From Christmastide B-I to First week in Ordinary Time B-I
Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day
| Liturgical Season | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| Christmastide B-I | (Second Sunday After Christmas) |
1 Mary, the Mother of God |
2 | 3 | |||
| Christmastide B-I |
4
or The Epiphany of the Lord |
5
or Jan 5 Before Epiphany |
6
or Jan 6 Before Epiphany |
7
or Jan 7 Before Epiphany |
8 | 9 | 10 |
| First week in Ordinary Time B-I |
11 The Baptism of the Lord |
12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
Morning Offering:
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 for
January 2009 is: "That the family may become more and more a place of training
in charity, personal growth and transmission of the faith".
His mission intention
for January 2009 is: "That the different Christian confessions, aware of
the need for a new evangelization in this period of profound transformations,
may be committed to announcing the Good News and moving towards the full
unity of all Christians in order to offer a more credible testimony of
the Gospel".
Prayers this week: The shepherds
hastened to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying
in a manger. (Luke
2:16)
Father,
help us to live as the holy family, untied in respect and love. Bring us
to the joy and peace of your eternal home. We ask this through our Lord Jesus
Christ your 
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(January 1) Mary, Mother of God
Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the
Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation
of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation
conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Elizabeth proclaims: “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?” (Luke 1:42-43,
emphasis added). Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position
in God’s redemptive plan. Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further
statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out
‘Abba, Father!’“ helps us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers
and sisters of Jesus. Some theologians also insist that Mary’s motherhood
of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s “first” thought
in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one who could give
God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus was “first”
in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all eternity
to be his mother. The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to
the third or fourth century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it
became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The
Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling
the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds
of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!”
The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the
Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother
of God” 12 times. (AmericanCatholic.org
click on centre arrow
Scripture readings: Numbers 6: 22-27; Psalm
66; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 16-21
So they hurried off and found
Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When
they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them
about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds
said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in
her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the
things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On
the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the
name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. (Luke
2: 16-21)
January 1 is celebrated
in the civil year as the start of a new year, but it is celebrated by the
Church as part of the Octave of Christmas, and, more specifically, as the
Feast or Solemnity of Mary under the title of the Mother of God. This is
Mary’s greatest and most fundamental title and has been celebrated as such
since the
Church’s
early centuries. The Church laid it down that Mary is to be considered as
such in order to stress that Jesus is both truly man and truly God. He is
man, yes, as fully and totally man as if he were never God. At the same time,
he is God, as fully and totally God as if he were never man. Therefore when
he was conceived of the Virgin Mary she became the mother of God, God the
Son made man. At times people have thought that what is being claimed is
that in some sense Mary is herself divine because she is the mother of One
who is divine. After all, when our Lord spoke of God as his own Father, the
Jews picked up stones to stone him because, in speaking of God as his own
Father he was making himself equal to God. He was claiming to be divine.
So, it is thought, to say that Mary is the Mother of God is to say that she
is divine. But no. To deny that Mary is the mother of God the Son made man,
and therefore is the mother of God would be to deny the Incarnation. By the
power of the Holy Spirit God truly became man. God the Son was truly conceived
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit did not, as it were, merely
place the incarnate fetus in the womb of Mary who was fundamentally not,
then, her child. By the power of the Holy Spirit God formed and implanted
in her the seed and she received it as mother, and thus was the Incarnation
effected. Her DNA entered into the entire human constitution of God the Son
made man and we may suppose that as a result the holy child was profoundly
similar in very many human characteristics to his blessed mother. After all,
there was no human father and he, God made man, was absolutely her son.
Thus is the Virgin Mary,
full of grace and blessed among women, truly the Mother of God, not begetting
him in his divinity, of course, but begetting him in his humanity. He was
from all eternity the only-begotten Son of the Father, God from God and Light
from Light, true God from true God. In and through him all things were made
and thus he was the divine Creator of his blessed mother sustaining her constantly
in being and all through her life pouring into her holy soul a constant stream
of divine grace. At the same time, she was his mother. She was not the mother
merely of his human self while not being the mother of his divine self. There
was only one Self in Jesus, and that Self was divine. His divine Self assumed
a human nature, and so he truly acquired a human mother. This human
mother, this Virgin who was totally and only human, became by the power of
the Holy Spirit, the mother of the man who was, is, and ever will be God.
As the Church has ever taught by an exercise of her highest authority, the
Virgin Mary is thus the Mother of God. Her dignity is thus beyond compare.
No other creature can compare with her in dignity. She is the Queen Mother,
mother of the King of kings and Lord of lords who is man, of course, but
before and above all is God. The Church on January 1 wishes to place this
great dogma before the faithful at the very start of every year above all
to exalt the great truth of the Incarnation and also to exalt Mary as the
help of Christians. She is the first and greatest Christian and she helps
us by her powerful intercession and her example. In our Gospel scene today
(Luke 2: 16-21) we are placed
in the ordinariness and lowliness of the scene at Bethlehem. In that humble
and obscure setting there was, in the sight of God, a most dazzling splendour.
God the Son made man, the Child of the nations, lies in the arms of his most
holy mother. By her side was her holy husband Joseph, the foster-father of
the Child. We are there too. Let us plant ourselves in the midst of that
holy family and never depart from it.
Let us place ourselves
by the side of our heavenly mother who is the mother of God the Son made
man. Mary is not, of course, the mother of the Father because the Father
did not become man. Nor, of course, is she the mother of the Holy Spirit
because he did not become man. The only-begotten Son did become man
and therefore Mary is his mother. She is thus the Mother of God and, by the
gift of Christ, she is our heavenly mother and model of the Christian life helping
us to love and follow him closely. Let us entrust ourselves to her motherly
care.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Results! Always looking for 'results'! You ask me for photographs,
for facts and figures.
I won't send you what you ask, because (though I respect the opposite opinion),
I would then think I had acted with a view to making good on earth, and where
I want to make good is in heaven.
(The Way, no.649)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Second Sunday after Christmas B
Prayers today: When peaceful
silence lay over all, and night had run half of her swift course, your
all-powerful word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven, from the royal throne
(Wis. 18:14-15)
God of power and life, glory of all who believe in you, fill the world with
your splendour and show the nations the light of your truth. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
world without end.
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Eccelesiasticus 24:
1-4.12-16; Ps 147; Ephesians 1:
3-6.15-18; John 1: 1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There
came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to
testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He
himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true
light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the
world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not
recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not
receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
he gave the power to become children of God—children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,
the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John
testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, This was he of whom I said,
'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' From the
fulness of his grace we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was
given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No-one has
ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made
him known. (John 1: 1-18)
Glory to him
One of the principal themes in the Old Testament is the manifestation, the
preservation, and the vindication of the glory of the Lord. The Lord God is
a Lord of glory, and all should acknowledge his glory. The first of the Ten
Commandments is that his people have no other god than He.
What is your
name? Moses asked him at the Burning Bush. I am the one who is, was the
answer, implying (amid many things) that he is the only one who truly exists
without any qualification. It was when Moses took the people out of the land
of slavery through the Red Sea that the people saw the glory of the Lord. In
the desert, “the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron”
— they had nothing to eat. God intervened and spoke to Moses, and at that
Moses told the people that “in the morning you will see the glory of the
Lord, as he heeds your grumbling against him” (Exodus 16:7). Then the people
turned toward the desert — and “lo, the glory of the Lord appeared in the
cloud.” In the evening and in the morning they had their food. The most
spectacular manifestation of the glory of the Lord was on the Mountain.
After Moses had gone up, a “cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the
Lord settled upon Mount Sinai” and “to the Israelites the glory of the Lord
was seen as a consuming fire on the mountaintop” (Exodus 24: 16-17). Later,
with the erection of the Meeting Tent, “the glory of the Lord filled the
Dwelling” (Exodus 40: 34-35), and Moses could not enter because of it. This
glory was seen by the people during their journey, for the cloud was seen
over the Dwelling by day, and fire was seen in the cloud by night. At
various points in the Book of Numbers — the scene still being the journey in
the wilderness — the glory of the Lord is seen and referred to. In the first
book of Chronicles, David appoints Asaph and his brethren to sing the
praises of the Lord, and they sang, “Glory to his holy name” (16:10), “Give
to the Lord glory and praise,” the “glory due to his name” (16:28-29).
Revealed religion exults in the glory of God.
That is to say, to God is to be given the ultimate glory. Well now, in the
opening statement of the Gospel of St John, the inspired author speaks of
the glory that he and those with him had seen. We have seen his glory, he
writes, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. The glory of the Lord God of Israel had been seen in his liberation
of the people from slavery, in his preservation of them in the desert, in
his manifestations on Mount Sinai and in his Tent when accompanying the
people on their journey. It had been seen in various ways during the
chequered history of the chosen people. But now the Only-begotten of the
Father pitches his tent among us, and lets his glory be seen. The parallel
with Exodus is clear — Yahweh God pitched his tent among his people, and let
his glory be seen. The Only-begotten Word of the Father pitches his tent
among us and lets his glory be seen. That glory is his fullness in grace and
truth. The whole of the first chapter, and not merely the first eighteen
verses of the Prologue, narrates the manifestation of this glory. John the
Baptist sees the Spirit of God descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and
declares to his disciples that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John’s own disciples
— at his encouragement — follow Jesus, meet him, stay with him, and go away
speaking to their closest companions of him — he is the Messiah, the One of
whom Moses and the prophets spoke. He is manifesting to them his glory as
the One full of grace and truth. Christ changes the water into the wine, and
thus “manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him” (2: 11). In
Christ’s last great prayer before his Passion, he asks his Father to
“glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” As he, the Son, has
glorified him on earth, he asks now, “Father glorify me at your side with
the glory I had with you before the world began” (17: 1-5). Our Gospel today
(John 1: 1-18) is one in which the glory
of Jesus Christ is powerfully acknowledged. It sounds the note of the
Gospel. He is “full of grace and truth,” the truth of God and the grace to
live in him.
St Ignatius Loyola coined a phrase which sums up the ideal of the fervent
disciple of Jesus Christ: all for the greater glory of God! All that we do,
say or think, ought be such that Jesus Christ will be honoured and glorified
the more. A beautiful prayer that sums up this ideal is that which we pray
every time we say the Rosary: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to
the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
forever! Let us make that our daily prayer.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
January 2 before the Epiphany
(January 2) Saint Basil
the Great and Saint Gregory of Nazianzen
St. Basil the Great (329-379)
Basil was on his way to becoming a famous teacher when he decided to begin
a religious life 
of gospel poverty. After studying various modes of religious life, he founded
what was probably the first monastery in Asia Minor. He is to monks of the
East what St. Benedict is to the West, and his principles influence Eastern
monasticism today. He was ordained a priest, assisted the archbishop of Caesarea
(now southeastern Turkey), and ultimately became archbishop himself, in spite
of opposition from some of his suffragan bishops, probably because they foresaw
coming reforms. One of the most damaging heresies in the history of the Church,
Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, was at its height. Emperor
Valens persecuted orthodox believers, and put great pressure on Basil to
remain silent and admit the heretics to communion. Basil remained firm, and
Valens backed down. But trouble remained. When the great St. Athanasius died,
the mantle of defender of the faith against Arianism fell upon Basil. He
strove mightily to unite and rally his fellow Catholics who were crushed
by tyranny and torn by internal dissension. He was misunderstood, misrepresented,
accused of heresy and ambition. Even appeals to the pope brought no response.
“For my sins I seem to be unsuccessful in everything.” He was tireless in
pastoral care. He preached twice a day to huge crowds, built a hospital that
was called a wonder of the world (as a youth he had organized famine relief
and worked in a soup kitchen himself) and fought the prostitution business.
Basil was best known as an orator. His writings, though not recognized greatly
in his lifetime, rightly place him among the great teachers of the Church.
Seventy-two years after his death, the Council of Chalcedon described him
as “the great Basil, minister of grace who has expounded the truth to the
whole earth.”
St. Basil said: “The bread which
you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe
is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the
shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is
the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so
many injustices that you commit.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
Now this was John's testimony
when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, I am not the
Christ. They asked him, Then
who are you? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the Prophet? He answered,
No. Finally they said, Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those
who sent us. What do you say about yourself? John replied in the words of
Isaiah the prophet, I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight
the way for the Lord.' Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him,
Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?
I baptise with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know.
He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy
to untie. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where
John was baptising. (John
1: 19-28)
following their master in the
living of the revealed faith and had not heard from him his testimony to
Jesus as the Messiah. Apparently they had associated with him and been taught
by him at times when John had not announced that Jesus was the one to come.
We do know that he told this to some of his disciples because the gospel
of St John tells us this — indeed, John encouraged them to follow Jesus.
But the point I am making here is that John’s greatness was acknowledged
and accepted by very many, and long afterwards his disciples were still living
according to his teaching. The very prologue of St John’s Gospel places John
very high indeed. He is introduced at the sixth verse of the prologue, immediately
after the description of the Word of God who is the life and light of men.
Furthermore, much of the first chapter of this Gospel is given over to the
figure of John and his testimony. John came as a witness to speak for the
light and it is intriguing to notice how the author stresses that John was
not the light, only a witness to speak for the light. It is as if John the
Baptist was so great as a prophet that this had to be stated — for the sake
of those who took him to be the light of their life. As I mentioned earlier,
it is clear (from, say, the Acts of the Apostles) that some had done this.
Perhaps John the Baptist had had such a profound effect on the author himself
of the Gospel of St John (prior to his following of Jesus) that he was especially
intent on pointing this out. What I am saying is that John the Baptist is
presented in the New Testament as a very great prophet and as having had
a great impact on the lives of many. He was great in the sight of God.
There are many people, holy people, who don't understand
your way. Don't insist on making them understand: you would be wasting your
time and you would give rise to indiscretions.
(The Way, no.650)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 15, 2008, Benedict XVI continues with the eighth
of his Wednesday talks on St Paul
We now consider St Paul’s teaching on the Church. It was "the Church of God"
which Paul persecuted before his conversion, and throughout his Letters he
uses the term "Church" both with reference to
local Christian communities and to the Church as a whole. For Paul, faith
in the person of Jesus Christ and his Gospel is at the heart of the Church.
Paul’s entire work of evangelization, centred on the proclamation of the
Paschal mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection, was aimed at establishing
new communities of those who believe in the Lord and share in the life of
the Spirit. The Church thus takes shape as an "ekklesía", a concrete
assembly called into being by God’s word. For Paul, the Church is also the
"Body of Christ", a living body endowed with a complex of ministries which
are spiritual in their origin and purpose. In the variety and the theological
richness of his teaching on the Church, Paul invites us to understand and
love the Church ever more deeply, and to work for her upbuilding in faith
and charity.
