January1 in Year B 12

Solemnity of Mary, The Mother of God to The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day

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 intention for January is: "Victims of Natural Disasters. That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives."

His mission intention is: "Dedication to Peace. That the dedication of Christians to peace may bear witness to the name of Christ before all men and women of good will."

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Entrance Antiphon Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King, who rules heaven and earth for ever.

Cf. Is 9: 1, 5; Lk 1: 33 Today a light will shine upon us, for the Lord is born for us; and he will be called Wondrous God, Prince of peace, Father of future ages: and his reign will be without end.

Collect O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race the grace of eternal salvation, grant, we pray, that we may experience the intercession of her, through whom we were found worthy to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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)

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)

Mary and the Church At the beginning of a new year and looking back, we surely must be grateful for the gift of time. How much more time we shall have, we do not know. Time is precious, and it must be used well. As John Henry Newman writes at the end of one of his most famous books, life is short and eternity is long. Fr. Ted Tyler

At the start of the new year our questions ought be, what have I done with the time that was granted to me? What am I doing now with the time I have? And finally, what shall I do with the time I may be given as I look to the year ahead? We must use our time to attain the end for which we are created. This is to know, love and serve Jesus our Lord here on earth, and in this way to see and enjoy him forever in heaven — for he, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is God. If this goal is not attained, the time given to us has been catastrophically wasted. Indeed, our Lord said of one person who acted towards him tragically that it would have been better had he not been born. So then, the critical question for the coming year is, how are we to find Jesus Our Lord, and how are we to love and serve him? Well, right at the beginning of the year the Church places before us the figure of Mary the Mother of God. The Church does this for a simple reason. Christ is the gift of the Father to humanity and in sending his Son among us, he entrusted him to Mary. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He came to us by means of her. In our Gospel scene today, the shepherds were directed by the angel to go to the town of Bethlehem and there they would find the Saviour who had been born to them, Christ the Lord. They hurried away to Bethlehem to see him, and found Mary and Joseph and the Child lying in the manger. The Child was not alone but with Mary. Our Lord is best found by going to Mary, and by being always close to Mary. Imagine the love which the shepherds perceived in the eyes of Mary as she gazed on her Son? Her very look directed them to Jesus. Further, while Christ is found with Mary, Mary is found with Joseph. If we stay close to Mary and Joseph we shall be staying close to Jesus.

There is a further point. Mary and Joseph are not alone either. They were, and are, the first and foremost members of the Church: by the Church’s formal declarations, Mary is the Church’s mother and model; Joseph is the Church’s universal protector. They are the first, the greatest and the holiest members of the Church. In them, we who make up the Church have a mother and a protector who are the two surpassing models of Christian discipleship. Christ is found with Mary his mother, with Joseph his foster-father, and he is found in the heart of the Church. Christ comes to us and is found by us as head of the Church, his body. Therefore we are reminded in today’s celebration of Mary the mother of God that an essential element of involvement with Christ is involvement with the Church which is his body. Just as Christ is found in the arms of Mary with Joseph by her side, so he is found in the life of the Church his body. He is not found alone. At times one hears the statement, Christ yes, the Church no. Those who say this mean that they are happy to seek and serve the Person of Jesus, but only Jesus. That is to say, they do not want to have much to do with the Church. The Church is rejected. But God does not work that way in bringing us the gift of redemption. God sent his Son to us born of a woman, and as a Child of the holy family. That holy family was the incipient Church, gathered around Jesus who came forth to mankind from within its midst. That is to say, in the plan of God, Christ comes to us from within the Church which is his body. To know Christ Jesus we must draw near to his Church, learning to love the Church just as Christ loves her. On this day when we think of Mary the Mother of God, we think also of her as the mother and model of the Church. It is through her, mother and member of the Church, that Christ has come to us. The Church is the body, the spouse and the family of Christ. This is a very important point. There are forms of Christianity that understand the Christian life as a matter simply between me and Jesus. This is not the Catholic notion — nor is it a Scriptural and Gospel notion.

The Catholic Christian avoids this image of the Christian life. Of course, the Christian life is a matter between the individual and Christ, but Christ comes to the individual not alone but as part of a company, as it were. He comes as head of the Church which he founded and sustains. Right from the beginning at Bethlehem he comes as sent from God but in the arms of his mother Mary, and in the company of Joseph his protector. The seeker will find him in the company of his body the Church, of which Mary is the mother, the model and the foremost member, and of which Joseph is the guardian. Let us resolve to make Christ the centre of our life this coming year, while doing so in union with Mary our mother, with Joseph our heavenly foster-father and guardian, with, indeed, the whole Church of God. Let us unite ourselves to this great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and with the Church to seek that union with our Lord to which we are called.

(E.J.Tyler)

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My daughter, you have set up a home. I like to remind you that you women — as you well know — to have a great strength, which you know how to enfold within a special gentleness, so that it is not noticed. With that strength, you can make your husband and children instruments of God, or demons. You will always make them instruments of God: he is counting on your help.

Entrance Antiphon A holy day has dawned upon us: Come, you nations, and adore the Lord, for a great light has come down upon the earth.

Collect Before the Solemnity of the Epiphany Grant your people, O Lord, we pray, unshakable strength of faith, so that all who profess that your Only Begotten Son is with you for ever in your glory and was born of the Virgin Mary in a body truly like our own may be freed from present trials and given a place in abiding gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 south-eastern 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)

Knowing Christ We take the Internet for granted, but it is an astonishing phenomenon. Consider but one of its features — the books that are available on-line and which we take as a matter of course. A vast number of library collections, including works of great historical importance going back centuries, are accessible from one’s private study. In many respects it is far easier to do research in the room of one’s own house than in the best library of one’s city. With e-readers and memory sticks one can carry huge libraries around in one’s pocket. I mention this, not to extol the Internet and the various means of information technology, but to draw attention to the power of the human mind to know, to comprehend, to judge, to attain insight. Let the mind’s eye pass across the scene of the works of man. Consider his cities, his technical inventions, his writings and his works of culture, his military conquests — all the displays of order, let us say, that he has imposed on the world about him in order to attain his goals. Man is manifestly a being with intellect and will. It is one of the great things he discovers about himself, that he can know things, and want and seek what he knows. He is pre-eminently the being in the visible universe distinguished by intellect and will. He also is aware that this is a moral matter: in all that he thinks and wants, there is the ever-present fact of moral obligation. He may eat of any tree in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he must not eat. That is to say, in his thinking, his judging, his choosing and his willing, he must not decide for himself in sovereign and arbitrary fashion what is right and wrong. He must know and obey the right and avoid the wrong, as something objective which rules him, and not he it. Well then, of all the trees in the Garden in which man has been placed, from which is it that he ought make it his business to eat? Yes, he may eat of any tree in the Garden — excepting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But is there a tree which more than any other he should eat of, and which, if he partakes of it, will give him life in abundance? There is, and it is the tree of life that is in the midst of the Garden. That tree of life is the knowledge of God and of the One he has sent.

Man is made to know, love and serve God in all that he does during his brief span of life. Specifically, his calling in life is to be Christ’s disciple. As our Lord said in his great prayer during the Last Supper, eternal life is this, to know you God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is the tree of life. The one thing that matters more than anything in life is that we come to know Jesus Christ. For this reason our Lord gave to his disciples, and through them to his Church, a very specific charge before he ascended into heaven. It was to go to the whole world and make disciples of all the nations. In our Gospel passage today we have a superb instance of one who understood this, and who bore witness to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was so great that many thought that he could well be the promised One, the Messiah — or at least Elijah now returned, or perhaps the expected Prophet. No, I am not, he said. I am a mere voice, the voice the Prophet Isaiah said would be heard to prepare the way for the Lord. They asked him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie" (John 1: 19-28). John knew the One who was among them, while they did not recognize him. We have here in this contrast the critical issue for human life: knowing or not knowing Jesus Christ, whose sandal strap the greatest among us is not worthy to untie. It is of critical importance that the knowledge of Jesus Christ be brought to the world, and that each and every person know and accept him. Of all the trees in the Garden from which man is free to eat, this is the tree of life. In his First Letter, John puts it in very stark terms: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist — he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2: 22-28 ). Among all the things we may seek to know and want, it is this which is of capital importance because, as John continues, “this is what he promised us — eternal life.”

We must indeed busy ourselves with the various trees of the Garden, each of us according to our particular calling and circumstances. There is one tree we must always avoid — it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We must never arrogantly decide for ourselves what is right and wrong but be governed always by God and his holy truth. But now, while there is one tree we must avoid, there is another from which we must partake. That is the tree of life that is in the midst of all: the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ and the profession of him before the world. Let us make this our resolve as we think of the birth of Jesus Christ and his manifestation.

