December 09

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
1st Week in Advent C/II	Nov 29 First Sunday in Advent	Nov 30 Feast St Andrew	1	2	3	4	5
2nd Week in Advent C/II	6 Second Sunday in Advent	7	8 The Immaculate Conception	9	10	11	12 Our Lady of Guadalupe
3rd Week in Advent C/II	13 Third Sunday in Advent	14	15	16	17	18	19
4th Week in Advent C/II Christmastide C/II	20th Dec Fourth Sunday in Advent	21	22	23	24	25 Christmas Day	26 Feast St Stephen
Christmastide C/II	St John Evangelist 27 Holy Family	28 Feast of The Holy Innocents	29	30	31

O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention is: "That children may be respected and loved and never be the victims of exploitation in its various forms".

His mission intention is: "That at Christmas the peoples of the earth may recognise in the Word Incarnate the light which illuminates every man, and that the nations may open their doors to Christ, the Saviour of the world".

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Prayers for today: To you. my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame. (Psalm 24:1-3)

All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

or Father in heaven, our hearts desire the warmth of your love and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. Increase our longing for Christ our Saviour and give us the strength to grow in love, that the dawn of his coming may find us rejoicing in his presence and welcoming the light of his truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

(29 November) Servant of God John of Monte Corvino (1247-1328)
       At a time when the Church was heavily embroiled in nationalistic rivalries within Europe, it was also reaching across Asia to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Mongols. John of Monte Corvino went to China about the same time Marco Polo was returning. John was a soldier, judge and doctor before he became a friar. Prior to going to Tabriz, Persia (present-day Iran), in 1278, he was well known for his preaching and teaching. In 1291 he left Tabriz as a legate of Pope Nicholas IV to the court of Kublai Khan. An Italian merchant, a Dominican friar and John travelled to western India where the Dominican died. When John and the Italian merchant arrived in China in 1294, Kublai Khan had recently died. Nestorian Christians, successors to the dissidents of the fifth-century Council of Ephesus’ teaching on Jesus Christ, had been in China since the seventh century. John converted some of them and also some of the Chinese, including Prince George from Tenduk, northwest of Beijing. Prince George named his son after this holy friar. John established his headquarters in Khanbalik (now Beijing), where he built two churches; his was the first resident Catholic mission in the country. By 1304 he had translated the Psalms and the New Testament into the Tatar language. Responding to two letters from John, Pope Clement V named John Archbishop of Khanbalik in 1307 and consecrated seven friars as bishops of neighbouring dioceses. One of the seven never left Europe. Three others died along the way to China; the remaining three bishops and the friars who accompanied them arrived there in 1308. When John died in 1328, he was mourned by Christians and non-Christians. His tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage. In 1368, Christianity was banished from China when the Mongols were expelled and the Ming dynasty began. John’s cause has been introduced in Rome.
       When John of Monte Corvino went to China, he represented the Church’s desire to preach the gospel to a new culture and to be enriched by it. The travels of Pope John Paul II have demonstrated the universality of the Good News and the urgent need to continue the challenging work of helping the Good News take root in a variety of cultural situations.
    In 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote, "The Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the Message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieus which are theirs" (Evangelization in the Modern World, #18). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28,34-36

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:25-28.34-36)

Advent — a time of waiting Today we begin a new liturgical year, during

which we take to our hearts once again the life, the teaching, and the person of Jesus. Today we make a new start at working on our relationship with Christ. It is a work which, inspired by the various stages of the Church’s year, is to last for the next twelve months. The whole of life should consist of new starts. Every day can be a new start, as can every week and every year. So today the Church invites us to make a fresh start in life’s great work of knowing, loving, and serving Jesus. The time of Advent is what the Church calls a special liturgical season. It is meant to be a renewal of a special element in our Christian life, which in this case is the sense of actively awaiting the coming of Jesus. This should characterize our whole lives for that is what life is all about: actively preparing for the coming of the Lord. Our religion is based on what God has revealed, and central to what he revealed was the promise that the Redeemer would come. Those who genuinely accept this revelation are led to await his coming and to prepare themselves for it.

Some eighteen hundred years before Christ, this sense of waiting began when God promised Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. A great blessing began to be expected. It was later revealed that this blessing would come from the tribe of Judah , and indeed would involve the coming of a great king, a Messiah. For many centuries, it was known that he was coming. In fact, word got abroad. It was heard about beyond the chosen people. But many of the chosen people who had the benefit of this foreknowledge did not really prepare themselves for his coming, for there was repeated religious infidelity throughout the history of God’s people. When he did come with the special benefit of a great prophet to announce it and point to him as the promised One now arrived, many of his own would not accept him. In the prologue of his Gospel, St John writes that the Word came unto his own and his own did not accept him. This was because they had not awaited his coming in that active sense of preparing themselves so as to be ready to receive him. That is a paradigm of what will happen if the time of waiting is not actively used to prepare oneself to welcome the coming of the Redeemer into one’s life. That is the lesson we ought think of today as we prepare for Christ’s final coming, which we heard described in the Gospel. He has come, and He is now with us constantly in the life of the Church. But he is to come again, and when he comes it will be to judge us.

When we hear it said that our lives are to be spent awaiting the coming of Christ, we ought not think of this as a passive waiting. A person waiting for a job vacancy does not just sit at home doing nothing except looking at the employment section each Saturday. No, he uses his time carefully. He gets advice on how to prepare a very impressive curriculum vitae and job application. He lines up good and reliable referees. He gets some training on how to handle interviews. If times are lean, he keeps his hand in by getting some ordinary, even menial work, and perhaps tries to improve his qualifications. And all the while he never allows himself to give up hope. He keeps alive his ambition to be ready for the break when it comes. And then when the vacancy finally comes, he is ready. This is a very active work awaiting a future event, and it involves hard work on oneself so as to be well prepared for the occasion whenever it might be. There is the conviction that the day will most certainly come, and the determination to be ready when it does come. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Christ will most certainly come at the end, and it is imperative that we be ready for his coming. The Gospel reminds us that every one of us will see the end of the world. The troubles we experience in our own lives and in the world at large, give us a picture in advance of the troubles which will mark the end. And then we shall all see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with his full power and majesty. He will come to judge the living and the dead.

To prepare for this, our Lord tells us in today's Gospel, “look well to yourselves, not letting your hearts grow dull” (Luke 21:25-28,34-36). That is to say, we must be continually working at our spiritual life, our life of union with Jesus. For the day of the Lord will come suddenly, our Lord says, like the spring of a trap. A trap springs in an instant. So, our Lord says, keep watch, praying at all times so as to be found worthy. Let us then rouse ourselves to begin again this active awaiting for the coming of Jesus. He has come, and in a few weeks' time on Christmas day, we shall celebrate this first coming. But his first coming was to empower us with his grace to prepare actively for his second and final coming. When that day occurs, it will be all over, and our opportunities will be finished. So then, let us resolve to make use of this next liturgical year to prepare for the coming of the Redeemer.

Preparing for Jesus — being apostolic Today we celebrate the first Sunday of

Advent which marks the beginning of a new year of liturgical celebrations. The term “Advent” derives from the Latin meaning “a coming to” us. The special liturgical season of Advent is a time of actively awaiting the coming of Christ to us, and of assisting his coming in the lives of others. We can await something passively or actively. We stand at the bus stop and await the bus we have to catch. We can do nothing but passively await it. But there are some things we await in a very active way. We are awaiting the arrival of some very special friend. We busily prepare for his arrival, making sure that all is truly ready such that he will be given a pleasing impression. Or again, we are a student and waiting for the arrival of exam time. We actively prepare for it, and not just passively. This active waiting is the kind of waiting which Advent involves. The season of Advent asks us to prepare for the coming of Jesus in a very active fashion.

The first time Christ came was by his birth on the first Christmas, and we celebrate that coming in a few weeks’ time. As an extension of that first coming at Christmas, he continues to come into our lives daily. He knocks continually at the door of our souls, and we should be constantly preparing for this by a deep and earnest spiritual life. There is his coming at our death when he takes the faithful Christian with him into eternity. There is his final coming at the end of time when he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. These are the comings of Jesus for which we should be actively preparing. Life could be defined as an active preparation for the coming of Jesus and this ought characterize the aim of every single day. Advent is the liturgical time of waiting for Jesus, our most beloved of friends. It is a time to give to Jesus the greatest possible welcome into our hearts. This we do by removing the obstacles to him and by loving and serving him more generously every day. For our Lord said that whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ This kind of coming occurs in our life of prayer, in our service of others, and in the worthy reception of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Let us remember too, that welcoming the coming of Jesus into our lives is not just a matter between him and me, and no one else. Jesus wants us to help others prepare actively to welcome Jesus into their hearts too. That is to say, we must prepare for Christ’s coming by being apostolic.

I once read in a Sydney parish bulletin how forty five years before, the Catholic children in the public school of that parish had no religion classes. A lady of that parish approached the parish priest and the public school principal, and even though she had no training, started lessons with only the little penny catechism as her teaching aid. She was given a shed in which to conduct her classes. Although conditions were difficult, she did not give up. She was preparing her children to welcome the coming of Christ into their hearts. As numbers grew she encouraged other parishioners to help. She succeeded in motivating not only the children she taught, but the parents and other parishioners. This led to training courses. And after many years she received a special blessing from the Pope. Subsequently she went to a school for handicapped children and ran classes there as well. That is the true spirit of Catholicism. Each parish should as a community be apostolic, and there are numerous ways any parishioner can engage in the apostolic work of the Church. The apostolate consists of helping people to prepare for the coming of Jesus into their hearts now, at the end of their lives, and at the end of time.

During this special liturgical season of Advent, let us revive in our hearts the sense and the aspiration constantly to prepare for the coming of Jesus in our own lives and in the lives of others.

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We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable. When one asks, Why should I love God? he may mean, What is lovely in God? or What shall I gain by loving God? In either case, the same sufficient cause of love exists, namely, God Himself.

Prayers for today: By the Sea of Galilee the Lord saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew. He called them: come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4: 18-19)

Lord in your kindness hear our petitions. You called Andrew the apostle to preach the gospel and guide your Church in faith. May he always be our friend in your presence to help us with his prayers. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

(30 November) St. Andrew the Apostle
    Andrew was St. Peter’s brother, and was called with him. "As [Jesus] was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:18-20). John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. "Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day" (John 1:38-39a). Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the barley loaves and fishes (see John 6:8-9). When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew (see John 12:20-22). Legend has it that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras.
    As in the case of all the apostles except Peter and John, the Gospels give us little about the holiness of Andrew. He was an apostle. That is enough. He was called personally by Jesus to proclaim the Good News, to heal with Jesus' power and to share his life and death. Holiness today is no different. It is a gift that includes a call to be concerned about the Kingdom, an outgoing attitude that wants nothing more than to share the riches of Christ with all people.
    “...The Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word’” (Acts 6:2-4). (AmericanCatholic.org)

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4: 18-22)

The call of Andrew Let us place ourselves in the beautiful scene of today's Gospel, the Gospel for the feast of St Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. In Matthew's Gospel, the call of Simon and Andrew is the first specific thing Matthew reports our Lord doing once his public ministry has begun. Christ was baptized by John in the river Jordan in Judea, and during this the Father announced from Heaven his identity as his beloved Son. Then there followed Christ's encounter with Satan in the wilderness, leaving Satan repulsed. On hearing of John the Baptist's imprisonment, Christ returns

to Galilee and commences his prophetic ministry. A great light has suddenly appeared among the people calling for repentance, for the Kingdom of God is near. The momentous public ministry has begun. The scene becomes more concrete: Christ is walking now by the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps it is early in the morning with few of the population out and about, and Christ is there on the shore virtually alone, communing with his heavenly Father. Perhaps he has been there at prayer since the very early hours of the morning before dawn. The tide is lapping quietly at the shore. All is quiet and the inland Sea is lovely in its calm with the water stretching ahead. Some fishermen are at their work. Their voices subdued, perhaps they too have been at their work for many hours. The fishermen know who it is who is walking on the shore. In fact, we learn from the Gospel of St John that our Lord had met Simon and Andrew and James and John in Judea following his baptism. That Gospel makes it clear that their allegiance to him had already begun, but back then there was no public ministry in place. Now Christ has launched his mission and here he formally calls them to share in it. He pauses on the shore, looking at the Sea. His eyes — the eyes of God made man who sustains all things! — rove penetratingly from the gentle waves to the birds and sky above, and then to Simon and Andrew who are casting a net into the water. They pause, gazing at him. He calls: Come, share in my mission! They leave all to follow him.

The Gospels agree that Andrew was one of the very first to know Jesus of Nazareth precisely as the Messiah. In the Gospel of St John we are told that Andrew — at John the Baptist's own bidding — left the Baptist and followed Christ who invited him to his temporary dwelling. From that extended visit there was thenceforth no doubt in Andrew's mind: here was the Messiah! It was he who introduced Simon his brother to our Lord. "We have discovered the Messiah," he told his brother. The first thing, then, that we think of on the feast of St Andrew the Apostle is the coming of Jesus Christ into his life. In this sense it is most appropriate that the feast of St Andrew be celebrated during Advent, the season when the coming of the Lord is celebrated. He came among us as man, and in a wonderful way he came into the life of St Andrew. He wishes to come into our lives too — he has come at our baptism, but let us liken that baptismal coming to his first coming into Andrew's life following his own baptism. Here, now, on the shore he comes again into Andrew's life inviting him to share much more fully in his whole life, to follow him more completely, to be one with him in his joys, his mission and in his sufferings. Previous to our Gospel scene today, Andrew knew and loved our Lord, as did his brother Simon. But it had not led to concrete action — indeed, there had been no call from Christ to do so. But now the call has come and Andrew and Simon respond with alacrity and totality. They leave all to be with their master and to share in his mission and in his toils. Andrew would never turn back from this response to the call, though he and his brother had a great deal, a very great deal indeed, to learn from Jesus. Their notion of discipleship had yet to mature and pass through the fire of trial, but they emerged the purer in their commitment to the Master, and went on to a life and finally to a death as true friends of Jesus. Andrew and his brother Simon, together with James and John who were also called in our passage today, all became heroes in their following of Jesus and foundation stones of the Church. Each will be celebrated as great saints till the end of time.

Such is what happened because of the coming of Christ into their lives. Let us think, then, of the power of Christ/s coming! If Christ comes into our lives, all will be well no matter what the cost. What, then, do we wish to welcome into our lives? What is our life going to be filled with? Will it be filled with the world, the flesh and the devil — to use the classic categories of Christian discourse, or will it be the person of Jesus Christ? Christ stands on the shore of my life as I proceed with my daily work. He says to me, come! Follow me and share in my mission in the manner appropriate to the vocation and circumstances I have placed you in. Make me the Guest of your soul, the Master of your life, and bring me to others. Fish for men, as do I! My response?

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You want me to tell you why God is to be loved and how much. I answer, the reason for loving God is God Himself; and the measure of love due to Him is immeasurable love. Is this plain? Doubtless, to a thoughtful man; but I am debtor to the unwise also. A word to the wise is sufficient; but I must consider simple folk too. Therefore I set myself joyfully to explain more in detail what is meant above.

Prayers for today: Nations, hear the message of the Lord, and make it known to the ends of the earth: Our Saviour is coming. Have no more fear. (Jeremiah 31:10; Isaiah 35:4)

Lord our God, help us to prepare for the coming of Christ your Son. May he find us waiting eager in joyful prayer. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Scripture today: Isaiah 2: 1-5; Psalm 121; Matthew 8: 5-11

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering. Jesus said to him, I will go and heal him. The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8: 5-11)

The prayer of humble faith It does not take long to learn how great are our needs in life. There is our need of health and means of support. We need friends and assistance in fulfilling our ambitions and responsibilities in life. These and a host of other reasons lead man to seek the help of God, but it can seem to us that God is a long way off. We do not see him, nor hear him, nor does he seem — at first impression — to be making any difference to the course of the world and to the course of one’s life. One’s life seems to depend simply

on the natural forces and general environment of which one is a part. This is why it is such a boon to man to have received the revelation God has made of himself. God the Son became man and dwelt among us. Man has seen God in the flesh and has come to know him first hand, and has borne witness to this for all generations to come. The Church possesses the apostolic testimony about Jesus Christ and together with this testimony or deposit of faith, she possesses the treasure of the grace of the Holy Spirit to dispense to her own children and to the world. What this means is that the same Jesus who walked the earth is present in his body the Church. Just as the disciples knew and spoke to the Lord then, so we can know and speak to the same Lord now. They were able to do so directly by sight and hearing, we do so now by faith. Faith is the key and the foundation. If we have faith, all will be well. It will link us directly to Jesus. Now, the first thing which immediately strikes us in reading the Gospel passage for today is that anyone at all may unhesitatingly approach our Lord in faith. In Jesus, God is shown to be so very available, so very accessible. Our Lord, surrounded by his disciples and having entered his town of Capernaum, is approached by a centurion, no less. We may presume he was of the typical religion of Imperial Rome with its beliefs in various gods, numina and ancestors. He himself may in his personal belief have approximated to the Judaic monotheism, but the point here is that he approached Jesus in his need, and Christ responded immediately.

Let us notice our Lord’s friendly readiness to answer his petition. The centurion merely placed his petition before our Lord, perhaps hesitant out of profound respect to be more specific in his request. He did not ask our Lord to come. Our text does not show him suggesting to our Lord some specific concrete action. He simply presented the request, “Lord, he said, my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering.” We are surely reminded of our Lady’s request in the Gospel of St John: “They have no wine.” That was all, but that our Lord would do something to solve it, she had no doubt. “Do whatever he tells you,” she told the assistants. The centurion presented his request and our Lord immediately responded. Moreover, he did not simply give a word of healing, reducing his involvement with the centurion to the moment of this meeting. He immediately offered to go with the centurion to his dwelling to heal the servant. This would mean being in the centurion’s company and thus drawing him and his servant even nearer to himself and to God. But this honour was, it seems, too much for the humble centurion. It evoked a striking expression of such humble faith as to amaze our Lord: “The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it” (Matthew 8: 5-11). At this our Lord turned to those following him and held up before them all the faith of the centurion. Moreover, he said there would be others like him beyond the household of God. What this teaches us is that our Lord loves to be approached by those with humble faith in himself, asking him to help them in their needs. Did our Lord show the slightest reluctance before the request of the centurion? Not the slightest. The centurion did what was most pleasing to him and he immediately granted his request and healed the servant with his word.

The example of the humble faith of the centurion has passed into the life of the Church at its most sacred moments. During the very celebration of the Eucharist, just before the faithful are to receive the same Jesus who healed the servant at the centurion’s request, the priest uses the words of the centurion’s prayer: Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Say but the word and my soul will be healed. Let us unhesitatingly approach Jesus our Lord in all our needs, no matter how great they are. Let us approach him with humble faith, confident that he will hear our prayer in the way he knows to be best. This faith will be most pleasing to God.

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And first, of His title to our love. Could any title be greater than this, that He gave Himself for us unworthy wretches? And being God, what better gift could He offer than Himself? Hence, if one seeks for God's claim upon our love here is the chiefest: Because He first loved us (I John 4:19).
(Continuing)

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Conscience is ever forcing on us by threats and by promises that we must follow the right and avoid the wrong; so far it is one and the same in the mind of every one, whatever be its particular errors in particular minds as to the acts which it orders to be done or to be avoided.
JHN, from An Essay in aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870)

Prayers for today: See, the Lord is coming and with him all his saints. Then there will be endless day. (Zachariah 14: 5,7)

God of mercy and consolation, help us in our weakness and free us from sin. Hear our prayers that we may rejoice at the coming of your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 1) Blessed John of Vercelli (c. 1205-1283)
John was born near Vercelli in northwest Italy in the early 13th century. Little is known of his early life. He entered the Dominican Order in the 1240s and served in various leadership capacities over the years. Elected sixth master general of the Dominicans in 1264, he served for almost two decades. Known for his tireless energy and his commitment to simplicity, John made personal visits — typically on foot — to almost all the Dominican houses, urging his fellow friars to strictly observe the rules and constitutions of the Order. He was tapped by two popes for special tasks. Pope Gregory X enlisted the help of John and his fellow Dominicans in helping to pacify the States of Italy that were quarrelling with one another. John was also called upon to draw up a framework for the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. It was at that council that he met Jerome of Ascoli (the man who would later become Pope Nicholas IV), then serving as minister general of the Franciscans. Some time later the two men were sent by Rome to mediate a dispute involving King Philip III of France. Once again, John was able to draw on his negotiating and peacemaking skills. Following the Second Council of Lyons, Pope Gregory selected John to spread devotion to the name of Jesus. John took the task to heart, requiring that every Dominican church contain an altar of the Holy Name; groups were also formed to combat blasphemy and profanity. Toward the end of his life John was offered the role of patriarch of Jerusalem, but declined. He remained Dominican master general until his death.
The need for peacemakers is certainly as keen today as in the 10th century! As followers of Jesus, John’s role falls to us. Each of us can do something to ease the tensions in our families, in the workplace, among people of different races and creeds. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 11: 1-10; Psalm 72:1-2,7-8, 12-13, 17; Luke 10: 21-24

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no-one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. (Luke 10: 21-24)

Faith in Jesus For the convinced Christian, one of the most intriguing of phenomena is the lack of religious conviction among so many co-religionists. When I speak of conviction I refer to conviction as manifested in practice.

If a person claims to be a convinced Catholic and shows virtually nothing of Catholic practice in his life, little can be said of his claim of personal conviction. He may have religious convictions but they can scarcely be described as true Catholic convictions. There are great numbers of Christians and there are great numbers of Catholics. But their religious practice is, relative to their numbers, statistically low. This is not to say they are bereft of religion, for to say this would involve a different form of measurement. For the Christian who perceives the grandeur of the person of Jesus Christ and what he brings to those who believe in him, this lack of practice is a source of wonderment. The moral beauty and the utter uniqueness of Jesus Christ! As St Paul writes, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). All that I lost I consider rubbish in order that I may gain Christ! In our Gospel today our Lord is portrayed as filled with joy in the Holy Spirit, and he praises his heavenly Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, because he has revealed to the little and ordinary ones the mysteries of the Kingdom. The wise, and those who pride themselves on being insightful and clever in matters of religion have been kept from the knowledge of this revelation. Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, “you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” Thus did he pray in praise of his heavenly Father. Then he turns to his disciples and says to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (Luke 10: 21-24).