(Continuing)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
January 3 before Epiphany
(January 3) Most Holy Name of Jesus
In a world of fiercely guarded corporate names and logos,
it should be easy to 
understand this feast. The letters IHS are an abbreviation of Jesous, the
Greek name for Jesus. Although St. Paul might claim credit for promoting devotion
to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in Philippians that God the Father gave
Christ Jesus “that name that is above every name” (see 2:9), this devotion
became popular because of 12th-century Cistercian monks and nuns but especially
through the preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena, a 15th-century Franciscan.
Bernardine used devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus as a way of overcoming
bitter and often bloody class struggles and family rivalries or vendettas
in Italian city-states. The devotion grew, partly because of Franciscan and
Dominican preachers. It spread even more widely after the Jesuits began promoting
it in the 16th century. In 1530, Pope Clement V approved an Office of the
Holy Name for the Franciscans. In 1721, Pope Innocent XIII extended this feast
to the entire Church.
Jesus died and rose for the sake of all people. No one
can trademark or copyright Jesus' name. Jesus is the Son of God and son of
Mary. Everything that exists was created in and through the Son of God (see
Colossians 1:15-20). The name of Jesus is debased if any Christian uses it
as justification for berating non-Christians. Jesus reminds us that because
we are all related to him we are, therefore, all related to one another.
“Glorious name, gracious name, name of love and of power!
Through you sins are forgiven, through you enemies are vanquished, through
you the sick are freed from their illness, through you those suffering in
trials are made strong and cheerful. You bring honor to those who believe,
you teach those who preach, you give strength to the toiler, you sustain
the weary” (St. Bernardine of Siena). (AmericanCatholic.org)
The next day John saw Jesus
coming towards him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man
who comes after me has surpassed
me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I
came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. Then John
gave this testimony: I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and
remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me
to baptise with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down
and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and
I testify that this is the Son of God. (John
1: 29-34)
prophecy
of Daniel about One like a Son of Man is remarkable, as are the passages
about the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah (52:13-53:12). But the
announcements made by John the Baptist are especially striking. Undoubtedly
John the author of the Gospel was present at his utterances. He saw the Baptist
looking at Jesus and saying this of him: The Lamb of God! What does it mean?
We are not told. Inasmuch as John’s Gospel sets forth the sacrificial character
of the passion and death of Jesus, presumably the Lamb in the Baptist’s mind
also had a sacrificial character. Jesus would in some sense be like a sacrificed
Lamb that would remove or atone for sin. Perhaps he had in mind the Suffering
Servant of Isaiah. Consider the great prophecy of the Suffering Servant:
“he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies
a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed...
Yahweh burdened him with the sins of all of us.” Then, significantly, the
prophet adds, “Harshly dealt with ...like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
house.” He “offers his life in atonement” (Isaiah 53: 4-10). Perhaps too
the Baptist saw in Jesus a paschal Lamb. The eating of the paschal lamb occurred
as the liberation of the people from slavery began. The slaying of Jesus
would mark the liberation of the world from slavery, the slavery of sin.
The Gospel of John is quite explicit that, looking at Jesus coming to him,
the Baptist stated that he was God’s Lamb who would take away the sin of
the world. What a stupendous mission and what a remarkable identification!
No prophet or personage of the Old Testament had had such a mission, nor
had John the Baptist. Here he was pointing to Jesus as the fulfilment of
all God had promised in the Old Testament.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 John 3:7-10;
Psalm 97; John 1:35-42
The next day John stood with two of
his disciples watching Jesus walking, and he said “Behold the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and
seeing them following him said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to
him, “Rabbi, (which is to say, Master,) where do you dwell?” He said to
them, “Come and see.” They came, saw where he was dwelling, and they stayed
with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, the brother of Simon
Peter, was one of the two who had heard what John had said, and had followed
Jesus. He found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the
Messiah, which, interpreted, is the Christ.” And he brought him to Jesus.
And Jesus looking upon him, said, You are Simon the son of Jonah: you will
be called Cephas, which translated is Peter. (John
1:35-42)
Knowing Jesus
One of the obvious characteristics
of the Gospel of St John is the vivid detail of its descriptions. The author
of the Gospel describes John the Baptist gazing at Jesus who was walking
along, and it was on “the next day.” There is the scene: Jesus is walking
(1: 36).
John is gazing at him, with two of his disciples present near to
him. The Lamb of God! John quietly says to his two disciples — perhaps with
a slight gesture pointing to Jesus, while he gazes at him in rapt
admiration. Jesus is not walking towards John, as he was the day before
(1:29) — he is simply “walking” (peripatounti). I suspect that the
setting on this day was an address given by John to the crowds at the place
of his baptisms. There may have been some baptisms, and now it was over.
Jesus himself had already been baptized by John in the river Jordan, during
which John had seen the Holy Spirit descend on him in the form of a dove.
The day before our scene today, John had referred to this descent of the
Spirit, though not to the baptism itself (1: 32). So let us imagine Jesus
present on this day listening to John, quietly preparing himself for the
commencement of his public ministry. He was just one among the crowd,
unobserved, silent, yet filled with the Holy Spirit and with the Person of
his heavenly Father. The address was perhaps over, and John stood there with
two of his disciples. People were leaving, and our Lord himself got up and
was walking, soon to go to his place of temporary abode. Ah! He was the One
who filled the mind of John! Perhaps John had been watching him admiringly
during his ministry to many others. He could scarcely think of anyone else!
How he felt dwarfed by his holy relative before him, whose identity and
mission had now been revealed to him. This was the Messiah, this Jesus, his
own cousin. Of course, he had known how utterly good he always was, but he
had not known that he was the long-awaited One. There he quietly walked, in
all his unassuming dignity. The Lamb! He would take away the sin of the
world — it may be that with divine aid John had perceived that Jesus would
do this as a Lamb for sacrifice, as the Suffering Servant.
The two disciples heard the heartfelt admiration and love that filled what
John had just said of the Man before him. They looked, they gazed, and they
were powerfully drawn. How beautiful the One they saw walking! He was filled
with God, and John had instantly conveyed to them how much this Man
surpassed their own master. John seemed to be saying to them, go! The
Blessing of all blessings is before you. Do not tarry. It is not mine to
follow him physically, but why not you? He is the Bridegroom — I am merely
his friend, rejoicing to see and announce him. Go, then! Thus drawn, the two
followed, with eyes widened in godly expectation. The Treasure of treasures
was before them, walking ahead, alone, silent, calm, strong. They followed,
humble, subdued, with eyes on the figure before them. He stopped, turned,
and with simple friendliness asked them what they wanted. Imagine their
first glimpse of him, not side-on, not from behind, but face to face. They
saw his features, not realizing at the time that they were looking on God
himself. This Man was the very Son of God. He was the Word who had been with
God from all eternity in divine glory. This Man was the human face of God.
He spoke, and smiled — “What are you looking for?” They did not know it, but
in him they had found all that they sought. God had created them, and had
created all men, precisely to know, love and serve the Man before them. St
Paul would write that before the foundation of the world God chose us in
Christ to be holy and full of love in his sight. He was the light of life
for every man, and he had come into the world. They now beheld him — Rabbi,
where do you live? they asked. Could we go with you? Could we be with you?
May we be your companions? May we learn from you? May we be your disciples?
Then came the wonderful reply which John the Evangelist would never forget:
“Come and see.” They went with him and stayed with him the rest of that day
(John 1:35-42). It is hard to think of
anything more beautiful. They began to see his glory, and came away knowing
they now knew the Messiah himself. Their lives would never be the same. Life
now consisted of a heartfelt friendship with Jesus of Nazareth.
What happened to them, is meant to happen to each of us. The Church makes
her own the words of John the Baptist, and says to each of us and to all
within her hearing, “There is the Lamb of God!” Are we disposed to listen
and to follow? It is up to us. We have heard the words, and it is for us to
take them to heart. We must follow Jesus, placing ourselves in his presence,
so as to hear him ask us, “What are you seeking?” Let us ask from the depths
of our hearts that we stay with him as his companions, and let the whole of
our lives be shaped by that friendship. Our eternity will depend on the
depth of that friendship and on how we have brought it to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Scripture today: 1 John 3:11-21; Psalm 99; John 1: 43-51
On the following day Jesus intended to go to Galilee. He found Philip and
said to him, ”Follow me.” Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the
town of Andrew
and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one of
whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph of
Nazareth. Nathanael said to him, “Can any thing of good come from Nazareth?”
Philip said to him “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and
said of him, “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before
Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree I saw you.” Nathanael
answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, you
believe. You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Amen,
amen I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”
(John 1: 43-51)
Time
One of the
most common words of language is “time.” We know what we mean when we ask,
what “time” of the day is it? Or when we say, it is “time” to go! Or, the
“time” is coming when this or that will happen. But it is very difficult to
define “time.” In a famous paper published in 1908, J.M.E. McTaggart argued
that there is in fact no such thing as “time,” and that the appearance of a
temporal order to the world is a mere appearance. Let us dismiss this as an
example of how philosophy can become unreal, but we must acknowledge the
curious difficulty in understanding the nature of time. This fact would seem
to indicate how basic is the concept of “time.” The subject has never ceased
to exercise philosophers. Whatever the difficulty, it is indisputable that
the thought of time is fundamental to human life. Especially influential in
cultures and in the lives of individuals is the thought of the past. The
memory of the past can fill the life of a person with bitterness, or, by
contrast, the past can fill his heart with joy. The fervent Christian
treasures the thought of the past — what Christ did a long time ago — though, of course, this thought has for its purpose a realization and
appreciation of the present, which is to say, of the living Jesus. In fact,
all that actually exists, is the present — but still, the past has immense
power. In the case of some peoples, one gets the impression that it is the
past, especially the mythic past, which is of overwhelming importance. For
instance, all would agree that in the traditional culture of the Australian
Aborigine, the Dreaming is decisive. All is governed by the Dreaming, and
the key to the renewal of the present is the evocation, re-presentation, and
re-activation of the Dreaming. Now, there was one people, one culture in
history, which exemplified in a special way the decisive importance of the
past. That was the chosen people of Israel. The past which founded them as a
people and gave to them their identity, and in the light of which they
lived, were facts on which they could absolutely depend. They were not mere
stories, but things that happened and to which they continually returned for
renewal and inspiration.
Nevertheless, however critical the thought of the past, it was the place of
the future which also distinguished the religious culture of Israel. The God
who had done such great things in the past, would do very great things in
the future. They looked forward to the future with anticipation — not simply
in terms of what they would do, but in terms of what God would do. It is
common enough for man to look forward to the future as the arena of his own
ambitions and achievements. The chosen people of Israel could scarcely look
forward to the future as a scene of their own doings. What distinguished
them was their undying expectation of One who was coming and who would make
all things good. This was a real expectation based on the prophecies, but
those prophecies were sufficiently vague to occasion the most disparate
interpretations and mistaken hopes. Josephus in his Jewish Wars attributes
to the ambiguity of the messianic prophecies the Jewish revolt against Rome.
Despite this, one might argue that one of the things which the
Judaeo-Christian Revelation has brought to the world is a new and special
emphasis on the future as something God will effect, and as something very
hopeful to be awaited. All of this we see being acted out in our Gospel
passage today. The chosen people looked forward to the coming of the
Messiah. He would be their hope and their salvation, even though the nature
of this salvation was so often missed. And so it is that with such joy
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one of whom Moses
in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.
Nathanael said to him, “Can any thing of good come from Nazareth?” Philip
said to him “Come and see.” The discovery of Jesus of Nazareth meant that
the future promise to the chosen people was being fulfilled. Jesus was the
Messiah. Nathanael in his turn comes to see that it is so. “Rabbi, you are
the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.” Our Lord immediately speaks of
the future, and how he could expect much from it. “Amen, amen I say to you,
you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of man” (John 1: 43-51).
By his death on the Cross, Jesus Christ effected a new
beginning. Thereafter, man continually looks back on what Christ did for
him. But of course, all this is made present in the now, in the Christian’s
present life. It is with the living, risen Jesus that the Christian is
united. That having been said, there is a glorious future to be looked to.
Just as, for Israel, the coming of the Messiah was the great and defining
event of the future, so we, united with Christ now, have his future coming
to look forward to. The past, the present and the future — all of time — is
immensely rich for the Christian. God has made of time a bearer of the most
tremendous of blessings. Let us not waste time, then! Let us use our time to
the full to unite ourselves with Christ and serve him with love.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Scripture today: 1 John 5:5-13;
Psalm 147: 12-15, 19-20; Mark 1:7-11 or Luke
3: 23-38.
And
this was John’s message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the
thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize
you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” At that time
Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and
the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You
are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
(Mark 1:7-11)
The Trinity
The children of Israel had long been
familiar with “the spirit of the Lord.” The Book of Genesis, perhaps
compiled during the fifth and sixth centuries BC — with its component
traditions and texts going back much further — opens with mention of the
presence of the spirit or breath of God present at the creation of the
world. In the beginning there was God, and his spirit moved over
the
waste, the void, the darkness, the deep. Then God spoke. So there was God,
there was his spirit and there was his word. The spirit of God is said to
fall upon a number of persons at a certain point when Moses was leading the
people in the wilderness. The spirit came upon David, upon the prophets, and
Joel prophesied that God would pour out his spirit on all flesh. In his
first post-Pentecostal sermon, Peter refers to Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:
14-21). But what was the spirit of God, as referred to in the Old Testament?
The meaning ebbs and flows, but in general it was the divine action and
presence. In the Old Testament it was never, of course, conceived as a
distinct Person, and there would have been no warrant for doing so.
Nevertheless, the spirit of God is often referred to as if the action of God
has something of a life of its own — and the Christian will see in such
references harbingers of the amazing revelation to come. Thus we are led to
the threshold of the ministry of Jesus Christ, when St John the Baptist
refers to the spirit of God as a Messianic gift. More exactly, he speaks of
the “Holy Spirit,” which is the expression used in the Gospels for the third
divine Person. This quickly became the standard title of the third divine
Person, obviously stemming directly from Christ’s own usage with all its
hallowed roots in the Old Testament. I baptize with water, John says, but he
will baptize with “the Holy Spirit.” Any Christian reader would have
interpreted this as a major prophecy of what Jesus Christ would do. After
his resurrection from the dead, Christ told his disciples to wait in
Jerusalem for “the Promise of the Father which you have heard from me. John
baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many
days hence” (Acts 1: 4-5).
