospel and the New Testament. It embraces both the way we understand God and life but also how we live our lives in relation to God and every other person.
Finally, "God is greater than our feelings and knows all things." God is greater than our conscience.
That is to say, he sees far more deeply into the truth and goodness of things than we ever can and, at the same time, his love and compassion will go far beyond anything we could expect for ourselves. The extent of God's Truth and Love will always be totally beyond our grasp.
But the passage ends with a statement that should be writ large in our lives as an unquestioned and unquestionable principle: "If our consciences have nothing to charge us with, we can be sure than God is with us." There is no higher court of appeal than an honest following of our conscience. That is not to say that our conscience is always right. But, if we are honest, we are always ready to learn more, to have a second look and to see things in a different way. If we look at our lives we will see that our grasp of truths and values constantly change. The Church itself constantly changes according to the phrase, 'Ecclesia semper reformanda' -- a Church that always needs to see and do things in a new way. Truth is not a given; it is at the end of a long search, a search that will never end until we come face to face with Truth.
At any given time, then, we have no other choice but to follow as honestly as possible what our conscience tells us is true and good. Even the Gospel and the solemn teaching of the Church cannot transcend the final court of conscience. If I do decide always to follow the Gospel or the magisterium, that is ultimately my decision and one that no one else -- not even God -- can make for me. But I must maintain that openness and readiness to see that what I once thought was true and good may need to be revised.

GOSPEL (John 1:43-51)

Today in the Gospel we have the calling of two more disciples.
The revelation of Jesus to Philip and Nathanael (in that order).
Notice that the passage again begins with "The next day... ". We are now in Day Four of this Week that begins John's gospel. We are told that Jesus now goes to Galilee, the province in the north where he will do much of his work. Up to this he had been further south on the banks of the Jordan River where John the Baptist had been baptising.
Jesus came across Philip and invited him to be a disciple: "Follow me." Philip came from Bethsaida, which was also the hometown of Peter and Andrew. Later in the Gospel Philip will be pictured as a rather simple and naïve person. During the feeding of the crowds, Jesus asks Philip, "Where will we get enough food for these people to eat?" which draws at first sight a not very helpful response (John 6: 5). Later, at the Last Supper, as Jesus speaks about his Father, Philip says: "Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us" (John 14:8). Which gives Jesus the opportunity to explain how and where the Father can be 'seen'. This Philip is not to be confused with another Philip, one of the deacons who appears in the Acts of the Apostles.
We do not know what else happened between Jesus and Philip but, like Andrew, the new disciple was immediately fired to go and find Nathanael. He tells Nathanael two things about Jesus: first, that he is the One written about by Moses in the Law and also by the prophets, and second, that he is the son of Joseph from Nazareth. Nathanael is not very impressed. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" is a rather cynical response. Later, the leaders of the Jews will discount Jesus because of his origins, or what they believe to be his origins. It is something we can sometimes be tempted to do with people we meet.
Philip's response is perfect: "Come and see." It was the same answer that Jesus gave to the two disciples who asked where he stayed. The only way to know Jesus is not by hearsay or reading books but by a personal experience of him. (It will come again in the story of the Samaritan woman.)
When Jesus sees Nathanael, he says: "Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him." The first person to be called "Israel" in the Hebrew Testament was Jacob (Genesis 32:29) but he was guilty of serious duplicity. He cheated his older brother Esau of his birthright (even though the Scripture implies that Esau did not deserve it anyway, cf. Genesis 27:35-36). There can hardly be higher praise given a person than to say they are free of duplicity. Integrity is a very high virtue -- Christian and human. It is a quality of wholeness, of total harmony between what goes inside the person and what is seen on the outside. Such a person can be trusted; such a person will never cheat or dissemble or wear any kind of mask. It is a quality in which most of us fail to some extent.
Nathanael is obviously surprised: "How do you know me?" "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." The full meaning of this escapes us but it deeply impressed Nathanael. In the Hebrew Testament the fig tree was seen as a symbol of messianic peace. In the book of the prophet Micah we read: "Every man shall sit under his own vine or under his own fig tree undisturbed" (Micah 4:4). In speaking words of assurance to Joshua the High Priest, an angel of the Lord concludes with the words: "On that day you will invite one another under your vines and fig trees" (Zechariah 3:10).
These words of Jesus are enough for Nathanael to make an extraordinary profession of faith: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." The title "Son of God" was used in the Hebrew Testament as an adopted name for the Davidic King (2 Samuel 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27) and "King of Israel" is used here with a messianic sense. For John, of course, "Son of God" also implies the divinity of Jesus. And here, too, we have two further titles of Jesus being listed by John in this first chapter (cf. 20:28).
Jesus responds to Nathanael's declaration: "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this." And Jesus continues: "You (plural) will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." The reference, of course, is to the famous dream that Jacob had where he saw angels ascending and descending on a stairway which joined the heavens and the earth (Genesis 28:12 and see note in New American Bible). Longer experience with Jesus will reveal to Nathanael and the other disciples the mutual relationship between Jesus and his Father. God comes to them through Jesus; they will go to God through Jesus. Jesus is the Stairway between us and the Father God.
It is not clear whether Nathanael was one of the Twelve because he is not mentioned in any of the lists of the Twelve in the Synoptics. He only appears here in John and in the epilogue Chapter 21 (verse 3). However, he is worthy of being remembered for his insightful faith into the identity of Jesus and the great virtue of integrity. They are qualities which each Christian should treasure and pray for.

January 6
(before Epiphany -- when it is celebrated on January 7 or 8)

1 John 5:5-13; Mark 1:7-11 or Luke 3:23-38
During these two days [Jan 6 and 7 -- if the Epiphany is celebrated on a Sunday which is January 7 or 8], our readings from the First Letter of John are taken from chapter 5, omitting the rest of chapter 3, the whole of chapter 4 and part of chapter 5.

FIRST READING (1 John 5:5-13)