What Christ was seeing was the deepening realization among his disciples of his own person and teaching. He experiences this same joy when he sees this happening in us. As we grow in our faith and realization of the mystery of Christ, so does the joy of God increase. On one occasion our Lord told a parable of the wandering soul — he is like the sheep that strays. The shepherd goes after him and when he finds him it gives him more joy than do all the sheep that did not stray at all. Our Lord concludes that there is more joy in heaven at one repentant sinner than there is over the many who did not stray. We can cause joy in heaven, then, by our repentance. Our Lord is not implying that many more do not stray from him than do — the statistics would suggest otherwise. Nor is our Lord suggesting that God takes our faith and fidelity to him for granted. On the contrary, for here in our Gospel passage today we are shown that Christ is “full of joy through the Holy Spirit” at the sight of faith in his disciples. Our faith in Jesus and in his revelation is a cause of immense joy to Christ. If we wish to please God, then the greatest thing we can do is to believe profoundly in Jesus Christ and shape our lives accordingly. It is the work par excellence in life that God wants us to do. We may have success in the world, we may do great good as the world judges it, we may live a life that we can take pride in — all of which has its praise. But if we neglect our faith and sink into the vast stream of those who do not practise the faith they have been granted, then life will have been a failure. We can never please God by such a course. The tragedy is that so many appear to be indifferent to the prospect that the course of their lives is displeasing to God, precisely because of the neglect of their faith in Christ. The case is different, of course, with those who do not know Christ because they have not had the opportunity. Not so with the wise and the clever to whom our Lord refers in our Gospel passage today. The implication is that their lack of sight is due to their own responsibility. Their pride cut them off from the gift of the Father’s revelation of Christ. Let us pray for a profound faith in Jesus Christ.

During Advent we celebrate the coming of the Redeemer to mankind. The most tragic drama being played out in the universe is the acceptance or rejection of this one and only Redeemer. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of the world, the only name under heaven by which men may be saved, the only way to the Father. He is the image of the unseen God. Let us pray for an understanding of this and the grace to live according to it. Every one who has the gift of faith has the calling to live by it and to bear witness to it before the world. It is thus that we give joy to Christ.

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Ought He not to be loved in return, when we think who loved, whom He loved, and how much He loved? For who is He that loved? The same of whom every spirit testifies: 'Thou art my God: my goods are nothing unto Thee' (Ps. 16:2, Vulg.). And is not His love that wonderful charity which 'seeketh not her own'? (I Cor.13:5). But for whom was such unutterable love made manifest? The apostle tells us: 'When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son' (Rom. 5:10). So it was God who loved us, loved us freely, and loved us while yet we were enemies. And how great was this love of His? St. John answers: 'God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). St. Paul adds: 'He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all' (Rom. 8:32); and the son says of Himself, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends' (John 15:13).
(Continuing)

Prayers today: The Lord is coming, and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation (Habakkuk 2:3; 1 Cor 4:5)

Lord our God, grant that we may be ready to receive Christ when he comes in glory and to share in the banquet of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 2) Blessed Rafal Chylinski (1694-1741)
Born near Buk in the Poznan region of Poland, Melchior showed early signs of religious devotion; family members nicknamed him "the little monk." After completing his studies at the Jesuit college in Poznan, Melchior joined the cavalry and was promoted to the rank of officer within three years. Against the urgings of his military comrades, in 1715 Melchior joined the Conventual Franciscans in Kraków, receiving the name Rafal, and was ordained two years later. After pastoral assignments in nine cities, he came to Lagiewniki (central Poland), where he spent the last 13 years of his life, except for 20 months ministering to flood and epidemic victims in Warsaw. In all these places, Rafal was known for his simple and candid sermons, for his generosity as well as his ministry in the confessional. People of all levels of society were drawn to the self-sacrificing way he lived out his religious profession and priestly ministry. Rafal played the harp, lute and mandolin to accompany liturgical hymns. In Lagiewniki he distributed food, supplies and clothing to the poor. After his death, the Conventual church in that city became a place of pilgrimage for people throughout Poland. He was beatified in Warsaw in 1991. The sermons preached by Rafal were powerfully reinforced by the living sermon of his life. The Sacrament of Reconciliation can help us bring our daily choices into harmony with our words about Jesus’ influence in our life.
During the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said, "May Blessed Rafal remind us that every one of us, even though we are sinners, has been called to love and to holiness" (L'Osservatore Romano, 1991, vol. 25, number 19). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Readings today: Isaiah 25: 6-10a; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Matthew 15: 29-37

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way. His disciples answered, Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd? How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked. Seven, they replied, and a few small fish. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (Matthew 15: 29-37)

Compassion It is almost proverbial that the striking thing about the world is the stark fact of human need and suffering. Now, why is this so? Why is the world not entirely free of suffering? Some might say that this is a pointless question and one that would scarcely occur to very many people. The world is what it is and we must do something about it.

This is true, but let us situate this question in the company of another and more fundamental question. Many years ago there was a movie and in one scene a mother was shown holding her young child. The scenery was broad and full, showing the hills, the plains and the sky. Suddenly the child looked up at his mother and said, Why isn’t there nothing? A look of incomprehension came over the face of the mother, who fell silent. But it was a very fair and profound question. Why is there not nothing? There is no objective reason that requires that the world exist. Every thing in it appears to come into being and pass away through the agency of other things. Manifestly, nothing in it need exist, yet of course everything in it does exist. But why so? An ensemble of contingent things — things dependent and conditional — each of which exists only because of the action of other contingent things, cannot provide the ground for the fact that it does exist. Its ultimate ground for existence must lie outside itself and in something that must exist. Now, a similar question may be asked about the all-pervasive fact of human need and suffering that we are reminded of in our Gospel passage today. Why is the world like this at all? Could it not have been free of suffering, even though the mind and imagination can scarcely embrace such an idea because it is so foreign to our experience? For many, just like the fact of the world, so too the fact of need and suffering does not require a fundamental explanation. That is just how things are. But surely an explanation is needed. A world that is radically contingent requires its explanation. That explanation is found in a Being beyond it that is absolutely necessary. Like so, the presence of evil and suffering surging everywhere in the world seems to be a mystery. It calls for explanation, but its explanation seems to be beyond us. Why is the world so radically wounded, so crippled and always hurting? It appears to have been dealt a blow at its root and it never seems to recover. This wound inclines Man — its master and steward — to moral evil.

It has been revealed to us why this is so: at the beginning of human history, Man rebelled against his loving Creator. In doing so he unravelled the connecting thread that held together his own integrity and wholeness as a person and set him adrift from his Maker. He snapped asunder the linchpin of his own moral and spiritual life, and the entire structure of his person sank into a state of hopeless moral sickness — though the imprint of the Creator did remain to an extent. Man did not become, let us say, a demon. There remained a natural yearning for God, but the integrity of his powers were a shadow of what they were when they came from the hand of God. In any case, his communion with God, which was the natural life of his soul, had been dealt a death blow. He was in his nature set adrift from God, and it had been his own doing. The unravelling continued from generation to generation as something now inherent in man’s fallen nature and it flowed from parent to offspring as a vast faultline. Thus was the world affected so profoundly by the sin of man and there could be only one answer. The Creator himself would have to fix it all up, and from the foundation. That is a further matter, but here let us contemplate the state of the world as brought about by man — a state suggested by our Gospel passage today. Crowds brought the “lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others” to Jesus, “and laid them at his feet.” The world is crippled. Such is the mysterious fact and were it not for revelation, we would not have known why. Man might even have come to think that the Source which gives to the world its being must Itself be somehow very limited or even evil. But in Jesus Christ there erupts before us, as it were, a revelation of the true character of the loving Creator and Lord of all. God does not want the world to be as it is found to be. He is not like that himself and he has all the power needed to transform it. In our Gospel passage today there is revealed, not only the fallen state of the world, but the goodness and power of its Creator. God is shown to be powerful and good, all-good. We read that Jesus “healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing” (Matthew 15: 29-37).

We read that our Lord was full of compassion for the crowds and he proceeded to satisfy their hunger, taking a handful of food and feeding the vast crowds with it. While on the one hand the world is broken and often very cruel, God is revealed to be utterly different. He is absolutely good, compassionate, loving and all-powerful. We can be filled with hope if only we entrust ourselves to his loving and almighty care, making it our business to know, love and serve him here on earth. This we do by following lovingly in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. So then, now I begin!

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This is the claim which God the holy, the supreme, the omnipotent, has upon men, defiled and base and weak. Some one may urge that this is true of mankind, but not of angels. True, since for angels it was not needful. He who succoured men in their time of need, preserved angels from such need; and even as His love for sinful men wrought wondrously in them so that they should not remain sinful, so that same love which in equal measure He poured out upon angels kept them altogether free from sin.
(Concluded)

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Ever since Christianity came into the world, it has been, in one sense, going out of it. It is so uncongenial to the human mind, it is so spiritual, and man is so earthly, it is apparently so defenceless, and has so many strong enemies, so many false friends, that every age, as it comes, may be called “the last time.” It has made great conquests, and done great works; but still it has done all, as the Apostle [S. Paul] says of himself, “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.”

JHN, from the sermon ‘Waiting for Christ’ (1840)

Prayers today: Lord, you are near, and all your commandments are just; long have I known that you decreed them forever
(Psalm 118: 151-152)

Father, we need your help. Free us from sin and bring us to life. Support us by your power. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, …

(December 3) Saint Francis Xavier, priest (1506-1552)
Jesus asked, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26a). The words were repeated to a young teacher of philosophy who had a highly

promising career in academics, with success and a life of prestige and honour before him. Francis Xavier, 24 at the time, and living and teaching in Paris, did not heed these words at once. They came from a good friend, Ignatius of Loyola, whose tireless persuasion finally won the young man to Christ. Francis then made the spiritual exercises under the direction of Ignatius, and in 1534 joined his little community (the infant Society of Jesus). Together at Montmartre they vowed poverty, chastity and apostolic service according to the directions of the pope. From Venice, where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went on to Lisbon and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa, on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he laboured to bring the faith to such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans and the Japanese. He spent much of that time in India, and served as provincial of the newly established Jesuit province of India. Wherever he went, he lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough accommodations. He spent countless hours ministering to the sick and the poor, particularly to lepers. Very often he had no time to sleep or even to say his breviary but, as we know from his letters, he was filled always with joy. Francis went through the islands of Malaysia, then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach to simple folk, to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who were to follow him. From Japan he had dreams of going to China, but this plan was never realized. Before reaching the mainland he died. His remains are enshrined in the Church of Good Jesus in Goa.
All of us are called to “go and preach to all nations” (see Matthew 28:19). Our preaching is not necessarily on distant shores but to our families, our children, our husband or wife, our co-workers. And we are called to preach not with words, but by our everyday lives. Only by sacrifice, the giving up of all selfish gain, could Francis Xavier be free to bear the Good News to the world. Sacrifice is leaving yourself behind at times for a greater good, the good of prayer, the good of helping someone in need, the good of just listening to another. The greatest gift we have is our time. Francis gave his to others. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 26: 1-6; Psalm 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Matthew 7: 21, 24-27

Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
(Matthew 7: 21, 24-27)

Building on the Rock When we read these words of our Lord we immediately think — or we should immediately think — of their application to our personal lives. I say to myself that I am a Christian. I believe in Christ. I follow him in my everyday life: I worship every Sunday and do not regard Sunday as being just another working day. I am faithful to my wife or husband, even though it is difficult at times. I dedicate myself to my family.

I keep the commandments in the main. I pray every day. But what about those things in my life I know I am not doing and which I should? Do I give to the poor? Am I hoarding my possessions for selfish and unnecessary reasons? Let me ask myself a deeper question: what is the real foundation of my life, and on what is it built? Undoubtedly I wish to establish my life on a sure and sound basis and this is certainly what God wants me to do. He wants me to do all I can to ensure that the gift of life which he has bestowed on me flourishes. Christ came in order that I might have life and have it in abundance. But there is a tremendous temptation, subtle, constant and barely noticeable because so many fall into it. It is to lay a basis to our lives which is to an extent based on the will of Christ, but to a fair extent also based on the values of this world alone. We fail to be thoroughgoing in thinking according to the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, St Paul writes, that was in Christ Jesus. For this reason our Lord warns us in today’s Gospel passage: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Now, to know the will of our Father in heaven we have the assistance, not only of the word of the inspired Scriptures, but the word of the Church to whom the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. The Church, speaking in the name of Christ, has formally applied the doctrine of Scripture and Tradition to life in the world. That is to say, if we wish to live in union with God and build on rock the house that is our life in the world, we ought carefully study the Church’s social teaching.

But Christ’s words in today’s Gospel not only apply to me personally, to my own living of the Christian life each day in my family and workplace setting. The social, political and economic life of the world ought be based on the teaching of Jesus Christ. The political and economic life of society is continually in the news and it ebbs and flows like the surging sea. At times there is a hurricane, at times all is calm, at times the wind and the waves are favourable to the craft on which mankind is sailing. But at times it threatens to swamp the vessel and there have been stark and sombre moments over the centuries when economics and politics have failed. We think of the great Depression of the early 1930s and we may think of the serious difficulties of 2008 and 2009. Is there any hope of finding a solid basis to the life not only of individuals but of the world? Indeed there is, and the key lies in the words of Christ in today’s Gospel. He speaks of the rock that is the foundation of the house, and obedience to his word is that rock. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7: 21, 24-27). Now the question is, what does this mean in practical terms for the world at large? Is there any authoritative word which applies the teaching of the Son of God made man to society, to the nations, and to the world at large such that the entire edifice can be built on rock? There is, and it consists in the formal social teaching of the Church — if only the world would listen to it! At times the world has listened, as it did when Pope John XIII published his great Encyclical, Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth. But there has been a whole stream of great Social Encyclicals and on June 29 of 2009 Pope Benedict XVI published yet another, Caritas in Veritate, or On integral human development in Charity and Truth. There can be no doubt that if the world were to listen to the voice of the Successor of St Peter and act accordingly, the house would be laid on rock.

Let us in our thinking be careful as to the basis on which we are proceeding. When we form our plans as to life ahead, let us be clear in our minds as to the surest foundation. If we hear, know and obey the will and teaching of Christ, the house of our life will be built on rock. The same applies to the entire world of economics, politics and social life. If mankind were to hear and obey the will of Christ, all would be built on rock. That word of Christ is uttered by the Church which Christ built upon the rock that is Peter, that Church to whom our Lord said, “he who hears you, hears me; he who despises you despises me; and he who despises me despises the one who sent me” (Luke 10:16). Let us then resolve to hear the word of Christ and his Church and put it faithfully into practice.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

Those who admit the truth of what I have said know, I am sure, why we are bound to love God. But if unbelievers will not grant it, their ingratitude is at once confounded by His innumerable benefits, lavished on our race, and plainly discerned by the senses. Who is it that gives food to all flesh, light to every eye, air to all that breathe? It would be foolish to begin a catalogue, since I have just called them innumerable: but I name, as notable instances, food, sunlight and air; not because they are God's best gifts, but because they are essential to bodily life. Man must seek in his own higher nature for the highest gifts; and these are dignity, wisdom and virtue. By dignity I mean free-will, whereby he not only excels all other earthly creatures, but has dominion over them. Wisdom is the power whereby he recognizes this dignity, and perceives also that it is no accomplishment of his own. And virtue impels man to seek eagerly for Him who is man's Source, and to lay fast hold on Him when He has been found. (Continuing)

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Brothers! spare reasoning;—men have settled long / That ye are out of date, and they are wise / Use their own weapons; let your words be strong, / Your cry be loud, till each scared boaster flies; / Thus the Apostles tamed the pagan breast, / They argued not, but preach’d; and conscience did the rest.

JHN, from the poem ‘The Religion of Cain’ (1833)

Prayers for today: The Lord is coming from Heaven in splendour to visit his people, and bring them peace and eternal life.

Jesus, our Lord, save us from our sins. Come, protect us from all dangers and lead us to salvation, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 4) St. John Damascene (676?-749)
    John spent most of his life in the monastery of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed, protected by it. He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a government position under the Arabs. After a few years he resigned and went to the monastery of St. Sabas. He is famous in three areas. First, he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him. Second, he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers (of which he became the last). It is said that this book is to Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the West. Thirdly, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.
    John defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years he combined a life of prayer with these defences and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord.
    “The saints must be honoured as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 29: 17-24; Psalm 147:1-6 ; Matthew 9: 27-31

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, Have mercy on us, Son of David! When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? Yes, Lord, they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, According to your faith will it be done to you; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, See that no-one knows about this. But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. (Matthew 9: 27-31)

Christ have mercy! Advent is the season of the liturgical year when we think of Christ’s coming into our lives, and the Church presents for our contemplation various Gospel scenes which illustrate features of his coming. Let us then place ourselves in the scene of today’s Gospel in which our Lord comes into the lives of two blind men. We are told that he “went on from there” and “two blind men followed him, calling out, Have mercy on us, Son of David!” (Greek, eleeson). Now, let us remember another occasion when the blind man Bar Timaeus (Mark 10:47), sitting by the roadside begging,

heard that Jesus was passing by and immediately and vociferously called out to him that he show mercy. The prayer was the same as that of the two narrated in today’s Gospel (eleeson). The crowds could not stop him shouting out for Jesus. As soon as the sound of his cries reached the ears of Jesus, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. That is to say, Christ responded immediately to the blind man’s appeal. He was brought before him, was asked what he wanted, and then immediately healed according to his faith. That blind man — whose name the author of the Gospel knew well — followed Jesus on the way. Our Lord had gained yet another disciple who perhaps was known in the infant Church. The two blind men in our Gospel today also appeal for mercy. The implication is that in their case our Lord did not stop but carried on, for we read that they followed him and it was only when he went indoors that the two blind men got to him and presented their petition. Our Lord asked if they believed he could do this for them. At their saying they did believe this, he immediately cured them. The point, though, is that our Lord’s response is different in each case. In the one there was no delay, in the other there was a delay, requiring persistence on the part of the two blind men. We remember our Lord and the Canaanite woman (Matt 15: 21-28). She pursued him with her cries on behalf of her daughter. But he did not answer her a word. Finally she “cornered” him, we might say, and had it out. Our Lord praised her for her great faith and persistence despite the initial rebuff, and sent her off, her daughter healed.

Two things we are surely reminded of by our Gospel passage today (Matthew 9: 27-31). The first thing is that Christ comes bringing the mercy of God. The entire Scriptures reveal that God is a God of mercy. He is rich in mercy. The world and human life surges and throbs with need and suffering. It hurts, it limps, it struggles and it staggers along. The world, we might say, needs a walking stick and two crutches besides. Human life presents itself as a constant patch-up job. The car is always breaking down. The lights are always failing. Why is this so? Why is this beautiful world and this grand thing we call the life of man so often gasping for breath? We would never know the answer to this question were it not revealed. The fundamental reason for the suffering that plagues the life of man is man’s own original and personal sin. Because of sin he is bereft and he is adrift. But God our Creator is rich in mercy. He is full of compassion. It is Christ who reveals the love and power of God, and this loving power, in the face of human suffering, reveals itself in mercy. Jesus Christ is our merciful Lord. To him, to Jesus, we can say with the two blind men as with Bar Timaeus — Christ (i.e., Son of David!), have mercy! The Church makes the prayer of the two blind men of our Gospel today and that of Bar Timaeus her own prayer at the start of every Mass, during the penitential rite. We all say, Christ, have mercy (Christe eleeson)! I remember watching a Polish movie and in it a Polish Christian died under a hail of arrows from the Islamic fighters. As he went down he repeated out loud, Christe eleeson! In all our needs we ought turn to Christ the incarnate God, appealing for mercy and confident in his power and love. But there is a second point we are reminded of in today’s Gospel passage. In our requests we are not having recourse to magic. It is God to whom we address ourselves, and he is free and he knows what is best for each of us. Christ kept going when the two in our Gospel today appealed to him. They had to follow and keep asking. So did the Canaanite woman. What would have happened if they had thought that he was not interested in helping them or that in fact he could not? They would not have been healed.

All prayer involves an exercise and a test of faith, especially, perhaps, the prayer of petition. The test of our faith will come when we ask and do not seem immediately to receive. The instances in Scripture just mentioned involved a delay by Christ in his response to their prayer. If there is a seeming silence on the part of Christ in respect to our prayers, will we give up on him and on the revelation that he is all-powerful and rich in mercy? Let us notice a detail: the two blind beggars, having been granted their request, were not obedient to our Lord’s strict command to keep silent as to their healing. Let us pray with persistent and obedient faith in the divine mercy and Christ will answer our prayer in the way that is best for us and most in accord with his saving plan.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

Now, these three best gifts have each a twofold character. Dignity appears not only as the prerogative of human nature, but also as the cause of that fear and dread of man which is upon every beast of the earth. Wisdom perceives this distinction, but owns that though in us, it is, like all good qualities, not of us. And lastly, virtue moves us to search eagerly for an Author, and, when we have found Him, teaches us to cling to Him yet more eagerly. Consider too that dignity without wisdom is nothing worth; and wisdom is harmful without virtue, as this argument following shows: There is no glory in having a gift without knowing it. But to know only that you have it, without knowing that it is not of yourself that you have it, means self-glorying, but no true glory in God. (Continuing)

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[The Catholic Church] does not teach that human nature is irreclaimable, else wherefore should she be sent? not, that it is to be shattered and reversed, but to be extricated, purified, and restored; not, that it is a mere mass of hopeless evil, but that it has the promise upon it of great things, and even now, in its present state of disorder and excess, has a virtue and a praise proper to itself.

JHN, from the Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864)

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Prayers for today: Come, Lord, from your cherubim throne; let us see your face, and we shall be saved. (Psalm 79:4, 2)

God our Father, you loved the world so much you gave your only Son to free us from the ancient power of sin and death. Help us who wait for his coming, and lead us to true liberty. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.