Religious truth In religion, in philosophy and in general human thought, there have always been rival claims as to what or who is the Absolute. Putting it differently, it is more characteristic of man to claim that there is no single Absolute, but that Ultimate Reality consists in the many rather than in an Absolute One. Outside of revealed religion and those religions that have been influenced by Judaeo-Christian revelation (such as Islam), there have been few religions testifying to but one personal God. Mankind has lacked a consensus as to the nature of the Ultimate, and this, of course, is even more characteristic of a pluralist society such as our own. As a result, pluralist societies tend to produce or favour relativist assumptions. It tends to be assumed that objective truth is unattainable, and that objective truth is simply private opinion. The Christian in such a society can unconsciously begin to assume that it is illegitimate to claim that Jesus Christ is God’s Truth and the only way to the Father. After all (so we can begin to reason), others make the same claims for their god or prophet. We can be enticed into thinking that truth is true only to the one believing it to be true – in other words that truth is not objective. Truth is relative to the individual. This is the danger constituted by relativism, and the danger is real. Truth is assumed to be a figment of the imagination.

Today’s Gospel reading (John 1: 19-28) makes it clear that Jesus is the Ultimate and the Absolute in all that pertains to God. St John the Baptist bore witness to him – he was not fit to undo the very sandal straps of Jesus. Let us this new year preserve in our hearts a profound sense of the absolute status of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Lord. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. In this profession we speak objectively, meaning to present the absolute and objective truth. Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only name by which men can be saved.

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I am moved that the Apostle should call Christian marriage sacramentum magnum — a great sacrament. From this, too, I deduce the enormous importance of the task of parents. You share in the creative power of God: that is why human love is holy, good, and noble. It is a gladness of heart which God — in his loving providence — wants others freely to give up. Each child that God grants you is a wonderful blessing from him: don’t be afraid of children!

Entrance Antiphon Ps 118 (117):26-27 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: The Lord is God and has given us light.

Collect Before the Solemnity of the Epiphany O God, who in the blessed childbearing of the holy Virgin Mary kept the flesh of your Son free from the sentence incurred by the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have been taken up into this new creation, may be freed from the ancient taint of sin. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

St. Genevieve was born about the year 422, at Nanterre near Paris. She was seven years old when St. Germain of Auxerre came to her native village on his way to great Britain to combat the heresy of Pelagius. The child stood in the midst of a crowd gathered around the man of God, who singled her out and foretold her future sanctity. At her desire the holy Bishop led her to a church, accompanied by all the faithful, and consecrated her to God as a virgin. When Attila was reported to be marching on Paris, the inhabitants of the city prepared to evacuate, but St. Genevieve persuaded them to avert the scourge by fasting and prayer, assuring them of the protection of Heaven. The event verified the prediction, for the barbarian suddenly changed the course of his march.

The life of St. Genevieve was one of great austerity, constant prayer, and works of charity. She died in the year 512. She dressed in a long flowing gown with a mantle covering her shoulders, similar to the type of garments the Blessed Mother wore. One of the symbols of this saint is a loaf of bread because she was so generous to those in need. (www.catholic.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)

The Baptist’s Testimony There are a number of remarkable things about this pronouncement of John the Baptist about Jesus of Nazareth. This is seen more clearly if set against the backdrop of the three Synoptic Gospels. In their account, the Baptist foretells the principal gift coming from the Messiah. Fr. Ted Tyler

In the Gospel of St Matthew, John proclaims that the “kingdom of heaven is near” (3:2). One was coming “who is more powerful than I” and “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” He will gather the wheat and burn the chaff (3:11-12). Mark reports the same (1: 7-8), omitting the mention of “fire” and the matter of the gathering and the burning — in other words, the Judgment. Luke shows John as the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the voice in the wilderness proclaiming the coming of the salvation of God (3:4-6). In Luke, the Baptist foretells the coming of “one who is more powerful than I .... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” He will gather the wheat and burn the chaff (3:16-17). While in this Luke and Matthew are very close, all three Synoptic Gospels report much the same thing about John’s testimony to Jesus. The principal thing is the coming baptism by Christ with the Holy Spirit. That will be his gift. In Luke’s companion volume, the Acts of the Apostles, our Lord before ascending into heaven refers to the fulfilment of this prophecy of John. The disciples were to wait in Jerusalem “for the promise of the Father. This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4-5). Our Lord repeats the point: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses....” (1:8). The gift of the Holy Spirit is the principal blessing brought by Christ and his redemptive work. But when we turn to John the Evangelist’s account, we are reading the testimony of a true insider: John had been a disciple of John the Baptist, no less. He had heard more than the well-known statements by the prophet. Yes, the Baptist, informed by God himself, had foretold the great gift by the Messiah: he it is, he said, “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

But there was more about the Messiah that was revealed by the Baptist, according to the account of John. All the Gospels affirm that the Baptist had testified to Jesus as the One who was coming, and who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. But the Baptist conveyed more to his disciples about the Person of Jesus than this, and John — one of those disciples — wants his readers to know about it. The Baptist declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1: 29). We are not told whether this was a public, or semi-public utterance. It was stated “the next day” when he saw Jesus coming towards him, after a declaration about himself and the coming Messiah to representatives of “the Jews.” He repeated his point “the next day” to two of his disciples — Andrew and presumably John. Jesus was “the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36). It was the signal for his two disciples to leave him and follow Jesus. This statement by John, acknowledged by the whole people as a prophet, was utterly remarkable. Who in all the Scriptures had been declared to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? The sin of the world! There is a clear declaration here that the world is in a state of sin and alienation from God, and that this Man would take it away — and as the Lamb which God provides. The Lamb! We think of the plaintive question of Isaac to Abraham his father long before, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22: 7-8). God was now providing the Lamb, and the sacrifice would be offered up not just for Abraham, not just for the family and line of Abraham, not just for the chosen people, but for the whole world — and it would be for the world’s sin. As John writes in his First Letter, “he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). In the Book of Revelation, the apostle John sees “a Lamb standing, a Lamb that had been slain” (Rev 5:6). The Baptist’s declaration would seem to be a direct application of the prophecy of the Suffering Servant to the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Redemption, by means of a great sacrifice and the gift of God’s Spirit as a result, was divinely announced.

There was more in the astonishing utterances of John the Baptist. When we examine the structure of the Johannine text (John 1: 29-36), it looks as if John is meaning to say that not only is Jesus the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit; not only is he the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; but especially is he the Son of God. “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34). John, who chose his words deliberately, must mean that the Baptist was formally intimating to some of his disciples the divinity of the Man before him, his kinsman. There had been no prophecies in all the Scriptures to compare with that of John the Baptist. The Gospel had been prefigured in prophecy on the eve of Christ’s ministry. Let us, who know its glorious fulfilment, give ourselves over to its acceptance and its service.

Hope It is almost self-evident that hope is necessary for life. A person whose life is pervaded by a sense of hopelessness is close to being ruined. He cannot continue in that condition for a long time and function normally. Moreover, not only is it necessary to hope, but hope is a natural condition that comes instinctively. Fr. Ted Tyler

In the normal course of things a child with loving parents grows up with a hopeful attitude. One wonders about so many children in the world who experience great tragedies of one kind or another. How much of a sense of hope can be expected to take root in their lives? The question is, however, not merely whether we ought to hope, but also what we ought to hope for. Or rather, while we all hope for the normal things in life such as material wellbeing, success in our work in life, friendship, and all the things that make for normal happiness, what is it that we are ultimately hoping for in all these things? The problem is that any one of them can fail. We can for a variety of reasons experience failures in our work, disappointment in personal friendships, and setbacks of a very serious nature in material necessities. If our hope is not anchored in something more enduring that cannot be taken away, then the whole basis of hope in our life could be tragically undermined. St John, in his first letter from which our first reading today is drawn, speaks of hope. It is a glorious hope based on what we actually are. We are children of God, and because of this we can hope for a glorious future. “My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is” (1 John 2:29-3:6).

The truly secure hope – the hope of the Christian – is God and our heavenly homeland. Ultimately it is this which we ought be hoping for behind the many good things for which we hope in life. Furthermore, and most importantly, “everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ.” Our ultimate hope should lead us to strive to be holy, as God is holy.

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In conversations I have had with so many married couples, I tell them often that while both they and their children are alive, they should help them to be saints, while being well aware that none of us will be a saint on earth. All we will do is struggle, struggle, struggle. And I also tell them: you Christian mothers and fathers are a great spiritual motor, sending the strength of God to your own ones, strength for that struggle, strength to win, strength to be saints. Don’t let them down!