Today's reading is taken from the Third Part of the Letter -- the Source of Love and Faith and speaks about the source of Faith. To understand this reading we also need to know that John is speaking in the context of Gnostic teachings which said that the Spirit of God entered into Jesus only at his baptism and left him before his death on the cross.
John begins today's passage by asking, "Who can overcome the world?" He means this not in any triumphalist or dominating way about the world in general but rather using 'world' in the sense of asking who is the one who has the ability to overcome the evil tendencies with which our lives are surrounded. The implication is that it is someone who directly came to grips with the world, not an outsider.
The answer is that it is the one who has total faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Faith in Jesus who not only came through the water of his baptism but "in water and in blood" where "blood" signifies Jesus' death on the cross. All of this is testified to by the Spirit who, with the testimony of the water and blood, which symbolically flowed from the breast of the dead Jesus, form one single witness to the identity and the work of Jesus.
John is reacting to the heretics of his day (especially Cerinthus) who said that Jesus was born only a man and remained so until his baptism. At that time, they maintained, the Christ (the Son of God) descended on the human Jesus, but left him before his suffering on the cross -- so that it was only the man Jesus who died. Throughout this letter John has been insisting that Jesus Christ is God as well as man (1:1-4; 4:2; 5:5). He now asserts that it was this God-man Jesus Christ who came into our world, was baptised and died. Jesus was the Son of God not only at his baptism but also at his death (v.6b). This truth is extremely important, because, if Jesus died only as a man, his sacrificial atonement (2:2; 4:10) would not have been sufficient to take away the guilt of man's sin. (New International Version Study Bible)
It is John in his Gospel who tells us that when the dead Jesus' side was pierced, there came out blood and water -- signifying both his sacrificial death and his Baptism in the Spirit. "One of the soldiers, however, plunged his spear into Jesus' side and at once blood and water poured out" (cf. John 20:34). It is interesting that he then adds a parenthesis which makes more sense in the Gnostic context: "The one who saw this happen has spoken of it, so that you may also believe. What he said is true, and he knows that he speaks the truth" (Jn 20:35). In other words, the Person who died was the God-made-man, something denied by the Gnostics.
So, "there are three witnesses -- the Spirit, water and blood; and the three of them coincide". The Spirit pervades the life and death of Jesus. He was born in the Spirit, baptised in the Spirit and died in the Spirit -- the Spirit of God.
The blood and water were the 'evidence' for the original eyewitnesses but they are also the witness for all Christians as the type of the baptism and the sacrificial death of Jesus which are operative in our own lives.
For us, it is essential to our understanding of Jesus that it was the incarnate Son of God who died on the cross otherwise his death would not have had its redemptive and atoning effect.
To believe in Jesus as the Son of God is to accept this testimony as that of God himself. Not to believe in the witness that Jesus has given by his life and death is to make a liar of God. For "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son". And so, "whoever possesses the Son possesses life". This is not merely a statement to be accepted. It is a reality that can be experienced and should be experienced. And it is in the experience that we know its truth.
In the Gospel Jesus tells us again and again that he has come to give life to the world and we know from experience that all those who commit themselves to Jesus and his Gospel experience this life.
That life is open to every one of us provided we, in a spirit of total trust and faith, surrender ourselves to Jesus as Lord.
But it is not given willy-nilly nor is it forced on us: we have to open our hearts and allow God's love and life to flow in.

GOSPEL (Mark 1:7-11)

Mark has no infancy narratives and he begins his gospel with John the Baptist and the first public appearance of Jesus. John is described as being clothed in a garment of camel hair and as living on a diet of locusts and wild honey. It gives an impression of austerity in the tradition of the great prophets of the past. In fact, his dress recalls that of Elijah, who wore a "hairy garment with a leather girdle about his loins" (2 Kings 1:8). Later, Jesus will speak of John as Elijah already returned to proclaim the coming of the Messiah.
John was baptising many in the River Jordan as a sign of repentance but he told the people that there was a greater baptism to come: "I have baptised you with water; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit." Jesus' baptism is not just an expression of sorrow for sin, it is a genuine source of new life.
But, before that, Jesus himself submits to the baptism of John. In doing so he identifies himself with the people he has come to serve and expresses his solidarity with them. The baptism of Jesus, however, is significantly different. As Jesus emerged from the water, "he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him". At the same time a voice was heard from the heavens saying, "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased." We can say that this was Jesus' 'Pentecost' experience. He becomes filled with the Spirit of his Father and is now empowered to carry out his Messianic mission. And he has the full endorsement of his Father, "with you I am well pleased". This endorsement will be repeated again at the Transfiguration.
The same Spirit now drives Jesus out into the desert for a time of testing over a period of 40 days. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness. They, too, had many temptations and not a few times they failed. Jesus will not. Matthew and Luke describe three kinds of temptations that Jesus experienced but Mark says nothing about them.
The aim of the Tempter, of course, is to turn Jesus away from his true mission and doing the will of his Father for the world. The presence of wild beasts could have two meanings: it could signify the great dangers of the desert as the abode of demons or, on the other hand, represent a paradise where all living things coexist in perfect harmony (Is 11:6-9). The desert has always been a place where people have gone to find God. We think of the hermits in the early church and, in our own time, people like Charles de Foucauld who lived as a hermit among the Bedouins in North Africa.
The presence of serving angels is reminiscent of the angel who guided the Israelites in their desert wanderings (Exod 14:19; 23:20) or the angel who provided nourishment for Elijah when he was in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:5-7). The angel represents, of course, the close and comforting presence of God himself.
As we reflect on this reading we might today recall our own baptism and what it means for my life now. Do I live out well the mandate that I received at that time? Am I an active member of my Christian community and what difference does my membership make? What kind of witness do I give to the message of the Gospel, to making the Kingdom a reality in our world?
And, in terms of Jesus' temptations, what do I feel are the main threats to my living out the Gospel in my life? Have I been a temptation to others, leading them astray? Have I acted in a way which would cause people to turn away from the call of Jesus to share his life?

ALTERNATIVE GOSPEL (Luke 3:23-38)

An alternative Gospel reading for today is Luke's genealogy of Jesus. To be honest, it does not make for exciting reading (or listening) and, for many, the most of the names will mean little or nothing. But for Luke it plays an important role in his story because it links Jesus with the whole of past history. It is worth noting that it is not a copy of Matthew's list although, of course, there is an overlap of names.
In fact, there are a couple of significant differences between the two lists. Matthew's list goes from early times down to the time of Jesus; Luke, however, goes in the opposite direction -- starting with Jesus and going back to the beginning.
Also, Matthew traces Jesus' ancestry back to Abraham, the father of God's people. But Luke traces Jesus' line right back to Adam, the very beginnings of the human race. Matthew's gospel wants to show the links between Jesus and his people and to demonstrate that the mission of Jesus was a natural development from the earliest traditions of Israel. Luke, on the other hand, in harmony with the overall theme of his Gospel (and the Acts) wants to show Jesus as coming for the whole world. He traces Jesus' ancestry all the way back to Adam and even beyond Adam to God himself. He describes Adam as 'son of God'. In so doing he expresses the Fatherhood of God over all of us.

January 7
(before Epiphany -- when it is celebrated on January 8)