(December 5) Saint Sabas (b. 439) (Picture: relics of Saint Sabas at Mar Saba monastery, Palestine)
Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to

return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue. At age 18 he travelled to Jerusalem, seeking to learn more about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of a well-known local solitary, though initially he was regarded as too young to live completely as a hermit. Initially, Sabas lived in a monastery, where he worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. At the age of 30 he was given permission to spend five days each week in a nearby remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labour in the form of weaving baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St. Euthymius, Sabas moved farther into the desert near Jericho. There he lived for several years in a cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his means of access. Wild herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other food and items, while he had to go a distance for his water. Some of these men came to him desiring to join him in his solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual huts grouped around a church, called a laura. The bishop persuaded a reluctant Sabas, then in his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year — consistently in Lent — he left his monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group of 60 men left the monastery, settling at a nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church. Over the years Sabas travelled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to the Church. At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a journey to Constantinople in conjunction with the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He fell ill and, soon after his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the monastery (Mar Saba in Palestine) is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and St. Sabas is regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures of early monasticism. His relics (picture) are kept at the monastery. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture readings: Isaiah 30: 19-21.23-26; Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Matthew 9: 35-10:1.6-8

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 9: 35-10:1.6-8)

An apostolic friendship There are many things which are distinctive about the Christian religion. Buddha discovered, he believed, the path to peace and happiness, a happiness that transcended the suffering he saw all around him in the world. That path consisted in the attainment of detachment and Enlightenment. The person of Buddha himself was in no way at all the object of his religion. Mahomet set forth what he believed to be the revelations he had received and they concerned

Allah and a life lived in obedience to him. Mahomet was not in any way the object of the religion he announced. So too with Zarathustra centuries earlier. These great religious founders announced and established ways which pointed men away from the founders themselves to God. But the case is radically different with Jesus Christ. The religion he revealed consists precisely in an intimate friendship with him. He himself is the object of the Christian religion. In loving and serving him we love and serve the Father, for to see him is to see the Father, and this we can do only by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The man Jesus is the love of the Christian because the man Jesus is the one and only God, as is the Father and as is the Holy Spirit. But now, our Gospel passage today reminds us of the distinctive character of this friendship with Christ, which is the heart and soul of the Christian religion. It is a friendship which sweeps us up into a share in Christ’s own mission. God became man, not simply to be with man as if his mere presence is all that is to be said about his coming. He came to befriend fallen man, and the indispensable and necessary route to this was by saving him from his sins. That is to say, God became man in order to fulfil a mission, and his invitation to man to enter into friendship with him is an invitation to share simultaneously in his saving mission. It is a very active friendship into which the Christian enters with respect to Jesus Christ. He is expected by his divine Friend to be, with him, a missionary. The form that this missionary character of his life of friendship with Jesus will take varies according to the calling and circumstances of a person’s life, but missionary it will of necessity be. The Christian life is essentially apostolic.

We are reminded of this by our Gospel passage today which describes our Lord’s intensely missionary life. He did not appear publicly simply to gather friends and to spend his time enjoying their friendship. He appeared before the people, and it was as if a great shot had been fired into the air and the race begun. We read that “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” It was an intense race that he was running, a race for souls and he needed many to join him. We read that, “he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” He invited people, his disciples, to be his friends precisely in running the race with him. A battle had to be won and the great tide had to be turned. There was a momentous work to be done for the world — a world which God so loved as to send his only begotten Son. So the pearl of friendship with Jesus means entering into his own great work and becoming his intimate precisely in his mission. We read in today’s Gospel that, “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 9: 35-10:1.6-8). For this reason the Church which Christ founded is essentially missionary. Its life and the life of all its members is one of friendship with the living unseen Jesus, and this is an essentially apostolic friendship. The friend of Jesus knows that the heart of his Master is filled with compassion for the lost sheep. His Master, the good shepherd, wishes the disciple’s prayers and his daily immersion in the world to be the means whereby he saves those being lost.

Our Lord told his disciples that he is the vine and that we are the branches. The Father wishes that we bear much fruit, fruit that will last. The greatest fruit of our lives is that we play our due part in winning souls for Christ. Every day this great work must be proceeding, be it in our families, with our spouse, our children, our acquaintances, with all those with whom we have contact, and in our daily prayers and sufferings offered up for the salvation of souls. Our friendship with Jesus which constitutes the heart of our Christian faith must be essentially apostolic. It must be a friendship which participates actively in Christ’s saving mission. Let us be up and doing, then!
(E.J.Tyler)

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

And so the apostle says to men in such cases, 'What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? (I Cor. 4:7). He asks, Why dost thou glory? but goes on, as if thou hadst not received it, showing that the guilt is not in glorying over a possession, but in glorying as though it had not been received. And rightly such glorying is called vain-glory, since it has not the solid foundation of truth. The apostle shows how to discern the true glory from the false, when he says, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, that is, in the Truth, since our Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1:31; John 14:6). (Continuing)

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All will agree so far as this, that Elijah, Jeremiah, the Baptist, and St. Paul are in their history and mode of life … in what is external and meets the eye (and this is no slight resemblance when things are viewed as a whole and from a distance),—these saintly and heroic men, I say, are more like a Dominican preacher, or a Jesuit missionary, or a Carmelite friar, more like St. Toribio, or St. Vincent Ferrer, or St. Francis Xavier, or St. Alphonso Liguori, than to any individuals, or to any classes of men, that can be found in other communions.

JHN, from An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845)

Prayers for today: People of Zion, the Lord will come to save all nations, and your hearts will exult to hear his majestic voice. Isaiah 30: 19,30

God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 6) St. Nicholas (d. 350?)
The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honour him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured

by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor. As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colourful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries. Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus — further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
The critical eye of modern history makes us take a deeper look at the legends surrounding St. Nicholas. But perhaps we can utilize the lesson taught by his legendary charity, look deeper at our approach to material goods in the Christmas season and seek ways to extend our sharing to those in real need.
“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives, strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office, 16). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 125; Philippians 1:4-6.8-11; Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar — when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene — during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.' (Luke 3:1-6)

Christ’s Church On one occasion a bishop made an appeal to all in his diocese. He asked that, during the season of Advent, they extend an invitation to as many people as possible who were inactive in their faith — family members, acquaintances, colleagues and friends — to return to the Church. He invited all to assure those to whom they extended this invitation that God’s love and mercy was theirs. The bishop stated that all ought make this invitation their responsibility and privilege, and to see it as a prompting from the Holy Spirit. It could be the day of salvation for a person who is encouraged to be reconciled to God.

This apostolic spirit of invitation and welcome ought be part and parcel of Advent, the liturgical season when we prepare to welcome the Saviour. It is the time of the Lord’s coming, and by doing this we will facilitate the Lord’s coming into the lives of others. We could ask ourselves whether we are truly aware and concerned that thousands

drift from the practice of the Faith, that many abandon the Church and join fundamentalist Christian or non-Christian groups. If these wayward members of the Church were to challenge the average Catholic to tell them why they should remain, how many Catholics could give a compelling answer? Advent is a time of joyful homecoming, a time for the return of prodigal sons and lost sheep, a time to look for Christ and prepare the way for him, and a time to look homeward to our eternal Father. It is a time to reflect on whether we, who through the grace of God are not lost, are giving the wayward and the lost a true witness to our faith in Christ and his Church. In the second reading today St Paul rejoices, remembering how the Philippians to whom he is writing “helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present” (Philippians 1:4-6.8-11). In the Gospel today (Luke 3:1-6), St John the Baptist witnesses before many to the coming of Jesus, inviting all to prepare for the salvation of God. Advent is a time for bearing witness to Christ and his Church, and in this way preparing the way for the Lord in the lives of others too. The truth that Christ founded a specific Church is an especially important — if difficult — truth to bear witness to in our relativistic culture.

Some who pride themselves on being “broad-minded” advise those who are drifting away from the Church simply to follow their own conscience, and do what they think best, instead of actively helping them to think and do what is objectively right. Often being “broad-minded” amounts to being indifferent to the truth about Christ and his Church. Our Lord said to Peter, ‘You are Peter — Rock — and on this Rock I will build my Church.’ And at the last Supper our Lord prayed that his flock would be one as he and the Father are one. There is one specific Church which was founded by Christ. The second Vatican council taught that it is in and through Christ’s Catholic Church alone that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. We are called to witness to the truth about the Church. Those outside the Church will judge it by the tenor and direction of our lives. Indeed, it is by the way we live our lives that Christ himself will be judged by many who do not know him. If our light is hidden under a bushel for lack of courage, or is dim because the oil of faith has run low, Advent is the time to pluck up our courage and get moving spiritually. During Advent let us meditate on the profound connection between Christ and his Church. Bearing witness to Christ includes bearing witness to his Church, especially before those who are abandoning the Church. Christ is the way to the Father, and the Church is the way to Christ.

All men are called to salvation, to an eternity of happiness in heaven. Christ and his body the Church — the Catholic Church he founded — is the way. We who know the truth about this, are called to live it and to bear witness to it before others. During Advent let us resolve to do this.
(E.J.Tyler)

The splendour of the ordinary Different epochs of history suffer from different defects. Pope Pius XII wrote that the defect of the present age is the lack of a sense of sin. Another defect of our age is its lack of a sense of meaning or purpose. How many people feel they have little that is worthwhile to live for! This is

so for many young people, and for many in early, middle or late adulthood. For example, I remember years ago taking a religion class in a State High School. In front of me was a girl in early adolescence. She put up her hand at one point and said to me that Life is a bitch! That was her attitude at her very early age. Life is a bitch. Life is harsh and thoughtless and hurtful. There is little of worth to live for. Or again, there are those who regard life as ultimately boring. Life is just a round of unending and pointless trivialities, and in this sense it lacks worth and meaning. Let us linger a little on this perception of life. Life might well appear to be full of trivialities, if by this I mean little things that seem not to attract attention. But they need not be pointless, and to say a thing is small is not to say it is trivial. A beautiful home is built with small and very ordinary bricks. The little humdrum things of everyday life can be the building blocks of something immensely noble, something with eternal consequences. That thing of grandeur is God’s kingdom, his reign in the hearts of those who welcome Christ his Son. We can contribute greatly to the extension of God’s kingdom in our own daily sphere of life, made up as it is of so many seeming “trivialities.” Life with all its little – and harsh - things is a grand challenge, and not just boring or a bitch.

In our Gospel today (Luke 3:1-6), John the Baptist announces the coming of the Kingdom. “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” He was preparing the people for the presence of Jesus, already in their midst. As we think of John then, let us think of him some thirty years before, this time still in the womb of Elizabeth. Mary, the mother of the Messiah, is visiting her kinswoman Elizabeth in response to what the angel had told her. A simple event, unnoticed and very ordinary, but how typical of so much of life. She bore Jesus within her. What gives this ordinary scene its grandeur? It is the presence of Jesus together with their acknowledgment of him. Mary went to Elizabeth, carrying with joy the unborn Jesus, and it is this presence of Jesus which Elizabeth rejoiced in. In that scene he was the object of their lives. So it is with us. What gives grandeur to our everyday life is the presence of Jesus, together with our heartfelt and constant acknowledgment of him. He is the object of our life, the one we are called to serve, the one whose mission offers so much meaning and hope for mankind. Each of us lives in the presence of One who is great beyond compare, and our life of service can involve, if we so choose, the direct service of Him. He in turn brings us holiness, making our daily service something holy and pleasing to God, and through our daily service of him and others he brings holiness to others. In this way, our humdrum life – that might seem to some a bore or a bitch - with its ordinary daily work is changed into something grand. Advent is a time to bring Jesus into the little things of everyday life, and by doing this we make possible his coming into the lives of others.

Let us then keep alive the vision splendid in the ordinary life that God has placed us in. That vision splendid is the presence of Jesus and the power of our ordinary work to become a principal means of sanctification. As St Ignatius Loyola stated, all for the greater glory of God! We must see the presence of God in all things, including all the little duties of justice and charity that fill our days. Christ is there in all those humdrum duties of every ordinary day, awaiting our love and our service. To the work, then!

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that we are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not glory at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally, it is written, 'If thou know not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock' (Cant. 1:8). And this is right. For man, being in honour, if he know not his own honour, may fitly be compared, because of such ignorance, to the beasts that perish. Not knowing himself as the creature that is distinguished from the irrational brutes by the possession of reason, he commences to be confounded with them because, ignorant of his own true glory which is within, he is led captive by his curiosity, and concerns himself with external, sensual things. So he is made to resemble the lower orders by not knowing that he has been more highly endowed than they. (Continuing)

In this passage from an 1838 sermon John Henry Newman explains that Christian worship should prepare us on earth for meeting Christ our Judge. Only prayer, the sacraments, and profession of the whole mystery of faith can make us ready for that radically new life that awaits us in heaven:

Men sometimes ask, Why need they profess religion? Why need they go to church? Why need they observe certain rites and ceremonies? Why need they watch, pray, fast, and meditate? Why is it not enough to be just, honest, sober, benevolent, and otherwise virtuous? Is not this the true and real worship of God? Is not activity in mind and conduct the most acceptable way of approaching Him? How can they please Him by submitting to certain religious forms, and taking part in certain religious acts? Or if they must do so, why may they not choose their own? Why must they come to church for them? Why must they be partakers in what the Church calls Sacraments?

I answer, they must do so, first of all and especially, because God tells them so to do. But besides this, I observe that we see this plain reason why, that they are one day to change their state of being. They are not to be here for ever. Direct intercourse with God on their part now, prayer and the like, may be necessary to their meeting Him suitably hereafter: and direct intercourse on His part with them, or what we call sacramental communion, may be necessary in some incomprehensible way, even for preparing their very nature to bear the sight of Him.

Let us then take this view of religious service; it is “going out to meet the Bridegroom,” [see Matt. 25: 6] who, if not seen “in His beauty,” [Isaiah 33: 17] will appear in consuming fire. Besides its other momentous reasons, it is a preparation for an awful event, which shall one day be. What it would be to meet Christ at once without preparation, we may learn from what happened even to the Apostles when His glory was suddenly manifested to them. St. Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” [Luke 5: 8] And St. John, “when he saw Him, fell at His feet as dead.” [Rev. 1: 17]

This being the case, it is certainly most merciful in God to vouchsafe to us the means of preparation, and such means as He has actually appointed. When Moses came down from the Mount, and the people were dazzled at his countenance, he put a veil over it. That veil is so far removed in the Gospel, that we are in a state of preparation for its being altogether removed. We are with Moses in the Mount so far, that we have a sight of God; we are with the people beneath it so far, that Christ does not visibly show Himself. He has put a veil on, and He sits among us silently and secretly. When we approach Him, we know it only by faith; and when He manifests Himself to us, it is without our being able to realize to ourselves that manifestation.

Such then is the spirit in which we should come to all His ordinances, considering them as anticipations and first-fruits of that sight of Him which one day must be. When we kneel down in prayer in private, let us think to ourselves, Thus shall I one day kneel down before His very footstool, in this flesh and this blood of mine; and He will be seated over against me, in flesh and blood also, though divine. I come, with the thought of that awful hour before me, I come to confess my sin to Him now, that He may pardon it then, and I say, “O Lord, Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, in the hour of death and in the day of judgment, deliver us, O Lord!”

Again, when we come to church, then let us say:—The day will be when I shall see Christ surrounded by His Holy Angels. I shall be brought into that blessed company, in which all will be pure, all bright. I come then to learn to endure the sight of the Holy One and His Servants; to nerve myself for a vision which is fearful before it is ecstatic, and which they only enjoy whom it does not consume.

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 5 (1840) Sermon no. 1, p. 7-9)

Prayers for today: Nations, hear the message of the Lord, and make it known to the ends of the earth: Our Saviour is coming. Have no more fear. Jer 31:10, Is 35:4

Lord, free us from our sins and make us whole. Hear our prayer, and prepare us to celebrate the incarnation of your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 7) St. Ambrose (340?-397)
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the Last Judgment people would still be divided

between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way. When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies. In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people’s bishop. There is yet another side of Ambrose — one which influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning. Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modelled on Cicero and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils — “gold of the Egyptians” — taken over from the pagan philosophers. His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity. The influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem for the learned bishop. Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
“Women and men are not mistaken when they regard themselves as superior to mere bodily creatures and as more than mere particles of nature or nameless units in modern society. For by their power to know themselves in the depths of their being they rise above the entire universe of mere objects.... Endowed with wisdom, women and men are led through visible realities to those which are invisible” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 14–15). (AmericanCatholic.org)

One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . . He said to the paralysed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, We have seen remarkable things today. (Luke 5: 17-26)

The Sacrament of Forgiveness There are numerous instances of physical healings worked by our Lord in the Gospel accounts. He drove out demons, cured the sick of various diseases, cleansed the lepers who sought him, healed the mute, the blind and the deaf, and he raised the dead. In our Gospel today there is something very different. We read that some men carrying a paralysed man on a stretcher arrived to present him before Jesus, but being unable to because of the throng,

went up on the roof and lowered him before the feet of Jesus in the midst of the crowd around him. To the astonishment of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the first thing our Lord did was forgive the paralytic’s sins. Our Lord would not have been just twisting the circumstance to the advantage of displaying his power to forgive sins. Rather, gazing into the eyes of the paralysed man, he would have seen the thought of his sins that profoundly troubled his soul. Perhaps the paralysed man judged that his sins were in good measure the reason for his physical affliction. Perhaps he saw with clarity the trail of sin that marked his life and how helpless he was in the face of its weight. Gazing on him with compassion, our Lord could see that his sins constituted his greatest affliction and that he was indeed sorry for them. It was the hidden shadow hanging over his broken and helpless life, the affliction above all that needed to be taken away. At this he proceeded to forgive his sins, and his manner of doing so gave the clear impression that he was doing so on his own authority. He was exerting a divine power, acting as God would act. It astonished the Pharisees, who immediately understood its implications: “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Abraham never presumed to forgive the sins of another. Nor did Moses. Nor did the prophets. When John the Baptist administered his baptism of repentance, no one accused him of presuming to forgive the sins of those who were baptized by him. It was a ceremony that sought God’s forgiveness by an expression of repentance. Christ unhesitatingly forgave the sins of those he saw were repentant, and he did so in a way that manifested his divine authority.

Now, the question is, how are we sinners to attain this benefit granted by Christ to the paralysed man? How are we to approach Christ for his forgiveness? Of course, part of the answer is that we must do this repeatedly in our own hearts, and indeed this personal acknowledgment of sin and request for pardon must be regarded as an essential requirement for any forgiveness of sin. Our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Publican holds up the Publican’s prayer for pardon as that which justified him. The parable of the Prodigal Son shows the wayward son returning to his loving father to seek his forgiveness. We must then be truly repentant, we must acknowledge our sins before God and we must try to make up for them in union with the reparation offered by Christ in his sacrifice on the cross. But there is more to the forgiveness of sins than our own standing before Christ in prayer as did the Publican in the Temple, asking God for pardon. Christ exercised publicly the forgiveness of sins and he handed this very power on to the Apostles to be exercised on his behalf. As we read in the Gospel of St John (ch.20), on the evening of the very day he rose from the dead, our Lord appeared before the Eleven in the flesh. He told them that as the Father had sent him, he now was sending them. With that he endowed them with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and commissioned them to forgive sins. “Whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven. If you hold them still bound, they are held bound.” So what he did to the paralysed man and which provoked such a shock among the Pharisees, our Lord was now passing on to the Eleven he had just consecrated with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same gift he was granting to the Church, to be exercised by those who would receive from the Apostles and their successors the ministerial priesthood. By the gift of Christ there is now present in the Church the same Jesus who acts to forgive sins in the way he did those of the paralysed man. This he does in the Sacrament of Penance. This is a great Sacrament, and Christ’s faithful ought avail themselves of it frequently. In that Sacrament the grace of Christ cleanses from sin with power.

Of course, the forgiveness of sins is a benefit that Christ brings in various ways to the life of the Christian. It is brought to him in his sincere prayer of contrition. It is brought to him in other Sacraments such as the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist. But it is especially in the Sacrament of Penance that Christ is present precisely and pre-eminently to forgive sins. Though the penitent does not see him, he is just as present, and forgives sins just as truly, as he did those of the paralytic in our Gospel today. Let us greatly prize the Sacrament of Penance.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

We must be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not rank ourselves too low; and with still greater care we must see that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honour due unto Him. (Continuing)

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Here then are two injuries which Revelation is likely to sustain at the hands of the Masters of human reason unless the Church, as in duty bound, protects the sacred treasure which is in jeopardy. The first is a simple ignoring of Theological Truth altogether, under the pretence of not recognising differences of religious opinion;—which will only take place in countries or under governments which have abjured Catholicism. The second, which is of a more subtle character, is a recognition indeed of Catholicism, but (as if in pretended mercy to it) an adulteration of its spirit.
(JHN, from The Idea of a University Part I, 1852)

Prayers today: I exalt for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God; for he has clothed me in the garment of salvation and robed me in the cloak of justice, like a bride adorned with her jewels. Is 61:10

Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of your Son. You let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death, and keep her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Help us by our prayers to live in your presence without sin. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, …

(December 8) The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the eleventh century it received its present name, the

Immaculate Conception. In the eighteenth century it became a feast of the universal Church. In 1854 Pius IX gave the infallible statement: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.” It took a long time for this doctrine to develop. While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church considered Mary the greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had difficulty in seeing Mary as sinless—either at her conception or throughout her life. This is one of the Church teachings that arose more from the piety of the faithful than from the insights of brilliant theologians. Even such champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas could not see theological justification for this teaching. Two Franciscans, William of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped develop the theology. They point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent original sin at the outset.
In Luke 1:28 the angel Gabriel, speaking on God’s behalf, addresses Mary as “full of grace” (or “highly favoured”). In that context this phrase means that Mary is receiving all the special divine help necessary for the task ahead. However, the Church grows in understanding with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led the Church, especially non-theologians, to the insight that Mary had to be the most perfect work of God next to the Incarnation. Or rather, Mary’s intimate association with the Incarnation called for the special involvement of God in Mary’s whole life. The logic of piety helped God’s people to believe that Mary was full of grace and free of sin from the first moment of her existence. Moreover, this great privilege of Mary is the highlight of all that God has done in Jesus. Rightly understood, the incomparable holiness of Mary shows forth the incomparable goodness of God.
“[Mary] gave to the world the Life that renews all things, and she was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. “It is no wonder, then, that the usage prevailed among the holy Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a kind of new substance and new creature. Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the splendours of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is, on God’s command, greeted by an angel messenger as ‘full of grace’ (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger she replies: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word’ (Luke 1:38)” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 56). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Gen 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4; Eph 1:3-6, 11-12

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. The angel entered and said to her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women." When she heard this she was troubled at his words, and considered within herself what manner of salutation this was. And the angel said to her: "Fear not, Mary, for you have found grace with God. Behold you will conceive in thy womb and will bring forth a son; and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of David his father. He will reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I do not know man?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most High will overshadow you. And so the Holy One who will be born of you will be called the Son of God. Behold your cousin Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age and she who has been called barren in now in her sixth month, because nothing is impossible with God." Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)

The sinless one Let the mind range across the story of God’s dealings with his people as presented in the Scriptures prior to the coming of the Messiah. Consider how God addresses his chosen ones: he commands. Observance of his commands leads to life. The first words he speaks to Adam after he places him in the Garden (Genesis 2:16) are words of command. You may eat from any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eat this and you die. He gives commands to Noe to build the ark, and then commands him to enter it. He calls Abraham, commanding him to leave his country for

the land he would show him. From the Burning Bush he commanded Moses to come no nearer and to remove his sandals. He is to go to Pharaoh and lead his people out of slavery. The Lord is God and, full of love for his chosen people, he intervenes to command. But notice the intervention of God in the life of the virgin Mary. We read that the Angel Gabriel came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” He came before her, saluting her with words of the highest praise. She is full of God’s favour. God is well pleased with her. The nearest thing to this in the Scriptures is, I suggest, what the Father said of the Son at his Transfiguration: in him I am well pleased. Of course, Jesus is the divine Son, while the virgin Mary is a mere creature. But how God exalts her in these words of praise! The angelic emissary accords her a signal honour and, as one who is full of grace himself — for he comes from the presence of God — implies that the one before him is far more so. She is loftier than he in grace and divine favour. God is totally with her: the Lord is with you! He sees her apprehension and hastens to encourage: Do not be afraid, Mary! You are in God’s favour. There is no mention of sin here! She is wholly in God’s favour. God is entirely with her. This is the new woman, one very different from the woman of the beginning who had been enticed by Satan to assume God’s place, and who had been cast out of the Garden as a result. This is Satan’s enemy. Her seed will crush his head.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is a dogma of the Christian Faith. Declared by solemn definition by (the since beatified) Pope Pius XI in 1854, this doctrine teaches that it is divinely revealed (though not explicitly stated in Scripture) that, by the future merits of her divine Son, Mary was preserved free from original sin. It is an instance of revealed doctrine, implicit in Scripture, emerging with absolute clarity in the Church’s living Tradition and declared as such by the Church’s teaching Authority. This doctrine is an example of the Catholic Church’s teaching that revelation cannot be reduced and confined to what is explicitly and unmistakeably expressed in Scripture. What God has revealed is also transmitted in the life and tradition of the Church, which Christ founded and of which he is the living Head. The Church teaches that Mary received the full benefits of salvation from the instant of her conception. In her case these benefits far exceeded those received by the newly baptized Christian. The newly baptized is, at the instant of baptism, completely freed from the separation from God that original sin causes in our human nature. Our nature is in a state of alienation from communion with God. This communion is restored at our baptism. But our baptism does not take away the propensity to sin. It does not restore the original integrity of our moral and spiritual nature. By applying our wills resolutely and depending on the grace of God, this deeply wounded nature can gradually be made holy. But in Mary’s case, not only was her very nature placed in communion with God, but her nature began its existence whole. She did not begin life wounded by original sin. She was freed from the tendency to sin and from that instant her entire being began its life-long ascent to God in faith and love. This ascent never slackened, never faltered. It was never touched by the slightest stain of sin. This stupendous story of holiness began at the instant of her conception and was the greatest manifestation of the power of the redemption wrought by Christ on the Cross. Young maiden as she was, in the life of grace she towered above the Angel who addressed her.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

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Catholics go into the world; they mix with men of all religions; they hear all manner of sophistical objections made to the Church, her doctrines, and her rules. What is practically to keep them steadfast in the faith, but their intimate perception of their need of it? what is to bring them to the sacrament of penance, but their sorrow and their detestation of sin? what is to bring them to communion, but a thirst for the Living and True God? what is to be their protection against the aberrations of the intellect, but the deep convictions and eager aspirations of the heart?