Entrance Antiphon Is 9:1 A people who walked in darkness has seen a great light; for those dwelling in a land of deep gloom, a light has shone.

Collect Before the Solemnity of the Epiphany Grant us, almighty God, that the bringer of your salvation, who for the world’s redemption came forth with newness of heavenly light, may dawn afresh in our hearts and bring us constant renewal. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

John spent most of his life in the monastery of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed, protected by it. He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a

government position under the Arabs. After a few years he resigned and went to the monastery of St. Sabas. He is famous in three areas. First, he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him. Second, he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers (of which he became the last). It is said that this book is to Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the West. Thirdly, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.

John defended the Church’s understanding of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in several other controversies. For over 30 years he combined a life of prayer with these defences and his other writings. His holiness expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the service of the Lord. “The saints must be honoured as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith). (AmericanCatholic.org)

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)

We saw his glory Whatever may be said of the contacts between men and the gods of the classical myths, the Biblical accounts of the meetings between Yahweh God and the Patriarchs, the prophets and the chosen people generally is altogether special in its awesome splendour. God reveals himself to Abram and commands him to leave his country and his kindred and his father’s house and go to the land he would show him (Genesis 12). He promised to make of him a great nation. So Abram went. Especially notable were the interventions of the God of Abraham in the life of Moses. These, in various respects, surpassed in splendour the divine appearances that had preceded them. Consider the first such occasion, that of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:2-4:17). God called to Moses, commanding him to come no nearer. He was to take off his shoes for he stood on holy ground. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God — meaning, at the Burning Bush which was the manner of the theophany. There followed signal displays of divine power in Egypt as Yahweh God delivered his people from their oppression. Then there were the epochal events on Mount Sinai as the covenant with the chosen people was sealed. We read that “on the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.” The account continues, “And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder” (Exodus 19: 16-19). The very mountain where God was present and speaking was sacred and was not to be scaled by the people: “Set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it” (19:23). Then there follow the Ten Commandments and the extensive details of how the people of God were to live. Over the course of the history of the chosen people, God spoke through his prophets. He used various images to describe his relationship with his chosen people. Perhaps the most striking one was that of a Husband to his spouse. He was ever trying to reclaim his people to fidelity.

All of this brings us to our Gospel passage today (John 1:35-42), in which we have before us the very God of the Old Testament being approached by two members of his chosen people. The Word had become flesh, and dwelt among us. John says in his Prologue that “we saw his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father” (John 1:14). But the glory was manifested now in an entirely new way and we see an instance of this in our Gospel today. Andrew and John, two excellent young men of God’s people, disciples of John the Baptist, are approaching Jesus of Nazareth, the Word made flesh. It is a beautiful scene, and let us compare it with the approach of Moses to God on Mount Sinai, already mentioned. “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.’” Could anything be simpler? They yearned to be with God and to live in communion with him. The Baptist had indicated with the utmost clarity that Jesus of Nazareth was the One with whom they ought be in contact, and whom they ought follow. They wanted to be with him: “Rabbi, where do you dwell?” for we would like to be with you. It is an expression of the yearning of man for communion with the divine, and Jesus of Nazareth could effect this. Our Lord instantly invites them to “come and see,” which is to say to be part of his life, his friendship and his company. This is the same God speaking as spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, the same God become man in order to reveal to man his nature, his triune life, his plan for man’s happiness which would be attained by communion with him. In a sense, the whole purpose of life is expressed in our Lord’s words to his two new inquirers: “Come and see.” On another occasion our Lord said, “Come to me, all you who labour and are over-burdened, for I will give you rest. Take upon you my yoke and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11: 28). How different is this theophany, the revelation of the one God of the patriarchs as Man with a human nature like ours!

Our Gospel scene today is one of the most beautiful in the Gospel, and it remained a favourite scene in the life of John the Apostle and beloved disciple. In this encounter with God made man, John and Andrew saw his glory. They came away knowing that here was the One foretold by the prophets: “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” (John 1:35-42). Let us make it our life’s work to be with Jesus.

Jesus St John the Baptist was himself the object of a holy adulation by the people, but here he himself watches in wonder and admiration as Jesus passes by. Jesus is the One John the Baptist exalts. He says to his disciples “Look, the Lamb of God!” That is to say, he is the Messiah who has been long promised, the One who will take away the sin of the world and make the world acceptable to God. One can just imagine the emotion he felt in uttering those words, as there passed by him the One who was the object of his own mission as the precursor. In those words of John the Baptist we have Jesus exalted before our mind’s eye. But then we find ourselves in the most human of scenes, with Jesus revealed as overflowing in humanity. The two disciples of John who heard the words uttered about Jesus immediately began following him. “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him.” The Messiah, on whom was pinned the hopes of the world and the fulfilment of all God’s promises, is simple, welcoming, warm, attractive. He is very inviting and full of hospitality. He must have been immensely convincing, because the next day one of the two, Andrew, went to his brother and told him that the One they had stayed with was the Messiah.

Our Lord says to each one of us, “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.” Let us then come to him every day and, in the midst of our work, live in him with him in us. He said on one occasion, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.” What happened to those two disciples should be going on constantly with us. Let us live in Jesus.

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Don’t be afraid of loving others, for his sake: and don’t worry about loving your own people even more, provided that no matter how much you love them, you love him a million times more.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Jn 1:1 In the beginning and before all ages, the Word was God and he humbled himself to be born the Saviour of the world.

Collect O God, who by the Nativity of your Only Begotten Son wondrously began for your people the work of redemption, grant, we pray, to your servants such firmness of faith, that by his guidance they may attain the glorious prize you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 twenty fold 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)

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)

Seeing Jesus St Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). God is beyond the sight of man, and by becoming man has allowed himself to be seen. He was thus able to be seen easily, and he wished to be seen easily. A feature of living things with normal senses is that they can see. Animals, fish, birds, reptiles can all see. Fr. Ted Tyler

Man, the crown of creation, can see. The greatest Object of sight in all of creation — the highest purpose of sight, we might say — is precisely the most wondrous Object that is to be seen, which is the Word made flesh. In the Prologue of the Gospel of St John, this point is made about seeing God become man: “the Word became flesh ... we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (John 1:14). The way John says this suggests that seeing the Word who was made flesh was and is the greatest thing in life. We read soon after the Prologue that John the Baptist “saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’” The next day he again looked at Jesus and said “Behold the Lamb of God.” John is seeing Jesus, and he directs his two disciples to look on Jesus — with faith, of course. With that, the Baptist’s two disciples leave him and begin to follow Jesus. Our Lord turns to them and asks what they were seeking — they ask in their turn, Master, where do you dwell? That is, we would like to be with you. It is a fascinating and beautiful scene, and in view of its grand aftermath, it is full of spiritual power. Christ’s reply is that they come and see. You have now seen me, come and see more of me. They went and saw where Jesus was staying, and remained with him for the rest of that day. The direction of their lives was sealed. Their gaze would thenceforth remain on Jesus Christ. The next day, Andrew — one of the two — went to Simon his brother and told him that they had found the Messiah — it was because they had seen him and stayed with him. They had contemplated him and as a result had come to know him. Simon came to meet Jesus, and Jesus looked on Simon and gave him his name. It amounted to his calling. The pattern continued: Jesus found Philip and invited him to follow him. Philip went to Nathanael, and told him of Jesus. He was the Messiah — come and see him, he said to Nathanael.

The point here that we ought appreciate ever anew is that the most fundamental element in Christian discipleship is that the disciple contemplate the Person of Jesus Christ. The gaze of the heart ought be ever on him so that he, Jesus Christ, fills the sanctuary of one’s soul. Religion is above all a matter of the heart, and the heart has its eyes, we might say. It has an Object, and numerous objects can crowd the heart of man. His own self can be found to occupy the throne. This is fallen man’s special propensity, to make his own self the principal object of his heart’s contemplation and desire. Together with one’s own self, numerous other objects can jostle for a seat therein. The call of Christ is, Come and see! Come to me where I am, to where I dwell, and see me! Keep your gaze upon me, for I am the Revelation of the Invisible God, the Word made flesh. If you look on me with faith, and remain with your gaze on me, you will see my glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The danger is that we shall become distracted with other things, and look on Jesus only from time to time, and gradually hardly at all. A person can begin his life as a disciple well, but he can then start looking around too much. His eyes, as it were, begin to wander and they keep wandering. He rises in the morning, and begins immediately to look, with the eyes of his heart, at things other than God and Jesus Christ. For most of the day, his eyes are wandering, darting here and there, looking at this and that, but rarely on Jesus. That is to say, he puts little time into prayer. When he rises in the morning, he ought immediately, immediately as a matter of habit, look on Jesus Christ. He ought be like the two disciples who immediately set out to follow Jesus. They see Jesus turning towards them, and he invites them to come and to see. All day, every day, in one way or another, this is what we should be doing. They stayed with Jesus the rest of that day. So should we. Just as when Simon came to see Jesus, Jesus told him his vocation, so if we come to Jesus he will make clear what is ours and how to fulfill it. The greatest danger to the Christian life is the failure to keep one’s eyes, the eyes of one’s mind and heart, on Jesus. It is so easy to be always looking around.