At the baptism of Jesus Christ “the Spirit” comes down upon Christ
— as he
had with David, and with several prophets, but in the case of Jesus Christ
he comes in visible form. Now, while in the Old Testament the effects of the
coming of the spirit of God were often visible (in the new powers of, say,
governance or prophecy being exercised by the one receiving the spirit of
God, his visible descent is special to the New Testament. It is a factor of
the new revelation that “the spirit of God” is a Person. When Samuel
anointed David, “the spirit of the Lord” came upon him, but nothing was seen
descending. When Jesus Christ is baptized the Spirit of God is seen to be
descending on him in visible form. Something distinct and visible comes down
from the parted heavens, and it is in the “form” of a dove. This is not to
say that this visible appearance of the Holy Spirit in some symbolic form is
typical of his coming to persons in the age of the Messiah. Indeed it is
rare — but when it happens it reinforces the revelation that the Gift is a
divine Person. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes in the form of tongues of
fire, and he, the Holy Spirit, takes charge. Thereafter in the Acts of the
Apostles the Holy Spirit actively directs minds and hearts as would a
Commander. All this is to say, that a most notable feature of the baptism of
Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Person of the Holy Spirit. He is seen
in a visible form coming down from heaven, and is identified as the Holy
Spirit. But of course, this is not all. God declares himself to be the
Father of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ to be his beloved Son. Though its
import may not have been fully appreciated, it was a public revelation of
the triune Godhead, the one only God in three Persons. This is not to say
that a non-believer or a positive non-Trinitarian, without the benefit of
the light coming from the doctrinal teaching of the Church, would be able to
see the Trinitarian significance of the event. I am not at all sure that a
mere reading of the Gospels would convey a clear impression of the doctrine
of the Holy Trinity. The Gospels must be read within the Church’s Tradition,
and with the Church’s mind. With that, so much will be seen as taught,
assumed and suggested by the inspired writings.
Our Gospel scene today (Mark 1:7-11) is
a magnificent event. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are revealed, and Jesus
Christ is launched on his Messianic mission. He comes from the Father by and
in the power of the Holy Spirit, and his mission is to baptize in the Holy
Spirit, drawing men into union with him, and therefore into the life of the
Holy Trinity. The Christian faith is essentially Trinitarian, and the life
of the Christian is essentially Trinitarian. I have seen encounters between
Christians and Muslims, in which Christians have downplayed the divinity of
Jesus Christ and the mystery of the Trinity. This is a pity, for the
vocation of the Christian is to bear respectful witness to it before the
world.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Scripture today:
1 John 5: 14-21; Psalm 149: 1-5; John 2: 1-11
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was
there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Dear woman, why do you involve me” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet
come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby
stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial
washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the
servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then
he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been
turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the
servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper
wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the
best till now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in
Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their
faith in him. (John 2: 1-11)
A new creation
It is generally thought that the Gospel of St John, in a way surpassing the
other three Gospels, endows the facts being narrated with rich symbolic
meanings. When facts are narrated in that Gospel, they seem designed to
remind the reader of higher connections.
For instance, one detail in the
first chapter is John’s tracking of events by “days.” In his long Prologue
(1: 1-18) John makes prominent reference to the witness of John the Baptist
to Jesus Christ (1: 6-8). This is followed by a description of this same
witness to Christ as given by John the Baptist himself to the priests and
Levites from Jerusalem (1: 19-28). This seems to be a first day because,
that witness to the priests having concluded, we are told that “the next
day, he saw Jesus coming to him...” (1: 29). We are then, on this “next
day,” given further testimony to Jesus by John, this time to his being the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John bears witness that he
saw the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and that God revealed
to him that this Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. He is, John,
testifies, the Son of God (1: 29-34). So far, then, we have two days. “Again
the next day” John testifies to two of his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb
of God (1: 35), at which they leave him to follow Jesus. On what must have
been the next day after their staying with Jesus, Andrew looks for Simon
Peter and bears witness to Jesus (1: 40-41). Then on “the day following”
this, Jesus was to leave for Galilee and he invites Philip to follow him (1:
43). So far, it is five days — and perhaps it is the next day that “Philip
finds Nathanael” and bears witness, bringing him to Jesus. We possibly have
six days in which witness to Jesus Christ is given. If we regard the
Prologue (which parallels the introduction of God and creation in Genesis 1:
1-3) as a unit within this schema, we have seven steps, here and there
referred to as “days,” making up the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the
start of his mission. They appear, without forcing the issue, as a week
suggestive of the grand week of creation with which the Book of Genesis
opens. In his first chapter, John seems to be suggesting by the use of
“days” in a week that a new creation of the world was beginning.
But then we notice what appears to be a new start in this pattern of “days.”
In our Gospel today which a later tabulation placed in a new chapter (2:
1-11), we have an event which occurs “on the third day.” Being the “third
day” separates it from the previous days of chapter one, which at the very
least already included a third day (1: 43), if not — as I have been
suggesting — an entire week, at least implicitly. Just what historical
sequence for the wedding feast of Cana John had in mind is a little obscure
— it may have occurred on “the third day” after leaving Judea for Galilee
(1: 43). The “days” of chapter one, suggestive of a week, hearken back to
the creation of the world, and point therefore to a new creation now in
process. The “third day” on which the wedding feast of Cana occurs, surely
points to the “third day” on which Christ rises from the dead. It was on his
rising from the dead that his work of re-creating the world was
accomplished. What remained was the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which came
“early evening on that same day” (John 20:22). That is to say, in John’s
Gospel the rising from the dead and the first gift of the Spirit — the
re-creation — both occurred on “the third day.” At the wedding feast of Cana,
also “on the third day,” something new and wondrous is done. The wine runs
out — symbolic of the exhaustion and emptiness of a sinful world. The mother
of the Redeemer approaches her divine Son to tell him that there is no more
wine. When God utters his word in Genesis 1 there is a creation. When Christ
speaks there is a new creation. As the steward acknowledges, in place of the
old there is something here altogether different and better. The water is
changed into wine, and this happens “on the third day.” In this sense, we
should avoid separating the wedding feast of Cana from the account contained
in the first chapter of the Gospel. It would seem to be intimately connected
with it. The work of the new creation is launched over the course of “a
week,” and it is then completed by a spectacular change effected “on the
third day.” By the changing of water into wine the reader is reminded of the
great change in the world effected by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world, and baptises with the Holy Spirit. Let us enter prayerfully
into our Gospel scene, involving a miracle initiated by the intercession of
the Mother of Jesus Christ. Let us, like the disciples, contemplate the
glory of Jesus Christ, of which this miracle “on the third day” was a sign
(2: 11).
If we wish to be beneficiaries of the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ we
must do as Mary the mother of God made man directed the servants to do. They
were to do whatever he told them to do (2: 5). Let us resolve to do that, so
that he might do in our lives what he did with the water in those jars. He
can make us new, and like unto himself. But it will all depend on our
obedience to his word. This is the work ahead, and we have a mother and an
intercessor in heaven to help us do it: Mary the mother of Jesus Christ our
redeemer and our God. She can speak of us to him, and she can show us how to
dispose ourselves for the gift of his grace.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Feast of the Epiphany of the
Lord
Prayers this week: The Lord
and ruler is coming; kingship is his, and government and power. (Ml
3:1; 1 Ch 39:12)
Father,
you revealed you Son to the nations by the guidance of a star. Lead us to
your glory in heaven by the light of faith. We ask this through our Lord
Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and
ever.
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.After Jesus was born in
Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came
to Jerusalem and asked, Where is the one who has been born
king of the Jews? We saw his
star in the east and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this
he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together
all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where
the Christ was to be born. In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this
is what the prophet has written: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come
a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' Then Herod called
the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the
child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship
him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star
they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place
where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming
to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down
and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with
gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream
not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
(Matthew 2: 1-12)
were shepherds watching over
their sheep in the surrounding countryside. An angel appeared to them and
the glory of the Lord shone about them. They were told of the birth of the
Messiah and they were directed to go and see the child in a manger. They
did this. That is the Gospel of St Luke. Our passage today is from St Matthew.
St Matthew’s Gospel is especially Jewish in that St Matthew is constantly
showing how Jesus fulfils the prophecies of the Old Testament. One fundamental
prophecy (Gen. 12:3) was that in Abraham all the nations would be blessed.
Accordingly, while St Luke tells us of humble Jewish shepherds visiting the
newborn child, St Matthew reports the visit of non-Jewish pagan wise men
from the east, presumably of the Zoroastrian religion. They were led by a
star, Matthew tells us, and calling at Jerusalem they asked for advice as
to where the infant king of the Jews was. It caused a consternation, but
having obtained advice they went on to Bethlehem and rendered homage to the
Child. It was a simple, quiet visit but brimfull of significance for the
inspired writer of the Gospel. We remember how in the Gospel of St John our
Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well and told her that salvation
is from the Jews. It is recognized that the Messianic expectation within
Israel was known to some extent by other peoples, in the sense that many
knew that a great King was being expected to rise from Judea. Here we see
representatives of the Gentile world led by God to the Jews and finding the
long predicted King. This may have been the sum total of the light they were
granted. Pagan though they were, they were open to light from above and
were disposed to be led by it. They attained an encounter with Christ, and,
we read, with his mother.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
(January 5) St. John Neumann (1811-1860)
Perhaps because the United States got
a later start in the history of the world, it has relatively few canonized
saints, but their number is increasing. John Neumann 
was born in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying in Prague, he came
to New York at 25 and was ordained a priest. He did missionary work in New
York until he was 29, when he joined the Redemptorists and became its first
member to profess vows in the United States. He continued missionary work
in Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans.
At 41, as bishop of Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system
into a diocesan one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within
a short time. Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the
city many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During
his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he placed
them in the forefront of the parochial movement. Well-known for his holiness
and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October 13, 1963, he became
the first American bishop to be beatified. Canonized in 1977, he is buried
in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia.
Neumann took seriously our Lord’s words, “Go and teach
all nations.” From Christ he received his instructions and the power to carry
them out. For Christ does not give a mission without supplying the means
to accomplish it. The Father’s gift in Christ to John Neumann was his exceptional
organizing ability, which he used to spread the Good News.
Today the Church is in dire need of men and women to continue
in our times the teaching of the Good News. The obstacles and inconveniences
are real and costly. Yet when Christians approach Christ, he supplies the
necessary talents to answer today’s needs. The Spirit of Christ continues
his work through the instrumentality of generous Christians. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture:
1 John22-4:6; Psalm
2; Matthew 4: 12-17.23-25
When Jesus heard that John
had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went
and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of
Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. From
that time on Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
near. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching
the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among
the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him
all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the
demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed, and he healed
them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the
region across the Jordan followed him. (Matthew
4: 12-17.23-25)
The Church selects this
Gospel passage for the day immediately following the feast of the Epiphany,
when we contemplated the Child Jesus’s manifestation to representatives
of the Gentiles. From chapter two of St Matthew for the feast of the
Epiphany of the Child we pass today to a passage from chapter four of
the same Gospel. Christ has begun his
public
ministry, and John who baptized him has been imprisoned. It is the time for
Jesus to begin his work in earnest. He returns to Galilee and Matthew invites
us to notice that Galilee is a land with Gentiles. The prophet Isaiah had
foretold that “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea,
along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have
seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a
light has dawned.” Galilee, as is well known, contained a good number of
Gentile people and in his years growing up in the obscure township of Nazareth
Jesus would have been very aware of this. The cosmopolitan texture of Galilee
would have been a constant sign to him of the universal character of his
redemptive mission. His own personal mission was to the Jews and he would
spend his short public ministry giving himself entirely to the chosen people,
while having occasional contact with pagans. But in his constant presence
among some Gentiles of Galilee he would have often pondered the universal
character of his saving work. Matthew sees the beginning of his public ministry
in Galilee — Galilee of the nations! — as a presage of the future. The people
who lived in darkness — symbolizing the whole world — have seen a great light.
As John tells us in his Gospel, our Lord described himself as the Light of
not just the chosen people, but of the world. This point is very relevant
to the days following the Epiphany.
All of this must be remembered
by the disciple of Christ. While the Master’s own mission was to the House
of Israel, he lived and began his mission among many Galilean Gentiles. He
had contact with Gentiles at various points during his public ministry.
For instance, a centurion of the Roman army humbly asked him for the favour
of healing his servant. On that occasion our Lord said that people would
be coming from the east and the west to take their places at the table in
the Kingdom of Heaven. The Canaanite woman persisted with him and would not
let him go till he had granted her request. He visited the Decapolis
region and effected a spectacular exorcism. Very significantly, John tells
us that just before his Passion two Greeks approached Philip and asked to
see Jesus. When he rose from the dead our Lord told his disciples that he
was now the Lord of the world. All authority had been given to him in heaven
and on earth. At the beginning of his public ministry he was led into the
desert by the Holy Spirit to engage against Satan. Satan offered him the
whole world if he would but worship him. Christ summarily dismissed him.
But now, in our Gospel passage today (Matthew 4: 12-17.23-25), he was beginning
his public ministry and he meant to conquer the world. Ultimately he was
for the world and not just for the Jews. Just before he ascended into Heaven
he charged his disciples to go to the whole world and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing and teaching them his commandments. The whole world
is called to know and love Jesus Christ as Lord. It is this universal character
of Christ’s mission that we think of especially during the days immediately
following the Epiphany. All this is to say that prior to the feast of the
Baptism of our Lord which marks the beginning of the Ordinary Time of the
Liturgical Year the Church presents us with the figure of Jesus. He is the
Messiah long expected, the magnificent fruit of the chosen people, a fruit
that is offered to the entire human race. He is our Saviour, the Saviour
of all mankind.
This means that we, each
of us who count ourselves as Christ’s disciples, share in his universal mission.
Every day God in his providence places us in a certain setting in the world.
The world around us constitutes the daily arena of our mission. That mission
is to bring the person and message of Jesus into that secular setting. The
world around us, wherever we may be, must be won for Christ. Let us then
begin! Now I begin, we ought say, and we ought say it every day.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What an example of discretion is given us by the Mother of God! Not even
to Saint Joseph does she communicate the mystery.
Ask our Lady for the discretion you lack.
(The Way, no.653)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 5, 2008, Benedict XVI continues
with the eleventh of his Wednesday talks on St Paul
We now turn to his proclamation of the resurrection. In preaching Jesus Christ
risen from the dead, Paul was concerned to "hand on" what he himself had
"received" from the Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 15:3). He proclaims not only the
fact of the resurrection, but its vital significance: in Christ, who died
and rose for us, we have been saved, made righteous in the sight of God.
The resurrection reveals Jesus’ true identity as the eternal Son of God and
Lord of the living and the dead. We, for our part, are called to become fully
configured to him in the mystery of his Passover from death to life. Our
present sufferings thus become a sharing in Christ’s own suffering and death,
while the hope of the resurrection even now draws us toward the fullness
of life with all the saints in his Kingdom. Salvation, Paul tells us, comes
from confessing with our lips that Jesus is Lord, and believing in our hearts
that God raised him from the dead (cf. Rom 10:9). With the Apostle, then,
let us strive ever more fully, in faith and hope, "to know Jesus Christ and
the power of his resurrection" (cf. Phil 3:10).
(Continuing)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
(January 6) St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-390)
After his baptism at 30, Gregory gladly
accepted his friend Basil’s invitation to join him in a newly founded monastery.