JHN, from the sermon ‘Dispositions for Faith’ (1856)

Prayers today: The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation.
Hab 2:3; I Cor 4:5

All-powerful Father, we await the healing power of Christ your Son. Let us not be discouraged by our weaknesses as we prepare for his coming. Keep us steadfast in your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

Jesus said to his disciples, What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18: 12-14)

Our loving Father I am convinced that a very common struggle in the hearts of very many is that of bitterness. The vast majority of people in their heart of hearts have to struggle to a greater or lesser extent with anger, resentment and sadness. The bitter experiences of many begin when they are young,

perhaps in their families, perhaps while being educated, perhaps during their early careers. Life brings its share of disappointments, mistakes, frustrations, tragedies and sorrows. Many would recognize that to an extent, such troubles as came their way were due in part to their own fault or limitations. Nevertheless they feel bitter at the injustice, the lack of consideration, the thoughtlessness, and the positive injuries which also came their way at the hands of various persons. This can carry over to their religion, and God — however he is conceived — can be gradually imagined as unconcerned, very distant, lacking in consideration and even vindictive. These attitudes to God may not be adopted formally and with full deliberation, but it is very likely that unless there is an effort to discipline one’s religious imagination according to right reason and objective revelation, one’s attitudes to life will shape one’s attitudes to God. If one resents what life has brought it is not unlikely that one will tend to resent God. I have often wondered whether the movements against God and religion initiated by various thinkers and individuals in history have their origins partly in their experience of, and attitudes to life. I present this as one factor among several for the ambivalent image of God which has characterized much of human history. Looking at man in the broad sweep and prescinding from the mighty fact of what God has revealed of himself in history, man’s image of God is uncertain. Man prays to God; he asks his favours and protection; he tries to make up with him by means of his cult and his sacrifices. But God or the gods seem distant and the world with its harshness and cruelty seem to be unchanged and unaffected in its course.

Ah! But not at all! It is a difficult world people would have every reason to be resentful with God if — only if — this broken world were to be a simple reflection of him. To an extent, of course, the world does reflect its Maker but this is why there is so much beauty in the world. Despite the pallor, despite the sweat and tears, despite the sword and the fire and the galloping across the helpless, there is love, self-sacrifice and holiness. There are the beautiful valleys and plains, the stupendous waterfalls and soaring mountains. The world in its beauty does reflect its Maker, whereas its ugliness both moral and otherwise reflects not God but the sin of man. So then, we must in all our experience of life and reality learn to discipline our thinking and our imagination in reference to the Ultimate behind all things, which is God. We discipline our thinking by holding fast to our Lord Jesus Christ and to all that he has revealed of God. He is the image of the unseen God, as St Paul writes. He who sees me, sees the Father, he himself declared. He tells us that the Ultimate and the Absolute of all things, visible and invisible, is nothing other than a most loving Father. Love is at the heart of all things, love is the Origin and the End. More astonishingly still, this Ultimate Love, this Father of all is so very near. He pursues us lovingly. He follows us anxiously. God our Maker is the ideal father, beyond any ideal that this life could offer. The length and the breadth and the height and the depth of the love of God for us is beyond imagining. But Christ our Lord used certain images to convey the reality of the Father’s love and we ought cherish the images he uses. “If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost” (Matthew 18: 12-14).

God loves me. He loves each of us individually. As St Paul wrote, Christ loved me and gave himself up for me. As he wrote again, nothing can separate us from the love of God present in Jesus Christ. He will leave the ninety-nine and go after me if I stray from him. He is going after me now in all my strayings from his holy will. In my everyday life I fail him in so many ways, for as the Scriptures observe, the just man sins seven times a day. But God loves me and comes after me seeking my conversion in every aspect of my life. So then, I must recognize his love for me and turn back to him, entrusting myself to his keeping and to his holy will. Now I begin, then!

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not glory at all; and mere wisdom, as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet does not glory in the Lord. In the third evil case, however, man sins not in ignorance but deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to God. And this arrogance is a more grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of the second, since it contemns God, while the other knows Him not. Ignorance is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities, can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature, and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory. (Continuing)

Prayers for today: The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation. Habakuk 2:3; I Cor 4:5

(December 9) St. Juan Diego (1474-1548)
Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the

canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas. The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups. First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, little more is said about Juan Diego. In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish and compassionate catechist who taught by word and especially by example. During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honour of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint.
God counted on Juan Diego to play a humble yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the peoples of Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing his people that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul II used the occasion of this beatification to urge Mexican lay men and women to assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and witnessing to it.
“Similar to ancient biblical personages who were collective representations of all the people, we could say that Juan Diego represents all the indigenous peoples who accepted the Gospel of Jesus, thanks to the maternal aid of Mary, who is always inseparable from the manifestation of her Son and the spread of the Church, as was her presence among the Apostles on the day of Pentecost” (Pope John Paul II, beatification homily). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28-30)

Go to Christ! There are many who see no meaning in life except what this life can offer. If this life offers little, then life is almost meaningless. A person is wracked with physical debility brought on by, say, cancer or some powerful stroke. All that faces him is complete dependence on others for care, and scarcely a moment’s true rest. If only his life would end! There is nothing for him to live for, so he thinks and so his friends think. His life is his and not

someone else’s — so why ought he not be free to end it and so attain the peace of death and oblivion? Such are the thoughts of those who see no meaning in life except what this life offers. Alternatively, it is discovered that the child soon to be born is afflicted with a terrible set of deficiencies which will pose a tremendous burden of care on his parents and for his part set the course for a life of continual dependence on others. His “quality of life” will be, it is perceived, absolutely minimal. Or again, great numbers in an African country wracked by ethnic strife and mayhem are bereft of food, shelter, lodging and medical care. Families are torn asunder by death and pillage. There is no end to the grief and deprivation. What is each person to do? The instances of evil and suffering could be narrated endlessly. It is a beautiful world, but with good reason one could say that it a very ugly world. Now, it is one thing to point to the cause of this, and it is a further thing to point to the answer to it. On the one hand, the causes of human suffering are both immediate and ultimate. The more immediate causes can be discussed at length and should be sought. The ultimate cause, revealed by God, is the sin of man, both original and personal. On the other hand, the answer to evil and suffering is also immediate and ultimate. The immediate answers involve the generous service of those suffering on many fronts. The ultimate answer introduces our Gospel passage today. The ultimate answer to evil and suffering is the person of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to be its Saviour. He is the ultimate answer to the pain of the world.

What does Christ say to the one who is weary and burdened with the sufferings of life? Our Gospel passage today gives us his words. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11: 28-30). This is no slick and quick answer and it will not satisfy the one who is not interested in Christ. Our Lord, though, addresses “all you who are weary and burdened.” He addresses every man and woman of human history who experiences the weariness of our broken world. Who else in human history has had the audacity to propose himself as the answer to the suffering of the world? But that is exactly what Christ does. He says to you, to me, to every one we happen to know, and to all men and women of every generation — saying it to them in all their personal individuality and not just en masse — Come to me! He promises that if we do, if we truly come to him as our Saviour, then we shall find rest. But notice what he says is involved in coming to him. It means coming to him and taking up his yoke and learning from him. It means embracing his person and his teaching in true faith and obedience. It means throwing in our lot entirely with him and, in faith, accepting the path of true discipleship. It means striving to be like the Master, who is gentle and humble of heart. He promises that if we do this we shall find rest — rest at the deepest level, rest for our souls. It is the soul of man that above all must have rest. If there is no rest in the soul of man, then all the material satisfactions of life, all the health and wealth of the world will leave him still suffering. If he has attained a profound rest of soul then all the material sufferings of life will be supportable. The pressing need for man is rest of soul. Christ assures all mankind that if they come to him and take up his yoke, learning from him, then he will give that rest of soul for which the heart of man constantly yearns. We were made to attain happiness and Christ reveals that he is the path to it.

Pope Benedict once wrote that the atheist or agnostic ought try to live as if God exists, even if he does not yet have this belief. We might take the suggestion further and say to the one who is suffering and who cannot see where the way ahead lies, Give Christ a go! Go to him. He says to each of us, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. But let us not go to him in a superficial manner, with our hearts still far from him. Give Christ a go! Cast in your lot with him and be part of his company. Those who have done this have attained rest of soul in the midst of terrible suffering. Moreover, he promises that at the very end, all suffering anyhow will pass away, every tear will have gone. Christ is the only Saviour of the world.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add virtue, the proper fruit of them both. Virtue seeks and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all good, and who must be in all things glorified; otherwise, one who knows what is right yet fails to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12:47). Why? you may ask. Because he has failed to put his knowledge to good effect, but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed (PS. 36:4); like a wicked servant, he has turned aside to seize the glory which, his own knowledge assured him, belonged only to his good Lord and Master. (Continuing)

Prayers for today: Lord, you are near, and all your commandments are just; long have I known that you decreed them for ever.
Psalm 118: 151-152

Almighty Father, give us the joy of your love to prepare the way for Christ our Lord. Help us to serve you and one another. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

(December 10) Blessed Adolph Kolping (1813-1865)
The rise of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them,

hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith as was happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe. Born in the village of Kerpen, Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s economic situation. Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young workers in Cologne, establishing a choir, which by 1849 had grown into the Young Workmen’s Society. A branch of this began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1856. Nine years later there were over 400 Gesellenvereine (workman’s societies) around the world. Today this group has over 400,000 members in 54 countries across the globe. More commonly called the Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life and the dignity of labour. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions for workers and greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco in Turin had similar interests in working with young men in big cities. He told his followers, “The needs of the times will teach you what to do.” Father Kolping once said, “The first thing that a person finds in life and the last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he possess, even if he does not realize it, is family life.” He and Blessed John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche, served by the Conventual Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s international headquarters is at this church. Kolping members journeyed to Rome from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania for Father Kolping’s beatification in 1991, the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Social Order). Father Kolping’s personal witness and apostolate helped prepare for that encyclical.
Some people thought that Father Kolping was wasting his time and talents on young working men in industrialized cities. In some countries, the Catholic Church was seen by many workers as the ally of owners and the enemy of workers. Men like Adolph Kolping showed that was not true.
“Adolph Kolping gathered skilled workers and factory labourers together. Thus he overcame their isolation and defeatism. A faith society gave them the strength to go out into their everyday lives as Christ’s witnesses before God and the world. To come together, to become strengthened in the assembly, and thus to scatter again is and still remains our duty today. We are not Christians for ourselves alone, but always for others too” (Pope John Paul II, beatification homily). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 41: 13-20; Psalm 145:1 and 9, 10-13ab; Matthew 11: 11-15

Jesus said, I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 11: 11-15)

True greatness One of the intriguing things about life and reality and which we tend to take for granted — because it is so pervasive — is the fact of variation. Nature films are the source of unending entertainment. In the world of plants and non-sensitive life there are myriads of species, and new species are often being discovered. The same applies to insects, reptiles, and at times larger animal life. The range of awareness the animal kingdom manifests is breathtaking, and inasmuch as it is only man

who possesses a spiritual principle, the awareness possessed by animal life shows the inherent capacity of matter under the hand of God. But the point I am referring to here is the universal presence of variation in created being. There is greater and smaller, higher and lower, difference from one to the other. Within the vast human species, there is variation everywhere. Man differs from man not only in race, colour and creed, but manifestly in capacity. There are men and women great in intelligence or this or that gift, while there are ordinary men and women, and there are those bereft in capacity such as the retarded or those deprived because of this or that circumstance. At times God himself has pronounced on the greatness of some people. The angel Gabriel when addressing Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, said that her son would be great in the sight of the Lord. We are referring to John the Baptist. In our Gospel today our Lord said that “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” Of course this greatness of John the Baptist could not have been meant to signify just any kind of greatness. It could not have been meant to signify sheer holiness, for instance, for Mary the mother of Christ was, in all her lowliness, unparalleled in personal holiness. John was the greatest prophet in that dispensation prior to the coming of the Messiah. He was the greatest prophetic representative of the Old Testament and the greatest Forerunner of the One who would eclipse all in both the past and future, as the very Blessing of God.

Of course, it is not necessary to be prominent to be great. On one occasion our Lord was seated near the Treasury of the Temple and was observing a poor widow putting in two tiny coins. He told his disciples that she had put in more than all the others because she had given all she had to live on. In our Gospel today (Matthew 11:11-15) our Lord pronounces on the key to greatness. Great as John is in his person and mission as prophet of the One to come, yet “he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John was great precisely as a prophetic embodiment of the Old Testament revelation, and he pointed to what was much greater. He pointed to the person of Jesus, whose sandals he was not worthy to bend down and untie. In our Lord’s words exalting the dignity of those who are in the kingdom of heaven, he is referring fundamentally to himself. The kingdom of heaven is nothing other than the lordship of God as present and available in the person of Jesus Christ. In him is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, as St Paul expresses it. In him is to be found every heavenly blessing, and the one who is his friend and who shares in his life by the gift of grace is, by that fact, a member of the Kingdom of God. No matter how lowly a person might be, how ordinary in talent and visible achievement, the more such a person is immersed in the person of Christ, the greater will be his standing in the sight of God. A person virtually unknown to the world can, in his heart, be buried with Christ in God. That person is the truly great one. Union with Christ is the answer to the universal quest for meaning. The twentieth century psychiatrist and author Victor Frankl wrote that the key to happiness in profoundly adverse circumstances is the possession of a sense of meaning. All men and women require a sense of meaning, and — let us add — one that is objectively true. It gives to their lives not only happiness but, indeed, a true grandeur. A life of union with Jesus Christ will bestow that meaning, that happiness and that grandeur before God amid all the obscurity and limitations which the ordinary life of the millions will necessarily involve.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

It is plain, therefore, that dignity without wisdom is useless and that wisdom without virtue is accursed. But when one possesses virtue, then wisdom and dignity are not dangerous but blessed. Such a man calls on God and lauds Him, confessing from a full heart, ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory’ (Ps. 115:1). Which is to say, ‘O Lord, we claim no knowledge, no distinction for ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee all things do come.’ (Continuing)

Prayers today: The Lord is coming from heaven in splendour to visit his people, and bring them peace and eternal life.

All-powerful God, help us to look forward in hope to the coming of our Saviour. May we live as he has taught, ready to welcome him with burning love and faith. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

(December 11) St. Damasus I (305?-384)
To his secretary St. Jerome, Damasus was “an incomparable person, learned in the Scriptures, a virgin doctor of the virgin Church, who loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure.” Damasus seldom heard such unrestrained praise. Internal political struggles, doctrinal heresies, uneasy relations with his fellow bishops and those of the Eastern Church marred the peace of his pontificate. Possibly

of Spanish extraction, Damasus started as a deacon in his father’s church, and served as a priest in what later became the basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and followed him into exile. When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon, Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops of Italy. At the synod Damasus called on the occasion of his birthday, he asked them to approve his actions. The bishops’ reply was curt: “We assembled for a birthday, not to condemn a man unheard.” Supporters of the antipope even managed to get Damasus accused of a grave crime as late as A.D. 378. He had to clear himself before both a civil court and a Church synod. As pope his lifestyle was simple in contrast to other ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in his denunciation of Arianism and other heresies. A misunderstanding of the Trinitarian terminology used by Rome threatened amicable relations with the Eastern Church, and Damasus was only moderately successful in dealing with the situation. During his pontificate Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state (380), and Latin became the principal liturgical language as part of the pope’s reforms. His encouragement of St. Jerome’s biblical studies led to the Vulgate, the Latin translation of Scripture which the Council of Trent (12 centuries later) declared to be “authentic in public readings, disputations, preachings.”
The history of the papacy and the Church is inextricably mixed with the personal biography of Damasus. In a troubled and pivotal period of Church history, he stands forth as a zealous defender of the faith who knew when to be progressive and when to entrench. Damasus makes us aware of two qualities of good leadership: alertness to the promptings of the Spirit and service. His struggles are a reminder that Jesus never promised his Rock protection from hurricane winds nor his followers immunity from difficulties. His only guarantee is final victory.
"He who walking on the sea could calm the bitter waves, who gives life to the dying seeds of the earth; he who was able to loose the mortal chains of death, and after three days' darkness could bring again to the upper world the brother for his sister Martha: he, I believe, will make Damasus rise again from the dust" (epitaph Damasus wrote for himself). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 48: 17-19; Psalm 1:1-4 and 6; Matthew 11: 16-19

Jesus said, To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the market-places and calling out to others: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is proved right by her actions.
(Matthew 11: 16-19)

The great opportunity It has been said that youth is the time of ambitions, while the later years of life is the time of regrets. That, of course, is a simplification but there is no doubt that as the years go on, the challenge is to keep alive the vision splendid, while recognizing the many opportunities that have been lost. A person looks back and by hindsight can see this or that golden opportunity that was lost — if only I had taken notice of what my friend, my mentor, my parent,

had said to me! If only I had grasped the opportunity my friendship with that person offered me! Lost opportunities! It is a feature of the years of maturity that this is recognized, and with it ought come the recognition of the opportunity that the remaining years of life still offer. The Pope visits one’s country and hundreds of thousands pour out to see and be with him. He celebrates a great Mass in the largest venue of the capital city and throngs surge in to participate. They recognize that it is an opportunity they do not wish to miss. Following his visit to the country, there are special publications containing his speeches and people are invited to study more carefully what they heard during the occasion itself. The opportunity they availed themselves of is something to be cherished and built upon. Opportunities! In the twilight of our life, our minds will go back and think of the opportunities that have been ours and of how we have availed ourselves of them. Now, the greatest opportunity that mankind has had is the coming among us of God himself. God has visited his people. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. As St John writes in the prologue of his Gospel, we saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. The world has had a tremendous opportunity in the coming of God the Son made man. But let us notice what we might call the character of his coming. One would have thought that a single, one-off intervention of the great God would have, as it were, brought the world or at least all those in a position to know of it, to a standstill in appreciative wonderment. But no. The case is very different.

In fact, through the ages God has offered opportunity upon opportunity to his wayward and sinful children. He tried this and tried that, calling Abraham, revealing himself to Isaac and Jacob, then to Moses and the prophets. God was now tender, now severe. In our Gospel today our Lord speaks of God endeavouring in different ways to bring his people to him, but all too often to little avail. “Jesus said, To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the market-places and calling out to others: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions” (Matthew 11: 16-19). Our Lord’s own description of John suggests one who manifested severe self-denial and a way of life vastly different from that of the ordinary person. His critics said “He has a demon.” In him God sent a great saint whose holiness was evident, and yet the opportunity was spurned. We might say that in John we have a symbol of all that God had done in pursuing his people to that point. Finally he sent his very own Son. How different was Jesus Christ! His holiness was indisputable, so much so that he himself challenged his critics in a way that John would never have done: Can any of you convict me of sin? Or again, I always do what pleases my Father. But our Lord mixed with sinners, drew them near to him, ate with them and drank with them. He invited them to be his disciples and even, in a sense, to be among the Twelve. They loved his company and he mixed with all. He was accused of being a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Matthew the tax collector was a member of the Twelve, no less. In our Lord’s person and ministry we have revealed at its noblest level the solicitude of God who pursues wayward man till he finds him. He is the Good Shepherd who goes after the stray, leaving the ninety-nine till the stray is reclaimed.