How are we to develop the habit of looking on Jesus, and making the sight of him the foundation of our lives, the means whereby we come to see his glory? If I must suggest but one thing, I say this: develop the habit of rising each morning on time — at a time that is determined as a matter of policy — and immediately directing one’s sight, the sight of one’s mind and heart, to Jesus Christ. We must have the habit of turning to Jesus in prayer immediately, and then staying with Jesus for at least a brief time. The two disciples stayed with Jesus the rest of that day and came away convinced about him. We must stay with Jesus with some morning prayer of substance. Then we can come away to do the work he wishes us to do, but with our gaze on him continuing.

Nathanael There is a notable feature which we observe in the first followers of Our Lord. It is the speed with which they came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. The testimony of John the Baptist had been given about Jesus. Fr. Ted Tyler

They met him and believed in him. Andrew, we read in the first chapter of St John’s Gospel, having met Jesus went to his brother Simon and told him they had met the Messiah. He brought his brother to Jesus, and Simon believed. In our Gospel today Our Lord meets Philip and asks him to follow him. Philip found Nathanael and told him that “we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote.” Philip, then, had quickly arrived at the true faith. Our passage today is mainly concerned with Nathanael and how he arrived at this faith. We are perhaps correct in regarding these narratives as intended by the Evangelist to provide normative instances of arriving at faith in Jesus. Let us notice that there was not in Nathanael a propensity to believe simply anything. At Philip’s testimony Nathanael expressed at least surprise and perhaps even doubt about Jesus. The reason seems to have been that Philip told him that Jesus came from Nazareth. Jesus’ having been from Nazareth may have been a very good reason to have been surprised or doubtful.

Be that as it may, as soon as Nathanael met Jesus he was given a sign by Jesus that Jesus knew him well, and that Jesus knew what had just been happening in his life. He saw him under the fig tree. There was something about this circumstance, and something about the person of Jesus himself, that totally convinced Nathanael that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, and the Son of God too. Obviously the full sense of this initial insight would come to him only gradually as he was taught by Jesus. But Nathanael had quickly arrived at the true faith. How had this happened? One very important factor was that there was something about Nathanael’s moral character that disposed him to grasp who Jesus really was and to accept him as such. Our Lord’s immediate summing up of Nathanael gives us the clue: “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false” (John 1: 42-51). Nathanael was of a high moral character, completely sincere and fully given over to the truth. This disposed him to recognise Jesus for who he was.

Let us take our cue from that and strive to be entirely upright, sincere in everything, having nothing to do with falsehood in any sense, wanting simply whatever God wants, and being willing to receive from him anything he gives, offers, or disposes. This sincerity and avoidance of falsehood is a form of purity of heart, and as our Lord tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”

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Coepit facere et docere — Jesus began to do and then to teach. You and I have to bear witness with our example, because we cannot live a double life. We cannot preach what we do not practise. In other words, we have to teach what we are at least struggling to put into practice.

Entrance Antiphon Ps 112 (111):4 A light has risen in the darkness for the upright of heart; the Lord is generous, merciful and just.

Collect Cast your kindly light upon your faithful, Lord, we pray, and with the splendour of your glory set their hearts ever aflame, that they may never cease to acknowledge their Saviour and may truly hold fast to him. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 St Gregory Nazianzen

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 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)

Son of Adam There is one thing on which the Gospels and the entire New Testament are in absolute agreement. It is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is God become man, the Word made flesh. That is the first point. The second is that he is the son of Mary whose husband was Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are at pains to stress both points, that Jesus was and is both God and Man. His full humanity is illustrated by the genealogies provided by two of the Gospels, Matthew (1: 1-16) and Luke — both roughly of equal length. In our passage today we have that of Luke (3: 23-38). The two are entirely different — they differ not only on the name of Joseph’s very father, but on the entire lineage back to David. Various theories have been advanced to account for the difference: Joseph may have had two fathers, one natural, the other legal; Luke’s genealogy is through Mary — or perhaps Matthew’s is; one or both of the genealogies are invented. I remember one prominent Australian Scripture scholar more or less dismissed both as having practically no historical value. He seemed to regard them as pure inventions. I regard such a statement as entirely implausible. However, the apparent contradiction has been a source of difficulty, discussion and disagreement across the centuries. This suggests that for the average Christian reader it is unprofitable spending time attempting to resolve those differences. Let us leave it to competent scholars who, though, should be profoundly convinced of the inspiration of the Scriptures and their freedom from (not apparent but real) error. For our part, let us look at the genealogy of Luke as a whole. It starts with Joseph (for Jesus was thought to be son of Joseph, Luke tells us) and takes us back to Adam who was directly made by God in his likeness (Genesis 1: 26-30). Let us pause a little, here. People are naturally interested in their ancestries. There is in many countries of the West a booming industry of investigation into family genealogies. In developing countries, there are often extraordinary memories of ancestral details, kept alive from generation to generation and needing little further research. The point here, though, is that such listings go back a certain way — several centuries, perhaps, and there it stops.

The fact is that we go back, all of us, to the very first man and woman. I wonder if this fact is adverted to much. It is a feat of investigation to track one’s ancestry back to, say, a millennium. But the human race is far, far older than this. I think we could say that most scientists in the field maintain that evidence from tools, bones, fossils and other indicators suggests that mankind is at least hundreds of thousands of years old. Whatever be the ever-changing drift of scientific consensus, the point is that each of us carries in our make-up a long, long history of human joys and sorrows. We may be very conscious of several generations of our immediate past, and of how we carry that within us. But we are children of an immense family. Precisely as human beings with a conscience, an intellect and a will, we are the living representatives of a vast human history that has preceded us and produced us. This great concourse of men and women, of which we are the present representatives, has been held in being by the Creator. He, of course, has made us and sustains us, but he does so through the intermediary of our ancestry that is lost from sight because of its surpassing length. One set of ancestors has followed another, has passed from the view of their successors, and has been lost from human memory forever. None of us knows anything of the overwhelming proportion of our ancestors, their joys and sorrows, the tragedies and the triumphs of the most important thing of all in their lives: moral and religious action. The genealogy of St Luke reminds us that the same is the case with Jesus Christ. He too was the representative and the product of an ancestry going back to the very first man. In his veins and making up his human constitution was the concourse of humanity before him. He bore on his shoulders the human race, as it were, because he was a man like his ancestry and like us. Luke’s ancestral list takes us back to Adam. Jesus Christ was a descendent of Adam. Like all of us, his strictly human past went back to the beginning, to Adam and Eve. When the day came for him to offer up his body in sacrifice, in that holy body he gathered all mankind to atone for its sin. By his Incarnation, Christ entered into a form of union with every human being, and atoned for all.

The greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of the world is the Incarnation. God became man, taking unto himself a human nature. By this means he, a child of the chosen people of God, descendent of Abraham and of David, was a son of Adam like all of us. He took the weight of human history unto himself, and it became, as it were, part of himself. He is our Brother, our Redeemer and our God. He has united himself with every man and woman by the mere fact of the Incarnation. We all trace our ancestry back to Adam, including Christ our Redeemer and our God. Let us resolve, then, by the power of grace to enter into union with Jesus Christ, to become his friends, and by this means, to attain to sanctity and everlasting life.

Reverence for Christ At times it has been said that one of the more unfortunate developments in our culture is the growing lack of reverence for people. I do not mean a complete lack of reverence because it is also characteristic of our society that we respect certain individuals for their attainments, be they in business, sport, academia or whatever. No, I refer to the growing lack of respect as a normal feature of everyday life — respect for ordinary people, respect for one’s fellows, for one’s family members, for whoever. The signs of respect are good manners, genuine listening, and so forth. Now, we certainly need to deepen the virtue of reverence in our spiritual life. Just as we can take others for granted and lose respect for our everyday colleagues and associates, so too we can fail to reverence Our Lord himself. We can take him and the things of God for granted. Our reverence for Our Lord ought be most profound because Christ is not only man (great and unique as he is in his humanity), but he is God. The appropriate attitude towards him is adoration, a loving adoration. In this respect the Church places before us the inspiring example of St John the Baptist, who in today’s gospel preaches that he is not fit to kneel down and undo Our Lord’s sandal straps (Mark 1:7-11). Our attitude ought be like that. Such an attitude is sanctioned by God our Father who at Our Lord’s baptism exalts him with the declaration that he is his beloved Son on whom his favour rests. It is as if God the Father could not resist intervening to hold up his Son for unique praise.