1 John 5:14-21; John 2:1-12 FIRST READING (1 John 5:14-21)
We come today to the last part of the Letter. It forms a kind of postscript to the rest of the work, much as chapter 21 is an epilogue to John's gospel. It consists of two parts: a prayer for sinners; and then a final summary of the main points in the Letter.
The section begins with an important definition of true prayer: Our confidence in God consists of this, namely, that God hears us whenever we ask for anything according to his will. It can happen in our prayer that we are just asking for something that we want and can feel disappointed or even angry when we do not get it.
But true prayer consists in trying to discover what exactly God wants of me under the firm conviction that he always wants the very best. It is not a question of me demanding of God that he give me what I want or I think I need. Nor is it fatalistically submitting to a God who does things I don't want to happen. Rather, it is a matter of God's will and mine being brought fully into harmony, so that I really want (not just am prepared to accept) what he wants. My will and God's will coincide. I am doing what he wants and I am doing what I want! The secret of much happiness is right here and is the ultimate goal of Christian living.
One thing we are particularly urged to pray for here is a brother or sister who has gone astray in faith and/or morals so that life can return fully to that person. However, there are some who have committed "deadly" sins and for them there may not be much use in praying.
What is such a "deadly" sin? In the Gospel the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit, that is, the sin of totally closing one's mind to truth (cf. Matt 12:31-32). Once we have taken such a step and remain in that state, there is no way that we can be reached by a loving and forgiving God. As long as a person is in this state, they are beyond help. Nevertheless, it would seem that we could pray that such an attitude might change.
In the context of this letter it could refer to those who have abandoned their Christian faith and become apostates perhaps under the pressure of persecution. To save their skins, they have given up the Truth that is Christ; they have closed a door which only they can reopen.
It could also refer to those heretics who denied the Sonship of Jesus, either partially or totally, or those who had taken up a Gnostic position which, on the one hand, believed in separating oneself entirely from all that is material in this world and then, by a perverted kind of logic, believed in living a totally amoral life. (If matter is an evil to be avoided and is destined to non-existence, does it really matter what you do with it? Does it matter what you do with your body or someone else's?)
Another view is that it is a serious sin that results in physical death, hence putting the person beyond prayer.
In the final summary of his letter, the writer makes three statements all beginning with: "We know... "
First, we know that no one who is a child of God sins. As long as one is consciously committed to Christ and has totally submitted their life to his Way, sin is a contradiction. The two cannot co-exist.
Second, we know that true Christians belong to God while the "world" is under the influence of evil. Being a Christian (in a real and not just a notional sense) and being under the influence of the "world" are again mutually exclusive.
Third, we know that the Son of God has come to teach us how to distinguish and recognise the presence of God in our lives. By being "in" Jesus Christ we are also "in" God who sent him among us. This is the blessed role of Jesus, to be God made visible so that we know how and where we can find God in our lives.
In conclusion, we are warned to be on our guard against idols. There is a sharp antithesis between the children of God and those belonging to the world and to the evil one. In the context of the letter, it is a warning against the many idols in which the surrounding peoples believed and in the idol of the emperor as a divine being to which no Christian could give an allegiance which was due only to God. Many died martyrs because of their refusal to worship the emperor's image. But there must have been many who caved in because of fear.
Perhaps we are not touched by such idols today (even when we live in places with statues of gods and deities) but there are many other idols of a more subtle kind which we can easily fail to recognise as such -- materialism and consumerism, the obsession with money and wealth, the cult of sex and even of the body, the slavery to image and fashion, the cult of the hero be it in the media or in sports ('fans' = fanatics, a word used to describe the actions of frenzied worshippers in another age). Obsession with such idols can blind us to the very real needs -- material, social, spiritual -- of those around us. Then we fail in the essential quality of being a child of God -- love for each other.

GOSPEL (John 2:1-11)

If the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated after January 6 (e.g. on the following Sunday), we follow these readings on January 7.
The gospel tells the story of the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee. This passage completes the week of initiation that we saw earlier when we read through the first chapter of John. The last day that we considered was Day Four and we are now on "the third day" after that, in other words, the seventh and last day of the week. As usual with John, we have to be very aware of the symbolism behind the whole story.
The very name of the place indicates that we not just in the realm of a newspaper report. There is no record of a place called Cana in the Hebrew Testament. Jesus and his disciples have been invited and the mother of Jesus (John never calls her 'Mary') was also there. She will not appear in John's gospel again until we see her at the foot of the Cross.
At one point in the celebrations, they run out of wine. A terrible embarrassment for any couple and Mary says to her Son, "They have no wine." She clearly presumed he will do something about it. Instead, Jesus replies somewhat abruptly: "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." He presents the problem as Mary's but not his. The original Greek words represent a Hebrew expression which could be spoken in a hostile manner or simply as something of no direct concern. Jesus has more important priorities. He may also be saying that he does not 'do miracles' to favour family and friends -- they have a much more serious purpose. Jesus' life is oriented to his 'hour', the time of his suffering, death, resurrection and ascension -- his hour of glory. "Woman", incidentally, was a perfectly acceptable form of address at the time. Jesus will use it again when he speaks to his mother from the Cross.
Mary seems to ignore her Son's words. She knows him well. She simply tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Many spiritual writers have picked up those words as Mary's advice to all of us who call ourselves Christian.
Our attention is now drawn to the six large water jars which were provided so that the guests could perform the ceremonial washings required by Jewish law on entering the house and before eating. While these originally probably had a hygienic purpose they had become a religious ritual which every devout Jew was expected to practise. John explicitly mentions that there were six and, knowing his concern with numbers, the figure is not just an observation. Six falls short of the perfect number seven. Each jar could hold about 30 gallons or more than 100 litres.
Jesus now takes over. He tells the servants to fill the jars with water. They filled each jar to the brim. He then told them take a sampling and offer it to the head waiter for tasting. After he had tasted it, he was amazed because he did not know where it had come from. (Apparently he had not been apprised of the wine 'crisis'.) He went immediately to the groom and asked why the best wine had been kept to the end of the celebrations when it would be less appreciated by the inebriated guests. The water has now been replaced by first quality wine and in a huge quantity. This abundance recalls Hebrew Testament prophecies of the abundance accompanying the last days.
The passage concludes by the author saying that this was the first of the signs that Jesus would give in the course of his public life. There are seven altogether in John:

Changing water into wine at Cana (2:1-11

The healing of an official's son also in Cana (4:46-54)

Cure of the cripple at the Sheep Gate (5:1-18)

Multiplication of the loaves (6:1-15)

Walking on the water (6:16-20)

Healing of a man born blind (9:1-41)

Raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1-44)

These 'signs' are not just wonder-working miracles. They tell us something about the identity and the mission of Jesus and have a message for us. The changing of the water into wine is a clear symbol of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New. The Old is represented by the incomplete number of jars representing a way of life built on laws and regulations and their perfect observance. The New Covenant is represented by the high quality wine, symbolising a new life that comes to us through Jesus, who is the new Way, Truth and Life. Although there is no parallel to this story in the other gospels, it does remind us of the parable in the Synoptics where Jesus says that you do not put new wine into old wineskins or patch old cloth with new.
It is for us to identify fully with the new wine of Christ and not fall back into the old ways of basing our Christian life on the narrow-minded following of rules and regulations.

WEEKDAYS AFTER THE EPIPHANY
UP TO BAPTISM OF JESUS

Readings listed between January 7 (or Monday after Epiphany) and January 12 (Saturday after Epiphany) are on the DATE or DAY following the Epiphany.

If the Epiphany is celebrated on Jan 6, the DATE is followed (Jan 7, 8, etc)

If the Epiphany is celebrated on the nearest Sunday, then the DAY of the week is followed.

Usually some of the days will be omitted.