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ except our decision to separate ourselves from him. Let us take hold of this opportunity, then. God will do anything to save us and however riddled with sin we may be, God is the Beauty of our life. St Augustine, converted from sin, made of his conversion a magnificent opportunity. Late have I loved thee, he could only exclaim, O Beauty, so ancient and so new! Late have I loved thee! Let us, sinners though we be, place ourselves in the company of Jesus, and gaze upon him. He is already gazing upon us with a loving smile. He is the Beauty of our hearts. Let us not lose this opportunity. Jesus Christ and his friendship is the abiding opportunity of every day. Let it not pass us by. So then, now I begin!

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

But we have digressed too far in the wish to prove that even those who know not Christ are sufficiently admonished by the natural law, and by their own endowments of soul and body, to love God for God’s own sake. To sum up: what infidel does not know that he has received light, air, food--all things necessary for his own body’s life--from Him alone who giveth food to all flesh (Ps. 136:25), who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). (Continuing)

Prayers today: Come, Lord, from your cherubim throne; let us see your face, and we shall be saved. Psalm 79: 4, 2

Lord, let your glory dawn to take away our darkness. May we be revealed as the children of light at the coming of your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 12) Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico)
The feast in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth century. Chronicles

of that period tell us the story. A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honour of Our Lady. He was walking by a hill called

Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared. Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma. When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531. (click here for information about scientific studies on the eyes in the image)
Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...” (from an ancient chronicle). (American.Catholic.org)

Scripture today: Ecclesiasticus 48: 1-4.9-11; Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19; Matthew 17: 10-13;

The disciples asked Jesus, Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognise him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. (Matthew 17: 10-13)

The great pattern There are many magnificent people who are the protagonists of what the Christian calls the Old Testament. There is a magnificence about Abraham and his faith in God. We read how he understood God to have ordered him to sacrifice his son Isaac, which he thereupon prepared to do.

In the event, God intervened to prevent the deed but Abraham’s obedient faith had been manifested. We could go on to cite — as does the Letter to the Hebrews — example after example of outstanding faith exhibited by the Patriarchs, by Moses, the prophets and certain of the kings and priests. Particularly intrepid was the great Elijah and we remember how he withstood the four hundred prophets of Baal. In one great demonstration of faith he vindicated the truth of Yahweh and dealt a tremendous blow to the worship of Baal. In some mysterious sense it was prophesied that Elijah would return to prepare the way of the Lord. We read in the Gospel of St John (Ch.1) that priests and Levites from Jerusalem had asked John the Baptist if he were the Elijah who was to come. John said with humility that he was not, but in our Gospel passage today our Lord declares that he was. Years later when Luke wrote his Gospel, he included the prediction of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah — presumably the source being the Virgin Mary — that his son John would be great in the sight of the Lord and would act in the spirit and power of Elijah. John was the gift of the Lord to his chosen people to prepare “for the Lord a people fit to receive him” (Luke 1:17), and as such was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi (4:6). In John the Baptist, kinsman of our Lord himself, “Elijah has already come.” But, sadly, “they did not recognise him, but have done to him everything they wished.” The power of evil had been very great. There is in the Old Testament a pattern of moral magnificence and moral squalor, the two in conflict, and the latter all too often overcoming the former.

In the third book of Kings, Elijah has his victorious showdown with the prophets of Baal (ch.18), and then he flees from the wrath of Jezebel and arrives at the Mountain of God, Horeb. We remember the gripping story in Exodus of the meeting between Yahweh God and Moses on this same Mountain centuries before. At Horeb Elijah has his famous conversation with Yahweh, and the theophany is very different in his case. The Lord speaks within the gentle breeze, and he instructs Elijah to anoint Elisha the son of Saphat to be his successor (ch.19). Now anointed, Elisha becomes his disciple and his successor-in-waiting. Finally in the fourth book of Kings (ch.2) Elijah is taken up to heaven in the chariot and the whirlwind while Elisha, now having a double portion of his spirit, takes up the mantle and begins his own magnificent ministry. We can surely see in this a prefiguring of the prophetic mantle passing from John the Baptist to Jesus Christ, for Christ confirms that John was the Elijah to come. Elijah met with tremendous opposition, and John too, our Lord points out, was treated as they pleased. But Christ surpasses all in every respect. His miracles were far greater and more numerous, his teaching had a loftiness without parallel, and his holiness surpassed all before him. The scale of his rejection and his sufferings also far exceeded the suffering prophets who had preceded him, and this is what our Lord alludes to in his conversation with his disciples today. “In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands” (Matthew 17: 10-13). And so it is that the patterns we perceive in the Old Testament illustrate the patterns we see in our Lord’s life and ministry. Above all, as pointed out earlier we see the pattern of moral magnificence and moral squalor, the two in conflict with the latter all too often overcoming the former. But ah! The good is not overcome. Precisely through sufferings, precisely through persecutions, the good prevails. Mysteriously, the Messiah has to suffer in order to enter his glory. He must suffer rejection at the hands of those who are evil if the world is to be redeemed. Just as John suffered, so too must the Messiah to whom was passed the prophetic mantle.

What this means is that the mystery of evil and suffering becomes a source of life and goodness. The pattern present all through the scriptures and present in the prophetic ministry of, for instance, Elijah and John, is supremely present in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Death leads to life, if we die in God. It is the great revelation which God has given to a broken world. The Messiah by his life and death has lit up the meaning of the Scriptures which themselves point to him. By his life he lights up the meaning of suffering and death, if we suffer and die with him. Let us take up the mantle, then, as did Elisha from Elijah, and as did Christ from John. Our mantle is that of Jesus Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

Who is so impious as to attribute the peculiar eminence of humanity to any other except to Him who saith, in Genesis, ‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness’? (Gen. 1:26). Who else could be the Bestower of wisdom, but He that teacheth man knowledge? (Ps. 94:10). Who else could bestow virtue except the Lord of virtue? Therefore even the infidel who knows not Christ but does at least know himself, is bound to love God for God’s own sake. (Continuing)

Prayers today: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near. Phil 4: 4, 5

Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ, experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ever faithful to your promises and ever close to your Church: the earth rejoices in hope of the Saviour's coming and looks forward with longing to his return at the end of time. Prepare our hearts and remove the sadness that hinders us from feeling the joy and hope which his presence will bestow, for he is Lord for ever and ever.

(December 13) Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr (d. 304)
Every little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment when she first tries to find

out what there is to know about her patron saint. The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small number of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing that there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian and she was executed in Syracuse (Sicily) in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy. One can easily imagine what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against leading a good Christian life. Her friends must have wondered aloud about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Roman soldiers after his own people turned him over to the Roman authorities. Lucy believed with her whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made a vow of virginity. What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends! The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found but not to be condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged. Lucy knew of the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the Son of God. She is the patroness of eyesight.
    If you are a little girl named Lucy, you need not bite your tongue in disappointment. Your patron is a genuine, authentic heroine, first class, an abiding inspiration for you and for all Christians. The moral courage of the young Sicilian martyr shines forth as a guiding light, just as bright for today’s youth as it was in A.D. 304.
    “The Gospel tells us of all that Jesus suffered, of the insults that fell upon him. But, from Bethlehem to Calvary, the brilliance that radiates from his divine purity spread more and more and won over the crowds. So great was the austerity and the enchantment of his conduct....
    “So may it be with you, beloved daughters. Blessed be the discretion, the mortifications and the renouncements with which you seek to render this virtue more brilliant.... May your conduct prove to all that chastity is not only a possible virtue but a social virtue, which must be strongly defended through prayer, vigilance and the mortification of the senses” (Pope John XXIII, Letter to Women Religious). (AmericanCatholic.org)

When the people asked John, “What should we do?” he answered, The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and

the one who has food should do the same. Tax collectors also came to be baptised. Teacher, they asked, what should we do? Don't collect any more than you are required to, he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, And what should we do? He replied, Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely— be content with your pay. The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, I baptise you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. (Luke 3: 10-18)

Thy will be done Let us reflect on that question put to John in our Gospel today: “What should we do?” There are several things which distinguish the human being, if viewed in the context of the sweep of history. Obviously, one is religion. Characteristically, man is religious. The anthropologist and archaeologist will take it for granted that religion has marked the society and culture of the people he is studying. Another characteristic is that man is rational. He attains new knowledge not just by gazing at new things, but also by going

from known to unknown by the power of reason. Another is that he works, and the better the person he is, the better he tries to work. What is “work”? This is not the moment for a philosophical discussion, but obviously it cannot simply mean the expenditure of energy on some activity. A machine expends energy, but we do not normally speak of the machine as doing a work, except by analogy and extension. “Work” is something proper to human beings. We must “work” in order to live (unless we are living off the work of another), and we must also “work” in order to be happy. Moreover, the more we strive to do really good work, the happier we shall be. If a person does very little work, he gradually crumbles. If he does work that is poor when he could have done good work, he gradually crumbles. Ordinary human experience of personhood and its need to work and work well, ought suggest to us things about God the Creator. His work is before us constantly, the work that is the universe. Our Lord once said to the leaders of the Jews who criticized him for healing on the Sabbath that, inasmuch as his heavenly Father was working, he too would work. God is hard at work, and it is inconceivable that God would not do excellent work. What is to be said, then, of the miserable sights we see in man and nature, when both are the work of God’s hands? We can only say what the owner of the harvest said of the weeds, in our Lord’s parable, “An enemy has done this!” Now - and this brings us to the point of this reference to work, especially the work of God - what is it that God intends in all his work? Putting it differently, what is the will of God in all he does?

Ordinary human reflection would suggest to us that a good God wills not only to sustain things in existence, but to ensure that his creation greatly flourishes. Imagine a disease striking the fruit on an orchard farm. Who would suspect the owner of the farm to have introduced the disease into the fruit of his farm, or knowingly permitted it? The idea would be preposterous. Rather, the will of the farmer is that his fruit flourish. He discovers the disease and then works night and day to eradicate it, and at great cost he succeeds. So too, precisely as creator, God means to do good work. His will is to bring life and not death. If we take as a basic assumption that God is good, we would expect that the disease of sin and death could not be his work. We would expect, instead, that he would be working to overcome sin and death as being a terrible blight on his work. Now, all of this philosophical expectation is confirmed by Revelation. God has “made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ” (Ephesians 1:9-11). As St John says in his Gospel (3:17), God did not send his son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. The will of our heavenly Father is that “all men be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4). It was for this that Jesus came, to fulfill perfectly the saving will of his heavenly Father. This is the will of God, man’s salvation and sanctification. This is his work, and in Christ the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once and for all. We pray to God our Father to unite our will to that of his Son, after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. We ourselves are radically incapable of this, but united with Jesus and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him. Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven! We ask that his loving plan be fully realized on earth as it is already in heaven. Let us pray that we may discern what is the will of God (Romans 12:2) and have the steadfastness to do it (Hebrews 10:36).

There are many joys in life, though the world be a broken world. One of those joys is the doing of good work. The best work that we can do, is to do as well as we can the will of God. This is what John instructed those who asked him, “What should we do?” (Luke 3: 10-18). Christ did the will of his Father, and he did it perfectly even though so many rejected his work. If we do the will of God, Christ will give us a share in his joy. Even if the circumstances surrounding our work may be unfavourable and even crumble before us - as it did, in certain respects in the life of our Lord - the joy of doing good work will be ours, for we shall have done the will of God.
(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.2822-2827 (Thy will be done)

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Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! What I want is your happiness. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4‑7)

Christian Joy In the second reading St Paul tells us that we should rejoice, and that we should rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4-7). He says that what he wants is our happiness, and that this is what God wants. This is a tremendous thought. Everyone desires joy, and God wants it for us too.

But God wants not just any joy, but his own peace and joy to fill our hearts. We have all known many joys in life, but all too often they just slip away. So what is joy, so that we can cultivate it as St Paul exhorts us? And what brings about Christian joy? What are its sources? Of course, we cannot just decide to be joyful and expect that joy will be ours simply because we want it. Joy comes above all from love. Joy and happiness are found when we love and are loved, and it stands to reason that we shall find the greatest joy when we give ourselves to the greatest Lover, and that is God himself. Here then in the secret of possessing joy. Just as we cannot just have oranges, but must first have orange trees from which come the oranges, so we cannot produce joy without first producing its source, which is love. Love is the tree on which joy flowers. Joy is the fruit of love, that is, true love. One of the most obviously joyful of the saints was St Francis of Assisi. That is very much the reason for his universal appeal. He renounced all his material possessions and embraced poverty in imitation of Christ, and in his poverty he was supremely joyful. This was because he no longer clung to creatures, he was no longer attached to them. He saw beyond them to the God he loved so deeply. His joy came from his union with God and his love for him.

So the main source of Christian joy is the knowledge that God loves us. With great joy St Paul exclaimed, Christ loved me and gave himself up for me! And our Lord’s own joy came from the awareness he had of the Father’s infinite love for him, the Son. So too, the Father’s joy comes from his awareness of being loved by the Son. And that love which is the source of God’s own joy is the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts at our baptism, enabling us to know in faith the love God has for us and to grow in love for him in return. This is the source of Christian joy: to share in the love of God, to know he loves us and then to give our lives over to loving God totally in return. In the first reading (Zephaniah 3:14-18), the prophet Zephaniah predicts that God will be like a joyous lover singing with delight in the presence of his beloved, and that beloved is his own chosen people. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love; he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.” What a daring and wonderful image! And in the psalm, God tells us that we will draw water at the fountain of salvation. That fountain, the Christian knows, is the heart of Christ, who pours out his love. In today’s Gospel (Luke 3:10-18), St John the Baptist speaks of God’s law which his hearers were obliged to follow. But God did not merely give us his law. He gave us his Son, and with his Son the Holy Spirit who is the love of God. Our joy is the love of God. We are loved. Our religion is not just a matter of observing the divine law, even though God’s law is the expression of his love and to remain in his love we must observe his law.

Christmas is the joy of God coming to us and the promise of one day going to him. Then our joy will be greater than our wildest dreams. We must prepare for that day of joy by struggling to increase and purify our love. In writing on joy, Pope Paul VI once wrote that “the combat for the kingdom includes passing through a passion of love.” We must aim for the perfection of love. There are two obstacles to Christian joy. The first is knowingly to refuse God what he wants of us. The second is the failure to believe how much God loves us. So let us make Advent the time when we renew our appreciation of the love of Jesus for us, and our resolve to live in his love. Joy will then be ours.
(E.J.Tyler)

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice, St Paul tells us. His verb is in the imperative: it is imperative that we rejoice! It is possible to go right through life lacking the joy our Lord means us to have even in the midst of many sufferings. Elsewhere the Gospel tells us that our Lord rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. We read that he gave a share of his own peace to the Apostles: Peace I leave for you, not the peace of the world, but my peace do I leave you. Our Lord means

us to live lives of inner joy and peace, while carrying the daily cross of obedience to God’s will in his footsteps. We are made to yearn for joy, and every Christian is called to a life of joy. If we hear that a person is joyful, and habitually joyful, we instinctively think that he has something which is very important, perhaps more important than anything else. Too often people have the wrong kind of joy, a joy based on things that do not matter or that are even harmful. We have all known many joys: such as the prospect of exciting and satisfying work, a new area to live in, success in exams, but this kind of joy tends to slip away from us. So let us ask: What is true joy? Whence does it come? Through the prophetic words of John the Baptist, God directs that the rights of others must be respected and that the poor must be helped. These stipulations of God’s law are manifestations of his love for needy man. In the psalm, God tells us that with joy we will draw water at the fountain of salvation. That fountain is himself. As St John tells us in the prologue of his Gospel, God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. We are loved by the Father as his children, and it is his Son Jesus who reveals the Father’s love. He who sees me, our Lord said, sees the Father. Our religion is not primarily something, but Someone. Our salvation comes from holding on to Him. He, Jesus Christ, is the cause of our joy.

Our truest joy lies in God, and in the thought that God is near and coming soon. If we live for him, we can look forward joyfully to his coming. And that is the theme of Advent. Today, we can rejoice because Christmas is near. Christmas is the celebration of God’s coming among us, a thought that should fill us with joy. It contains the great promise that he will come one day to take us to be with him forever. The thought of this second coming should fill us with joy. But it presumes that we are living in a way that will please Christ when he does come to take us. If we are, his coming will be the cause of unbounded joy. Living a life that is pleasing to God involves love, love received from God and love given to him. This love for God, planted in our hearts as a gift at our Baptism, has to be cultivated, made strong, and developed into a divine passion for God. Our Lord’s passionate love for his Father and his passionate love for us is the example of this, a love shared by the saints and in a measure by ourselves, due to the grace of God. Now, there are two obstacles to this joy. The first obstacle to the joy God means us to have is knowingly to refuse God what he wants of us. Love involves a union of will and desire. How can one love God and not be one with him in what he wants? We will not be happy as long as we disregard or refuse what God wants of us, because we will not be loving him. The second obstacle to joy is to fail to believe how much God loves us. St Paul once said that nothing, neither death, nor life, nothing seen or unseen can separate us from the loving concern of God as revealed in Christ. No matter what our circumstances, we must always believe that God loves and cares for us. This faith in God’s love will be a great source of joy, but it requires much work on our part. We must not give in to discouragement or bitterness.

The love of God which is the source of true joy is God’s gift. It is to be asked for, and it is to be nourished by the channels of grace. Those channels of grace are assiduous prayer, the devout reception of the sacraments — especially Mass, Holy Communion, and Confession — and the careful attempt to fulfil our duties and responsibilities. So let us take to heart the call to joy! Joy will be ours if the love of God is the foundation of our lives. Let us make that the grace we ask of God today.

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Chapter II. How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both material and spiritual: and how these gifts should be cherished without neglect of the Giver:

He is unpardonable if he does not love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind; for his own innate justice and common sense cry out from within that he is bound wholly to love God, from whom he has received all things. But it is hard, nay rather, impossible, for a man by his own strength or in the power of free-will to render all things to God from whom they came, without rather turning them aside, each to his own account, even as it is written, ‘For all seek their own’ (Phil. 2:21); and again, ‘The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth’ (Gen. 8:21 ). (Concluded)

Prayers: Nations, hear the message of the Lord, and make it known to the ends of the earth: Our Saviour is coming. Have no more fear. Jer 31:10; Is 35: 4

Lord, hear our voices raised in prayer. Let the light of the coming of your Son free us from the darkness of sin. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...

(December 14) St. John of the Cross (1541-1591)
John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his name: “of the Cross.” The folly

of the cross came to full realization in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The Paschal Mystery — through death to life — strongly marks John as reformer, mystic-poet and theologian-priest. Ordained a Carmelite priest at 25 (1567), John met Teresa of Jesus (Avila) and like her vowed himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As partner with Teresa and in his own right, John engaged in the work of reform, and came to experience the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God! Yet, the paradox! In this dying of imprisonment John came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual Canticle. But as agony leads to ecstasy, so John had his Ascent to Mt. Carmel, as he named it in his prose masterpiece. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analysed it in his prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is truly “of the Cross.” He died at 49 — a life short, but full.
    John in his life and writings has a crucial word for us today. We tend to be rich, soft, comfortable. We shrink even from words like self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, discipline. We run from the cross. John’s message — like the gospel — is loud and clear: Don’t — if you really want to live!
    Thomas Merton said of John: "Just as we can never separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the Cross we find darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love united together so closely that they seem at times to be identified."
    In John's words:
    "Never was fount so clear,
    undimmed and bright;
    From it alone, I know proceeds all light
    although 'tis night."     (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. By what authority are you doing these things? they asked. And who gave you this authority? Jesus replied, I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism— where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men? They discussed it among themselves and said, If we say, ‘From heaven’, he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’— we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We don’t know. Then he said, Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (Matthew 21: 23-27)

Christ’s authority In our Gospel today a critical issue is raised: the authority of Jesus Christ. Our Lord enters the temple courts and begins to teach the people who were there awaiting him or who quickly gathered before him. The people accounted him a prophet and a great teacher, and for his part our Lord constantly displayed a sense of supreme personal authority in all the things of God. He pronounced decisively on matters in dispute

among the religious experts. He took it upon himself to cleanse the temple of its commercial activity. He disregarded the cumbersome restrictions insisted upon in respect to the observance of the Sabbath, stating that he was no less than the Lord of the Sabbath. He even forgave sins on his own authority and proved his authority to do this by miracles. In every respect he exuded religious authority. But what gave to him his assurance? What was the source of his authority? And so the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and asked him, By what authority are you doing these things? In response to the question as it appears in our Gospel text today, our Lord points to the prophet they all knew, John the Baptist. What was the source of his ministry — was he commissioned by heaven or by some human authority? That is to say, was he a true prophet or not? Perhaps the priests and elders had interrupted our Lord during his very teaching. As a result the people may have been in the presence of these authorities when our Lord counterposed his own question to them. If they denied that John was a prophet the people would have reacted with condemnation, and the leaders feared the people. But if they said he was, it meant that his testimony to Jesus as being the promised One would have to be accepted. Our Lord in effect is saying that his authority comes from his heavenly Father who sent him. His authority is supported by the witness of John. Indeed, our Lord stresses — especially with his disciples — that the entire prophetic tradition bore witness to him.