Christ Our Lord is the greatest and holiest individual of human history. Let us then preserve in our hearts a profound and loving respect for his Person, and never take him for granted, nor those sacred things that are connected with him in one way or another.

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Christian, you have the obligation of being an example in everything you do: including being an example as a citizen, in your fulfilment of the laws directed to the common good.

Entrance Antiphon Gal 4:4-5 God sent his Son, born of a woman, so that we might receive adoption as children.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, who were pleased to shine forth with new light through the coming of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, that, just as he was pleased to share our bodily form through the childbearing of the Virgin Mary, so we, too, may one day merit to become companions in his kingdom of grace. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 St Raymond Of Penyafort

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 honour 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)

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)

Mary’s word There are numerous differences between the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and the Gospel of St John. St John gives nothing of the Infancy (though he lived with the Mother of Jesus as from Christ’s death). He gives practically nothing of Christ’s numerous exorcisms and his Gospel does not contain his characteristic parables. Fr. Ted Tyler

As an aside, while Christ’s parables are not there, his characteristic style of teaching by means of analogy is indeed present. The Spirit is like the blowing wind (3:8); there are the fields ripe for harvest (4:35-38); Christ is the Good Shepherd (10:1-5) — and so forth. That said, there are indeed numerous differences. As an example, consider the accounts of the beginnings of our Lord’s public ministry, and in particular the call of Simon Peter. In Luke’s account, following his turbulent return to Nazareth (4:16-30), Christ moved to Capernaum and made his base there (4:31-32). We notice that after the exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum, Jesus “arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s house” (4:38). But how did Simon come into it? We are not told. Soon after, Christ addresses the crowd from Simon’s boat. He directs Simon to make the catch of fish, then issues him with a formal call to share in his mission (5:10-11). We have Luke’s account of the choice of the Twelve, and we are told that Christ named Simon as “Peter” (6:13-14). When we turn to Matthew, the call of Simon at the start of the public ministry (4:18-19) and the list of the Twelve with Simon named as Peter is a little later (10:2). A much more formal explanation is given in 16: 17-19. But what do we notice in the Gospel of St John? John tells us that Simon (and a few others of the Twelve) met Christ before the commencement of his public ministry — that is, soon after his baptism. It was then that Christ told him that his name would be Peter (John 1:42). One feature of the Gospel of St John is the vividness of the details by means of which he describes the beginnings of our Lord’s ministry. The Synoptics recount the start of the public ministry, and the miracles are worked as part of it. But John tells us that as a matter of fact, the first of his “signs” was at the wedding feast of Cana, and, indeed, that it was initiated by a word from the mother of Jesus.

We learn from the Gospel of St John that the first of the “signs” of Christ’s “glory” that would be common in his public ministry was precipitated by a word from his own mother. A plain reading of the text suggests to us that humanly speaking this public beginning was not according to his initial plan. He had come to the wedding with his disciples on invitation. His mother was there. It was expected, perhaps simply presumed, that it would be a joyous wedding and Christ with his new friends would thereupon depart. His public ministry would then begin, perhaps in some synagogue in the region. But no. The wine ran out — and the mother of Jesus immediately approached her divine Son. All she said was, “They have no wine.” That was all, but that was sufficient. It suggests that Mary his mother yearned for him to begin his great work, and this was — she felt — the opportune moment. She pushed him — get going, she suggested. They have no wine! Again, the text suggests that humanly the suggestion was unexpected to Jesus: “Woman,” why are you drawing me into this, and starting things moving for me? “My hour has not yet come.” Our Lady did not say a word more, but she had no doubt that things would indeed now begin. His glory would be seen. His surpassing nature, his incomparable Person, his utter magnificence which she knew so well, would now begin to be revealed. She had put to him the situation, and she knew the ball would immediately begin to roll. The bell would toll, and the world would begin to hear. She left her beloved Son and went to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 3:5). We know the rest. The work of the world’s redemption had begun, and it had been Mary the Mother of Jesus who, by her word, had touched the trigger. It had only needed a touch, and what was seen and heard had beauty and abundance. The public work of the Messiah began and he showed his glory. The Woman his mother was the New Eve, mother of all the living. Her Son, showing his glory, would strike the Serpent’s head, as had been foretold long before. A Scriptural view of Christ includes the “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us, and foremost among those witnesses is his mother, full of grace and so powerful in her intercession.

Whatever be our situation in life, Jesus Christ is there with his disciples — which is to say that Christ is there in his body the Church. We are never alone in the fulfilment of our vocation in life. Whenever there are problems, Mary the mother of Jesus is there. If the wine has run out, she will see it. Let us ask her to keep before her divine Son all our needs, and to put in her word on our behalf. She too knows what is best for us, as does, supremely, her Son our God. Let us ever be confident in their presence, and never lose our peace. All is in their hands.

God is accessible Today the Church presents us with the beautiful Gospel scene of the wedding feast of Cana. We meditate on it in the second Luminous mystery of the Rosary on Thursdays. It is a very human scene, and doubtless Jesus and Mary knew one or both of the parties being married, because they had been invited – and we notice that our Lord’s Fr. Ted Tyler

disciples were invited too (John 2:1-11). Presumably some of our Lord’s disciples knew the newly-weds too. Let us contemplate Our Lord’s very accessibility. He is the eternal God, and by becoming man he makes himself immediately accessible to us his creatures. His ready participation in the wedding feast of Cana is but an instance of this. There we have God himself, sitting and standing among his creatures, mingling with them as if among equals. But there is more. We notice how his mother, having seen that they had run out of wine, approached her Son to inform him of the mishap. She knew that he had embarked on his mission, though it was not yet public. The time had not yet arrived when he intended to display his divine power. Nevertheless she put the need before him, and expected him to act – and forewarned the servants accordingly. Our Lord could not refuse her, and proceeded to work the miracle that showed his glory. Our Lord not only makes himself accessible in his very presence. He also makes his saving power accessible to us. In the first reading of today (1 John 5: 14-21), St John tells us “that if we ask the Son of God for anything and it is in accordance with his will, he will hear us; and knowing that whatever we may ask he hears us, we know that we have already been granted what we ask of him.” So then, if we are in need, let us imagine ourselves with Jesus and Mary at the wedding feast. And indeed, revelation informs us that our whole relationship with Jesus is that of Bride to Bridegroom, we being the Bride.

Let us then approach Jesus with confidence when we are in need, and approach him in the company of Mary, his mother and our mother, to present our petition. Let us say to him – better, let us ask Mary to say to him — that we have run out of wine. He will help us in the way he knows best and at the time he knows best. Help us he will. He did not refuse his Mother. With her doing the asking, how could he refuse?

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You are very demanding. You want everyone else, including those who work in the public service, to carry out their obligations. “It is their duty!” you say. Have you then ever thought about whether you respect your own timetable, whether you carry it out conscientiously?

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Mal 3:1; 1 Chr 29:12 Behold, the Lord, the Mighty One, has come; and kingship is in his grasp, and power and dominion.

Collect O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations by the guidance of a star, grant in your mercy, that we, who know you already by faith, may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 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)

Scripture today: Isaiah 60: 1-6; Psalm 71; Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6; Matthew 2: 1-12

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)

The Star and the Magi The first weeks of a new year constitute a special moment of review and planning. It is a time to set priorities and to ask ourselves, in the presence of God, what we shall do with the time he might deign to grant us. At this point we are immersed in the Christmas season during which we contemplate the gift to us of the Son of God made man. He has come among us in order to be our Friend, our Saviour, our Treasure. We know he will continue to abide with us to sanctify us and to make us his own. Today, the feast of the Epiphany, we think of the pagan wise men from the East coming to do homage to Jesus as the King (Matthew 2:1 -12). They shared the general expectation of a King who was coming, One bearing the blessing of the divine upon him. It was an expectation which is recognized to have spilled over beyond the chosen people to others in the ancient East. In some sense the Magi had been given a special illumination or guidance, and here they had come. With this image of the Magi in our hearts, our conscience presents us with a question: What is my attitude to all those beyond the Church, all those who might or might not have heard of Jesus Christ, and those who do not really know him? What is my attitude to all those whom the Magi represent and whom God our Father wishes to lead to Jesus? Just before Our Lord ascended into heaven he gave his disciples a final command: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, and behold I am with you to the end of time.” Yes, Our Lord wants each of us to be faithful to him in our personal lives, and in our hearts to grow greatly in his friendship. But friendship with Jesus has this further characteristic that it involves taking part in his mission of making all people his disciples. In a word, part and parcel of the Christian life is being apostolic. Yet many Christians have not learnt to be apostolic in their everyday lives — though many others have. Many accept the assumption that religion is a private matter, a matter of strictly personal fidelity, a matter to be kept to oneself. If this notion is accepted, an entire Catholic community may find itself with little to show in the work of drawing others to the Person of our Lord and to where he is to be found in his full reality – namely, in the Catholic Church which he founded.