The solitude was broken when Gregory’s father, a bishop, needed help in
his diocese and estate. It seems that 
Gregory was ordained a priest practically by force, and only reluctantly
accepted the responsibility. He skilfully avoided a schism that threatened
when his own father made compromises with Arianism. At 41, Gregory was
chosen suffragan bishop of Caesarea and at once came into conflict with
Valens, the emperor, who supported the Arians. An unfortunate by-product
of the battle was the cooling of the friendship of two saints. Basil, his
archbishop, sent him to a miserable and unhealthy town on the border of
unjustly created divisions in his diocese. Basil reproached Gregory for
not going to his see. When protection for Arianism ended with the death
of Valens, Gregory was called to rebuild the faith in the great see of
Constantinople, which had been under Arian teachers for three decades.
Retiring and sensitive, he dreaded being drawn into the whirlpool of corruption
and violence. He first stayed at a friend’s home, which became the only
orthodox church in the city. In such surroundings, he began giving the
great sermons on the Trinity for which he is famous. In time, Gregory did
rebuild the faith in the city, but at the cost of great suffering, slander,
insults and even personal violence. An interloper even tried to take over
his bishopric. His last days were spent in solitude and austerity. He wrote
religious poetry, some of it autobiographical, of great depth and beauty.
He was acclaimed simply as “the Theologian.”
It may be small comfort, but post-Vatican II
turmoil in the Church is a mild storm compared to the devastation caused
by the Arian heresy, a trauma the Church has never forgotten. Christ did
not promise the kind of peace we would love to have—no problems, no opposition,
no pain. In one way or another, holiness is always the way of the cross.
“God accepts our desires as though they were a great value. He longs ardently
for us to desire and love him. He accepts our petitions for benefits as
though we were doing him a favour. His joy in giving is greater than ours
in receiving. So let us not be apathetic in our asking, nor set too narrow
bounds to our requests; nor ask for frivolous things unworthy of God’s
greatness.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
Scripture today:
1 John 4: 7-10; Psalm 71; Mark 6: 34-44
When Jesus landed and saw
a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep
without a shepherd.
So he began teaching
them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples
came to him. This is a remote place, they said, and it's already very late.
Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside
and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered, You
give them something to eat. They said to him, That would take eight months
of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it
to them to eat? How many loaves do you have? he asked. Go and see. When
they found out, they said, Five— and two fish. Then Jesus directed them
to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat
down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the
two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.
Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided
the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples
picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number
of the men who had eaten was five thousand. (Mark
6: 34-44)
Our Gospel scene today
portrays our Lord arriving on the shore and seeing a large crowd. Perhaps
in them he saw the world at large, — and we ourselves can see that crowd
as symbolic of the world at large. Our Lord has compassion on them because
they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were in so many cases adrift.
They lacked a guide. They
lacked a sure support.
In this they surely represented so much of the human situation. So many
search for happiness and security which they hope to find in tangible things,
but to their cost those tangible things prove to be so very vulnerable
and ephemeral. The great credit crisis beginning in 2008, with its roots
in lending institutions taking enormous risks with those they were borrowing
from and those they were lending to, is an instance of this. As Pope Benedict
once observed, money can so easily vanish and if that is what people have
built their lives on, what is there left when it does vanish? When the
earth below moves, as it were, the earthquake that results can leave nothing
standing. It is a variant of what we call the problem of evil and each man
and woman must find the key to security, light and happiness. Our Lord
as he disembarked saw the crowds, and he had compassion on them because
they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he set himself to teach them
at some length. The scene reminds us that the answer to the insecurity
of man is the person of Christ and his teaching. We need to be united to
the person of Jesus and imbued with what he has said. Jesus is not just
some past figure whom we remember and take as our guide, just as we might
Aristotle, or Buddha, or Confucius. No, Jesus is alive and he continues
to teach us. He is in our midst, just as he was in the scene of our Gospel
today. Where is he? He abides in his body the Church. The Church is his
abode here on earth. He is the Church’s Head. As members of the Church
we are members of Christ as branches of the great Vine who is Christ, with
our heavenly Father as the Vinedresser. He abides in the Church, and teaches
in and through the Church. Thus is his presence among men ongoing and his
teaching is ongoing.
In our Gospel passage
today (Mark 6: 34-44) our Lord, having
taught the crowds, was approached by his disciples and urged to send the
crowds away so that they could get something to eat from the nearby villages.
The people had evidently forgotten to come prepared. Notice the freedom with
which our Lord’s disciples go to our Lord and advise him on obvious things.
There is a familiar friendship between them. But our Lord simply tells them
to look after the crowd and to give them something to eat themselves. Let
us likewise see that directive of his as having a significance far beyond
the scene before us. Christ, viewing the crowds who were in such need of
him and his teaching, and who were in such need of so many other things,
tells his disciples to look after the people. He tells that to each and all
of his disciples down through the ages and in every place. That is the vocation
of the disciple of Christ, just as it was the mission of Jesus himself. He
said that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for the many. On another occasion (Matthew 25) he told his disciples
about the Last and General Judgment. All the nations, he explained, will
be assembled together. Then the King will come seated on the clouds and he
will proceed to judge the good and the bad. This final Judgment will pivot
around the degree and kind of service each has offered to those in need.
Christ our Judge will take it as having been done to himself whatever we
do to the least of his brothers. Here in our Gospel scene today our Lord
directs his disciples to act in like manner. They are to give the crowds
something to eat themselves. That is what Christ wants us to be doing continually
in life. I remember hearing a well-known talk-back personality on radio once.
He said that we are born to work. I hope he meant that we have been given
the gift of life for the purpose of serving others in our work. That is what
life is about, and Christ confirms this. He adds this decisive element, that
in those we serve we ought intend to serve him and we are to serve in the
way he served and according to his teaching.
Let us spend our lives
doing what the disciples then did, and at our Lord’s bidding. At his command
they set about to give the crowds what they needed, and they did so being
helped all the while by Christ’s powerful action. Christ will be with us
as we serve others each day and he will make up for our meagre strength.
The one thing we must do is do what he tells us to do, and that is to serve
others in his name, recognizing him in them, and serving in the spirit
which he himself exemplifies.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bitterness has sharpened your tongue. Be quiet!
(The Way, no.654)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 19, 2008, Benedict XVI continues
with the twelfth of his Wednesday talks on St Paul
We now consider his teaching on our justification. Paul’s experience of
the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus led him to see that it is only by
faith in Christ, and not by any merit of our own, that we are made righteous
before God. Our justification in Christ is thus God’s gracious gift, revealed
in the mystery of the Cross. Christ died in order to become our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption (cf. 1 Cor 1:30), and we in
turn, justified by faith, have become in him the very righteousness of God
(cf. 2 Cor 5:21). In the light of the Cross and its gifts of reconciliation
and new life in the Spirit, Paul rejected a righteousness based on the
Law and its works.
(Continuing)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Wednesday after the Epiphany
(January 7)
(January 7) St Raymond
of Penyafort (1175-1275) (Picture to right: tomb of St
Raymond, Barcelona)
Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a
chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the
resources and the education to get a good start in life. By the time he was
20, he was teaching philosophy. In his early 30s he earned a doctorate in
both canon and civil law. At 41 he became a Dominican. Pope Gregory IX called
him to Rome to work 
for him and to be his confessor. One of the things the pope asked him to
do was to gather together all the decrees of popes and councils that had been
made in 80 years since a similar collection by Gratian. Raymond compiled
five books called the Decretals. They were
looked upon as one of the best organized collections of Church law until
the 1917 codification of canon law. Earlier, Raymond had written for confessors
a book of cases. It was called Summa de casibus poenitentiae. More than just
a list of sins and penances, it discussed pertinent doctrines and laws of
the Church that pertained to the problem or case brought to the confessor.
At the age of 60, Raymond was appointed archbishop of Tarragona, the capital
of Aragon. He didn’t like the honor at all and ended up getting sick and
resigning in two years. He didn’t get to enjoy his peace long, however, because
when he was 63 he was elected by his fellow Dominicans to be the head of
the whole Order, the successor of St. Dominic. Raymond worked hard, visited
on foot all the Dominicans, reorganized their constitutions and managed to
put through a provision that a master general be allowed to resign. When
the new constitutions were accepted, Raymond, then 65, resigned. He still
had 35 years to oppose heresy and work for the conversion of the Moors in
Spain. He convinced St. Thomas Aquinas to write his work Against the Gentiles.
In his100th year the Lord let Raymond retire.
Raymond was a lawyer, a canonist. Legalism is one of the
things that the Church tried to rid herself of at Vatican II. It is too great
a preoccupation with the letter of the law to the neglect of the spirit and
purpose of the law. The law can become an end in itself, so that the value
the law was intended to promote is overlooked. But we must guard against
going to the opposite extreme and seeing law as useless or something to be
lightly regarded. Laws ideally state those things that are for the best interests
of everyone and make sure the rights of all are safeguarded. From Raymond,
we can learn a respect for law as a means of serving the common good.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 John 4: 11-18;
Psalm 71; Mark 6: 45-52
Immediately Jesus made
his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while
he dismissed
the crowd. After leaving them,
he went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in
the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining
at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of
the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass
by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a
ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately
he spoke to them and said, Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid. Then he
climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely
amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
(Mark
6: 45-52)
Most people have had the
experience of looking at something and yet of not seeing it. By that I mean
that they have been looking at something yet because their mind is attending
to something else they have not noticed what they were observing. Or
again, a person may be looking for something but because he does not expect
it to be in a certain
spot
he misses it even though he is actually observing it. He is not attending
to what he is observing. Or again, someone is doing research on a particular
topic and is therefore searching for evidence of it, and does not notice
many other things that pass before him in his reading. He is searching for
something else. Or again, a person may be unable to see the good qualities
someone may have, and yet others can see them clearly. Why is this so? It
may be that he is full of resentment for what that person has done to him
in the exercise of authority. The good qualities are there but he cannot
see them. His mind is clouded by various attitudes, by other things he remembers
and has perceived in that person. These random examples show us that it is
possible to be blind to certain things which are obvious to ordinary sight.
All this is well understood from general experience and most take it into
account even if they do not bother to do much about it. It becomes serious,
though, when very important things are at stake. If, for instance, a member
of a family becomes so consumed with dislike for another member of his family
that he cannot see beyond it, then the peace of an entire family is threatened.
The blindness of vision is due to the state of the heart. It all goes
to show that what we perceive and how we judge of a thing involves more that
just looking at it. Perception depends very much on inner dispositions. The
heart must be disposed and ready to see what we are observing. In a sense
it is the heart that sees.
In our Gospel today our
Lord works an amazing miracle. Following his spectacular feeding of thousands
of people with a mere handful of food the day before, he sent the disciples
ahead of him to cross the Lake to the other side. He would make his own way
back. He spent the night in prayer with his heavenly Father and could see
his disciples in difficulties against the winds. So at the fourth watch of
the night he left the land and went to them across the water to be with them.
They were terrified as they saw him coming, thinking it was some kind of menacing
phantom, perhaps a phantom from the depths. It looked as if to pass by. But
he called out to them that it was he. They were not to be afraid. Then he
entered the boat and the winds abated. We are told that “they were completely
amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened”
(Mark
6: 45-52). The detail
I invite you to notice is what the inspired author says of the hearts of
the disciples. Their hearts were hardened. They had not been able to perceive
and understand, and so were amazed when they did see. Though the day before
they had seen the great miracle of the loaves before their very eyes, and
had actually participated in the event, they had not understood it. They
should have understood that Jesus was the Saviour in every sense of the word.
They could rely on him utterly for his power, his love and his care in all
their difficulties. But their hearts were hardened — not to the extent of
many in Israel, but to an extent. They were slow to understand the greatness
of the Master they had in their midst. Thus their expectations were poor.
It was basically because of this state of heart that they
had not recognized him as he approached them across the water, and took the
spectacle for something altogether different. The biggest difficulty Christ
faced both with the House of Israel to whom he was especially sent and to
an extent his own disciples was hardness of heart. Due to hardness of heart
many refused to believe in him and due to hardness of heart his own disciples,
though they believed, were very slow to understand.
What is the answer to this fundamental
problem? First, we must strive to recognize our own hardness of heart and
our own difficulty in believing and perceiving. If we recognize this, we
are in a better position to do something about it. So let us pray for a deeper
self-knowledge, a deeper knowledge of the sinful state of our own hearts.
Our hearts are to a greater or lesser extent hard and poorly disposed to
see what God in Christ has made known. Let us pray for the grace to see this.
Let us pray also that God by his grace will change our hearts and dispose
them to accept entirely his will and his word, for our calling is to hear
the word of God and put it into practice.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I could never over-emphasize the importance of discretion.
It may not be the blade of your sword, but I would certainly describe it
as the hilt.
(The Way, no.655)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered on November 16,
2008, before reciting the Angelus together with the crowds gathered in St.
Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The Word of God this Sunday -- the penultimate of the liturgical year -- invites
us to be vigilant and active, in awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus at
the end of time. The Gospel passage tells the parable of the talents, reported
by St. Matthew (25:14-30). The "talent" was an ancient Roman coin of great
value and precisely on account of the popularity of this parable it has become
synonymous with personal gifts, which everyone is called to develop.
In reality, the text speaks of "a man who, going abroad, called his servants
and handed over his goods to them" (Matthew 25:14). The man in the parable
represents Christ himself, the servants are his disciples and the talents
are the gifts that Jesus gives them. For this reason such gifts, apart from
natural qualities, represent the riches that the Lord Jesus has left us as
a legacy, so that we bear fruit with them: his Word, deposited in the holy
Gospel; baptism, which renews us in the Holy Spirit; prayer -- the "Our Father"
-- that we address to God as sons united in the Son; his forgiveness, which
he commanded to be brought to all; the sacrament of his immolated Body and
his Blood that he poured out. In a word: the Kingdom of God, which is Christ
himself, present and living among us.
This is the treasure that Jesus has entrusted to his friends, at the end
of his brief life on earth. Today's parable considers the interior attitude
with which this gift is accepted and valued. The mistaken attitude is that
of fear: The servant who fears his master and fears his return, hides the
coin in the ground and it does not produce any fruit. This happens, for example,
to those who, having received baptism, Communion, and confirmation bury such
gifts beneath prejudices, a false image of God that paralyzes faith and works,
so as to betray the Lord's expectations.
But the parable puts greater emphasis on the good fruits born by the disciples
who, happy at the gift received, did not hide it with fear and jealously,
but made it fruitful, sharing it, participating in it. Indeed, what Christ
gives us is multiplied when we give it away! It is a treasure that is made
to be spent, invested, shared with all, as the Apostle Paul, that great administrator
of Jesus' talents, has taught us.
The Gospel teaching, which the liturgy offers us today, has even entered
into the historical and social sphere, promoting an active mentality among
Christian populations. But the central message regards the spirit of responsibility
with which the Kingdom of God is to be accepted: responsibility toward God
and toward humanity. This attitude is perfectly incarnated in the heart of
the Virgin Mary who, receiving the most precious of gifts, Jesus himself,
offered him to the world with great love. Let us ask her to help us to be
"good and faithful servants," so that one day we can take part "in the joy
of our Lord."