The Christian is profoundly convinced of the supreme authority of Jesus Christ. He is not just one of many religious authorities. One of the many benefits of studying the religions of man, especially the great world religions, is that it shows the religious yearnings of mankind. Man aspires to friendship with God to the extent that this is possible, and he wishes to live in such a way that God will not be displeased. Such a study will also show the distinctiveness of Christ. He claimed unique and full authority to teach man the way to union with God and how to live according to his will. He supported his claim by pointing to the witness of the prophets, to his miraculous activity which by its very character supported the revelation he was making, and by his incomparable teaching. Having risen from the dead and about to ascend to his heavenly Father, he told his disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. He is the supreme authority in all that pertains to salvation and man’s relationship with God. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the Lord of all mankind and of every nation, including those who know little of him or who have repulsed him. There are countries whose governments are still communist, particularly in Asia and parts of Africa. They characteristically do not like religion and they particularly dislike Christianity. Christ is their Lord, though they do not know it. Because Christ is the universal King, he has entrusted his Church and her members with a universal mission: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. It is the will of God that Jesus Christ be recognized as having all authority in heaven and on earth, and that his teaching govern all of human life. The question of authority which the chief priests and the scribes raise in our Gospel today (Matthew 21: 23-27) is central to the person and mission of Jesus Christ. Christ has this authority, but he will not impose it. He invites all to accept it, for our salvation depends on its acceptance.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

The faithful know how much need they have of Jesus and Him crucified; but though they wonder and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in Him, they are not daunted at having no more than their own poor souls to give in return for such great and condescending charity. They love all the more, because they know themselves to be loved so exceedingly; but to whom little is given the same loveth little (Luke 7:47). (Continuing)

Prayers today: See, the Lord is coming and with him all his saints. Then there will be endless day. Zec 14: 5, 7

Father of love, you made a new creation through Jesus Christ your Son. May his coming free us from sin and renew his life within us, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 15) Blessed Mary Frances Schervier (1819-1876)
This woman who once wanted to become a Trappistine nun was instead led by God to establish a community of sisters who care for the sick and aged in the United States and throughout the world. Born into a distinguished family in Aachen (then ruled by Prussia but formerly Aix-la-Chapelle, France), Frances ran the household after her mother’s death and established a reputation

for generosity to the poor. In 1844 she became a Secular Franciscan. The next year she and four companions established a religious community devoted to caring for the poor. In 1851 the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis (a variant of the original name) were approved by the local bishop; the community soon spread. The first U.S. foundation was made in 1858. Mother Frances visited the United States in 1863 and helped her sisters nurse soldiers wounded in the Civil War. She visited the United States again in 1868. When Philip Hoever was establishing the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis, she encouraged him. When Mother Frances died, there were 2,500 members of her community worldwide. The number has kept growing. They are still engaged in operating hospitals and homes for the aged. Mother Mary Frances was beatified in 1974.
The sick, the poor and the aged are constantly in danger of being considered "useless" members of society and therefore ignored — or worse. Women and men motivated by the ideals of Mother Frances are needed if the God-given dignity and destiny of all people are to be respected.
In 1868, Mother Frances wrote to all her sisters, reminding them of Jesus’ words: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.... I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another” (John 15:14,17). She continued: “If we do this faithfully and zealously, we will experience the truth of the words of our father St. Francis who says that love lightens all difficulties and sweetens all bitterness. We will likewise partake of the blessing which St. Francis promised to all his children, both present and future, after having admonished them to love one another even as he had loved them and continues to love them.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Zephaniah 3: 1-2.9-13; Ps 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 and 23; Matthew 21: 28-32;

Jesus said, What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? The first, they answered. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. (Matthew 21: 28-32)

Continual repentance One of the many obvious differences between Islam and Christianity is the denial by Islam of an inherited Original Sin. Man is not born into an inherited condition of sin. Rather he must choose to resist sin and by nature he is indeed able to resist it. In the early Church, the priest Pelagius insisted that man by nature is able to live a good and holy life — and so he too denied the inherited fallen condition of man. Man can choose to live a holy life and can do this by force of his God-given nature. This doctrine was, as is well known, combated by St Augustine

who insisted on the Fall and the power and the necessity of grace. Now, the Protestant Reformers following Luther and Calvin made this a central issue of their Reform, and, filled with a sense of the helplessness of man before the call of holiness, insisted on the utter depravity of the human heart. It is God’s sovereign power which is his only hope. Ever since these positions were nailed to the mast there has been hard controversy between the Catholic insistence that man’s effort and choice also have a part to play and the Protestant insistence that faith alone avails. It is quite possible that there is no ultimate disagreement on this particular issue, despite the anathemas that arose as a result. Be all this as it may, it surely serves to introduce the great point of our Lord’s parable in today’s Gospel passage. His point is that we must choose to convert. There is the man who religiously promises to do God’s will, but in the event does not. In both personal inclination and external appearance he is religious and there is often on his lips and in his heart the promise to God that he will do his will. He does not entertain the thought of a life of sin or of general neglect of God. He is, let us say, a religious man as most would understand that to be. But in his heart he chooses to displease God. Secretly he fails to follow God’s law when it involves inconvenience. He gives very little indeed to the poor. In his heart of hearts all his life he refuses to forgive. His imagination is cluttered with images that are offensive to God. That is to say, he chooses not to obey God.

By contrast there is the person who for many years neglects God and everyone can see that. He does not live the faith he has received at his Baptism and in which he was raised by his dutiful parents. He hears that he must obey God to be saved and that Christ is the only Saviour, but he is interested in other things. This world is what he wants and to give his heart to Jesus Christ he regards as a waste and a mistake. So his life is godless and very secular. He does well in the world because worldly success is the focus of his life. But then he undergoes adverse experiences. He falls sick with a life-threatening condition from which he recovers but in the process he has come to see the ephemeral character of purely worldly attainments. After all, what can he take with him when his time finally comes? At the end of his allotted span, what will he really have to show? Such are the thoughts that gradually come — thoughts that are perhaps confirmed by a bereavement. His wife or child dies and he is absolutely devastated. What is it that makes life worthwhile? And so he comes to change. He gradually turns to God. Though his characteristic response to the call of faith and religion used to be “I will not,” now it is very different. Now he says in his heart, “I will.” He goes from strength to strength in his new direction, still sinning but now continually converting. His conversion was not a one-off event, but the beginning of a pattern. He is continually endeavouring to convert. Every day he reviews briefly the course of his service of God during the day and he resolves yet again to change. He will change in the areas he sees require a change. His goal now is to repent constantly not only of serious sin but above all of venial sin, the smaller sins of every day. This, then, is the secret of the sanctity that is growing in him due to the action of grace. He does not consider any sin, even the lightest and most venial, to be acceptable. He knows that all sin is odious to God, so he will recognize it and resolve to avoid it. The secret to his spiritual progress is that he is repenting daily of deliberate venial sins.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Neither Jew nor pagan feels the pangs of love as doth the Church, which saith, 'Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love' (Cant. 2:5). She beholds King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals; she sees the Sole-begotten of the Father bearing the heavy burden of His Cross; she sees the Lord of all power and might bruised and spat upon, the Author of life and glory transfixed with nails, smitten by the lance, overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying down His precious life for His friends. (Continuing)

Prayers today: The Lord is coming and will not delay; he will bring every hidden thing to light and reveal himself to every nation. Habakuk 2: 3; 1 Cor 4: 5

Father, may the coming celebration of the birth of your Son bring us your saving help and prepare us for eternal life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

(December 16) Blessed Honoratus Kozminski (1825-1916)
       He was born in Biala Podlaska (Siedlce, Poland) and studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. When Wenceslaus was almost sixteen, his father died. Suspected of participating in a rebellious conspiracy, the young man was imprisoned from April 1846 until the following March. In 1848 he received the Capuchin habit and a new name. Four years later he was ordained. In 1855 he helped Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska establish the Felician Sisters. Honoratus served as guardian in a Warsaw friary already in 1860. He dedicated his energies to preaching, to giving spiritual direction and to hearing confessions. He worked tirelessly with the Secular Franciscan Order. The failed 1864 revolt against Czar Alexander III led to the suppression of all religious Orders in Poland. The Capuchins were expelled from Warsaw and forced to live in Zakroczym, where Honoratus continued his ministry and began founding twenty-six male and female religious congregations, whose members took vows but wore no religious habit and did not live in community. They operated much as today’s secular institutes do. Seventeen of these groups still exist as religious congregations. The writings of Father Honoratus are extensive: forty-two volumes of sermons, 21 volumes of letters as well as 52 printed works on ascetical theology, Marian devotion, historical writings, pastoral writings — not counting his many writings for the religious congregations he founded. In 1906, various bishops sought the reorganization of these groups under their authority; Honoratus defended their independence but was removed from their direction in 1908. He promptly urged the members of these congregations to obey the Church’s decisions regarding their future. He “always walked with God,” said a contemporary. In 1895 he was appointed Commissary General of the Capuchins in Poland. Three years before he had come to Nowe Miasto, where he died and was buried. He was beatified in 1988.
    The story is told that Francis and Brother Leo, his secretary, were once on a journey and Francis volunteered to tell Leo what perfect joy is. Francis began by saying what it was not: news that the kings of France, England, as well as all the world’s bishops and many university professors had decided to become friars, news that the friars had received the gift of tongues and miracles, or news that the friars had converted all the non-Christians in the world. No, perfect joy for them would be to arrive cold and hungry at St. Mary of the Angels, Francis’ headquarters outside Assisi, and be mistaken by the porter for thieves and beaten by the same porter and driven back into the cold and rain. Francis said that if, for the love of God, he and Leo could endure such treatment without losing their patience and charity, that would be perfect joy (cited in Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., and Ignatius Brady, O.F.M., Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, pages 165-166).
    Honoratus worked very zealously to serve the Church, partly by establishing a great variety of religious congregations adapted to the special circumstances of Poland in those years. He could have retreated into bitterness and self-pity when the direction of those congregations was taken away from him; that was certainly a “perfect joy” experience. He urged the members of these groups to obey willingly and gladly, placing their gifts at the service of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
    When the Church removed Honoratus from the direction of his religious congregations and changed their character, he wrote: “Christ’s Vicar himself has revealed God’s will to us, and I carry out this order with greatest faith.... Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that you are being given the opportunity to show heroic obedience to the holy Church.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 45: 6-8.21-25; Psalm 85: 9 & 10, 11-12, 13-14; Luke 7: 19-23;

John sent two of his disciples to the Lord to ask, Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else? When the men came to Jesus, they said, John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. (Luke 7: 19-23)

Christ is the Key Immediately after this passage of the Gospel we read how our Lord pronounced the highest praise for John. He is — and our Lord is speaking of him as in the present — he is a true prophet “and something more, I tell you, than a prophet. This is the man of whom it is written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare thy way for thy coming”. John is the fulfilment of this prophecy of Malachi (3:1). Our Lord emphasizes his point again: “I tell you, there is no greater than John the Baptist among all the sons of women” (Luke 7: 26-28). So then, Christ states that John was a great prophet.

John had proclaimed that the Messiah was at hand and he had identified him as Jesus of Nazareth. He had summarized the essence of his Messianic mission, to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16), and he himself was unworthy to undo his sandal straps. When our Lord presented himself for baptism John demurred: Jesus ought be baptizing him, he said. He had witnessed a divine confirmation in the voice from heaven following Christ’s baptism (Luke 3:22). But notice how our Gospel passage today suggests that John himself had misapprehensions about the saving plan of God. Having pointed to Jesus and having passed the prophetic mantle on to him as to one far greater than himself, John from his prison cell was puzzled and troubled. Jesus did not seem to be acting as the Messiah. He did not seem to be purging the threshing-floor clean and consuming the chaff with fire that can never be quenched (Luke 3:17). It looks as if John imagined the Messiah as a man of might, exalting the good and putting down the wicked with a conquering flourish and invincible power. Of course, the Messiah would be all of this, but in the fullness of time at the end. His public ministry was other than what John expected. Rather, it was in accord with the real character of God who is a God rich in mercy and compassion. What this means is that, in effect, John needed the teaching of Christ to interpret properly and fully his own prophecy about him.

In response to the question of the two disciples of John as to whether in fact he was the Messiah, our Lord replied, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. (Luke 7: 19-23). Our Lord is pointing to the great prophecy of Isaiah, in which God is spoken of as coming to save his people. “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened,” the prophet had written (Isaiah 35:5), “and the ears of the deaf shall be cleared. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall be free.” The two disciples of John would have returned to their master giving him full assurance and directing him as well to the prophecy which our Lord was fulfilling in its very detail. The point here, though, is that Christ is not only the fulfilment of the Scriptures and the prophecies, but he is the light that enables the Scriptures to be understood. We have in John an example of a great prophet who not only prophesied the imminent arrival of the Messiah but who clarified his mission and identified his person. As with other great prophets, his teaching is incorporated into the inspired Scriptures — in his case, into the New Testament. However, our Gospel passage today shows that he too had to be enlightened by Christ as to the precise bearing of his own prediction. It is an instance of the principle that Christ is the key to the meaning of the Scriptures and the prophecies. The person and teaching of Christ is foretold with varying degrees of clarity by the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, but they themselves — as did John himself — receive clarifying light from the person and teaching of Christ. Isaiah pointed to the Messiah, but the Messiah helps Isaiah, we might say, to understand his own prophecy. That is to say, we must use the Old Testament — and we may regard John as its epitome — to understand Christ all the more, and we must regard Christ as the light and the key in our reading of the Old Testament.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Contemplating this the sword of love pierces through her own soul also and she cried aloud, 'Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love.' The fruits which the Spouse gathers from the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of her Beloved, are pomegranates (Cant. 4:13), borrowing their taste from the Bread of heaven, and their color from the Blood of Christ. She sees death dying and its author overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive from hell to earth, from earth to heaven, so 'that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth' (Phil. 2:10). (Continuing)

Prayers today: Lord, you are near, and all your commandments are just; long have I known that you decreed them for ever. Psalm 118: 151-152

Lord, our sins bring us unhappiness. Hear our prayer for courage and strength. May the coming of your Son bring us the joy of salvation. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...

(December 17)   Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary
       Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years. A church was built in his honour in Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in 890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of converts and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the new cathedral in Autun in 1146.
           Whatever of the legends, it is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.          (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 54: 1-10; Psalm 30: 2 & 4, 5-6, 11-12a, & 13b; Luke 7: 24-30;

But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no‑one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. All the people, even the tax collectors, who heard him, acknowledged God’s plan as right by accepting John’s baptism. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John. (Luke 7: 24-30)

Conversion At the end of our Gospel passage today our Lord tells us that “all the people, even the tax collectors” accepted baptism from John. Earlier in this same Gospel, St Luke tells us that “crowds” went out to be baptized by him (3:7). For his part, Matthew tells us that “there went out to him Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins”

(3:5-6). St Luke tells us that John was blunt with the crowds that came to him: “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (3:7). He was a prophet who preached fire and brimstone, we might say, and demanded that they repent. Our Lord informs us that the people accepted John’s baptism. They responded to his call and their response was signified by their being baptized by him. But the “Pharisees and experts in the law” did not. Let us consider these two classes of persons, those who received John’s baptism, and those who did not, remembering that the foremost person who accepted John’s baptism was Jesus Christ himself. Initially John would not baptize Jesus because of his profound sense of Christ’s holiness. He knew Jesus had no sin, whereas he himself was a sinner and he said that Jesus ought be the one baptizing him. By himself submitting to baptism our Lord was bearing witness to the sin of the world and to its need to repent. Man must repent. Christ’s first disciples had been trained by John: Simon and his brother Andrew, and James and John. Throughout his public ministry we see our Lord associating Peter, James and John in a special way with himself, and St Paul refers to these three as the pillars of the infant Church. They had come straight from the hand of John the Baptist. There is no doubt that the way had been prepared for our Lord by John and the burst of missionary life in the Church after Pentecost had its roots in the prophetic ministry of John. The early Church constantly refers to his ministry. His preaching of repentance and his baptism asking God’s forgiveness laid the foundation for the centrality of conversion in the Christian religion.

By contrast, our Lord tells us that the Pharisees and the lawyers did not accept the baptism of John. It seems that they held aloof. More than this, our Lord indicates in other passages of the Gospels that they positively rejected John. Coming down from the mountain after his transfiguration, our Lord told Peter, James and John — who had been disciples of John — that the leaders had treated John as they pleased. In the same chapter from which our Gospel today is drawn, our Lord tells us that John came neither eating nor drinking and they called him a devil. They were proud and unyielding before the preaching of John, despite the example of the common people who accepted him as a prophet and his baptism as God’s will for them. This refusal set the pace for their confrontation with Jesus. The conflict grew in tempo and became implacable. The more our Lord’s holiness and power became manifest, the more resolute they became to destroy him. At root was their refusal to repent. The call to repent had come from John, and they refused. This call to repent was renewed with greater force by Christ, and they refused. Pilate saw that it was because of envy and jealousy that the leaders had handed Jesus over to him. Their hearts hardened and became sunk in sin. Let us gaze upon these spiritual phenomena as illustrated by the two groups our Lord chooses to contrast. On the one hand there is the readiness to repent and on the other, the refusal to do so. Everything depends on the upshot of this choice, and we see it being played out in the public ministry and passion of Christ. There Christ hangs on the cross and before him are the leaders of the Jews, jeering at him. They are the ones who refused to repent at John’s preaching and at Christ’s preaching. Nearby stands a small group, among whom is John his beloved disciple and others of his disciples. They chose conversion and the following of him. Repentance is the door to life with Christ, while the refusal to repent is the door to death in sin.

Repentance is not just a one-off action. Conversion is not something we do on one day, or during some very significant moment, and that is all. Repentance is a daily feature of the life of the religious and Christian person. John’s call to repent, a call renewed by Christ, is a call we must hear every day. It is only on the basis of continuing repentance and turning away from sin that we can hope to follow Christ genuinely. Let us resolve to repent, to convert, and to do so every day.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

The earth under the ancient curse brought forth thorns and thistles; but now the Church beholds it laughing with flowers and restored by the grace of a new benediction. Mindful of the verse, 'My heart danceth for joy, and in my song will I praise Him', she refreshes herself with the fruits of His Passion which she gathers from the Tree of the Cross, and with the flowers of His Resurrection whose fragrance invites the frequent visits of her Spouse. (Continuing)

Prayers today: The Lord is coming from heaven in splendour to visit his people, and bring them peace and eternal life.

All-powerful Father, guide us with your love as we await the coming of your Son. Keep us faithful that we may be helped through life and brought to salvation. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

Jesus said to the Jews, You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very works that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testify that the Father has sent me. (John 5: 33-36)

Witnesses to Jesus Christ Our brief Gospel passage today is part of a long discourse that makes up more than half of the chapter. The setting is the healing of the man who had been sick for nearly forty years and who lay near the pool of Bethsaida. On the Sabbath day our Lord healed him at a word. The leaders of the Jews, we read in the chapter, pursued Jesus because in doing this he was, they insisted, breaking the Sabbath.

Moreover, “he also said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God” (John 5:18). Christ’s practice, his example and especially his unprecedented claims set the scene of this chapter and introduce our Lord’s further claims and his defence. He states he is not alone in the witness he bears to himself, and in our passage today he begins with the witness borne to him by John the Baptist. To appreciate this we must notice the great status John has in the Gospel of St John. John is accorded a place in the very prologue of the Gospel. He is introduced in the sixth verse of the opening chapter, immediately after the description of the Word of God who is the light and the life of man. We are informed of the Word who was with God, and immediately we are informed of John. John’s prophetic testimony then takes up more than half of the first chapter of the Gospel and it is he who introduces the Messiah to the chosen people. All acknowledged him to be a prophet, and for its part the Gospel of St John acknowledges him to be a very great prophet. In our passage today our Lord points to his witness. He tells his hearers that he himself does not need human witnesses to be assured of his mission and his identity. He refers to John for the sake of his hearers: “I mention it that you may be saved.” The leaders had sent to John, our Lord says, and “he has testified to the truth.” We read of this testimony to the leaders in the first chapter of the Gospel when the Pharisees sent their representatives to ask John to account for himself. He told them plainly that the Messiah had arrived, and we can deduce that he made it publicly known that Jesus was the Messiah.

But our Lord says that he has a much greater witness than John, and that is his heavenly Father. The works he has been doing themselves show that the Father has sent him. We remember how on one occasion when he was teaching in a house, the press of people was so dense that those carrying a paralyzed man could not get to Jesus. So they mounted the roof and lowered the sick man before Jesus from above. Seeing their faith our Lord said to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven you. The leaders who were watching were astonished that our Lord had presumed to forgive the man his sins, so our Lord said to them, To prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say (to the sick man) get up, take up your mat and go off home. This the man did in front of them all. Our Lord was unhesitatingly performing a great miracle precisely to show forth the witness of the Father to his authority to forgive sins. On a later occasion not long before his Passion, our Lord arrived at Bethany where his friend Lazarus had died some four days earlier. Just before he raised him from the dead at a word, he prayed to his heavenly Father, saying that what he was about to do would be done “that they may believe that you have sent me” (John 11: 42). His raising of Lazarus was a work that showed the witness of the Father to his beloved Son. If we accept the historicity of the Gospels, then who else in human history could compare with Jesus Christ in his miraculous powers? If we accept the fact of a good and holy God, how could his miracles not be accounted as a divine witness to his unparalleled claims? Christ effortlessly performed miracles of an astounding variety and power, all directed to the relief of terrible human misery. He cured lepers at a word. He restored sight to those blind from birth. He cured multitudes of a great range of debilitating illnesses. He even raised people from the dead and did so with absolute ease. He drove out demons. He calmed the sea at a word and walked on the turbulent waves, meeting his disciples at their boat in mid sea. To crown it all, he predicted that he would suffer and die, and that by his own power he would rise on the third day. This he did.

To a person thoroughly open to the truth, all that could have been done to vindicate the extraordinary claims of Jesus Christ was in fact done. The heavenly Father bore witness to him. On the Mountain, the voice of the Father was heard: this is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him! We cannot do better than listen to the voice of Jesus Christ and then to put it into practice. If we do this we shall be like the man who builds his house on rock. When the rain and the floods come, all will be well. Let us then plant ourselves next to Christ and never leave his side.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Then it is that He exclaims, ‘Behold thou art fair, My beloved, yea pleasant: also our bed is green’ (Cant. 1:16). She shows her desire for His coming and whence she hopes to obtain it; not because of her own merits but because of the flowers of that field which God hath blessed. Christ who willed to be conceived and brought up in Nazareth, that is, the town of branches, delights in such blossoms. Pleased by such heavenly fragrance the bridegroom rejoices to revisit the heart’s chamber when He finds it adorned with fruits and decked with flowers — that is, meditating on the mystery of His Passion or on the glory of His Resurrection.. (Continuing)

Prayers today: You heavens, sing for joy and earth exalt! Our Lord is coming; he will take pity on those in distress. (Is 49:13)

Father, creator and redeemer of mankind, you decreed, and your Word became man, born of the Virgin Mary. May we come to share the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share our human nature, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 17) Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years. A church was built in his honour in Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in 890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of converts and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the new cathedral in Autun in 1146.
Whatever of the legends, it is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Genesis 49: 2.8-10; Psalm 72: 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8,17; Matthew 1: 1-17

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. (Matthew 1: 1-17)

God writes straight One gets the impression that over the past half century there has been an explosion of grassroots interest in genealogy. That is to say, a very great number of people have been investigating with thoroughness their ancestry. Genealogical associations have sprung up and there is a lot of help available even on the Internet. This, I think, is warmly encouraged by professional historians because they recognize the immense contribution to the knowledge of the past that it represents. Now, for the person who is convinced of the presence and action of God in history, the study of ancestry can deepen one’s sense of

Providence. He delves into the hidden history of his forebears and sees their ordinariness, their strengths and their failures. He senses the sweep of the generations as they pass on from birth to death and then on to the next, with their achievements and their losses. He gains a certain fascination with what might be called the grandeur of history as it has touched his own family line. He might even gain a sense of God’s choice of him, of God’s gift of life to him with the opportunities that life will bring. History is not just a jumble, nor the plaything of the powerful and the ruthless, nor merely the contest between personal hopes and external forces. It is also the arena of the action of the hidden God caring for his children. Any study of history is valuable if it issues in a sense of the Lord of history and of how God writes straight even if in crooked lines. Now, this is surely a principal teaching of the Sacred Scriptures. They present the history of a people with all their faults, failures and successes. But the notable thing about this history is the presence and action of God caring for his chosen ones. Today’s Gospel, at the start of the Octave leading to Christmas, presents the ancestry of Jesus Christ. It encapsulates the story of God’s chosen people and the saving action of God within it. Beginning with the call of Abraham, St Matthew shows how God writes straight in very crooked lines. The shining crown of the story is Mary and Joseph, and the birth of the Messiah.