God’s revealed truth is to be shared with those who do not have it. The thought of the Magi reminds us that this is what God wants, and what Our Lord expects of his disciples. Inasmuch as the characteristic milieu of the lay member of the Church is the world, then if the world is to be brought to Jesus it will require that the believing laity understand their Christian mission. It is in and through the lay faithful that the Church brings Christ to the world and the world to Christ. Christ ought not be imagined as vaguely out there, or vaguely within the individual. No, he can be precisely located. He is within his body the Church, for he is the Church’s head. In God’s plan he is found in and through the Church. This means that we bring people to Christ by bringing them into the Church. Let us then ask ourselves, What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What will I do for him? The focus of my spiritual life ought not simply be my own fidelity to my spiritual and religious duties of Sunday Mass, regular Confession, daily Prayer, and observing the Commandments. Of course these things are utterly essential, but if I want to be a true friend of Our Lord, I must also include making his saving desire and mission my own in my everyday life. Have I yet made Christ’s mission the mission of my own daily life? Am I raising my children in such a way that they too will want to bring Christ to the world around them? Do I and do they look on this as the work of priests only — or at most, of those who have a desire, a flair, an aptitude for it? If the call to Christ’s mission leaves me cold, then how real is the Person of Jesus to me and how real to me are the things that he himself wants? He wants the world to be brought to him, for in him lies its salvation and sanctification. Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. The Church places before us for our contemplation the image of the pagan wise men from the East following the star that led them to the Child Jesus. It is an image that reminds us that Jesus came for the entire world. Those pagan men from the East represent the world that does not yet know Jesus. Let us resolve to be like that star, leading others to where Jesus is to be found, namely with Mary and Joseph and the rest of the Church.

The fact that the wise men from the East did follow the star perseveringly ought give hope to every lay member of the Church who wishes to be apostolic. There is something in the heart of man, just as it was in the heart of those wise men, which will prompt him to follow the star. There is within man something that prompts him to seek to be good, and implicitly to seek God. We are called to be like stars lighting up the night and leading others to Christ whom they do not yet know. The Gospel event reveals to us our calling to be apostolic, and in the figure of the Magi it reveals man’s yearnings for the Person of Jesus Christ.

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Carry out all your duties as a citizen. Do not try to get out of any of your obligations. Exercise all your rights, too, for the good of society, without making any rash exceptions. You must give Christian witness in that also.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Mt 3:16-17 After the Lord was baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Collect Almighty ever-living God, who, when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan and as the Holy Spirit descended upon him, solemnly declared him your beloved Son, grant that your children by adoption, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, may always be well pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

O God, whose Only Begotten Son has appeared in our very flesh, grant, we pray, that we may be inwardly transformed through him whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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)

Scripture today: 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)

Christ’s Baptism In the Gospel of St Matthew, the Angel informs Joseph in a dream of the work of the One whom his betrothed has conceived of the Holy Spirit. His name is to be “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This is a critically important point, and perhaps somewhat new. Joseph was told that his mission would be spiritual, Fr. Ted Tyler

and to do with salvation from sin. There is no further clarification. The wise men from the East inquire of him “who has been born king of the Jews” (2:2), and the chief priests and scribes inform Herod of the prophecy: he will be “a ruler who will govern my people Israel” (2:6). This stresses his kingly character. The Child will be a Ruler. In Luke, the Angel informs Mary that she is to name her son Jesus. He will be great, the Son of the Most High. Then there is given the emphasis on his mission as King. He will receive the throne of David his father “and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end” (1:31-33). There is more that the Angel tells of the uniqueness of his Person, but in terms of his work, the stress is on his being the divinely-anointed Ruler. He is the Messiah-King, and we recall that throughout the Synoptic Gospels the stress of our Lord’s preaching is on the Kingdom. In Luke, the Angel informs the shepherds of the birth of “a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). He is a “Saviour” — but from what evil he will deliver the people is not specified. He will be the Messiah-Ruler or King — “Christ the Lord.” Simeon predicts that the Child is the Lord’s “salvation,” a “light to the Gentiles” and the “glory” of Israel (Luke 2: 29-35), and that he will greatly suffer. Broadly speaking, the predictions at the time of Christ’s Infancy as to his future work were that he would rule as the Messiah-King, and that he would save his people — the Angel having specified to Joseph that he would “save his people from their sins”. He would be the great Anointed King who would deliver his people from their oppression. It was somewhat vague, and Mary and Joseph themselves had to proceed by faith. God would do his work, and his will would gradually be made known.

But now, on the threshold of our Lord’s public ministry there is the word of John the Baptist — and he appears to introduce something new. All four Gospels declare that John the Baptist foretold that “he who is coming” “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. Matthew adds, “and with fire” (3:11). So does Luke (3:16-17). In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s companion volume, our Lord confirms this: “John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). In Mark, our Gospel for this day, the One coming “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (1:8). In the Gospel of St John, the Baptist declares that it was from God that he learnt that “he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). So it looks as if this was a further revelation prior to the public ministry of Christ about the nature of the salvation he would bring. It came from the lips of John the Baptist that Jesus of Nazareth would baptize with the Holy Spirit. It was a spiritual mission, and it had to do with the taking away of the world’s sin. Both before and after foretelling the baptism with the Holy Spirit by Christ, John speaks of Jesus being “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29 and 36). While John’s baptism was a forerunner and pointer to the baptism to be effected by Jesus, Christ’s own baptism was especially so. Christ stepped forward as if one of sinful humanity, thus showing his taking part with all his brothers, and when baptized by John, the heavens parted. At that, God the Holy Spirit descended on him in visible form — the form of a dove. It was a public anointing of him as Prophet, Priest and King, and we may say that John the Baptist was the visible hand that effected it. The great prophet Moses anointed Aaron and his sons as priests (Leviticus 8:30). Samuel anointed David as king (1 Samuel 16:13). Elijah was commanded to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place — which he effected by casting his mantle upon him (1 Kings 19:16. 19). Here the Baptist pours water over Jesus of Nazareth, who is then filled with the Holy Spirit, declared by heaven to be the beloved Son of God, and empowered as Messiah for his mission. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. With that, the Baptist recedes, and the Messiah takes the stage.

Let today’s Gospel passage, giving us the testimony of the Baptist, renew in us our appreciation of the gift to us of the Spirit of God. Christ’s baptism and the testimony of John reveals the mystery of the most holy triune God, Father, Son and Spirit. It reveals a centrepiece of the redemption planned by God for man, namely the gift of the Holy Spirit. God means us to be baptized with his own divine Spirit. This is the will of God, St Paul writes, your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). It is the Holy Spirit who is our Sanctifier, and this began at our baptism. It was continued at our confirmation, and it is nourished in each of the Sacraments of the Church. Let us strive to be subject to the Holy Spirit, then. He is to be our life, as he was the life of Christ.

The humility of God In the Gospel passage for today the Church brings us to the threshold of our Lord’s public ministry, his baptism in the river Jordan by John (Mark 1:7-11). He had spent thirty years in humble obscurity Fr. Ted Tyler

with the ordinary men and women of his own village. Their lot had been his, showing that he shared our humanity completely. The one exception was sin – this he could not share for he was God. Our Lord was like unto us in everything except that, being divine, he was utterly sinless. Despite his sinlessness, we see him stepping forward to be baptised by John as if he were a member of sinful fallen humanity; as if he were a man conscious of his sinfulness and desiring to confess and repent of it. The washing of John’s baptism signified both the desire of the penitent to be washed free of his sins, and his trust that God in his goodness would indeed forgive him his sins. What then did the desire of our Lord to be baptised by John signify, for he was sinless? It signified that our Lord was choosing to be at one with sinful humanity, and though sinless himself, he was taking on himself in a redeeming sense the sins of mankind. He himself would atone for the sin of the world by his obedient sufferings, and the baptism he would institute for his Church would bring this atonement for sin to each individual.