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Thursday following the
Epiphany (January 8)
(January 8) Blessed Angela of Foligno
(1248-1309)
Some saints show marks of holiness
very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, she became immersed
in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she
continued this life of distraction. Around the age of 40 she recognized the
emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the Sacrament of Penance.
Her Franciscan confessor helped Angela to seek God’s pardon for her previous
life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity. Shortly
after her conversion, her husband and children died. Selling most of her
possessions, she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. She was alternately
absorbed by meditating on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor of
Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs. Other women joined her in
a religious community. At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her Book of
Visions and Instructions. In it she recalls some of the temptations she suffered
after her conversion; she also expresses her thanks to God for the Incarnation
of Jesus. This book and her life earned for Angela the title "Teacher of Theologians."
She was beatified in 1693.
People who live in the United States today can understand
Blessed Angela’s temptation to increase her sense of self-worth by accumulating
money, fame or power. Striving to possess more and more, she became more
and more self-centred. When she realized she was priceless because she was
created and loved by God, she became very penitential and very charitable
to the poor. What had seemed foolish early in her life now became very important.
The path of self-emptying she followed is the path all holy men and women
must follow. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 John 4:19-5:4;
Psalm 71; Luke 4: 14-22
Jesus returned to Galilee
in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
He taught in their synagogues, and everyone
praised him. He went to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,
as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favour. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to
the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened
on him, and he began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled
in your hearing. All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words
that came from his lips. Isn't this Joseph's son? they asked.
(Luke 4: 14-22)
Our Gospel passage today
presents our Lord returning to Galilee after his baptism by John. He is launched
in his great mission to the House of Israel. What is most distinctive about
our Lord now? What is especially noteworthy is that now he is acting in the
power of the Holy Spirit. The interest of St Luke in the Holy Spirit
is very evident in both his
inspired works, his Gospel and his account of the infant Church in the Acts of the Apostles.
In the first chapter of his Gospel the Angel Gabriel promises Zechariah that
his holy son John will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.
The same Angel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the
power of God will overshadow her, and it is thus that her son Jesus will
be conceived. When Mary visits in haste her kinswoman Elizabeth, she, Elizabeth
is filled with the Holy Spirit and she speaks of Mary as blessed of all women
and of her child as blessed. After Jesus is born Mary and Joseph takes him
to the Temple and the holy Simeon is led by the Holy Spirit to the Child
and in the Spirit prophesies concerning him and his mother. Then at our Lord’s
baptism in the river Jordan the Holy Spirit descends on him in bodily form,
like a dove, while the voice of the Father is heard testifying that Jesus
is his beloved Son. Immediately after, our Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit,
is led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he encounters and rebuffs
Satan. Then, as we read in our Gospel passage today, our Lord, with the power
of the Holy Spirit in him returns to Galilee. Christ has been led by the
Holy Spirit from the instant of his conception but now the power of the Holy
Spirit is at work and manifest in his public ministry. His reputation spreads
“throughout the countryside.” Especially noteworthy is the power and effectiveness
of his preaching and teaching. We read that he taught in their synagogues
and everyone praised him. The Holy Spirit is acting through him and there
is an evident power in all he does and says.
The Holy Spirit was acting
with power through his words and ministry, and our Lord himself was
very aware that this was the case. He announced it to his own townspeople
to whom in due course he returned. What the prophet Isaiah had foretold was
now happening, he told them. “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord
is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He
has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour”
(Luke
4: 14-22). Having
read the prophecy of centuries before, our Lord sat down and told his townspeople
that what had been predicted by the prophet was now occurring before their
very eyes. “He said to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It was a stupendous claim and was a new thing in the history of Israel. This
Jesus whom they knew so well and with whom many of them had been raised,
was calmly stating that he himself was the one the prophets had foretold,
and that the Spirit of God had anointed him for his mission to the people.
Let us place ourselves among the people in the synagogue and gaze on Jesus.
As we do this, let us also understand that we who are baptized have been given
a share in this same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who led Christ and who
acted through him with power has been given to us as Christ’s gift. We have
received the gift of the same Holy Spirit Isaiah refers to and who filled
Christ in his ministry. We then are empowered by God to follow Jesus and
participate in his mission. What, ultimately, is his mission? It is to bring
all to the knowledge, the love, the service and the following of Jesus. It
is this which the Holy Spirit is endeavouring to achieve and it is he who
makes us fruitful and effective in this.
Let us resolve to become
devoted to the third divine Person, the Holy Spirit. He is the one and only
God, though distinct as a Person from the Father and the Son, each of whom
are distinct divine persons and each of whom is the one and only infinite
God. Let us not make the Holy Spirit sad, as St Paul writes, by deliberate
sin. Let us invoke him daily, asking that he will help us to love Christ
as our Redeemer and our God, and asking too that he will help us participate
fruitfully in the mission of Christ and his body the Church. So then let
us pray, Come, O Holy Spirit!
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always remain silent when you feel the upsurge of indignation
within you. And do so, even when you have good reason to be angry.
For, in spite of your discretion, in such moments you always say more than
you wish.
(The Way, no.656)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave on September 28, 2008,
before praying the Angelus with the crowds gathered in the courtyard of the
papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. He spoke on Pope John Paul 1.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Today the liturgy proposes to us the Gospel parable of the two sons whom
the father sent out to work in his vineyard. One of them immediately says
yes, but then does not go; the other at first refuses, but then, repenting,
follows his father’s wishes.
With this parable Jesus emphasizes his predilection
for sinners who convert, and he teaches us that humility is essential for
welcoming the gift of salvation. St. Paul, too, in the passage from the Letter
to the Philippians that we meditate on today, calls for humility. “Do nothing
out of selfishness or vainglory,” he writes, “but humbly regard others as
superior to you” (Philippians 2:3). These are Christ’s own sentiments, he
who laid aside divine glory for love of us, became man and lowered himself
even to dying on the cross (cf. Philippians 2:5-8). The Greek verb that is
used here, “ekenôsen,” literally means that he “emptied himself” and
places the profound humility and infinite love of Jesus, the humble Servant
par excellence, in a clear light.
Reflecting on these biblical texts, I immediately thought of Pope John Paul
I, the 30th anniversary of whose death is today. He chose Charles Borromeo’s
motto as his own episcopal motto: “Humilitas”: a single word that synthesizes
what is essential in Christian life and indicates the indispensable virtue
of those who are called to the service of authority in the Church.
In one of the four general audiences of his very brief pontificate he said,
among other things, in that tone that distinguished him: “I will just recommend
one virtue so dear to the Lord. He said, ‘Learn from me who am meek and humble
of heart.’ … Even if you have done great things, say: ‘We are useless servants.’
Alternatively, the tendency in all of us is rather the contrary: to show
off” (General Audience of Sept. 6, 1978). Humility can be considered his
spiritual legacy.
Because of this virtue of his, 33 days were enough for Pope Luciani to enter
into the hearts of the people. In his speeches he used examples taken from
concrete life, from his memories of family life and from popular wisdom.
His simplicity was a vehicle of a solid and rich teaching that, thanks to
the gift of an exceptional memory and great culture, he adorned with numerous
references to ecclesiastical and secular writers.
He was thus an incomparable catechist, in the line of Pius X, his fellow
countryman and predecessor in the See of St. Mark and then in the see of
St. Peter. “We must feel small before God,” he said in the same audience.
And added: “I am not ashamed to feel like a child before his mother; one
believes in one's mother; I believe in the Lord, in what he has revealed
to me.”
These words display the whole breadth of his faith. As we thank God for having
given him to the Church and to the world, let us treasure his example, exerting
ourselves to cultivate his humility, which made him capable of talking to
everyone, especially the little and so-called distant. For these intentions
let us call upon Mary Most Holy, humble handmaiden of the Lord.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
(January 9) St. Adrian of Canterbury
(d. 710)
Though St. Adrian turned down a papal request to become
Archbishop of Canterbury, England, Pope St. Vitalian accepted the rejection
on the condition that Adrian serve as the Holy Father’s assistant and adviser.
Adrian accepted, but ended up spending most of his life and doing most of
his work in Canterbury. Born in Africa, Adrian was serving as an abbot in
Italy when the new Archbishop of Canterbury appointed him abbot of the monastery
of Sts. Peter and Paul in Canterbury. Thanks to his leadership skills, the
facility became one of the most important centres of learning. The school
attracted many outstanding scholars from far and wide and produced numerous
future bishops and archbishops. Students reportedly learned Greek and Latin
and spoke Latin as well as their own native languages. Adrian taught at the
school for 40 years. He died there, probably in the year 710, and was buried
in the monastery. Several hundred years later, when reconstruction was being
done, Adrian’s body was discovered in an incorrupt state. As word spread,
people flocked to his tomb, which became famous for miracles. Rumour had
it that young schoolboys in trouble with their masters made regular visits
there. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 John 5: 5-13;
Psalm 147; Luke 5: 12-16
While Jesus was in one of the
towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus,
he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, Lord, if you are willing,
you can make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I
am willing, he said. Be clean! And immediately the leprosy left him. Then
Jesus ordered him, Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony
to them. Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people
came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew
to lonely places and prayed. (Luke
5: 12-16)
There are a number of details
in our brief passage that bear noticing. We are told that on this occasion
“Jesus was in one of the towns” when a man came to him covered with leprosy.
We read elsewhere in the Gospels that Jesus travelled all over Galilee and
Judaea, visiting towns, villages and farms, sending his disciples ahead of
him to prepare his way. Let us imagine those disciples arriving in towns
and villages ahead of him and then in due course Jesus arriving. Let us imagine
him visiting some of
the
farms and homes. There are incidents in the Gospels describing our Lord’s
visit to private homes. He was in the home of Simon Peter when he cured Simon’s
mother-in-law. He cured the daughter of the synagogue official in that official’s
home. He was on his way to the dwelling of the centurion when he cured the
centurion’s servant. He visited the homes of certain Pharisees and dined
with them. He visited the home of Zacchaeus the chief tax collector and dined
with him. Several times he visited the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
Our Lord’s presence in the town of today’s Gospel passage reminds us that
he comes to us and abides to us wherever we are, whatever be our situation
in life. He comes and he stays, provided we welcome him. In the Book of Revelation
he says that he stands at the door and knocks. He did that continually, we
might say, during his public ministry. He came to serve and not to be served.
So he does with us. The next detail is profoundly significant. A poor leper
approached him, covered with his terrible disease. How hopeless any leper
must have felt with there being no known cure, ostracised from normal social
contacts for fear of contagion! We can imagine his desperation as he appealed
to our Lord, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” and the life-changing
effect of Christ’s words, “ I am willing, he said. Be clean!” Christ’s action
is a dramatic sign that he is the answer for broken and ruined man, and for
each of us.
But what our Lord then
says is, perhaps, just as significant. We read that “Jesus ordered him, Don't
tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices
that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Our Lord
did not want the leper to tell anyone, no one at all, of his healing. He
was simply to go and fulfil the prescriptions of the Mosaic law for the authentication
of his healing and to offer the expected sacrifice. That was as far as any
divulging of the news of the miracle was to go. Of course our Lord wanted
to see the world free of disease and infirmity, but this was not precisely
his mission. He did not come to rid the world there and then of all its physical
burdens. He came to attack and resolve the root problem which was sin. Why
did he not spend himself liberating the entire nation (and beyond) of the
physical and temporal burdens that afflicted so many people? Of course, he
did answer the needs of man at this level to an extent — and our miracle
today is a specimen of this — but the world had to be renewed at its roots.
The power of sin had to be broken at its foundation and it was this which
our Lord was sent to do. The danger was that the people would utterly mistake
our Lord’s mission especially inasmuch as their notions of the Messiah were
so rivetted to the temporal. They desired a temporal king of supernatural
powers who would provide them with perfect temporal prosperity. Our Lord
appeared to be just such a person, an ideal king for the people, God’s anointed.
But our Lord did not want the cures he effected, such as that of today’s
Gospel passage (Luke 5: 12-16), to distract
the people and consume his time away from his real purpose. But what happened?
Despite our Lord’s order to be silent, his reputation spread. We learn from
other parts of the Gospels that his request was ignored and his healing powers
acclaimed and made widely known. To an extent, this hampered his mission.
People did not attend to what he had come to reveal. His miracles were intended
to be signs. They were not his essential mission. Even his closest disciples
took a long time to grasp the true nature of the salvation he came to offer.
Let each of us understand
that Christ, the Liberator from evil, has come to be with me just as he came
to the towns, the villages and the homes of so many during his public ministry.
But in my case as in the case of all the baptized he has come to stay. He
abides with me if I am in the state of grace. He can do anything for me,
just as he could do anything for the leper of our Gospel passage. But what
he wants to do most of all is help me by his grace to overcome the affliction
of sin and live for him. He wants me, by the power of his grace, to follow
him along the road, sharing in his life and being faithful to him in everything.
It is in this that true life consists.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
True virtue is not sad or disagreeable, but pleasantly cheerful.
(The
Way, no.657)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
(January 10) St. Gregory of Nyssa (c.
330-395)
The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory
was raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina,
in modern-day Turkey. Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things
were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded
to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory
went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when
celibacy was not a matter of law for priests). He was elected Bishop of Nyssa
(in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy,
which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely
accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378,
an act met with great joy by his people. It was after the death of his beloved
brother, Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. He wrote with great
effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining
a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter
other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople.
His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over
the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became
less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century,
his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen
not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors
to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.
Orthodoxy is a word that raises red flags in our minds.
It connotes rigid attitudes that make no room for honest differences of opinion.
But it might just as well suggest something else: faith that has settled
deep in one’s bones. Gregory’s faith was like that. So deeply imbedded was
his faith in Jesus that he knew the divinity that Arianism denied. When we
resist something offered as truth without knowing exactly why, it may be
because our faith has settled in our bones. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 John 5: 14-21; Psalm 149; John 3: 22-30
After this, Jesus and his
disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some
time with them, and baptised.
Now John also was baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty
of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptised. (This was before
John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John's disciples
and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John
and said to him, Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the
Jordan— the one you testified about— well, he is baptising, and everyone
is going to him. To this John replied, A man can receive only what is given
him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ
but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The
friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full
of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is
now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. (John
3: 22-30)
One of the many notable
things about the Gospel of St John is the singular importance given to St
John the Baptist. In each of the Gospels (and also in the Acts of the Apostles)
John the Baptist is the Precursor of the Messiah and he prepares the way
before him. But in the Gospel of St John he is situated in the very Prologue
which speaks of the Word of God who was with
God in the beginning. He is
introduced in the very sixth verse, immediately after the first great five
verses that speak of the Word who is God and the life and light of men. John
the Baptist came as a witness to speak for the Light. What does John the
Baptist say of Christ? Christ is One whose very sandal strap he is not worthy
to undo. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and he
ranks before him because he existed before him. The Holy Spirit has rested
on him and he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. He is the Chosen One of
God. All this is set forth at the outset of the Gospel, but in our Gospel
passage today drawn from its third chapter, John gives to our Lord a further
title. He is the Bridegroom. To those who told him that Jesus was gathering
a greater following than he himself had, John said, “You yourselves can testify
that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride
belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and
listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.”