Let us notice the zig-zag in Christ’s ancestry. Apart from Abraham and David, many of the persons mentioned are virtually unknown, yet their glory is to have been an ancestor of Christ. There are those in the list who are far from having moral splendour, indeed there are some who brought the story to a low point. Yet God drew from them the most splendid moral Exemplar. Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, had been a pagan. We notice that St Matthew has structured the genealogy in three groups of fourteen ancestors. It is very symmetrical and suggests that in all the ups and downs of history, God was writing straight. He had his plan and it was most surely fulfilled. All was in his hand, and the sins and infidelities that beset his chosen people could not prevent God from attaining his saving purposes and fulfilling his promises. It is in this that history has its greatest grandeur. Despite appearances, God is very near and he is working to save his people from their sins. On one occasion when our Lord was attacked for healing on the Sabbath, he replied that his Father was working, so he worked too. The answer implies that God is ever working to attain his plan for our salvation. Just as the prophets trusted that God would fulfil his promises, so should we. We remember Simeon and Anna in the Temple when Mary and Joseph came to present the child Jesus to God there. Simeon had been yearning to see the Messiah and was granted his wish. He lived to see God fulfil his promises. We are also reminded by Christ’s genealogy of how God fulfilled his promise far beyond expectation. The Messiah was far more than the prophecies had suggested. Here was God himself become man! It was a revelation beyond all expectation. There now walked the earth the living God. He had become a real, true man. As man he took up the baton of man’s salvation and ran with it to win the race. He ran, and empowered us to run with him. It is an uphill run, and the peak of the run is the door of heaven itself. At the climax, which is the moment of our death, he comes to us to take us with him to glory.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Contemplating this the sword of love pierces through her own soul also and she cried aloud, 'Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love.' The fruits which the Spouse gathers from the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of her Beloved, are pomegranates (Cant. 4:13), borrowing their taste from the Bread of heaven, and their colour from the Blood of Christ. She sees death dying and its author overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive from hell to earth, from earth to heaven, so 'that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth' (Phil. 2:10). (Continuing)

All-powerful God, renew us by the coming feast of your Son and free us from our slavery to sin. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, …

(December 18) Blessed Anthony Grassi (1592-1671)
Anthony’s father died when his son was only 10 years old, but the young lad inherited his father’s devotion to Our Lady of Loreto. As a schoolboy he frequented the local church of the Oratorian Fathers, joining the religious order when he was 17. Already a fine student, he soon gained a reputation in his religious community as a "walking dictionary" who quickly grasped Scripture and theology. For some time he was tormented by scruples, but they reportedly left him at the very hour he celebrated his first Mass. From that day, serenity penetrated his very being. In 1621, at age 29, Anthony was struck by lightning while praying in the church of the Holy House at Loreto. He was carried paralysed from the church, expecting to die. When he recovered in a few days he realized that he had been cured of acute indigestion. His scorched clothes were donated to the Loreto church as an offering of thanks for his new gift of life. More important, Anthony now felt that his life belonged entirely to God. Each year thereafter he made a pilgrimage to Loreto to express his thanks. He also began hearing confessions, and came to be regarded as an outstanding confessor. Simple and direct, he listened carefully to penitents, said a few words and gave a penance and absolution, frequently drawing on his gift of reading consciences. In 1635 he was elected superior of the Fermo Oratory. He was so well regarded that he was re-elected every three years until his death. He was a quiet person and a gentle superior who did not know how to be severe. At the same time he kept the Oratorian constitutions literally, encouraging the community to do likewise. He refused social or civic commitments and instead would go out day or night to visit the sick or dying or anyone else needing his services. As he grew older, he had a God-given awareness of the future, a gift which he frequently used to warn or to console. But age brought its challenges as well. He suffered the humility of having to give up his physical faculties one by one. First was his preaching, necessitated after he lost his teeth. Then he could no longer hear confessions. Finally, after a fall, he was confined to his room. The archbishop himself came each day to give him holy Communion. One of Anthony’s final acts was to reconcile two fiercely quarrelling brothers.
Nothing provides a better reason for reassessing a life than a brush with death. Anthony’s life already seemed to be on track when he was struck by lightning; he was a brilliant priest blessed, at last, with serenity. But his experience softened him. He became a loving counsellor and a wise mediator. The same might be said of us if we put our hearts to it. We needn’t wait to be struck by lightning. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19; Matthew 1: 18-24;

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel — which means, God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. (Matthew 1: 18-24)

The Saviour This is a precious passage because in it Matthew reports what God revealed to Joseph about Jesus after his conception and prior to his birth. We must assume that the ultimate source of this information was the Virgin Mary, who, of course, would have been told it by Joseph himself. The setting is

Joseph’s great perplexity as to the course to follow, having discovered his betrothed to be already with child. He was a most saintly man, and he could have had no doubt as to the sanctity of Mary his betrothed. But what was to be made of her pregnancy? The only course that occurred to him was quietly to bring the betrothal to an end in a way that would avoid all obvious embarrassment to her. This plan forming in his mind, suddenly an angel of the Lord spoke to him in a dream informing him of the true situation. Inasmuch as it is Gabriel who spoke to Mary and Zechariah in the Gospel of St Luke, we may presume it is Gabriel who speaks to Joseph in the Gospel of St Matthew. Joseph is addressed by the angel as “Joseph son of David” and he is the one who is to name the unborn child. That is to say, Joseph by the plan of God is here given the mission to act and serve as his father, and thus the child too will be the son of David. This child is the gift of God, for it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that he has been conceived of the Virgin. In this striking fashion, the child is shown as having been sent from God — not, say, at the moment of a prophetic call, but from the first instant of his conception. Notably, Joseph is informed of the name he is to confer on the child and he is informed of the child’s mission. The child is to be named “Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now, there are a few things to be noticed about this annunciation of the mission of the child. Let us observe that in Luke’s account of the annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the angel Gabriel, it is made abundantly clear that it is the Messiah who will be born of her and that the Messiah will be none other than the Son of God. His kingdom will be eternal.

No doubt Mary immediately divined that the child’s messianic mission would be to redeem his people from their sins, but this is not specifically stated by the angel. It is formally stated, though, in the angel’s words to Joseph. It is as if a further revelation is being given as to the precise focus of the child’s messianic work, and what the angel said to each would have been shared one with the other. Joseph is to name the child Jesus (meaning, God saves) because he is to save his people from their sins. Now, notice something further. The saviours of the past (Moses, the judges such as Samson, David, certain valiant leaders such as the Maccabees) saved their people from, we might say, the sins of their enemies. Moses saved his people — at God’s direction — from the Pharaoh, and led them to the promised land. Samson saved his people from the surrounding enemies and the Maccabees saved their people from godless oppression. The Messiah was expected to save his people from all such oppression and give to his people an enduring and absolute peace. The angel reveals to Joseph that this messianic child will save his people from their sins. It is from the bind and the thrall of sin which the Messiah was coming to set his people free. Moreover, it was primarily from their own sins that he was going to liberate them, and not simply from the sins and oppression of their enemies. He was not coming to lead a political liberation but a spiritual one, one directed at the heart of each member of “his people”. The true oppression was coming from within the heart and soul of each of his own, and this liberation from sin was to be his mission — a liberation to be brought to all who chose to count themselves among “his people”. There is perhaps here not only the clear indication of the proper mission of the Messiah, but a hint as to the “people” of the Messiah. They are those who receive the redemption from sin that he would bring. Joseph was being told before the birth of the child what John the Baptist would announce publicly decades later: Here is he who takes away the sin of the world.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Prayers today: He who is to come will not delay; then there will be no fear in our hands, because he is our Saviour. (Heb 10:37)

Father, you show the world the splendour of your glory in the coming of Christ, born of the Virgin. Give to us true faith and love to celebrate the mystery of God made man. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,...

(December 19) Blessed Pope Urban V (1310-1370)
In 1362, the man elected pope declined the office. When the cardinals could not find another person among them for that important office, they turned to a relative stranger: the holy person we honour today. The new Pope Urban V proved a wise choice. A Benedictine monk and canon lawyer, he was deeply spiritual and brilliant. He lived simply and modestly, which did not always earn him friends among clergymen who had become used to comfort and privilege. Still, he pressed for reform and saw to the restoration of churches and monasteries. Except for a brief period he spent most of his eight years as pope living away from Rome at Avignon, seat of the papacy from 1309 until shortly after his death. He came close but was not able to achieve one of his biggest goals — reuniting the Eastern and Western churches. As pope, Urban continued to follow the Benedictine Rule. Shortly before his death in 1370 he asked to be moved from the papal palace to the nearby home of his brother so he could say goodbye to the ordinary people he had so often helped. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a; Psalm 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17; Luke 1:5-25

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well on in years. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zechariah asked the angel, How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years. The angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time. Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realised he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. The Lord has done this for me, she said. In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people. (Luke 1: 5-25)

The grandeur of the ordinary If we turn to the Gospel of St John, as soon as the eternal Word of God is introduced in the Prologue (1:1-5), so is John the Baptist (1: 6-8), and much of the first chapter is given over to his ministry. Our Gospel today is from St Luke. Having introduced his Gospel to the reader (1: 1-4), St Luke immediately brings forward the figure of St John the Baptist. A lengthy portion of his first chapter is devoted to the conception and birth of John the Baptist. In our Gospel

today we are told how the Angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah the birth of his great son. But let us notice a detail explicitly mentioned by the Angel that is often overlooked. It is the role of Zechariah’s prayer. We read that “an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.” Of course, the person and ministry of John was part and parcel of the preordained plan of God — indeed, our Lord said that he was the Elijah who would come again, and the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi. Nevertheless, the prayer of Elizabeth and Zechariah was an important part of the implementation of that divine plan. The angel implies that the birth of John is in response to Zechariah’s prayer: “Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” It seems that the holy couple had been long praying for this favour, even despite their advanced years. They were excellent instances of Old Testament religion. St Luke tells us that “Both of them were upright (dikaioi — righteous, just) in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” The word “upright” is the same as that used of St Joseph the husband of the virgin Mary (dikaios — Matt 1:19). Yet despite their blameless life they had a life-long sorrow. They had no child, despite their prayers for offspring. But they remained faithful to God and continued with their prayer. As it turns out, their prayer and their fidelity were essential elements in the fulfilment of the saving plan of God.

Perhaps our minds turn back to another great prophet of the Old Testament, Samuel. We read at the beginning of the first book of Samuel that Hannah remained year after year without child and was profoundly grieved. In her heartfelt prayer she prayed for a male child, and her prayer is given in the first chapter. The Lord answered her prayer and she conceived, and gave birth to one who was great before the Lord. Samuel her son “grew up and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect. Thus all Israel from Dan to Beersheba came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:19-20). Hannah’s prayer, the prayer of one who was truly devoted to the Lord, had an important place in the implementation of the saving plan of God. Samuel was the greatest of Israel’s judges, and he anointed first Saul, and then David to be king. David, in turn, was the ancestor of the Messiah. This turn in salvation history may be said to have pivoted on the prayer of Hannah. So too, in a sense, the life and ministry of the John the Forerunner pivoted on the prayer of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Their prayer was heard and John began his existence. It is an indication that in the plan of God much depends on seeming little things, such as the persistent prayer for a particular favour, offered up by those who truly love God in obedience. Another little thing that was so crucial in salvation history was the consent given to the Angel soon after the event narrated in today’s Gospel. I refer to the consent of the Virgin Mary to the announcement by the Angel that in God’s plan she was to be the mother of the Messiah. “Be it done to me according to your word,” the Virgin replied. That simple reply, expressing such incomparable and never-failing obedience, was an essential pin that enabled the divine plan to proceed. Our Gospel today presents us with an otherwise obscure couple from among the chosen people, humbly living lives of obedience to God. As is revealed in the words of the angel, their prayer was very important indeed. Let that be a reminder of the importance of all the little things that make up the ordinary life. All have their dignity, all have their place in God’s plan.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Prayers today: God of love and mercy, help us to follow the example of Mary, always ready to do your will. At the message of an angel she welcomed your eternal Son and, filled with the light of your Spirit, she became the temple of your Word, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 20) St. Dominic of Silos (c. 1000-1073) It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honour today, but there’s a poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other. Our saint today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses in Spain. Many healings were reported there. About 100 years after Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to be the "other" Dominic — the one who founded the Dominicans. For many years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labour. The practice ended in 1931. (AmericanCatholic.org)

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly

favoured! The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin? The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God. I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May it be to me as you have said. Then the angel left her. (Luke 1: 26-38)

The Annunciation If we search the Old Testament, I do not think we shall find a greeting from God equal to the one expressed by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. In the Book of Genesis the first direct communication from God to man (Adam) is a permission and a command: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat. The moment you eat from it you shall certainly die” (2:16-17). God’s first words to Abraham consist of a call, a command: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and your father’s house to a land I will show you” (Gen 12:1). God’s

first words to Moses are a warning and a command: “Moses! Moses! Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet ... I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people..” (Exodus 3: 4-10). God’s first words to Samuel (1 Samuel 3: 11-14) were a judgment against Eli and his family. The first words of God to Elijah as reported in the first book of Kings are a command: “Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith..” (17:3). God’s first words to the prophet Isaiah were to cleanse his sins and to command him to go to the people as his representative (Isaiah 6: 6-9). But observe the greeting expressed by the exalted emissary from God to the humble and obscure virgin Mary: “Greetings, you who are filled with God’s favour! The Lord is with you.” I do not think there is anything its equal in the history of God’s people. The great Angel, Gabriel, representing God as he does, bows in respectful and loving obeisance before the Virgin. Before the Angel stands one who is singularly endowed by grace, one with whom God is present in every way and in an absolute, unqualified sense. This is the Lady of God’s chosen people, the one who is about to become the new Eve, the mother of all the living. God did not address the first Eve as he does the second. Let us then stand with the Angel and share in his veneration for this singular creature, pure in her holiness beyond description, who gazes upon him in humble wonderment. Hail, Mary!

The angel does not command, but announces the will of the Lord and in doing so asks the Virgin’s consent. But hearken now to his message. It is the will of the Lord that she here and now be with child, and this child will be none other than the Messiah himself. One wonders if, at the very moment the angel arrived, Mary was reading a scroll of a Messianic prophecy. Perhaps she was praying and yearning for the Messiah who was to come, as did Simeon whom she would see and hear before the coming year was out. In any case, the Angel now tells her the wondrous news. Her child would be the Messiah himself. How great a child! “You are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1: 26-38). These words must have burned themselves indelibly on the profoundly impressionable mind of Mary, treasuring them in her heart as she would have for the rest of her life. Reported in Luke, these words have her for their source. Her child was the King of kings, and he would sit on David’s throne forever, and his kingdom would never end. Moreover, he is the very Son of the Most High. How, she humbly asked, could this happen now, for I am a virgin? The Spirit of God will come upon you, the angel explained, and the divine power will cover you. Thus you will become the mother of the Son of God. For nothing is impossible to God! The holy maiden’s reply is simple, yet it expresses the most profound obedience ever lived by any creature of God: “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be to me as you have said.” Her consent obtained, the angel left her. The Son of God had become man, the new Adam. The virgin had become the new Eve, mother of all the living. The greatest miracle here is not that of the virgin birth, but that of the Incarnation. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God was made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. God’s definitive revelation of himself to man as a trinity of persons had formally begun, as had the mystery of the Incarnation.

This revelation was been heard, received and accepted in total faith by the Lady of our race, our mother, the first and foremost Christian, the mother of the Church and the most perfect human image of her divine Son. Let us ask her intercession before God, that we too receive in obedient faith all that God has revealed of his plan for our salvation. Let us receive it as did she, in full faith and obedience. This obedience would lead her to the foot of the cross. It will lead us there too.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the fullness of time during the reign of sin and death (Gal. 4:4). But it is the glory of the Resurrection, in the new springtime of regenerating grace, that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth, whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection, when time shall be no more. And so it is written, ‘The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth’ (Cant. 2:11ff); signifying that summer has come back with Him who dissolves icy death into the spring of a new life and says, ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev. 21:5). His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection (I Cor. 15:42); and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth. (Continuing)

Prayers for today: Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Saviour. (Is 45:8)

Lord, fill our hearts with your love, and as you revealed to us by an angel the coming of your Son as man, so lead us through his suffering and death to the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Father, all-powerful God, your eternal Word took flesh on our earth when the Virgin Mary placed her life at the service of your plan. Lift our minds in watchful hope to hear the voice which announces his glory and open our minds to receive the Spirit who prepares us for his coming. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

St. Dominic of Silos (c. 1000-1073) It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honour today, but there’s a poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other. Our saint today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses in Spain. Many healings were reported there. About 100 years after Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to be the "other" Dominic — the one who founded the Dominicans. For many years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labour. The practice ended in 1931. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Micah 5:1, 4a; Psalm 80:2, 3, 15, 16, 18, 19; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45

During those days Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:39‑45)

Mary One of the intriguing things about life is that great holiness and moral beauty can be - and usually is - present with a fairly ordinary exterior. Holiness seems to ‘fit in.’ It does not strive to be singular, in the sense of being unusual in general manner and appearance. One of the fascinating features of the life of Jesus Christ as reported in the Gospels is his thirty years of obscurity in Nazareth prior to his public ministry. When our Lord returned to his home town and spoke in the synagogue, the inhabitants of the town

were amazed. Is not this the carpenter’s son? they said. Are not his mother and relatives here with us? Where did the man get all this? Jesus of Nazareth had spent thirty years in a small village, and had grown in age, grace and wisdom. He undoubtedly commanded the respect of all for his human goodness and maturity of life, but at the same time he ‘fitted in’ completely. In a word, his divine nature was veiled by his human nature to such a degree that, with the exception of his mother and foster-father, his friends and relatives had no inkling of his divinity. Let this manifest fact about Christ introduce us to another similar fact - the seeming ordinariness of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Her true and unique grandeur was, in similar fashion, generally unrecognized, except in the case of a divine intervention as happened in our Gospel passage today. Mary’s kinswoman Elizabeth recognized the unique blessedness of Mary because it was revealed to her by the Holy Spirit. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, we read, and she cried out in a loud voice, “most blessed are you among women.” Mary was humble; she lived an ordinary and common life; her manner merged with that of her community; she shunned all singularity. Yet within all this her soul possessed an astounding degree of holiness, and was brimful of unique and singular graces. The Lord was with her and she had the entire favour of God. She was humble, lowly and withal full of the joy of God, for he had looked on his lowly handmaid. So then, let us contemplate her, as did Elizabeth.

Mary is the masterwork of the mission of the Son of God and of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit had prepared her, the heavenly Father found in her the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. She had been thoroughly prepared from the first instant of her conception. From that point she had been full of grace. She was conceived completely free of sin in anticipation of the merits of her future Son and Redeemer. She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, and as the one most capable of receiving the gift of the Almighty. The Lord was then with her, uninterruptedly preparing her as the abode of the eternal Word. Through the power of the Holy Spirit she conceived and would give birth to the Son of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit and her own faith, Mary’s virginity became uniquely fruitful. She becomes like the Burning Bush of the book of Exodus, a bearer of God. Moreover, as our Gospel passage today shows so well (Luke 1:39-45), through her the Holy Spirit brings men into communion with Christ. By going to her and being in her presence, we ourselves more easily meet Christ and enter into union with him. And the humble are the first to accept him: Elizabeth the kinswoman of Mary as in our Gospel today, the shepherds, the Magi, Simeon and Anna, and the first disciples years ahead. Just as Mary was lowly in spirit, so our Lord’s true disciples are called to be humble of heart. The distinctive thing about Mary is that she is filled with the grace and the word of God. His grace and his word - the Holy Spirit and the Word made flesh - this is what Mary bears within her and this is why, when we meet Mary, we are brought into communion with God. So it is that, in our Gospel passage, when Elizabeth meets Mary her kinswoman, she is filled with the Holy Spirit, as is the unborn child within her. Mary is the heroine of the ages because she was utterly filled with God.

The insight of the entire Christian tradition is that the surest way to enter the company of Jesus is to take our stand by the mantle of Mary, for there by her mantle is her Child, the Son of God made man. She knows him best, and she is best able to tell us about him and to introduce us to him. In this she is the mother and model of the Church, whose mission is to bring him to the nations and make disciples of all the peoples. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Mary is the help of Christians.
(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.721-726 (Mary! You are full of grace)

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The spirit of Christmas Today being the last

Sunday of Advent before Christmas Day we are invited to enter into the spirit of this season in a way appropriate to what is coming. And how do we do that? Most of all by preparing together with Jesus and Mary. Let us look at how Mary prepares for Christmas, how Jesus prepares, and so how we should prepare. Consider Mary in our Gospel today (Luke 1:39-45). As soon as the angel was gone, Mary hurries away to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was, Mary had been informed by the angel, already in her sixth month. Mary sped off on a three day journey to help. And when she comes, she comes to serve, and she brings Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and with them the Father. The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy, and Elizabeth herself is inspired and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. She utters the words that have become part of the Hail Mary prayer: Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Let us resolve to be with Mary over the whole of the Christmas period, inviting her into our life as she comes to us as mother and model. She brings the gift of the Holy Spirit and a deeper relationship with her divine Son.