And so we are brought to contemplate the loving humility of Christ, and in him, of God. The baptism of our Lord was a revelation of God’s character, we might say. He is profoundly humble, being prepared to be counted among sinners though utterly sinless. He is immensely loving, being prepared out of love to take on the world’s sin and do away with it by expiation. This is what God is like, and because of what Christ has done, we are his children. Let us resolve to imitate him by living lives united to Christ in his humility and loving commitment to the salvation of men.

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If we really want to sanctify our work, we have inescapably to fulfill the first condition: that of working, and working well, with human and supernatural seriousness.

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

Collect Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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 St Gregory Of Nyssa

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. 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)

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)

Christ’s authority The great majority of things that we act on in life derive from what we have been taught or told by others. A person goes to work in the morning in his car — but of course, he does this because he has been told by one who ought to know that his car is in good order. He drives to work in accord with the rules of the road, which is to say in accord with what he has been told to do. He is told by his higher superiors at work to do certain things and he does them. We do not think the earth is flat, and this is not because we have ourselves investigated the matter, but because we are told by those who would know that it is so. Nor do we think that the universe is a mere four or five thousand years old, and this is so because those who know have told us so. The great majority of persons in a typical Western society know that the heart can become diseased, and that a common cause of death is a heart attack. But most have never seen a human heart, and take its very existence, let alone the complications that can beset it, on faith in the word of those who know. As a result of being taught, everyone knows these things. In fact, there are not many things we think on the sole basis of what we ourselves have investigated and proved to be the case. So we live very largely on the basis of what we are taught and told. There are a couple of further things to be noticed in our acceptance and apprehension of truth because of what we are told. Firstly, in very many cases we accept things because those who tell us of them demonstrate with reasons that they are so. I thus become convinced that what I am told is correct. I believe it because I am told, but I can see that there are very good reasons for accepting the word of that person. However, there are things I accept not just because I can see for myself, on that person’s explanation, that there are very good reason for doing so. I accept them precisely because this person whom I have come to respect greatly, has told me so. The basis of this trust is not just the reasons he provides me, but his own moral and intellectual stature — especially moral. Were he to provide me with reasons, I may not see the force of the reasons but I do see great force in the fact that he holds to the view he expresses. That is to say, he has great personal authority.

This brings us to our Gospel today. In the time of our Lord, there were learned Pharisees and scribes who discoursed on the Scriptures and taught the people with erudition. The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles refer to the rulers and the elders of the Jews. In the Acts we read of the “rulers and elders and scribes (who) were gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as many as belonged to the high-priestly family” (Acts 4:5-6). There was one in the Sanhedrin “a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law respected by all the people” (Acts 5:34). He seems to have been a good man, not, though — at least at this stage a disciple of Jesus Christ. Now, we notice the people drawing a contrast between Jesus of Nazareth who had not studied under masters of the Law (as had St Paul), and the scribes and Pharisees. We may say that, to use a modern parallel, our Lord had no doctorate, while Saul (later, Paul) and his masters did. Our Lord simply appeared out of nowhere, from Nazareth — and Nathanael when told of him asked, can anything good come from Nazareth? — and began teaching and acting as a master. He was called “Rabbi” by high and low. The notable thing, the distinguishing thing about him was that he spoke with authority and not like the scribes. “Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:21-28). Let us note that this was from the very beginning of his public ministry. As soon as he began his public ministry he displayed an astonishing authority, recognized by the people and contrasted with their usual teachers, that took the religious leaders off guard. They could see with the eyes of their hearts that this man had immense inner authority, and his fame spread accordingly. The authority did not just spring from his power as a public speaker (“no-one has ever spoken as this man speaks”), from his masterful intelligence which could never be dominated by opponents, nor simply from his displays of divine power. It sprang principally from his moral stature. He was utterly holy, which made his word utterly convincing.

Just to listen to Jesus of Nazareth — provided one was properly disposed in the first place — was sufficient. He was such as to be utterly convincing. Other teachers had to demonstrate that what they said was true, and their education and learning enabled them to do this. Not so Jesus Christ who spoke and taught on his own authority. He acted on his own authority too, at times. He entered the Temple and vigorously cleaned it out, sending the animals, the money, the tables and the sellers scuttling before him. What authority have you to do all these things? the leaders asked. Who gave you this authority? He just had it. It was his by virtue of his very Person. Let us in our hearts always recognize the supreme authority of Jesus Christ, and never stray from him.

Prayer At the beginning of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year the Church presents us (in the First Reading) with the story of Samuel, a great and noble soul in the history of salvation. He had a great mission in the history of God’s people, which was crowned by his anointing of David to be the future king who would replace the unfaithful Saul. Now, the point to be noticed in today’s first reading is that Samuel was the answer to heartfelt prayer. His mother was Hannah, and “in the bitterness of her soul she prayed to the Lord with many tears and made a vow, saying “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life” In the words of explanation she gave to Eli, she “was pouring out my soul to the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:1-20). The Lord heard her prayer and gave her a very great son indeed. Our mind passes over the next millennium to Elizabeth, the kinswoman of Mary, and Zechariah her husband. The angel Gabriel said to Zechariah that their prayer had been heard and they would have a son. He was John the Baptist, the Forerunner of Christ. In the case of each – Samuel and John the Baptist – God had answered fervent and persistent prayer. Monica prayed for her wayward son, Augustine, and God made of him a very great saint of the Church. The world depends on the humble, persistent and fervent prayer of God’s chosen ones. God will be rich in mercy in answering our prayers.

The problem is that we tend not to believe in the power of prayer, which generally means that we tend not to believe in God’s power, in his goodness and his love. We tend to think that these attributes of God are, at most, limited. Lurking behind this can lie the unconscious assumption that the God of revelation does not really exist. It all means that we can, after all – and without clearly realizing it – be tending towards agnosticism, or a form of incipient atheism, or be worshipping what is in fact a false god. So a lot is involved in the prayer of petition. Our salvation and the salvation of the world depend on it.

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Your charity should be likeable. Without neglecting prudence and naturalness, try to have a smile on your lips for everyone at all times, though you may be weeping inside. The service you give to others should be unstinting too.

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

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 practising 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)

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)

The two standards The Christian religion, due to the teaching of its divine founder Jesus Christ, sees itself and its inspired writings (the New Testament) as the fulfilment of the revealed religion of the Hebrews. But there are striking differences between the two, and in many respects the passage from the Old to the New involves a great leap. Fr. Ted Tyler

There is a sense in which the New Testament truly is new. Jesus Christ was a prophet, and to be understood in the line of the prophets, but he was far, far more than a prophet. So new was his presentation of himself — “the Father and I are one” — that the highest echelons of the chosen people rejected him as being in opposition to the religion of Moses. This newness related to his own Person, to the true mission of the Messiah, and to many other matters. It is also noticeable in features of his public ministry. There is no prophet who engaged so constantly, openly and from the very outset with Satan and the demons. In the entire Old Testament, explicit references to Satan are rare. In 1 Chronicles 21:1-2, we read that “Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joab ....Go, number Israel..” Satan tempted David to the sin of pride. In Job1:6-12, Satan taunts God about his servant Job, and is allowed to test his fidelity. The same thing happens again (Job 2: 1-7): Satan is allowed to afflict Job and tempt him to abandon God. We read in the prophet Zechariah of “Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘the Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord has chosen Jerusalem to rebuke you!” (3: 1-2). The word devil, or demon, or satyr appears a few times in the Old Testament (in Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; 2 Chronicles 11:15; Psalm 106: 37) but in general this means an idol worshiped by other nations. The title “Lucifer” occurs in Isaiah 14:12, but this refers to the king of Babylon (which the N.T. Book of Revelation would use). A similar passage is used in Ezekiel 28, but this would seem to be about the king of Tyre. Of course, there is the striking intervention of the Serpent in Genesis. But the Serpent is not formally called Satan and so mainstream Judaism contains very little overt concept of a devil. My point here is that in this too Christ displays something new.