MONDAY after Epiphany (or January 7)

1 John 3:22-4:6; Matthew 4:12-17,23-25
During these days following the Epiphany we continue our readings from the First Letter of John.
FIRST READING (1 John 3:22-4:6)
We have today a passage very rich in meaning and deserving of a lot of reflection and prayer. It is in two parts. In the first (3:22-24), it speaks briefly of what is needed to be a true follower of Christ; in the second (4:1-6), it warns us against being deceived by false prophets into following misleading paths.
John begins by assuring us that whatever we ask we will receive from God. And how do we know that? Because we "keep his commandments" and carry out his will. And what are these commandments? He immediately tells us that they are just two in number:
- Total belief in and commitment to Jesus, as the Son of God, and
- loving each other as Jesus has loved us.
Beyond these two commandments we need absolutely nothing else. All the rest that we have been taught may be called the icing on the cake. It is not that other elements of our Christian life are not important but, without these two fundamentals, the rest is nothing.
And it is not surprising that, when we live our lives with this faith and love, our prayers will be heard because what we ask will be wholly in harmony with being closer to him in commitment, love and service. As John says, "Those who keep his commandments remain in him and he in them". It is a kind of symbiotic relationship which colours all whole lives.
In the second part (4:1-6), we begin to consider what the writer says is the third condition to 'love as God's children' and that is to be on guard against Antichrists and against the world. It is a matter of distinguishing between the good Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, and other spirits which can mislead us.
It is through the Spirit of the Father and Jesus that we know we are in Christ and he is in us.
But John warns us that not all "spirits" come from God. We need to "put the spirits to the test". This is what we now sometimes refer to as "discernment of spirits". There are many influences in our lives coming from various sources: all will come under the guise of good but some are in fact leading us astray.
We need to examine these influences. Following the good spirit will bring "consolation", a sense of rightness and peace. A wrong spirit will bring "desolation", a sense of unease and restlessness. These are not at all to be confused with pleasure or pain. To choose a more painful way may well bring consolation and we know we have made the right choice.
For John the good spirit will lead us to recognise that Jesus, in his human body, is a revelation of God. It was precisely this that the Gnostics, and especially Cerinthus, denied; for them all matter and flesh were evil. In God's creation, we believe that everything he has made is good and is a reflection of his own Goodness. And our acknowledgement of Jesus Incarnate is not simply something intellectual -- even the demons knew that God was in Jesus -- but something that we confess publicly through our living.
To deny this is to be led by the Antichrist, epitomised in the teaching of the Gnostics, who are the false prophets mentioned. They speak under the influence of evil spirits who are alienated from God. In the Gospel Jesus, too, warned about such false prophets (cf. Matt 7:15; 24:11). So, too, did Paul (e.g. 1 Tim 4:1).
As long as we are of God and in Christ, we have nothing to fear. We do not belong any more to the "world", the world of sin, the world of hate and greed, the world of corruption, deceit and violence. And those who know God will listen not only to him but to those who are clearly his spokespersons. And each one of is called by our Baptism to be a spokesperson, an evangeliser, for the message of Christ.
We have to learn how to distinguish clearly where and in whom is the Spirit of truth and where the spirit of falsehood. We can all be torn between these two 'worlds' -- the world of Christ's Spirit and the spirit of the 'world'. And much of the time we try to have our cake and eat it.
We realise that we would like to be fully in Christ but know that we have not quite got there yet.
Let us ask Jesus today to help us keep those two great commandments of faith/trust and love and to help us to be able to recognise his Spirit in our lives and reject all those false influences which lead us astray.

GOSPEL (Matthew 4:12-17,23-25)

Jesus has been baptised in the Spirit of his Father and he has triumphed over the temptations of the Evil One during his 40 days in the wilderness. He is now ready to begin his public ministry.
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested for accusing Herod of adultery, who had taken his brother's wife as his own, Jesus withdrew from the region of the Jordan River where he had been with John and went to the northern province of Galilee where he had grown up. The word translated 'arrested' literally reads 'handed over' and is an expression that occurs several times in the gospel. It refers to John the Baptist being 'handed over', to Jesus being 'handed over' first to the leadership of the Jews and then to the Romans. Later it will be used of the disciples being 'handed over' to various authorities because of their preaching the Gospel. Finally, it is used at every Eucharist, though lost in our present translation. At the consecration of the bread the celebrant says: "This is my Body which will be handed over [given up] for you.'
Jesus had left Nazareth and his family and Matthew tells us he went to live in "Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulon and Naphthali". Capernaum will appear several times in Gospel stories. For Matthew Jesus' going there fulfils a Hebrew Testament prophecy. "Zebulon and Naphthali, the way to the sea, Galilee of the Gentiles, there the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light... " These two territories were the first to be laid waste by the Assyrian invasion in 733 BC. Isaiah promises them a great future. It is now being realised. Matthew stretches things a little to fit the prophecy in: Capernaum was in Naphthali and the sea mentioned by Matthew is the Sea of Galilee while in the prophecy it actually refers to the Mediterranean.
Jesus' preaching is summarised in one sentence: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It is very similar to the message that John the Baptist gave but, coming from Jesus, it is much richer in meaning. John proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom; Jesus himself is the coming of that Kingdom. 'Repent' means much more than the meaning we normally give to the word, namely, to regret, to be sorrow for wrongs we have done. Here it is represented by the Greek word metanoia (metanoia) which calls for a complete and radical turnaround in the way we see life. It is not concerned with the past but rather with the future.
'The kingdom of heaven' does not refer to the future life. It is not saying that we are all imminently about to leave this earth. 'Heaven' here is a euphemism for the name of God, which Matthew writing for Jewish Christians does not want to use. Among the Jews God's name was so holy that it could not be uttered by humans. Rather the phrase 'kingdom of heaven' refers to the effective power of God's presence here on earth, sometimes called God's 'reign' on earth. And that kingdom is near because it is embodied in the person of Jesus himself. He represents the effective presence of God's power and that is seen clearly in the second part of today's passage. It is the power of love and healing.
At this point in Matthew's gospel he also relates the calling of the first four disciples, those who would be partners with him in the proclamation and the realisation of the Kingdom. But it is omitted in our reading for today.
We finish with a summary of the Kingdom work that Jesus was doing. He went all over Galilee, teaching in the Jewish synagogues. His preaching consisted of the proclamation of the nearness of the Kingdom and that was illustrated graphically by his healing all kinds of sicknesses. Healing means restoration to wholeness and the goal of the Kingdom is a restoration to wholeness of the whole world.
Jesus' fame even extended to the whole of the Roman Province of Syria of which Galilee was a part. Large numbers of people came from these places in search of Jesus and brought to him people suffering from all kinds of sicknesses. In addition to Galilee, they also came from the Decapolis (meaning 'ten cities'), a federation of Greek cities mainly lying on the east side of the Jordan, from Judaea and its main city Jerusalem and even from across the Jordan River.
It is time now to stop looking back at the Christmas celebrations and look forward at why Jesus was born and the mission he had to do. Jesus' coming to Capernaum is the coming of light in darkness. Jesus' call to repentance is really a call to radical conversion, a turning round completely to face our Lord.
In him the Kingdom of Heaven is here among us. That is shown by the word that Jesus does: teaching, announcing the Good News of his coming and healing all kinds of disorders: physical, mental, emotional...
May we too experience a deep desire for conversion and also experience the healing power of Jesus in our lives so that may become ourselves agents to heal others.