(John 3: 22-30)
We read that in the Gospel of St Matthew John’s disciples came to our Lord
and asked why he did not insist with his disciples that they fast — after
all, John taught his disciples to fast. Our Lord replied that “the bridegroom’s
attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still
with them.” (Matthew 9:15) Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom, perhaps
reminding John’s disciples of how their own master referred to him.
Jesus is the bridegroom and God’s people is the bride.
This is a wonderful title
and it reveals a wonderful relationship between God and his chosen ones.
In the Old Testament God, speaking through the prophets — especially, we
might say, Hosea — refers to himself as the Bridegroom and Husband of his
people. The prophets continually refer to Israel as being like an unfaithful
spouse. It would be hard to think of religious imagery in the history of
man’s religions that speak of the High God in these terms, especially when
we consider how high a God was the God of Israel. The God of Israel was unique
among the high gods of the ancient world for his utterly transcendent and
exalted character. Indeed, there is no other god than He. But he chose to
regard himself as his people’s Husband, a Husband continually making allowances
for the infidelity of his Spouse. Now in the Gospel (John 3: 22-30) the Bridegroom
has arrived in the person of Jesus. John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the
Bridegroom and himself as just the friend of the Bridegroom, and Christ himself
in his words to the disciples of John refers to himself as the Bridegroom.
St Paul in his Letters would speak of the Church in these terms. We who are
baptized in Christ are caught up in a profound friendship with him which
is expressed in nuptial imagery. This is the character of the Christian religion.
We can go further. Not only has the Church — all of Christ’s Faithful united
in him — a nuptial relationship with God in Christ, but God’s own inner life
has a nuptial character. God is not a solitary Reality. He is unique, transcendent,
but not solitary. He is a Trinity of Persons united in an indescribable act
of Love that has its reflection throughout all of created reality, but especially
in that communion of persons which we call Marriage. The nuptial character
of man and woman in marriage is the created reflection of the nuptial life
of the infinite Creator, three divine Persons in one divine Being. Love is
the soul, we might even say, of all created reality because Love is the soul,
we might say, of the Infinite God. That love we can describe as nuptial.
For this reason God describes himself as the Bridegroom and his chosen people
as his Bride.
As St John writes in one
of his inspired Letters, God is love. Christ came to reveal the love of God
in his own person. He is the Bridegroom and he looks upon his Church as his
Bride. We who are baptized share in this relationship with the Bridegroom.
As our Lord said to his disciples, I have not called you servants, but friends.
The Christian religion consists in friendship with the person of Jesus, powered
by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Let us then, by the grace of Christ, show
our love for him by keeping his commandments and walking with him on his
way.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If things go well, let us rejoice, blessing God who
makes them prosper. And if they go badly? Let us rejoice, blessing God who
allows us to share in the sweetness of his Cross.
(The Way, no.658)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Nearness of Our Lady
"Mary's Purity Makes Her Infinitely Close
to Our Hearts"
LOURDES, France, SEPT. 14, 2008 — The address Benedict XVI gave
in Lourdes before praying the Angelus and after having celebrated a Mass
to mark the 150th anniversary of the Virgin Mary's apparitions.
* * *
Dear Pilgrims, dear brothers and sisters!
Every day, praying the Angelus gives us the opportunity
to meditate for a few moments, in the midst of all our activities, on the
mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. At noon, when the first hours
of the day are already beginning to weigh us down with fatigue, our availability
and our generosity are renewed by the contemplation of Mary's "yes". This
clear and unreserved "yes" is rooted in the mystery of Mary's freedom, a
total and entire freedom before God, completely separated from any complicity
with sin, thanks to the privilege of her Immaculate Conception.
This privilege given to Mary, which sets her apart from our common condition,
does not distance her from us, but on the contrary, it brings her closer.
While sin divides, separating us from one another, Mary's purity makes her
infinitely close to our hearts, attentive to each of us and desirous of our
true good. You see it here in Lourdes, as in all Marian shrines; immense
crowds come thronging to Mary's feet to entrust to her their most intimate
thoughts, their most heartfelt wishes. That which many, either because of
embarrassment or modesty, do not confide to their nearest and dearest, they
confide to her who is all pure, to her Immaculate Heart: with simplicity,
without frills, in truth. Before Mary, by virtue of her very purity, man
does not hesitate to reveal his weakness, to express his questions and his
doubts, to formulate his most secret hopes and desires. The Virgin Mary's
maternal love disarms all pride; it renders man capable of seeing himself
as he is, and it inspires in him the desire to be converted so as to give
glory to God.
Thus, Mary shows us the right way to come to the Lord. She teaches us to
approach him in truth and simplicity. Thanks to her, we discover that the
Christian faith is not a burden: it is like a wing which enables us to fly
higher, so as to take refuge in God's embrace.
The life and faith of believers make it clear that the grace of the Immaculate
Conception given to Mary is not merely a personal grace, but a grace for
all, a grace given to the entire people of God. In Mary, the Church can already
contemplate what she is called to become. Every believer can contemplate,
here and now, the perfect fulfilment of his or her own vocation. May each
of you always remain full of thanksgiving for what the Lord has chosen to
reveal of his plan of salvation through the mystery of Mary: a mystery in
which we are involved most intimately since, from the height of the Cross
which we celebrate and exalt today, it is revealed to us through the words
of Jesus himself that his Mother is our Mother. Inasmuch as we are sons and
daughters of Mary, we can profit from all the graces given to her; the incomparable
dignity that came to her through her Immaculate Conception shines brightly
over us, her children.
Here, close to the grotto, and in intimate communion with all the pilgrims
present in Marian shrines and with all the sick in body and soul who are
seeking relief, we bless the Lord for Mary's presence among her people, and
to her we address our prayer in faith:
"Holy Mary, you showed yourself here one hundred and fifty years ago to the
young Bernadette, you 'are the true fount of hope' (Dante, Paradiso, XXXIII:12).
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Prayers this week: When the
Lord had been baptized, the heavens opened, and the Spirit came down like
a dove to rest on him. Then the voice of the Father thundered: This is my
beloved Son, with him I am well pleased. (Mat
3:16-17)
Almighty,
eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in
the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son. Keep us, your children
born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling. We ask this through
our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for
ever and ever.
(January 11) Blessed William Carter (d.
1584)
Born in London, William Carter entered the printing business
at an early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known Catholic
printers, one of whom served a prison sentence for persisting in the Catholic
faith. William himself served time in prison following his arrest for "printing
lewd [i.e., Catholic] pamphlets" as well as possessing books upholding Catholicism.
But even more, he offended public officials by publishing works that aimed
to keep Catholics firm in their faith. Officials who searched his house found
various vestments and suspect books, and even managed to extract information
from William's distraught wife. Over the next 18 months William remained
in prison, suffering torture and learning of his wife's death.
He was eventually charged with printing and publishing the Treatise of Schisme,
which allegedly incited violence by Catholics and which was said to have
been written by a traitor and addressed to traitors. While William calmly
placed his trust in God, the jury met for only 15 minutes before reaching
a verdict of "guilty." William, who made his final confession to a priest
who was being tried alongside him, was hanged, drawn and quartered the following
day: January 11, 1584. He was beatified in 1987.
It didn’t pay to be Catholic in Elizabeth I’s realm. In
an age when religious diversity did not yet seem possible, it was high treason,
and practicing the faith was dangerous. William gave his life for his efforts
to encourage his brothers and sisters to keep up the struggle. These days,
our brothers and sisters also need encouragement—not because their lives
are at risk, but because many other factors besiege their faith. They look
to us. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 or Isaiah 55: 1-11; Psalm 29:1-4, 9-10;
or Isaiah 12:2-6; Acts 10:34-38 or 1 John 5:1-9; Mark 1:7-11
This is what John the Baptist
proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop
and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” It happened in those days that Jesus
came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On
coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit,
like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You
are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark
1: 7-11)
There are
various instances of the Spirit of God coming upon prophets and leaders of
the people in the Old Testament to equip them to fulfill a great mission.
We read in the first book of Samuel that “Samuel grew up and Yahweh was with
him and let no word of his fall to the ground” (1 Sam 3:19), the implication
being that the Spirit of God had come to him. After Samuel anointed Saul
to be king he promised him that “the spirit of Yahweh will seize on you”
(10:6), which is what happened (10:9-10). We read that once Samuel anointed
David to be king “the spirit of Yahweh seized on David and stayed with him
from that day on”
(16:13).
John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and the one to herald
the arrival of the New, was anointed with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s
womb (Luke 1:16). Our Lord’s baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit is
to be viewed against the backdrop of this tradition. To this point he had
led an obscure life in Nazareth, filled with the Holy Spirit indeed but not
for his public ministry. At his baptism in the river Jordan by John his Messianic
mission was inaugurated with the public coming of the Holy Spirit upon him.
If we compare the circumstances of the descent of the Holy Spirit on our
Lord with the coming of the Holy Spirit to various chosen individuals in
the Old Testament, it is clear that our Lord’s reception of the Spirit transcended
theirs for its heavenly drama. The heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit was
actually seen to come down upon him. It was like a dove in flight from the
opened heavens and descending upon him. For those seeing it (perhaps only
John — we are not told) it must have been spectacular. Furthermore, there
was a voice from heaven that spoke of the one being anointed with the Holy
Spirit. He was God’s Son: this is my beloved Son, the voice from heaven said.
At this, Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” and was “led by the Spirit”
into the desert and was tempted by Satan. His ministry had begun.
There are a few very important
features of this event that bear on each member of mankind. Christ who was
sinless — a fact implicitly acknowledged by John the Baptist who told him
that he, John, should rather be baptized by him — stepped forward for baptism
as if acknowledging personal sin and as if receiving a sign of God’s pardon
(Mark 1: 7-11). What was the
meaning of this step? He who was utterly sinless was stepping into the midst
of sinful mankind and symbolically taking upon himself the burden of man’s
sins. He was taking our part before God and beginning the work of expiating
for the sin of the world. He was showing that he was the sacrificial Lamb
of God and was making a gesture that anticipated his sacrificial death which
during his ministry he would refer to as his “baptism.” He, led by the Holy
Spirit, would lead humanity in a new direction. He was the new Adam, preparing
himself to endow humanity with a new birth which would flow from the “baptism”
that was his death on the Cross. Just as the beginning of his redemptive
ministry began with his own baptism and public reception of the Holy Spirit,
so the new beginning for each and every human being would be a baptism into
Christ and the reception of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament the coming
of the Holy Spirit on a particular individual did not result in the
passing of that same divine Gift on to others. But the case of Christ was
different. At his baptism in the river Jordan he received the Holy Spirit
not only to prepare him for his ultimate baptism, the baptism of his passion
and death. He received the Holy Spirit also to pass it on to mankind. He himself
would baptize with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of Jesus is a prefiguring
of our baptism. Furthermore, just as Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan
prepared him for the second “baptism” that was his death on the cross, so
too at our baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to
share in Christ’s death, and through this in his resurrection.
By his baptism in the river
Jordan our Lord inaugurated his public ministry in the power of the Holy
Spirit and set the scene for the final “baptism” of his death. By Christ’s
institution our baptism brings with it a share in the same Holy Spirit who
descended on Christ. We become united to him in his friendship and in his
redemptive mission. The Holy Spirit equips us by grace to follow our Lord
closely and to share in the further baptism of death, death to self in all
its forms, death to sin, death to all that keeps us from doing the will of
God. By the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism we are enabled to follow
Christ closely in holiness, whatever be the cost.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic
Church, no.535-537 (The Baptism of Jesus), 1223-1225
(The baptism of Jesus in the economy of salvation), 1226-1228
(Baptism in the church)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If things go well, let us rejoice, blessing God who
makes them prosper. And if they go badly? Let us rejoice, blessing God who
allows us to share in the sweetness of his Cross.
(The Way,
no.658)
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Monday of the first week in Ordinary Time I
(January 12) St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
(1620-1700)
“God closes a door and then opens a window,” people sometimes
say when dealing with 
their own disappointment or someone else’s. That was certainly true in Marguerite’s
case. Children from European as well as Native American backgrounds in seventeenth-century
Canada benefited from her great zeal and unshakable trust in God’s providence.
Born the sixth of 12 children in Troyes, France, Marguerite at the age of
20 believed that she was called to religious life. Her applications to the
Carmelites and Poor Clares were unsuccessful. A priest friend suggested that
perhaps God had other plans for her. In 1654, the governor of the French
settlement in Canada visited his sister, an Augustinian canoness in Troyes.
Marguerite belonged to a sodality connected to that convent. The governor
invited her to come to Canada and start a school in Ville-Marie (eventually
the city of Montreal). When she arrived, the colony numbered 200 people with
a hospital and a Jesuit mission chapel. Soon after starting a school, she
realized her need for coworkers. Returning to Troyes, she recruited a friend,
Catherine Crolo, and two other young women. In 1667 they added classes at
their school for Indian children. A second trip to France three years later
resulted in six more young women and a letter from King Louis XIV, authorizing
the school. The Congregation of Notre Dame was established in 1676 but its
members did not make formal religious profession until 1698 when their Rule
and constitutions were approved. Marguerite established a school for Indian
girls in Montreal. At the age of 69, she walked from Montreal to Quebec in
response to the bishop’s request to establish a community of her sisters
in that city. By the time she died, she was referred to as the “Mother of
the Colony.” Marguerite was canonized in 1982.