Let us consider Jesus. In the first reading we hear the words of Micah (Micah 5:1-4), a prophet who lived hundreds of years before Christ. He tells us that a Ruler will be born in David’s town. He will be of ancient origin. In the light of the Gospel we surely see here a prophecy of the coming birth in David’s town of the eternal Son of God. Imagine the eternal eagerness of God that his work finally is to begin! And when God becomes man, St Paul tells us in the second reading, he offers himself to the Father in obedience to his will: “God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.” So eager is God to begin this work of saving obedience! As we think of Jesus, let us think of the great work of redemption which he came to do for us, and let us welcome that work and above all Jesus himself. Let us unite with him in his eagerness to do his work. So, thinking of Jesus and Mary as they prepared for Christmas, let us think of how we should prepare for Christmas. The second reading tells us that Jesus came into the world to do the will of the Father who loves us and wants our salvation. Jesus surrenders himself and his body to the will and the work of the Father. He was born in Bethlehem to pour out his blood on Calvary and to be our offering to God made present in the Mass now, and throughout the ages. Already the Cross is appearing on the horizon. It is always present. Let us remember this as we celebrate with joy the coming of the Redeemer. He came to shed his blood, to die on the cross for each of us and so to win for us the victory. Christ loved me, St Paul once wrote, and gave himself up for me. His coming at Bethlehem showed the love of God for us, but it is especially on the Cross that this love is revealed.

The true Christmas gift As Christmas approaches we see that many are out buying Christmas presents. You may have heard the story about the father of many children who returned from his Christmas shopping, pulled his last five dollars from his pocket, and said, “I’m going to give this $5.00 as a present to the man who needs it most.”

Then he put it straight back into his own pocket. Today’s readings are all about our preparation for Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of God’s gift giving, of the great gift He gave us, of how God gave us everything important in giving us his own Son. St Paul says that in Christ God gives us every heavenly blessing. Christians imitate God our Father by giving Christmas presents in celebration of the gifts He has given us. What Christmas should celebrate is God’s gift of Jesus. The trouble is that so much of society has forgotten what Christmas is really about. The Gospel (Luke 1:39-45) presents us with the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady, our mother. Mary had just experienced the greatest event in human history, the Annunciation. The Messiah was coming, and she was his mother. She would have had every reason to withdraw into seclusion and to guard in safety the Child conceived within her. But what did she do? She went immediately to serve her cousin who needed help, a three day journey to a town in Judea, and she was not just bringing her own human service. She bore within her the Saviour. The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. As we contemplate this scene we are reminded that wherever we are, wherever we go, whatever we do, whatever way we serve others in our family or work or whatever, we should be bringing Christ with us. In this Mary is our model. This we do by our love and service of Christ who abides within us by grace, and who identifies with the least of our neighbours. In serving others we serve Christ. Let us prepare for Christmas in the way our Lady did, by renewing in ourselves a Christ-like concern for people, and by living more deeply our union with Christ as we bring him to those whom we are serving.

While we look to Mary who can teach us so much, even more do we look to the person of Christ himself, the one who is the heart and soul of Christmas. In the second reading (Hebrews 10:5-10), we are told why Jesus came into the world. It was to do the will of the Father who loves us and intends our salvation. So Jesus gives the Father the gift of his obedience, and surrenders his body — his entire humanity — to God for the work of our redemption. He was born at Bethlehem for one great purpose, to pour out his blood for us on Calvary. This great sacrifice for our sake is made present for our benefit every time Mass is celebrated. In fact, our Lord was born in order that Mass and Holy Communion, which is Calvary made present to us, might be possible. So the second reading reminds us of what Christ’s birth, the first Christmas, pointed to. It pointed to his great sacrifice of himself on Calvary, and beyond Calvary to the celebration of Mass. Mass is the greatest means God has provided us of uniting with Jesus in his Sacrifice at Calvary, which redeemed the world. So we are led to think of the invitation we all have of being united to Jesus not only in his joys, but in his sufferings. This is the test of a Christian. The truest test of our Christian life is whether we choose to take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This too, we are reminded of today as we read the second reading. Let us prepare for Christmas in the way our Lord did, by offering to do God’s will and carry our cross with Jesus. In this spirit we ought endeavour to make of Christmas a truly religious feast. It is so easy for it to degenerate into something rather secular, something even an atheist or agnostic would happily celebrate. Its celebration ought be the occasion of grace, a renewal in our Christ-like service of others, a service bringing Christ to them. It should also be a renewal of our intention to follow Christ closely, which is to say our intention to do God’s will generously, carrying our cross after Jesus our Lord. The shadow of the cross hung over the Child of Bethlehem. If at this point we have a great cross or some anxiety, then we ought use Christmas to entrust it to Jesus, asking him to use it as he used his own cross for the salvation of the world.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

The Father of Christ who makes all things new, is well pleased with the freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction, ‘See, the smell of My Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed’ (Gen. 27:27). Blessed to overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have all we received (John 1:16). But the Bride may come when she pleases and gather flowers and fruits therewith to adorn the inmost recesses of her conscience; that the Bridegroom when He cometh may find the chamber of her heart redolent with perfume. (Continuing)

Prayers today: Soon the Lord God will come, and you will call him Emmanuel, for God is with us. Isaiah 7:14; 8:10

Lord, hear the prayers of your people. May we who celebrate the birth of your Son as man rejoice in the gift of eternal life when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 21) St. Peter Canisius (1521-1597)
The energetic life of Peter Canisius should demolish any stereotypes we may have of the life

of a saint as dull or routine. Peter lived his 76 years at a pace which must be considered heroic, even in our time of rapid change. A man blessed with many talents, Peter is an excellent example of the scriptural man who develops his talents for the sake of the Lord’s work. He was one of the most important figures in the Catholic Counter-Reformation in Germany. His was such a key role that he has often been called the “second apostle of Germany” in that his life parallels the earlier work of Boniface. Although Peter once accused himself of idleness in his youth, he could not have been idle too long, for at the age of 19 he received a master’s degree from the university at Cologne. Soon afterwards he met Peter Faber, the first disciple of Ignatius Loyola, who influenced Peter so much that he joined the recently formed Society of Jesus. At this early age Peter had already taken up a practice he continued throughout his life — a process of study, reflection, prayer and writing. After his ordination in 1546, he became widely known for his editions of the writings of St. Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo the Great. Besides this reflective literary bent, Peter had a zeal for the apostolate. He could often be found visiting the sick or prisoners, even when his assigned duties in other areas were more than enough to keep most people fully occupied. In 1547 Peter attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, whose decrees he was later assigned to implement. After a brief teaching assignment at the Jesuit college at Messina, Peter was entrusted with the mission to Germany — from that point on his life’s work. He taught in several universities and was instrumental in establishing many colleges and seminaries. He wrote a catechism that explained the Catholic faith in a way which common people could understand — a great need of that age. Renowned as a popular preacher, Peter packed churches with those eager to hear his eloquent proclamation of the gospel. He had great diplomatic ability, often serving as a reconciler between disputing factions. In his letters (filling eight volumes) one finds words of wisdom and counsel to people in all walks of life. At times he wrote unprecedented letters of criticism to leaders of the Church — yet always in the context of a loving, sympathetic concern. At 70 Peter suffered a paralytic seizure, but he continued to preach and write with the aid of a secretary until his death in his hometown (Nijmegen, Netherlands) on December 21, 1597.
Peter’s untiring efforts are an apt example for those involved in the renewal of the Church or the growth of moral consciousness in business or government. He is regarded as one of the creators of the Catholic press, and can easily be a model for the Christian author or journalist. Teachers can see in his life a passion for the transmission of truth. Whether we have much to give, as Peter Canisius did, or whether we have only a little to give, as did the poor widow in the Gospel (see Luke 21:1–4), the important thing is to give our all. It is in this way that Peter is so exemplary for Christians in an age of rapid change when we are called to be in the world but not of the world. When asked if he felt overworked, Peter replied, "If you have too much to do, with God's help you will find time to do it all." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Song of Songs 2: 8-14 or Zephaniah 3:14-18; Psalm 33: 2-3, 11-12, 20-21; Luke 1:39-45

At that time Mary rose up and went in haste to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished! (Luke 1:39-45)

Mary in the Christian religion One of the most intriguing, to say the least, of the features of the Protestant Reformation was its putting down of devotion to the Virgin Mary. This was something new in Christian practice and thought. In neither the East nor the West had this been done before. In common with almost all other features of Christian thought and practice, there had been a gradual development in the Church’s understanding of what God had implicitly revealed of the mother of Jesus Christ. With this growing perception there had been a corresponding growth in appreciation and devotion.

The Reformers regarded such developments as corruptions. But as John Henry Newman would point out in his landmark book, The Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), doctrine — understood as the Church’s formal understanding, teaching and expression of revelation — develops. Doctrine should be expected to grow and deepen, as would any idea over time. The distinctive thing about the development of Christian doctrine is that the Church’s dogmatic formulation of this development is guided by the Holy Spirit. It does not merely change over time in response to random historical forces. Of course, the Reformers were reacting against many popular abuses in which the centrality of Christ himself was obscured. Mary and the saints occupied centre stage in the religious imagination of many. Many in effect had forgotten that Christ is our high priest and mediator, ever interceding for us at the right hand of the Father. But in reacting as they did to this popular distortion, the Reformers in their turn forgot that the whole Church by divine appointment shares in Christ’s high priestly mediation, especially those who are most deeply in union with Jesus. All the faithful are members of Christ’s body which is the Church, and as such they share in his saving work and in his intercession. This is pre-eminently the case with the sinless Virgin Mary. In union with him she is our model of discipleship, and in union with him she intercedes for us. In Christ she is our mother and our model, and as Christ loved and honoured her, so should we.

In our Gospel today (Luke 1:39-45), we have a strong expression of this profoundly Christian sentiment in respect to the Virgin Mary, and undoubtedly the inspired author meant it to be understood as such. Mary, having obediently assented to the divine plan that she be the mother of the Redeemer, hastens to the hill country of Judea to assist her kinswoman Elizabeth who herself is likewise a protagonist of the plan of redemption. Mary arrives, virgin mother of the Lord, and upon her arrival the Holy Spirit comes upon Elizabeth and upon the child she is bearing. Mary bears the Redeemer within her, and the Redeemer’s Gift of the Holy Spirit is given. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and she cries out with a loud voice in praise of the virgin Mary. Notice that! The Holy Spirit himself prompts Elizabeth to cry out in a loud voice — a loud voice! — in praise and honour of Mary the mother of Christ. It is a pointer to what the Holy Spirit will prompt the Church to do down through the ages, with mounting crescendo. The Church will sing from generation to generation the praises of the virgin Mary and will declare itself honoured to be visited by the mother of the Lord. In a loud voice — a loud voice! — Elizabeth exclaims, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” The authentic thought, teaching and practice of the Church never separates Mary from her divine Child: Blessed are you, Mary, and blessed is the Child you bore. True devotion to Mary never obscures Christ. Mary helps the Christian know and love him. Elizabeth, standing for all God’s people, herself a grand representative of the holiness of the Old Testament and positioned at the dawn of the New, professes to be deeply honoured and favoured by the coming of Mary to her. She welcomes her with exultation and her child, the Forerunner, leaps with joy. Of course, both Elizabeth and her unborn child are welcoming first and foremost the Christ-child whom Mary is bringing with her, but honour rendered to Mary is inseparable from this. Blessed are you among women, Elizabeth declares, blessed are you! This has been the cry of Christ’s faithful ever since.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Prayers today: Gates, lift up your heads! Stand erect, ancient doors, and let in the King of glory.

God our Father, you sent your Son to free mankind from the power of death. May we who celebrate the coming of Christ as man share more fully in his divine life, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 22) Blessed Jacopone da Todi (d. 1306)
Jacomo, or James, was born a noble member of the Benedetti family in the northern Italian city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and married a pious, generous lady named Vanna. His young wife took it upon herself to do penance for the worldly excesses of her husband. One day Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo, attended a public tournament. She was sitting in the stands with the other noble ladies when the stands collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her shaken husband was even more disturbed when he realized that the penitential girdle she wore was for his sinfulness. On the spot, he vowed to radically change his life. He divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Third Order of St. Francis. Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as a fool and called Jacopone, or "Crazy Jim," by his former associates. The name became dear to him. After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked to be a member of the Franciscan Order. Because of his reputation, his request was initially refused. He composed a beautiful poem on the vanities of the world, an act that eventually led to his admission into the Order in 1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance, declining to be ordained a priest. Meanwhile he was writing popular hymns in the vernacular. Jacopone suddenly found himself a leader in a disturbing religious movement among the Franciscans. The Spirituals, as they were called, wanted a return to the strict poverty of Francis. They had on their side two cardinals of the Church and Pope Celestine V. These two cardinals, though, opposed Celestine’s successor, Boniface VIII. At the age of 68, Jacopone was excommunicated and imprisoned. Although he acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was not absolved and released until Benedict XI became pope five years later. He had accepted his imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of his life more spiritual than ever, weeping "because Love is not loved." During this time he wrote the famous Latin hymn, Stabat Mater. On Christmas Eve in 1306 Jacopone felt that his end was near. He was in a convent of the Poor Clares with his friend, Blessed John of La Verna. Like Francis, Jacopone welcomed "Sister Death" with one of his favourite songs. It is said that he finished the song and died as the priest intoned the Gloria from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From the time of his death, Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a saint.
“Crazy Jim,” his contemporaries called Jacopone. We might well echo their taunt, for what else can you say about a man who broke into song in the midst of all his troubles? We still sing Jacopone’s saddest song, the Stabat Mater, but we Christians claim another song as our own, even when the daily headlines resound with discordant notes. Jacopone’s whole life rang our song out: “Alleluia!” May he inspire us to keep singing. (AmericanCatholic.org)

And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. (Luke 1: 46-56)

Mighty God, and Mary his servant Throughout the Old Testament the great works of God are extolled and his chosen servants are held up for veneration. Before Abraham, Noah was “a good and blameless man in that age, for he walked with God.” He is set apart by God and preserved from the flood that sweeps away in judgment the sinners that cover the earth.

A new covenant is established, but the sorry pattern of sin continues unabated, symbolized by the pride of the Tower of Babel. Abraham is called by God and is promised the divine blessing. He “went as the Lord directed” and proved his obedience and his faith. Following Abraham there are the Patriarchs, Moses, certain of the Judges such as Samson and Samuel, and Kings such as David and Hezekiah, the prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and certain of the priests. They stand as examples for God’s chosen people, solemnly illustrating the supreme place God occupies in life, bearing witness to what he has done and will do. It is against this broad backdrop that we ought reflect on the words of joy uttered by the virgin Mary in today’s Gospel passage (Luke 1:46-56). She extols God and because of him she will be counted as blessed. She thinks of the story of God’s care for his people from generation to generation. He, God, is great. Her “soul” — the core of her entire self — proclaims his greatness (Greek: mega-lunei) and her “spirit” exults in him who saves her. God is her Saviour. If we set the inspired literature of the Hebrews against the literature of the ancient world, the two things which Mary extols in God are those which mark Yahweh off from the other gods of the peoples. He is great and he saves. No other deity compares in greatness with Yahweh. All others in their own way compete for power with other gods. Zeus and Jupiter are not unrivalled. They are restricted by the other gods of the pantheon. But Yahweh is simply great, great beyond compare. He is, as Mary humbly sings, the Mighty One who saves.

In her prayer Mary thinks of the history of God’s dealings with his people. “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.” We think of Yahweh sending Moses to Pharaoh to take his people out of slavery to the promised land. Pharaoh was proud of heart — indeed, the Scriptural icon of those who are proud before Yahweh — but he was scattered by the plagues and wonders with which Egypt was visited at the word of Moses. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” We think of Sennacherib who advanced against Hezekiah and Jerusalem, pouring scorn on the God of Hezekiah and Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah predicted that the city would not be touched and that God would send him packing. “That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp... So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh” (2 Kings 19: 35-36). We think of the writing on the wall during the banquet of King Belshazzar, and Daniel’s solemn interpretation of it — so powerful an event that the expression, “the writing on the wall”, is now a synonym for a destruction that is certain to come. “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers.” In all of this the virgin Mary is exulting in the Mighty One who saves. He shows his might in his saving mercy, rescuing and raising up those who are oppressed and suffering. “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.” And Mary herself will be counted blessed for all generations — so she is the greatest instance of the power and the mercy of God. Her greatness, her blessedness, her shining and matchless height among God’s creatures is his merciful gift to one who is but his lowly servant. Mary the humble and lowly one, Mary the blessed one, blessed beyond compare and for all generations to come!

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

Prayers for today: A little child is born for us, and he shall be called the mighty God; every race on earth shall be blessed in him. (Isaiah 9:6; Ps 71:17)

Father, we contemplate the birth of your Son. He was born of the Virgin Mary and came to live among us. May we receive forgiveness and mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 23) St. John of Kanty (1390?-1473)
John was a country lad who made good in the big city and the big university of Kraków, Poland. After brilliant studies he was ordained a priest and became a professor of theology. The inevitable opposition which saints encounter led to his being ousted by rivals and sent to be a parish priest at Olkusz. An extremely humble man, he did his best, but his best was not to the liking of his parishioners. Besides, he was afraid of the responsibilities of his position. But in the end he won his people’s hearts. After some time he returned to Kraków and taught Scripture for the remainder of his life. He was a serious man, and humble, but known to all the poor of Kraków for his kindness. His goods and his money were always at their disposal, and time and again they took advantage of him. He kept only the money and clothes absolutely needed to support himself. He slept little, and then on the floor, ate sparingly, and took no meat. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, hoping to be martyred by the Turks. He made four pilgrimages to Rome, carrying his luggage on his back. When he was warned to look after his health, he was quick to point out that, for all their austerity, the fathers of the desert lived remarkably long lives.
John of Kanty is a typical saint: He was kind, humble and generous, he suffered opposition and led an austere, penitential life. Most Christians in an affluent society can understand all the ingredients except the last: Anything more than mild self-discipline seems reserved for athletes and ballet dancers. Christmas is a good time at least to reject self-indulgence. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-10 and 14; Luke 1:57-66

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, No! He is to be called John. They said to her, There is no-one among your relatives who has that name. Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, His name is John. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbours were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, What then is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand was with him. (Luke 1: 57-66)

The hand of the Lord In their Gospels, St Mark and St John begin with the inauguration of the public ministry of our Lord and his prophetic sanction by John the Baptist. The first two chapters of St Luke’s Gospel provide, we might say, the backdrop for this entry of Christ into the public sphere. The circumstances of the birth of both Christ and John are described in

detail and some details are given of their youth. It is a providential harbinger of what is to come. Our Gospel today is of a piece with this, and it is made clear that from the first, John was chosen as a prophet of the Most High. Abraham was called at the time of his manhood, as was Moses. Samuel was called as a child, and David as a youth. St Luke is at pains to show that the hand of the Lord was with John from before his birth. It was evident to those close to the family that God had marked this child with special favour, and, they began to surmise, with a special mission. Signs had been given of this special marking — Zechariah had returned home from Temple service, now dumb. The parents, beyond childbearing, now had a son. Inexplicably, they separately wanted their child called by a name unprecedented in the family. And lo! At the very point of Zechariah’s announcement of the child’s name, he begins to speak, and he praises God. The attention of all is drawn to the new-born child. God is pointing to him as one whom he has chosen — but for what? What will this child be? What is he to do? It is clear to the circle of friends and relatives that there is here a child of destiny and the wonderment gradually spreads “throughout the hill country of Judea”. Perhaps a rumour spread more widely and people remembered. “All who heard about this wondered.” The child grew, and became strong in spirit. We are simply told that “he lived in the desert until the day when he made his appearance in Israel.” It seems that he left his family home and village — perhaps when his parents died — and lived “in the wilderness.” Some have thought he may have joined the Essenes. We do not know. But from the first God was forming the child for his work.

One of the distinctive features of a genuine religious faith is belief in a particular providence. That is to say, an indicator that a person’s belief in God is real is the belief that he is caring for me, me! — and not just for the world or for people in general. It is generally accepted that the prevailing (religious) philosophical position of the seventeenth and especially the eighteenth century was what has been called Deism. At times Deism is understood to mean that God was regarded as beginning the world, but as rarely if ever involved in its processes. It would be more correct to say that Deism held that belief in a Creator (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without a need for either faith or organized religion. It tended to assert that God (or “The Supreme Architect”) has a plan for the universe that is not altered either by his intervening in the affairs of human life or by suspending the natural laws of the universe. Revealed religion was discounted and one result was a loss of a sense that God is caring in a special way for me. The course of my life and the circumstances that shape it tended to be seen as simply the upshot of the laws of the world — all of which, of course, were admitted to be in the hands of God. But what was said of John in our Gospel passage today is not what the deist would think is in any way typical: that the hand of the Lord was upon him. But on the contrary, this indeed is typical: the hand of the Lord is upon each of us. This is not expressed in miraculous circumstances as it was in the case of John and Christ in the first chapter of St Luke, but it is the case nevertheless. The hand of the Lord is upon each of us in all the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. And in fact, even in the life of John, Mary, Joseph and Christ himself, the hand of the Lord was upon them precisely in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. Miraculous circumstances were uncommon. The ordinary life was the norm — and it was in this arena that the hand of the Lord was upon them.

In all the difficulties of life, in all the sadness and frustration and the joys, let us learn to see the hand of the Lord upon us. The saints were able to see that, in both the good times and the bad, God was caring for them. As St Paul writes in one of his Letters, all things come together for the good of those who love God. God’s providence is very particular — his care for us is particular to each of us. It is not just a care for the human race in general. God loves me! As St Paul writes, Christ loved me and gave himself up for me. The hand of the Lord is truly upon each of us.

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Chapter III. What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love God.

So it behoves us, if we would have Christ for a frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful meditations on the mercy He showed in dying for us, and on His mighty power in rising again from the dead. To this David testified when he sang, ‘God spake once, and twice I have also heard the same; that power belongeth unto God; and that Thou, Lord, art merciful (Ps. 62:11f). And surely there is proof enough and to spare in that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification, and ascended into heaven that He might protect us from on high, and sent the Holy Spirit for our comfort. Hereafter He will come again for the consummation of our bliss. In His Death He displayed His mercy, in His Resurrection His power; both combine to manifest His glory. (Continuing)

Prayers today: The appointed time has come; God has sent his Son into the world. Gal 4:4

Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay; give new courage to your people who trust in your love. By your coming, raise us to the joy of your kingdom, where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(December 24) St. Adele
St. Adele, Widow. A daughter of King Dagobert II of Germany, St. Adele became a nun upon the death of her husband, making provisions for her son, the future father of St. Gregory of Utrecht. She founded a convent at Palatiolum near Trier and became its first Abbess, ruling with holiness, prudence, and compassion. St. Adele seems to have been among the disciples of St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, and a letter in his correspondence is addressed to her. After a devout life filled with good works and communion with God, she passed on to her heavenly reward in 730. (www.catholic.org)

Scripture Today: 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29; Luke 1:67-79;

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Luke 1: 67-79)