TUESDAY after Epiphany (or January 8)

Readings: 1 John 4:7-10; Mark 6:34-44
Both readings in today's Mass speak about love -- God's and ours.
FIRST READING (1 John 4:7-10)
We move today into the third part of 1 John called 'The Source of Love and Faith'. It is divided into two parts: the first deals at length with 'love' (4:7-5:4); the second is on 'faith' (5:5-13.
John today emphasises that the initiative for love comes from God and not from us. God does not love us because we love or obey him.
The word 'love' (agape[pronounced a-ga-pay]) in its various forms occurs 43 times altogether in this letter and, in the passage beginning today's reading up to chap 5, verse 3, is used no less than 32 times!
'Love' is one of the most used -- and abused -- words in our language. Our pop songs are using it all the time and there have probably been songs about love since the dawn of music. We use it in all kinds of other contexts too. People 'love' chocolate or they 'love' spending hours watching football on TV. People are 'in love' and they 'make love'. And so on.
What, then, do we mean by love in our reading today? C S Lewis, the Christian writer, once wrote a book called The Four Loves. There he describes four kinds of love, all of which should be part of Christian living. One of these is agape, the form of love that 1 John is talking about. I would like to offer a definition of agape which may be helpful. It is: "a passionate desire for the well-being of the other".
This is the love that God unconditionally extends to all his creatures without exception. It is the love that each of us, too, is to extend to every one of our brothers and sisters -- again, without a single exception. It is an outreaching love; it is an unconditional love; it does not depend on mood, liking or disliking. It is based purely and simply on the need and on the good of the other. It may or may not be expressed sexually but it is definitely not the love that most of the pop songs are talking about.
No matter what we do, no matter how evil or vicious we are, God's love for us remains unchanging and unchangeable. "Love it was that made us and Love it was that saved us... " as the hymn says. The reason is simple: 'God IS love'. Love enters into his very being. God cannot not love -- if he did, he would no longer be God.
It is strange to say (and for some it may be shocking) but God loves the most depraved person we could imagine and Our Lady or one of the saints in exactly the same way. He cannot do otherwise. Is there no difference then? The difference between Our lady and the evil person is not in God's love for them but in their response to the love offered to them. One person has a closed heart; Our Lady from the moment of the Annunciation gave an unconditional 'Yes' which she never withdrew.
All our loving then is simply an opening of our heart, a return of the love that God has first shown us. When we reveal ourselves as loving persons it is because God's love is working in us and through us. The sign that we are loving him is also that we are filled with love ourselves, love which originally came from him.
As someone once said, God's love is like electricity. God's love is only in us when it is passing through us. It can never stop with ourselves. When we keep that love to ourselves, it dies.
The question then is not: Does God love the drug pusher? (He does.) The question is: Does the drug pusher love his brother? (If he does, he is going a strange way about it.) Anyone who is a deeply loving person to those around him is already full of God's love. God's love never changes but it can be blocked by a closed heart.
God's love is available in abundance to anyone who opens their heart to him. May I be able to do that. But that love, too, must continue to flow out beyond me to everyone I meet. It is impossible to separate God's love for me and my love for others. We cannot have one without the other.
Our Christian life, then, is about being loving persons, not primarily about orthodoxy or theological expertise, or conformity to rules, or making sacrifices, or carrying out "religious" duties. As St Paul says in his famous passage in the first letter to the Corinthians, "If I have not love, I am nothing." Today's reading says, "The person without love has known nothing of God, for God is love." If I am not a loving person, all the rest is a waste. If I am a truly loving person, everything else is taken care of.
And what is the source of that love? It is not ourselves. "Love consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us." The evidence is in God's sending "his son as an offering for our sins". Jesus hanging on the cross is the most dramatic sign of God's love for us, a love that is totally gratuitous (so we call it "grace") and never earned by any action of ours.
Let me today look at Jesus on the Cross, say a big 'Thank you' to him and then go and pass on his love for me to everyone I meet.

GOSPEL (Mark 6:34-44)

Just before today's passage begins we are told that the Twelve had just returned from the mission on which Jesus had sent them. He suggested that they all go to a secluded spot where they could rest. So they set off there in one of their boats. (In spite of what we are told in Mark 1:18 and 20 about them leaving their boats to follow Jesus, we still see them in use.) However, the crowds spotted them and large numbers ran along the shore and, by the time Jesus and his companions had reached their destination, they were faced with a huge crowd.
Perhaps the disciples were very disappointed to see their day of rest so badly disrupted. Jesus, on the other hand, was filled with compassion as he looked over them. He saw them as people lost and confused; they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus, of course, is their Shepherd. He began by teaching them many things, helping to bring clarity and understanding into their scattered lives.
As evening began to draw in, the disciples approached Jesus and urged him to let the people go to the surrounding villages and towns where they could get something to eat. Did they say this because they really felt for the people's needs or because they wanted to be left alone? Jesus replied by telling his disciples: "You feed them yourselves." They remonstrated. It would need a large amount of money to give everyone even a little to eat.
Then Jesus told them: "Go and see how much bread there is." They found that there were just five loaves and two fish. For Jesus that was enough.
The people were told to sit down in rows on the green grass. The scene recalls Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd [Jesus saw the crowd as sheep without a shepherd] there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze... [the people sat in rows on the green grass]
You set a table before me... Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life...
It is also reminiscent of the Israelites encamped in groups in the desert (Exod 18:21-25) and the prophets speaking about the transformation of the desert into pastures where the true shepherd feeds his flock.
In a very ritualistic way, Jesus took the loaves and bread, looked up to heaven [to his Father], said the blessing and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. The fish were similarly divided. All ate and were satisfied, there were twelve baskets of leftovers and altogether 5,000 people had been fed.
The whole passage has strong Eucharistic overtones. There is what we would now call the Liturgy of the Word when Jesus taught the people at length and the Liturgy of the Eucharist with the bread blessed, broken and distributed to the people in groups/communities. The amount left over points to the huge generosity of God in taking care of his children.
It is worth noting that Jesus does not distribute the bread and fish himself but delegates his disciples to do this. And that is how Jesus comes into people's lives today -- through the agency of his dedicated followers.
It is also significant that the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus which appears in all four gospels. It can be understood on many levels. It looks backward to the feeding of Israel with manna in the desert during the Exodus. It was expected in some circles that this would be repeated in the messianic age -- as in fact happens here. It may also point to the prophet Elisha feeding 100 men with just 20 loaves of bread, an action met with the same scepticism as the disciples showed but, in this case too, there was some left over (2 Kings 4:42-44)
Altogether in the gospels there are two multiplication stories in Mark and Matthew and one each in Luke and John. This is taken as an indication of the importance of Eucharistic gatherings in the early Church.
But the story essentially points beyond the Eucharist to what it signifies. The breaking of the bread and its being shared out among all present is intended as a sign or symbol of the life of the Christian community, where all the resources of the community are shared and divided in such a way that none is in need. And this way of life is also to be fostered in the wider community. It is a story about the love of God for his people and how he takes care of them but that love is shown in practice by his people passing on that love, especially to those in need. If that does not happen then the Eucharist becomes a sign of nothing. It is simply reduced to an abstract ritual.