In his homily at her canonization, Pope John Paul II said,
“...in particular, she [Marguerite] contributed to building up that new country
[Canada], realizing the determining role of women, and she diligently strove
toward their formation in a deeply Christian spirit.” He noted that she watched
over her students with affection and confidence “in order to prepare them
to become wives and worthy mothers, Christians, cultured, hard-working, radiant
mothers.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-6; Psalm
97:1 and 2b, 6 and 7c, 9; Mark 1:14-20
After John was put in prison,
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come,
he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! As
Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
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. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee
and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called
them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and
followed him. (Mark
1:14-20)
One of the developments
in education, both secondary and tertiary, during the last half century has
been the expansion of studies in religion. By that I especially mean the
study of the various religions of man: comparative religion. Some, perhaps
many, who have engaged in this study have come to assume that one religion
is as good as another in terms of truth and utility. This, of course, is
not a necessary result of the study of religions. It is a
philosophical principle that
is consciously embraced or unconsciously assumed within the study of religions,
and is a principle operating in many other contexts as well. However, there
is another effect of the study of religions which for the Christian can be
entirely beneficial. It is that he can observe what is distinctive to the
Christian religion — or rather, he can come to appreciate more deeply what
is distinctive about the person of Jesus. Indeed, this distinctiveness — or rather, uniqueness
— of Christ can be grasped within the context not
only of the religions of man but also within the context of revealed religion
itself. For instance, when we contemplate the person of Jesus as set
forth in the Gospels, we appreciate him the more when the backdrop of the
Old Testament prophets is kept in mind. He stands out against this backdrop,
and this in turn can help to enhance our appreciation of his divinity. Being
divine, he would naturally transcend the prophetic tradition while nevertheless
being part of it. For example, the prophets had long pointed to the
coming of God and his rule. Well, in our Gospel scene today our Lord enters
into his public ministry with a most distinctive message: I tell you, he
says, the Kingdom of God is very near! It has actually arrived! The actual
arrival of God's promised kingdom was a unique announcement in revealed religion.
John the Baptist had been his Precursor and had announced that the Messiah
himself was present. That too was new. To at least some, John pointed specifically
to Jesus as being the Messiah. His great point was, listen now to him! Both
Christ and his message are new in the prophetic tradition.
There is something else
that is somewhat new. God’s Kingdom is nigh, and unlike the other prophets, at
the outset Christ immediately calls to his side disciples who will not only
be with him and listen to his teaching but will share in his mission to draw
others into this divine Kingdom. John the Baptist had disciples and his teaching
had a long effect on their lives. Some of Christ’s own disciples had come
from those ranks, others are mentioned in, for instance, the Acts of the
Apostles. The prophets had had their disciples and the Old Testament often
refers to them. But the prophets did not seem actively to recruit disciples
for a positive expansionary purpose. Their disciples were attracted to them,
they gathered with them and were taught by them. But from the outset of his
public ministry our Lord not only announced that the Kingdom of God was nigh
and that people must repent to be ready for it, but he simultaneously recruited disciples
to assist him in his work of announcing, launching, spreading and establishing
this Kingdom. He himself was at the forefront and at the centre of God’s
Kingdom. He would gradually reveal that in him, in his very person, the Kingdom
of God was present. Its entire reality, its abundant blessings, its very fulness,
was to be found in him. Entry into God’s Kingdom was effected by entry into
his friendship and by taking on oneself his yoke. As he would come to show,
he himself, in whom all the blessings of heaven were to be found, was to
be brought to all men. That was the gigantic task ahead. This was the Kingdom
being now established, and at the very launch Christ was found calling specific
persons to be with him and to assist him in his mission. The point here is
that mission was at the heart of discipleship. When we put the person of
Jesus against the backdrop of the Old Testament this too was somewhat distinctive
of Jesus Christ. Being a disciple of Christ means more than accepting a teaching.
It means being apostolic. Accepting the religion revealed by Jesus Christ
means participating in his mission.
Let us place ourselves
in the scene of today’s gospel (Mark 1:14-20) and contemplate
the person of Jesus Christ. His message is new and utterly arresting.
All that the prophets had predicted in reference to what God would do for
man is at hand. It has arrived and has begun, in germ, in seed. He, Jesus,
is at the centre of this divine operation. Our eyes, then, are on him. But
he turns to each of us who gaze on him and he says to us, follow me and I
will make of you a fisher of men. He asks that I not only remain with him
but that I be part of his mission. He calls me to be his intimate friend
in my daily life, and he also calls me to be apostolic in my daily life.
He asks that I be his envoy in his spiritual empire. So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The cheerfulness you should have is not the kind we
might call physiological good spirits — the happiness of a healthy animal.
You must seek something more: the supernatural happiness that comes from the
abandonment of everything and the abandonment of yourself into the loving
arms of our Father-God.
(The Way,
no.659)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Reality of Evil
"It Is Not 'Optional' for Christians to
Take Up the Cross"
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 — Benedict XVI’s Angelus address.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Today, too, the apostle Peter is in the foreground of the Gospel reading.
But while last Sunday we admired his straightforward
faith in Jesus, whom he proclaimed Messiah and Son of God, this time, in
the episode that immediately follows, he displays a faith that is still immature
and too much influenced by the “mentality of this world” (cf. Romans 12:2).
When, in fact, Jesus begins to speak openly about the fate that awaits him
in Jerusalem, when he says that he must suffer much, be killed and rise again,
Peter protests, saying: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen
to you” (Matthew 16:22).
It is evident that the Master and the disciple follow two opposed ways of
thinking. Peter, according to a human logic, is convinced that God would
never allow his Son to end his mission dying on the cross. Jesus, on the
contrary, knows that the Father, in his great love for men, sent him to give
his life for them, and if this means the passion and the cross, it is right
that such should happen.
On the other hand, he knows that the resurrection will be the last word.
Peter’s protest, though spoken in good faith and out of sincere love of the
Master, sounds to Jesus like temptation, an invitation to save himself, while
it is only in losing his life that his life will be returned to him eternally
for all of us.
If to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, it certainly
was not because of a cruel design of the heavenly Father. The cause of it
is the gravity of the sickness of which he must cure us: an evil so serious
and deadly that it will require all of his blood. In fact, it is with his
death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing
the lordship of God.
But the battle is not over: Evil exists and resists in every generation,
even in our own. What are the horrors of war, violence visited on the innocent,
the misery and injustice that persecutes the weak, if not the opposition
of evil to the Kingdom of God? And how does one respond to such evil if not
with the unarmed love that defeats hatred, life that does not fear death?
This is the mysterious power that Jesus used at the cost of not being understood
and of being abandoned by many of his followers.
Dear brothers and sisters, to complete the work of salvation, the Redeemer
continues to draw to himself and his mission men and women who are ready
to take up the cross and follow him. Just as with Christ, it is not ““optional””
for Christians to take up the cross; it is rather a mission to be embraced
out of love.
In our present world, where the forces that divide and destroy seem to prevail,
Christ does not cease to propose his clear invitation to all: Whosoever wants
to be my disciple, he must renounce his selfishness and carry the cross with
me.
Let us invoke of the Holy Virgin, who was the first to follow Jesus and followed
him to the way of the cross. May she help us to follow the Lord with decisiveness
so as to experience from this point on, and in trial too, the glory of the
resurrection.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Tuesday of the first week in Ordinary Time I
(January 13) St. Hilary (315?-368)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Hebrews 2:5-12; Psalm 8:2ab and 5-9; Mark 1:21-28
They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were
amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had
authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their
synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, What do you
want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are— the Holy One of God! Be quiet! said Jesus sternly. Come
out of him! The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him
with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each
other, What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives
orders to evil spirits and they obey him. News about him spread quickly
over the whole region of Galilee. (Mark 1:21-28)
There
is a pattern which we notice in democratic societies. It is that their
populations desire their freedom to be respected, yet at the same time
they want to see strong authority exercised. A democratically elected
government that is perceived (rightly or wrongly) to be weak or
indecisive will inevitably lose the next election. Man needs to
be governed, and he wishes his government to manifest authority. Man
loves to see the exercise of authority, while wanting to be free. This
is a faint reflection of the authority of God and at the same time of
his gift to man
of
freedom. Be this as it may, our Gospel passage today presents us with
one feature of our Lord’s person and ministry that stood out in the
eyes of his countrymen. He manifested and exercised a striking
authority, while not being formally invested with it by the
institutions of his time and place. He exuded an air of authority that
amazed observers. Yet he did not impose his authority but respected
freedom. We read that “when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the
synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching,
because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of
the law” (Mark 1:21-28). The teachers of the law had a certain
authority invested in them by their religious institutions, but the
authority that their teaching carried depended on the case they were
able to make (because of their learning) to support it. Our Lord was
not an instituted teacher of the law. But he was amazing, we are told,
for the authority he showed precisely in his teaching of God’s law.
Somehow both the way he taught and what he taught impressed all with a
sense that because he taught this it was true beyond dispute. He taught
as one having final authority and as needing to appeal to no other
source for confirmation. His hearers had seen nothing like it among
their teachers. Christ as teacher of God’s law was effortless,
commanding, supremely authoritative, and yet respectful withal of
personal freedom.
Not
only did Christ as teacher display an authority that deferred to no
other master, but he manifested an authority to dominate and defeat the
underworld. In our Gospel today, at a word Jesus expelled the evil
spirit that had called out at him in the synagogue. His authority was
absolute. One of the intriguing things about the Gospel accounts of
Christ’s public ministry is the seeming infestation of demons in
the arena of his activity. The devils seem to have been everywhere. A
great number of persons seem to have been afflicted to a greater or
lesser extent by the demonic world. It was a major feature of our
Lord’s public ministry to have to deal with the minions of Satan. At
the very beginning of our Lord’s ministry and immediately following his
baptism, our Lord had an encounter with the Darkest of the dark,
Lucifer himself. Satan, the Prince of this world and of the underworld,
approached this Man who was now in the wilderness. He could see that
this Individual was like no other in all history. He had to be seduced
at all costs. The encounter left Satan rebuffed and defeated. May we
not assume that the crowds of demons which seem to have settled within
the chosen people were there at the bidding of this dark Prince, now
that he had seen what manner of Man this Jesus was? Satan was
marshalling his forces and was applying all his black talent to the
overthrow of this new Warrior of Israel who had come upon the scene. He
would come to think he had won, for the struggle left Christ dead on
the cross. But his demonic victory was the most spectacular defeat of
all, for Christ fought Satan with the weapon of obedience to his
heavenly Father, whereas Satan’s weapon was rebellion. By his death
Christ broke with mortal effect the kingdom of Satan and established on
earth the Kingdom of God. Our Gospel scene today (Mark 1:21-28) shows
Christ the Master delivering the first blow on Satan’s kingdom, and
that blow would become a knock-out at his death and resurrection.
Christ is King of kings. To him is given all authority and salvation
consists in living according to this fact.
Let
us place ourselves in the crowd of today’s Gospel passage as they stand
there in amazement at the authority Jesus manifests in word and in
deed. He speaks as one who has ultimate authority needing support from
no other. He acts as one who has ultimate power, needing assistance
from no other. Nothing and no one seems to be his superior, excepting
his heavenly Father. At the same time he is obedient to legitimate authority. He is, as the passage shows, amazing. He is one we
can follow! We can put all our trust in him! Let us do so, but
understanding well that this means following in his footsteps and those
footsteps ascend the hill of Calvary. There, on that hill, and together
with him, is where the victory is gained.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never lose heart if you are an apostle. There is no obstacle that you cannot overcome.
Why are you sad?
(The Way, no.660)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Pope's Mission
"To Make Present Among Men the Peace of God"
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 24, 2008 — Benedict XVI
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
This
Sunday's liturgy addresses the twofold question that Jesus one day
posed to his disciples, to us Christians, and to every man and woman.
First he asks them: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They
told him that for some he
was John the Baptist come back to life, for others, Elijah, Jeremiah or
one of the prophets. Then the Lord directly asked the disciples: "Who
do you say that I am?" Peter speaks decisively and with enthusiasm on
behalf of all: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." A
solemn proclamation of faith that the Church has continued to repeat
ever since.
We too today desire to proclaim with deep
conviction: Yes, Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God!
We do this knowing that Christ is the true "treasure" for which it is
worth sacrificing everything; he is the friend who never abandons us,
because he knows the most intimate longings of our heart. Jesus is the
"Son of the living God," the promised Messiah, who has come to earth to
offer salvation and to satisfy the thirst for life and love that
inhabits every human being. How much humanity would gain by welcoming
this proclamation that brings joy and peace with it!
"You are
the Christ, the Son of the Living God." In response to this inspired
profession of faith from Peter, Jesus says: "You are Peter and upon
this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of
heaven."
This is the first time that Jesus speaks of the Church,
whose mission is the actuation of the great design of God to gather the
whole of humanity into one family in Christ. The mission of Peter, and
of his successors, is precisely to serve this unity of the one Church
of God made up of pagans and Jews; his indispensable ministry is to
make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any particular
nation or culture, but that she be the Church of all peoples, to make
present among men -- who are marked by countless divisions and
contrasts -- the peace of God, the unity of those who have become
brothers and sisters in Christ: This is the unique mission of the Pope,
the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter.
Before the enormous
responsibility of this task, I feel more and more the obligation and
importance of the service to the Church and the world that has been
entrusted to me. Because of this I ask you dear brothers and sisters to
support me with your prayer, so that, faithful to Christ, together we
can announce and bear witness to his presence in our time. May Mary,
whom we confidently invoke as Mother of the Church and Star of
Evangelization, obtain this grace for us.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Wednesday of the first week in Ordinary Time I
(January 14) Servant of God John the Gardener (d. 1501)
John was born of poor parents in Portugal. Orphaned
early in life, he spent some years begging from door to door. After
finding work in Spain as a shepherd, he shared the little he earned
with those even more needy than himself. One day two Franciscans
encountered him on a journey. Engaging him in conversation, they took a
liking to the simple man and invited him to come and work at their
friary in Salamanca. He readily accepted and was assigned to the task
of assisting the brother with gardening duties. A short time later John
himself entered the Franciscan Order and lived a life of prayer and
meditation, fasting constantly, spending the nights in prayer, still
helping the poor. Because of his work in the garden and the flowers he
produced for the altar, he became known as "the gardener." God favoured
John with the gift of prophecy and the ability to read hearts.
Important persons, including princes, came to the humble, ever-obedient
friar for advice. He was so loving towards all that he never wanted to
take offense at anything. His advice was that to forgive offenses is an
act of penance most pleasing to God. He predicted the day of his own
death: January 11, 1501.
A monastery garden was
tended well to feed the community, not to make the grounds pretty. John
saw to it that the refectory table was well supplied. But he also added
a bit of beauty, growing flowers to enhance the chapel. God is surely
pleased when we add a bit of beauty to the world—especially when we
warm it with an act of forgiveness. For, as John insisted, forgiveness
is the loveliest thing in God’s eyes. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture readings: Hebrews 2:14-18; Psalm 105:1-4, 6-9; Mark 1:29-39
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law
was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to
her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began
to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus
all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door,
and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many
demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he
was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up,
left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon
and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they
exclaimed: Everyone is looking for you! Jesus replied, Let us go
somewhere else— to the nearby villages— so that I can preach there
also. That is why I have come. So he travelled throughout Galilee,
preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. (Mark 1: 29-39)
Let
us place ourselves in our Gospel scene, noticing the details of it so
as to relive it with greater relish. There is one current of
spirituality and prayer — especially that taught by St Ignatius Loyola — which recommends that we place ourselves in the scene of the Gospel
as vividly as we can, and then converse with our Lord therein. Let us
do that, then! Our Lord has left the synagogue where he has taught with
such
electrifying effect, leaving the town which
had congregated for the Sabbath in some wonderment. The people were
left
amazed by the authority he displayed, authority in his teaching and
authority in his power over the demonic. He returns with James and John
and Simon (and perhaps others) to Simon’s home where Simon’s
mother-in-law is in bed with fever. She, obviously, had not been able
to go to the Synagogue for the Sabbath, so she must have been very ill
indeed, “and they told Jesus about her.” Consider the ease with which
they tell our Lord of her condition. The Son of God is very accessible!