Wednesday after Epiphany (or January 9)

1 John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-52
FIRST READING (1 John 4:11-18)
The reading continues to remind us of the primacy of God's love.
It begins with a very significant statement: "If God loves us so much, we too should love each other." One would expect the writer to have said that, if God loves us so much, we should love God back. But no. The real test of whether we are returning God's love is our passing on that love to our brothers and sisters. God does not need our love and, in fact, strictly speaking we cannot give to God something he already has in infinite abundance. That is why we respond by passing it on.
Part of the reason for that is because "no one has ever seen God". (This statement is directed against the people called 'Pneumatikoi', 'the spirit people', who held that a human being could make direct contact with God simply by intuition.) No, God cannot be seen. That means that it is difficult to measure our real love for him. On the other hand, it is very easy for us to think that we love him. (We remember Charlie Brown's famous remark: "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand.")
But John says that, if we can genuinely love the people around us -- who are very visible indeed, sometimes uncomfortably so -- then God is really present in us through that love and it gradually transforms us.
God is also present in us through our faith in and commitment to Jesus as the Son of God.
"When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God."
Similarly, because God is love, the deeply loving person "abides in God and God in him".
Here again, we have the double theme of this letter: To obey God is to believe in Jesus as his Son and to love those around us.
Finally, love and fear do not co-exist. When we are filled with the love of God, a love which flows out from us towards others, there is nothing we need fear. That is, we have no need to be afraid of God or his judgement (although there may be things, happenings in our life which may generate fear). Fear comes from the threat of punishment but, for the one who is close to God in love, such fear has no meaning. If I do experience a fear of God, then it is an indication that my love is defective. (This fear is not to be confused with 'fear of the Lord', one of the gifts of the Spirit. 'Fear' in this sense is rather a sense of awe at God's infinity but not the kind of fear when we come face to face with a life-threatening danger.)
If there is no love in us, then we simply do not know God who, by definition, IS LOVE.
If we may repeat what has already been said, our Christian life is about being loving persons, not primarily about orthodoxy or theological expertise, or conformity to rules, or making sacrifices, or carrying out "religious" duties. "If I have not love, I am nothing."
Today's reading says, "The person without love has known nothing of God, for God is love." If I am not a loving person, all the rest is a waste. If I am a truly loving person, everything else is taken care of.
And what is the source of that love? It is not ourselves. "Love consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us." Our loving acts are only an expression of his love working in us and through us. Our love is always a response to his and never the other way round. The evidence is in God's sending "his son as an offering for our sins". Jesus hanging on the cross is the most dramatic sign of God's love for us, a love that is totally gratuitous (so we call it "grace") and never earned by any action of ours.

GOSPEL (Mark 6:45-52)

Today's Gospel follows immediately on yesterday's account of the feeding of the 5,000. We are told that Jesus "made" his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the far side of the lake. Jesus himself sent the crowd away. The use of the word "made" implies that they did not go very willingly. From John's version of this story we know that the people were very excited about what had happened and wanted to make Jesus king. One can imagine that the disciples too were basking in the reflected glory and popularity of their Master.
Jesus would have none of it. He first of all packed off his disciples in the boat and then sent the crowds away. He himself retired to the mountains to pray. Was Jesus himself tempted by the enthusiasm of the crowds? Here they were, literally eating out of his hand. What a wonderful opportunity to win them over to his Way! But he knows that that is not the way it is going to happen. He retires to the remoteness of the mountains and renews his closeness to his Father and his desire to do only his Father's will.
In the meantime, a storm had come up on the lake and the disciples' boat was being tossed about dangerously. (It is said that sudden storms are a feature of the Lake of Galilee.) The disciples were in big trouble. But Jesus sees them and comes to them walking on the water but makes as if to pass them by. They thought he was a ghost and were even more afraid. Then he spoke to them: "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid." As soon as Jesus got into the boat the wind died down. They were utterly amazed, because, says the Evangelist, they had not understood the meaning of the loaves. "On the contrary, their hearts were hardened."
In reading this story we need to go beyond merely a manifestation of God's power in Jesus, a power that can even control the elements. The story has strong symbolic overtones. Here, as elsewhere, the boat with the disciples on board is a symbol of a Christian community. The world surrounding it is the world. Sometimes that world gets very stormy and seriously threatens the very existence of the community.
Jesus suddenly appears and seems to be passing by. He is never far away but he does need to be called. Their reaction, far from being comforted, was one of terror. All they saw was a ghost. They could not believe it could be really him. He was far away still on land.
Then Jesus speaks: "It is I". Literally, in Greek, ego eimi ('ego 'eimi), translated, "I AM", God's own name. "Do not be afraid." With Jesus, there is never anything to fear. Perfect love casts out all fear.
As soon as Jesus steps into the boat there is a calm. Is the calm just in the sea or is the deeper calm in the hearts of the disciples, knowing that Jesus is with them? Jesus is the source of true peace.
They are astonished because they did not understand what had happened during the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus will bring this up again with them later on (8:17). They only saw a miraculous multiplication; they missed, as probably most of the crowd did, the deeper meaning of the event as a tangible expression of God's love and care for his people. The same care was at work in the boat. And the message is clear for every Christian community today.

Thursday after Epiphany (or January 10)

1 John 4:19-5:4; Luke 4:14-22a
FIRST READING (1 John 4:19-5:4)
Once again John emphasises the inseparable link between loving God and loving our sisters and brothers. We are to love because God loves first. Because of his love, the only response we can give is to return his love and pass it on. God's love for us does not depend on our first loving him. Our love is always a response; it is never our initiative.
But then our love for God is primarily shown by our loving those around us. Anyone who says "I love God", but shows hate for a sister or brother is, quite simply, a liar. How can we say we love the God we cannot see when we refuse to love the brother or sister we can see?
It is so easy to love an invisible God. But it can be very difficult at times to love a very visible sister or brother. It is so easy to appear pious, devotional, even "holy", spending long hours in front of Jesus in the tabernacle and in other religious activities and yet living in very poor relationships with certain people.
The Letter puts it very simply: "Whoever loves God must also love his brother and sister." He puts it another way by saying that everyone who loves a father loves the children he has given life to. At the time this Letter was written, families were very closely-knit units under the headship of a father. So, in the same way, anyone who loves God our Father will naturally love all God's children who are, of course, in a very real way our brothers and sisters. We must love every single child to whom our loving God has given life. I cannot refuse to love someone that God loves and for whom he sent his Son to die on a cross.
Again he repeats what he has already said: We love God by keeping his commandments and earlier he has made it clear what those commandments are:
1, To believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God -- a call for total commitment and surrender to the Way of the Gospel;
2, To love our sisters and brothers.
And these commands are not burdensome. Not because they are always easy to carry out fully but because we live in the strength of the Spirit and because they are in total conformity with our nature made in the likeness of God. There is nothing artificial or arbitrary about them. To observe them is to become more and more what we are meant to be -- living in the image of our Creator God.
It is by doing this that we will "conquer the world", that is, the world of sin, of self-centred greed and hate. It is only this faith and love which can bring healing and wholeness into people's lives.

GOSPEL (Luke 4:14-22a)

After his baptism, Jesus is full of the Spirit of God. He has been commissioned and is now ready to do his Father's work.
The Gospel says he has been in Galilee already for some time and people everywhere are hearing about him as he preaches in synagogues. Today we see him in his home town of Nazareth. And, as he usually did, he went to the synagogue there on a Sabbath. As was the right of any Jew, he read from the Scripture. The passage is from the prophet Isaiah. It is a messianic prophecy which he applies to himself: "This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen."
And what does it say?
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me." That is, the Lord has made him King and Lord. He has been made Messiah, which in Hebrew means "the Anointed One". In Greek it is Christos (Cristos). It is a formal announcement of his identity. (Compare Mark's gospel where Jesus hides his true identity until much later.)
And what is the mission of Jesus as Messiah?
"To bring good news of liberation to the poor.
Freedom to those in captivity.
Sight to those who are blind.
Liberation for the oppressed..."
More than any of the other gospels, Luke emphasises Jesus' attitude to the economically and socially poor. We see that at Jesus' first appearance in the world, when it is the poor and outcasts who are the shepherds who come to pay homage to the newborn child. The poor are also linked to the oppressed and afflicted, the forgotten and the neglected. Yet it is they who are most open to the Good News. So much so that the poor are described as "blessed".
Jesus gives a message of liberation, of freedom for the world. It is important for us to realise that Jesus came to make us truly free. So many Christians abandon their church in order to be free. They find being Christian a stifling experience. Yet, we must insist both by the way we present the message of the Gospel and by the way we live it that, as Christians, we enjoy a particularly high level of freedom. (True freedom does not consist in doing just what we feel like doing; that can be very destructive both of ourselves and others. True freedom is the ability to make the good choice -- good for oneself, good for others. Agape-love points us in that direction.)
The words of Isaiah that Jesus uses are to be taken both in their literal and in a fuller sense. It is a message for those who are materially poor, for those who are in prison, those who are blind and those who are oppressed. But all these terms can be understood in a much wider sense. There are all kinds of poverty. In addition to the material kind, there is intellectual, emotional, social poverty. There are all kinds of things which imprison people, including various forms of addictions and compulsions. Blindness is not only a physical disability but there are other forms of blindness due to ignorance, prejudice and a lack of true vision in life. There are many ways a person can experience oppression. Forces which dominate people's lives like an obsession with materialistic values and consumerism, driving ambition at the expense of others. It is for each one to look into their own lives and see where they need liberation most.
These words of Jesus can be seen as his 'mission statement'. It is what his whole life will be based on. It is not primarily a religious manifesto. It is a manifesto for the kind of life that every human being is called to follow.
Jesus only began this work. Its continuation and fulfilment depends on our cooperation with him. We are not to hear these words only as receivers but also as a challenge to us. To what extent am I part of this empowering, liberating, eye-opening mission of Jesus for my society and the world?
The people in the synagogue are deeply impressed by the words of Jesus but they are also amazed. "Is not this the son of Joseph?" Very soon they would turn against him. Because they presumed they knew who he was but they did not. They had grown up with him and were too close to him. A matter of familiarity breeding contempt. The same can happen to us when, as happens again and again, we cannot detect the presence of Christ in a person who is very close to us. Not only can we not see Christ in that person, like the people of Nazareth, we often do not want to.

Friday after Epiphany (or January 11)

1 John 5:5-13; Luke 5:12-16
The First Reading today is the same as for January 6, when the Epiphany is celebrated on January 7 or 8.
FIRST READING (1 John 5:5-13)
Today's reading is taken from the Third Part of the Letter -- the Source of Love and Faith and speaks about the source of Faith. To understand this reading we also need to know that John is speaking in the context of Gnostic teachings which said that the Spirit of God entered into Jesus only at his baptism and left him before his death on the cross.
John begins today's passage by asking, "Who can overcome the world?" He means this not in any triumphalist or dominating way about the world in general but rather using 'world' in the sense of asking who is the one who has the ability to overcome the evil tendencies with which our lives are surrounded. The implication is that it is someone who directly came to grips with the world, not an outsider.
The answer is that it is the one who has total faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Faith in Jesus who not only came through the water of his baptism but "in water and in blood" where "blood" signifies Jesus' death on the cross. All of this is testified to by the Spirit who, with the testimony of the water and blood, which symbolically flowed from the breast of the dead Jesus, form one single witness to the identity and the work of Jesus.
John is reacting to the heretics of his day (especially Cerinthus) who said that Jesus was born only a man and remained so until his baptism. At that time, they maintained, the Christ (the Son of God) descended on the human Jesus, but left him before his suffering on the cross -- so that it was only the man Jesus who died. Throughout this letter John has been insisting that Jesus Christ is God as well as man (1:1-4; 4:2; 5:5). He now asserts that it was this God-man Jesus Christ who came into our world, was baptised and died. Jesus was the Son of God not only at his baptism but also at his death (v.6b). This truth is extremely important, because, if Jesus died only as a man, his sacrificial atonement (2:2; 4:10) would not have been sufficient to take away the guilt of man's sin. (New International Version Study Bible)
It is John in his Gospel who tells us that when the dead Jesus' side was pierced, there came out blood and water -- signifying both his sacrificial death and his Baptism in the Spirit. "One of the soldiers, however, plunged his spear into Jesus' side and at once blood and water poured out" (cf. John 20:34). It is interesting that he then adds a parenthesis which makes more sense in the Gnostic context: "The one who saw this happen has spoken of it, so that you may also believe. What he said is true, and he knows that he speaks the truth" (Jn 20:35). In other words, the Person who died was the God-made-man, something denied by the Gnostics.
So, "there are three witnesses -- the Spirit, water and blood; and the three of them coincide". The Spirit pervades the life and death of Jesus. He was born in the Spirit, baptised in the Spirit and died in the Spirit -- the Spirit of God.
The blood and water were the 'evidence' for the original eyewitnesses but they are also the witness for all Christians as the type of the baptism and the sacrificial death of Jesus which are operative in our own lives.
For us, it is essential to our understanding of Jesus that it was the incarnate Son of God who died on the cross otherwise his death would not have had its redemptive and atoning effect.
To believe in Jesus as the Son of God is to accept this testimony as that of God himself. Not to believe in the witness that Jesus has given by his life and death is to make a liar of God. For "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son". And so, "whoever possesses the Son possesses life". This is not merely a statement to be accepted. It is a reality that can be experienced and should be experienced. And it is in the experience that we know its truth.
In the Gospel Jesus tells us again and again that he has come to give life to the world and we know from experience that all those who commit themselves to Jesus and his Gospel experience this life. That life is open to every one of us provided we, in a spirit of total trust and faith, surrender ourselves to Jesus as Lord.
But it is not given willy-nilly nor is it forced on us: we have to open our hearts and allow God's love and life to flow in.