Let us imagine our Lord entering her room with them, gently and full of
friendliness. He takes her by the hand and helps her up. No word is
reported to have been said by him. He helped her up and “the fever left
her and she began to wait on them.” Interestingly, this is the first
miracle of healing that Mark chooses to report. Our Lord has come from
the Synagogue where he expelled a vociferous demon, but here for the
first time in Mark’s account, he heals someone of illness. Let us
remember too that it is agreed that Mark’s Gospel is Peter’s account of
the story of Jesus Christ. Perhaps from Peter’s perspective and
according to his recollection Christ’s first miracle of healing was for
his own mother-in-law. Another detail that I find intriguing is
that there is no mention of Simon Peter’s wife, the daughter of his
mother-in-law whom our Lord cured. It is his mother-in-law who proceeds
to minister to them. Nowhere in the Gospels is Simon's wife mentioned.
By the time of Simon’s call by Christ to be an apostle, was his
wife still alive? Perhaps not.
So
our Lord and his disciples sit down and are waited on by Simon’s
mother-in-law. The teaching and drama of the Synagogue service are
past, and the remainder of the Sabbath day is before them. Presumably
the day was observed in the spirit of the Sabbath rest, but we are not
given any details. Then at the end of the day — “that evening after
sunset” — when the Sabbath was over and people could feel free to bring
to our Lord their sick, this they did with a vengeance. They “brought
to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.” We are told that they
brought all of them. Perhaps word had got around during the day that
our Lord had cured Simon’s mother-in-law whom many may have known had
been sick and unable to go to the Synagogue. In any case we are told
that following our Lord’s expulsion of the demon in the Synagogue and
his remarkable performance of teaching, “rumour concerning him went
forth immediately into all the region”. News of Jesus had travelled
like wildfire, and presumably this had happened that very day. He was
the talk of the town and the entire district. Family after family were
in a state of excitement and discussion and many were thinking of the
obvious. Their sick and those afflicted by the demonic had at hand an
unexpected Remedy and they were going to avail themselves of this
blessing instantly — meaning, as soon as the Sabbath rest was over. So
as soon as sunset arrived, the whole town which probably included the
district about the town “gathered at the door.” There was sufficient
light for this movement of people to occur and our Lord, full of
compassion, obliged. We read that “Jesus healed many who had various
diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the
demons speak because they knew who he was” (Mark 1: 29-39).
Our Lord’s public ministry was launched, but despite the desire of the
town, he could not stay. He had to reach the whole House of Israel,
and, through his Church of which Simon would be the Rock (i.e., Peter), the entire world.
It
was all a sign of what was to come. The deepest illness, the most
calamitous affliction, is sin. While the demons oppressed many of the
people physically, their interest more than anything was to oppress
them spiritually. Before them stood their Conqueror and him they could
not better. They knew it and strove to undermine what they guessed he
was up to. Behind them all was the arch-Prince, Satan. The two stand
now in battle array, standards unfolded. Christ is on one side, Satan
the other. The victory is and will be Christ’s. We have a choice. Which
standard shall we follow? The Standard of Christ? Well then, choose him
and follow closely in his footsteps, using his weapons. Learn from him
and follow him unceasingly, for he is meek and humble of heart.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long face, rough manner, ridiculous appearance, unfriendly attitude. Is that how you hope to inspire others to follow Christ?
(The Way, no.661)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Seek to Make the Earth More Human"
BRESSANONE, Italy, August 3, 2008
— Angelus address of Benedict XVI.
The Holy Father was on vacation in the Dolomites, where he stayed at the major seminary of Bressanone.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thus we arrive at the Liturgy of the day. The first Reading reminds us that the greatest things in this life of ours can neither
be purchased nor paid for because the most important and elementary
things in our life can only be given: the sun and its light, the air
that we breathe, water, the earth's beauty, love, friendship, life
itself. We cannot buy any of these essential and central goods but they
are given to us. The Second Reading then adds that this means they are
also things that no one can take from us, of which no dictatorship, no
destructive force can rob us. Being loved by God who knows and loves
each one of us in Christ; no one can take this away and, while we have
this, we are not poor but rich. The Gospel adds a third consideration.
If we receive such great gifts from God, we in turn must give them: in
a spiritual context giving kindness, friendship and love, but also in a
material context -- the Gospel speaks of the multiplication of the
loaves. These two things must penetrate our souls today: we must be
people who give, because we are people who receive; we must pass on to
others the gifts of goodness and love and friendship, but at the same
time we must also give material gifts to all who have need of us, whom
we can help, and thus seek to make the earth more human, that is,
closer to God.
Now, dear friends, I ask you to join me in a
devout and filial commemoration of the Servant of God, Pope Paul VI,
the 30th anniversary of whose death we shall be celebrating in a few
days. Indeed, he gave up his spirit to God on the evening of 6 August
1978, the evening of the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, a
mystery of divine light that always exercised a remarkable fascination
upon his soul. As Supreme Pastor of the Church, Paul VI guided the
People of God to contemplation of the Face of Christ, the Redeemer of
man and Lord of history. And it was precisely this loving orientation
of his mind and heart toward Christ that served as a cornerstone of the
Second Vatican Council, a fundamental attitude that my venerable
Predecessor John Paul II inherited and relaunched during the great
Jubilee of the Year 2000.
At the centre of everything, always
and only Christ: at the centre of the Sacred Scriptures and of
Tradition, in the heart of the Church, of the world and of the entire
universe. Divine Providence summoned Giovanni Battista Montini from the
See of Milan to that of Rome during the most sensitive moment of the
Council -- when there was a risk that Blessed John XXIII's intuition
might not materialize. How can we fail to thank the Lord for his
fruitful and courageous pastoral action? As our gaze on the past grows
gradually broader and more aware, Paul VI's merit in presiding over the
Council Sessions, in bringing it successfully to conclusion and in
governing the eventful post-conciliar period appears ever greater, I
should say almost superhuman. We can truly say, with the Apostle Paul,
that the grace of God in him "was not in vain" (cf. 1 Cor 15: 10): it
made the most of his outstanding gifts of intelligence and passionate
love for the Church and for humankind. As we thank God for the gift of
this great Pope, let us commit ourselves to treasure his teachings.
In
the last period of the Council, Paul VI wanted to pay a special tribute
to the Mother of God and solemnly proclaimed her "Mother of the
Church". Let us now address the prayer of the Angelus to her, the
Mother of Christ, the Mother of the Church, our Mother.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------
Thursday of the first week in Ordinary Time I
(January 15) St. Paul the Hermit (c. 233-345)
It is unclear what we really know of Paul's life, how much is fable,
how much fact. Paul was reportedly born in Egypt, where he was orphaned
by age 15. He was also a learned and devout young man. During the
persecution of Decius in Egypt in the year 250, Paul was forced to hide
in the home of a friend. Fearing a brother-in-law would betray him, he
fled in a cave in the desert. His plan was to return once the
persecution ended, but the sweetness of solitude and heavenly
contemplation convinced him to stay. He went on to live in that cave
for the next 90 years. A nearby spring gave him drink, a palm tree
furnished him clothing and nourishment. After 21 years of solitude a
bird began bringing him half of a loaf of bread each day. Without
knowing what was happening in the world, Paul prayed that the world
would become a better place. St. Anthony attests to his holy life and
death. Tempted by the thought that no one had served God in the
wilderness longer than he, Anthony was led by God to find Paul and
acknowledge him as a man more perfect than himself. The raven that day
brought a whole loaf of bread instead of the usual half. As Paul
predicted, Anthony would return to bury his new friend. Thought to have
been about 112 when he died, Paul is known as the "First Hermit." His
feast day is celebrated in the East; he is also commemorated in the
Coptic and Armenian rites of the Mass.
The will
and direction of God are seen in the circumstances of our lives. Led by
the grace of God, we are free to respond with choices that bring us
closer to and make us more dependent upon the God who created us. Those
choices might at times seem to lead us away from our neighbour. But
ultimately they lead us back both in prayer and in fellowship to one
another. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Hebrews 3:7-14; Psalm 95:6-11; Mark 1:40-45
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me
clean. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched
the man. I am willing, he said. Be clean! Immediately the leprosy left
him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong
warning: See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself
to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your
cleansing, as a testimony to them. Instead he went out and began to
talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer
enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people
still came to him from everywhere. (Mark 1:40-45)
At
the heart of our Gospel passage today is the prayer of the leper. Had
he not made his prayer to our Lord the sequence of events narrated in
the passage would not have occurred. So let us consider the prayer he
presented, Christ’s response, and the implications for ourselves. To
begin with, it is clear that his prayer was earnest. It was coming from
his heart. His leprosy was an
impossible
and hopeless burden, one that allowed no consolation and one that led
only to suffering upon suffering. He came to our Lord as his one hope,
and did so with powerful feeling: “A man with leprosy came to him and
begged him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me clean.” He
abased himself, begging him on his very knees. He professed full and
complete faith in Christ’s power and implicitly appealed to his
compassion. It was an excellent prayer and it evoked the mercy and
power of Christ. His prayer is a model for us. It is often said and I
am sure it is often thought that prayer is not very effective at all.
Many would think that it has some value, but in the truly important
things of life what seems to count much more than prayer is simply a
set of favourable circumstances. A word on this ought be said. To begin
with, our Gospel scene today shows that God can and at least at times
does answer prayer immediately and exactly as requested. Christ did
just this in our Gospel scene today (Mark 1:40-45).
He did it on many other occasions too. But it is not the only way he
answered prayer. On occasions he took his time. For instance, when he
was asked to cure a person of his blindness on one occasion, he did not
do it simple fashion by a single word. Rather, he took the blind man
well aside and proceeded to cure him only gradually and with some
seeming labour. He covered the man’s eyes, appeared to sigh, and step
by step took away the blindness. Cardinal Newman once said at the end
of his long life that God seems to answer prayer more usually by
extension. He meant that God often seems to answer prayer by actively
extending and stretching the circumstances that favour the answer to
prayer. He often answers prayer through the world.
When
we look at it carefully, we see that God answers prayer in a variety of
ways. He answers unspoken prayer, the prayer of the heart that is not
formally addressed to him. For instance when he was approaching the
town of Nain with many following him in train, he saw a funeral
procession on its way out of the town. A young man had died, the only
son of his widowed mother. There was no request presented to our Lord,
but he stepped forward, halted the procession, and raised the young man
to life and gave him back to his mother. God does that in our own lives
too. For instance, suddenly a person has the thought of having a
general medical check-up. He has his examination and it is discovered
that he has the foundations of a future bowel cancer. He has a major
operation and his life is spared from that particular menace. In
his goodness God has answered an implicit prayer that would have been
made had the condition been known. At times God does not grant the
request that is presented but grants another that is more valuable. For
instance, we are told in one passage of the Gospel that the mother of
James and John came to our Lord with a request. Our Lord asked what she
wanted of him. She asked that he have her two sons sit one at his right
and the other at his left in his kingdom. It is a request that
manifests her faith in him and in the kingdom of God he was
establishing. But what did he say to her and to her sons? He said no,
that places on his right and left depend on the choice of God. But
notice what he then asked. Were they able to drink his cup? Their
ambition to be close to him in his kingdom depended on this. They were
able, they replied. Our Lord then assured them that they would indeed
drink his cup. That was surely the answer to their prayer. They
received from him the grace to be faithful unto death, to share in his
sufferings so as to share in his resurrection. This they did with
flying colours, as we might say. They received an answer far greater
than what they had sought. God answers our prayer, but he does so in
the way he in his wisdom knows best.
Our
problem is that we do not ask enough, nor do we ask in the right way.
We lack humble faith. There are many examples in the Gospels of those
who asked Christ with faith. Let us ask for the grace to do the same.
Ask, and you will receive, Christ said. If we ask in the right way, he
will give in the right way — which is to say in the way he knows to be
best. Pray always, our Lord once said, and never lose heart. Above all,
we must approach Christ with obedience to the divine will as the
ambition of our life. Notice what the leper did once he was healed by
Christ, who told him not to tell others of his healing. He did not do
as he was told. As a result our Lord’s ministry was hampered. Let us
distinguish our lives by prayer — including prayer of petition — and
obedience.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are unhappy? — Think: there must be an obstacle between God and me. You will seldom be wrong.
(The Way, no.662)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Lord Is Continuously Holding Out His Hand to Us"
BRESSANONE, Italy, AUG. 10, 2008
— The Angelus address Benedict XVI delivered in the Cathedral Square at Bressanone.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There
is a point in Mark's Gospel where he recounts that after days of stress
the Lord said to the disciples: "Come away by yourselves to a lonely
place, and rest a while" (6: 31). And since the Word of Christ is never
connected solely to the moment in which it was spoken I have applied
this invitation to the disciples also to myself, and I came to this
beautiful, tranquil place to rest for a while.
This
Sunday's Gospel brings us back from this place of rest to daily life.
It tells how, after the multiplication of the loaves, the Lord
withdraws to the mountain to be alone with the Father. In the meantime,
the disciples are on the lake and with their poor little boat are
endeavoring in vain to stand up to a contrary wind.
To the
Evangelist this episode may have seemed an image of the Church of his
time: like the small barque which was the Church of that period, he
found himself buffeted by the contrary wind of history and it may have
seemed that the Lord had forgotten him.
We too can see this as
an image of the Church of our time which in many parts of the earth
finds herself struggling to make headway in spite of the contrary wind,
and it seems the Lord is very remote.
But the Gospel gives us an
answer, consolation and encouragement and at the same time points out a
path to us. It tells us, in fact: yes, it is true, the Lord is with the
Father but for this very reason he is not distant but sees everyone,
for whoever is with God does not go away but is close to his neighbour.
And,
in fact, the Lord sees them and at the proper time comes towards them.
And when Peter, who was going to meet him, risks drowning, the Lord
takes him by the hand and brings him to safety on the boat.
The
Lord is continuously holding out his hand to us too. He does so through
the beauty of a Sunday; he does so through the solemn liturgy; he does
so in the prayer with which we address him; he does so in the encounter
with the Word of God; he does so in many situations of daily life — he
holds his hand out to us. And only if we take the Lord's hand, if we
let ourselves be guided by him, will the path we take be right and good.
For
this reason let us pray to him that we may succeed ever anew in finding
his hand. And at the same time, this implies an exhortation: that, in
his Name we hold our own hand out to others, to those in need of it, to
lead them through the waters of our history.
---------------Back to index for this period---------------------------Back to index to Liturgical Days---------