GOSPEL (Luke 5:12-16)

Leprosy was one of the most feared diseases of the ancient world. It was known to be contagious which made the leper a very dangerous person. As a result, the leper was a social outcast, feared and rejected by all. The leper had always to warn people around of his or her presence and had to keep a clear distance away from others.
What was particularly tragic is that sometimes the person might not have been suffering from leprosy at but from some other similar-looking skin disease which was, in fact, not contagious at all.
In today's Gospel we find a leper approaching Jesus, falling prostrate before him. His request is full of faith and trust in the power of Jesus. "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." Obviously he had heard stories of Jesus many healings, some of which are recounted by Luke in this part of his gospel. Jesus responds immediately. He reaches out, touches the man and says: "I do will it. Be made clean." He was healed immediately. The touching is very significant. No ordinary person would dare to touch a leper. Think of the inner healing that must have resulted from the touch, that moment of physical contact. Touch is something we all need and are so often deprived of. We, too, are in need of healing, including the healing that comes from touch. Let us put our trust in Jesus that he can also bring us healing.
Jesus then gives him two commands. First, he is not to go around telling people about what happened to him. This story follows Mark's version very closely and in Mark Jesus often demands the concealing of his true identity. At this stage, he does not want people to identify him with the Messiah because of the preconceived ideas which most people had and these were very different from the kind of Messiah that Jesus is. This will not become fully clear until his passion, death and resurrection.
Second, the healed leper is told to go to the priests and make the prescribed offering of thanksgiving for his healing. This was also, one presumes, a time for him to be officially declared as free of the disease. He could now freely re-enter society. The healing of someone like a leper went far beyond the mere physical healing. It was a total re-integration of his life, a real re-making of the whole person.
We may well ask, who are the lepers in our own day? Of course, there are still many parts of the world where leprosy has not been eradicated. But in every society there are people who are treated as lepers, people that no one wants to mix with, people who are ostracised or marginalised for one reason or another. There are the victims of HIV/AIDS that people are afraid to have contact with. There are the homeless, people we walk past in the street every day and hardly notice. There are the victims of addictions -- drugs legal and illegal, alcoholics. People who are excluded on the basis of race or religion. The mentally and physically disabled. We might also look at those who are effectively treated as lepers in our family, our place of work, our social gatherings.
There is no place in our society, still less in our church, for lepers of any kind. The world of Jesus is a totally inclusive one.

Saturday after Epiphany (or January 12)

1 John 5:14-21; John 3:22-30
Today is the last day of the Christmas Season.
The First Reading today is the same as for January 7, when the Epiphany is celebrated on January 7 or 8.
FIRST READING (1 John 5:14-21)
We come today to the last part of the Letter. It forms a kind of postscript to the rest of the work, much as chapter 21 is an epilogue to John's gospel. It consists of two parts: a prayer for sinners; and then a final summary of the main points in the Letter.
The section begins with an important definition of true prayer: Our confidence in God consists of this, namely, that God hears us whenever we ask for anything according to his will. It can happen in our prayer that we are just asking for something that we want and can feel disappointed or even angry when we do not get it.
But true prayer consists in trying to discover what exactly God wants of me under the firm conviction that he always wants the very best. It is not a question of me demanding of God that he give me what I want or I think I need. Nor is it fatalistically submitting to a God who does things I don't want to happen. Rather, it is a matter of God's will and mine being brought fully into harmony, so that I really want (not just am prepared to accept) what he wants. My will and God's will coincide. I am doing what he wants and I am doing what I want! The secret of much happiness is right here and is the ultimate goal of Christian living.
One thing we are particularly urged to pray for here is a brother or sister who has gone astray in faith and/or morals so that life can return fully to that person. However, there are some who have committed "deadly" sins and for them there may not be much use in praying.
What is such a "deadly" sin? In the Gospel the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit, that is, the sin of totally closing one's mind to truth (cf. Matt 12:31-32). Once we have taken such a step and remain in that state, there is no way that we can be reached by a loving and forgiving God. As long as a person is in this state, they are beyond help. Nevertheless, it would seem that we could pray that such an attitude might change.
In the context of this letter it could refer to those who have abandoned their Christian faith and become apostates perhaps under the pressure of persecution. To save their skins, they have given up the Truth that is Christ; they have closed a door which only they can reopen.
It could also refer to those heretics who denied the Sonship of Jesus, either partially or totally, or those who had taken up a Gnostic position which, on the one hand, believed in separating oneself entirely from all that is material in this world and then, by a perverted kind of logic, believed in living a totally amoral life. (If matter is an evil to be avoided and is destined to non-existence, does it really matter what you do with it? Does it matter what you do with your body or someone else's?)
Another view is that it is a serious sin that results in physical death, hence putting the person beyond prayer.
In the final summary of his letter, the writer makes three statements all beginning with: "We know... "
First, we know that no one who is a child of God sins. As long as one is consciously committed to Christ and has totally submitted their life to his Way, sin is a contradiction. The two cannot co-exist.
Second, we know that true Christians belong to God while the "world" is under the influence of evil. Being a Christian (in a real and not just a notional sense) and being under the influence of the "world" are again mutually exclusive.
Third, we know that the Son of God has come to teach us how to distinguish and recognise the presence of God in our lives. By being "in" Jesus Christ we are also "in" God who sent him among us. This is the blessed role of Jesus, to be God made visible so that we know how and where we can find God in our lives.
In conclusion, we are warned to be on our guard against idols. There is a sharp antithesis between the children of God and those belonging to the world and to the evil one. In the context of the letter, it is a warning against the many idols in which the surrounding peoples believed and in the idol of the emperor as a divine being to which no Christian could give an allegiance which was due only to God. Many died martyrs because of their refusal to worship the emperor's image. But there must have been many who caved in because of fear.
Perhaps we are not touched by such idols today (even when we live in places with statues of gods and deities) but there are many other idols of a more subtle kind which we can easily fail to recognise as such -- materialism and consumerism, the obsession with money and wealth, the cult of sex and even of the body, the slavery to image and fashion, the cult of the hero be it in the media or in sports ('fans' = fanatics, a word used to describe the actions of frenzied worshippers in another age). Obsession with such idols can blind us to the very real needs -- material, social, spiritual -- of those around us. Then we fail in the essential quality of being a child of God -- love for each other.

GOSPEL (John 3:22-30)

In this passage from John's gospel we are given one of the last appearances of John the Baptist before his arrest. It is still part of the transition from the time of his preaching to Jesus taking centre stage.
Both Jesus, with his disciples, and John are in the region of Judaea, the southern province where Jerusalem is situated. John, we are told is at a place called Aenon, a place whose location is not now known. There was plenty of water there so it was suitable for baptism.
Apparently a dispute had arisen between some Jew and the disciples of John the Baptist about ceremonial washing. The disciples then came to John to tell him that Jesus was also baptising and that large crowds were going to him. Clearly, they felt somewhat upset that their own master was being upstaged.
It did not bother John in the least. "No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven." In other words, each person has their own calling from God and the only thing that matters is that they respond to that calling. John reminds his disciples that he had said already he was not the Messiah but that he had been sent to prepare the way for the Messiah's coming. That was John's calling and the one he had responded to.
He then gives an example which expresses his relationship with Jesus. "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice." The term 'best man', literally the 'friend of the groom' represents the shoshben of Jewish tradition, the one who arranges the wedding. The idea of rivalry between him and the groom would not make sense. On the contrary, he is delighted to see bride and groom happy together. John concludes by saying: "He must increase; I must decrease." John knows perfectly well and fully accepts his secondary role. There was a time when he was in the limelight but now he steps aside and allows Jesus to be the centre.
This can apply to us in our evangelising work for the Christian community. Once we see that Jesus has fully entered a person's life, it is for us to draw back. We must never try to be possessive. Our role is to let go and let God be the one who guides people.