There is, of course, no parallel in any of the prophets with the scene of our Lord’s temptation at the threshold of his public ministry. Each of the Synoptic Gospels refers to it, with Matthew giving it eleven verses, Mark one, and Luke thirteen. Christ is baptized by John as if one of sinful humanity, he is forthwith baptized in the Holy Spirit for his messianic mission, and is led into the wilderness and “tempted by the devil.” Luke describes the devil speaking to him: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (4:1-3). Matthew speaks of the tempter coming to him and saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread...” (4:1-3). It is very like the sudden presence of the Serpent in the Garden to tempt the Woman, and through her, the Man. In the Old Testament, that is the last we hear of the “Serpent” — there is the rare occasion thereafter when as “Satan” he tempts or accuses. But in the Gospels, Satan after being repulsed in the wilderness becomes a major presence, though helpless before the Messiah. His minions are present in force. There is nothing like this in the Old Testament. Wherever our Lord goes throughout Galilee, Judea, the region of Tyre and Sidon, the Decapolis, devils are present and are flushed out by force of Christ’s very presence. So it is in our Gospel today (Mark 1:29-39). Everywhere the demons scream in anguish: here he comes! The reality of the demonic world, peopled by numerous angelic adversaries of God and his plan, and headed by a Prince — whom our Lord called the Prince of this world — is manifest. There now appears a new feature that would not have been perceived by the reader of the Hebrew Bible alone. It is that there are two standards, the one with the only true and lasting strength, but the other allowed to be a serious force during human history. The two standards are those of Christ and Satan. The two stand in battle array. Each has its characteristic weapons and method of campaign. The One holds aloft the Cross, and its method of attack is humility and self-denial, poverty and utter obedience to the divine will. The other uses power, lies and self-indulgence. The One — by the devils’ own admission — is the Holy One of God. The other is a liar and a murderer from the beginning, the father of lies, and the black Prince of death and eternal doom.

We have a choice to make. Ultimately, we shall find ourselves in the one or the other camp in eternity. There is no third choice. Neutrality will be impossible. Let us face the facts now: is it to be with Christ, or is it to be with Satan? Only a fool would entertain the latter possibility, because our Gospel today shows who is the stronger: “The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.” Let us resolve to take our stand with Christ, and to follow him to the end.

The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

Samuel Samuel was a great man, and perhaps holier than David would ever be, whom he anointed to be king. I say that because we do not read of any serious sins or infidelities on Samuel’s part, whereas we do read of them in the life of David. David was great and holy too, but holy in large measure because he was a great penitent. Fr. Ted Tyler

So then, is there a clue to Samuel’s moral and religious greatness? Our first reading today gives us that clue: from his boyhood he never let the word of God fall to the ground. Our passage today tells us of the memorable incident in Samuel’s childhood when he first came to know the Lord. The Lord began to call him, “Samuel, Samuel!” and the child Samuel answered, “Here I am.” He did not know it was the Lord calling him, rather he thought it was Eli and so went running to Eli to ask what he wanted (1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20). The incident shows a readiness in Samuel to serve and to obey right from his earliest years. The natural moral disposition for a faithful service of God in the future was present. Then under Eli’s direction he recognised that the Lord was calling him and he responded accordingly. He heard God’s word and obeyed it. Our text tells us that “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground.” Because of this Samuel came to be accredited by the people “as a prophet of the Lord.”

The issue is clear. We must let no word of the Lord fall to the ground. If this has not been our story from our earliest years (as it was with Samuel) then we must repent and set ourselves on this course. Then we must be faithful to it, constantly repenting of infidelities. As our Lord says, “it is not those who say to me ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Let us take our cue from Samuel who in this was a pointer to the One who was to come, and who, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, on entering the world said, “Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.”

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That half-finished work of yours is a caricature of the holocaust, the total offering God is asking of you.

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

"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 St Marguerite Bourgeoys

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 co-workers. 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, hardworking, radiant mothers." (AmericanCatholic.org)

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)

The leper’s cure Our man in the Gospel of today had leprosy. His condition, humanly, was hopeless. Leprosy has tormented humanity for several thousand years, and was well-recognized in the civilizations of ancient China, Egypt, and India. I have read that what many scholars believe is leprosy appears in an Egyptian Papyrus document written around 1550 B.C. Around 600 B.C. Indian writings describe a disease that resembles leprosy. In Europe, leprosy appeared in the records of ancient Greece after the army of Alexander the Great came back from India and then in Rome in 62 B.C. coinciding with the return of Pompey's troops from Asia Minor. I refer here to written records — and the Scriptures indicate that leprosy was well-known and legislated for in the life of the chosen people of God. Leprosy was long feared among the peoples, and was thought to be a curse or a punishment from God or the gods. It is only during the twentieth century that effective diagnosis and treatment was discovered — first with the use of dapsone and its derivatives in the 1930s. When this proved ineffective, the next breakthrough came with the introduction of multidrug therapy (MDT) in the early 1980s. It is said that some 15 million people have been profoundly aided, perhaps cured from leprosy since then. The point is that our leper in Mark’s inspired report was desperate. No-one could possibly help him, and he was necessarily ostracised from social life. Beyond human aid, he came to Jesus “and begged him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me clean.” His cry came from the depths of misery, and yet he had faith. The darkness of his plight had not led to simple despair (as moral degradation did with Judas). He hoped for physical salvation from Jesus, and knew that Jesus alone could do it. All that was needed was Christ’s will to do it, and it would be done. This alone was very commendable — and a great lesson for all sufferers. No matter how terrible the situation, we must never lose hope in God and Christ. Our Lord’s action is a sign to be ever remembered that this hope will never be misplaced, whatever be the response of the Divine Wisdom to our pleas.

Doubtless our leper was restored to a wonderful condition. We think of the changing of the water into wine: it was beautiful wine so much so that the steward wanted to know why the best wine was kept to the last. However, what then follows in the incident has very important lessons. Our Lord sternly warned him not to tell anyone. Let us note the word that Mark uses: it is embrimēsámenos. This word, the commentators point out, is used as if for horses — a snorting, as if of persons snorting with inward rage or indignation. Our Lord would not have been pretending. He spoke with vehemence, indicating with powerful feeling what was his will. He strictly forbad our leper to breathe a word of it, except to fulfil the requirements of the Law in respect to healing. Our Lord did not want his true mission to be overshadowed by such benefits as physical healings, and the true nature of the Kingdom he was announcing to be obscured. Our Lord’s stern warning alone reminds us of what ought be, even in the midst of our sufferings, our true goal in life, and our true good. We can and ought pray for all that we need, and this is something God wants us to do. But we must ever remember what are our true goals in life, the true goods that we ought be seeking and praying for. Our true good is the grand Blessing Christ came to bestow: the gift of the Holy Spirit and his sanctifying grace. As he told his disciples in respect to prayer: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). But there is more for us in this incident. Not only does our Lord’s strict warning to the liberated leper instruct us in what we ought be especially seeking from God and Christ, but the leper’s behaviour tells us how important is obedience to God in all situations. For what did the man do? “Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.” What was the result of this thoughtless disregard of Christ’s command? “As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.” People continued to seek Jesus. Still, we are reminded that whether in good times or bad, in sickness or health, we must obey God and do what is our duty.

Our Gospel today (Mark 1:40-45) is a simple event, so typical of our Lord’s public ministry — and, it would seem, occurring in its early stages. Let us keep our gaze on the Person of Jesus Christ and come to know his power, his compassion, his authority, and above all the true benefits he has come to fill our hearts and lives with. He wants to make us holy. This is the greatest possible miracle to be sought — and holiness is a miracle. But it is not an instantaneous one, except at the moment of baptism. We are then filled with holiness in an instant. But thereafter holiness is to be acquired amid suffering and struggle. Let us get on with the work, then, the true work of life!

And Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the LORD’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?” When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!” So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.(1 Samuel 4; 1-11)

Why did it happen? In our passage for today from the first book of Samuel, we are presented with a pressing question which bewildered the Israelites, and it is a question which has risen in the hearts of so many believers since. It is a variation of the problem of evil: why has God allowed this to happen? The Israelites were conscious that their God was the true and the supreme God, and yet when they fought against the Philistines they were defeated decisively. The elders of Israel said, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines?” (1 Samuel 4: 1-11). They could not understand it. So they decided to get the Ark of God from Shiloh, the Ark which was God’s gift. It was the foremost sign of the covenant established by God with his people in which he promised to be their God if they observed his laws. When the Ark arrived it gave them immense hope, and struck fear into the hearts of the Philistines. And yet once again they were completely defeated and to compound the misfortune the Ark of God was captured too.

Our text does not tell us the answer to the question why God allowed this to happen. But we notice that the Israelites failed to consider at least one possible answer. They may have thought that if they simply were to have the things of God among them (for example, the Ark) all would be well. Did they consider whether their way of life was displeasing to God and a factor in his not showing his presence among them by giving them the victory? Whether this was the reason is quite another matter and we have no guarantee whatever from the text that it is. However, the events at least remind us of the general point that it is not enough – though it is certainly necessary – to have the instruments and signs of God’s presence among us. We must also be striving to live in a way worthy of God’s presence, in a way pleasing to him. We are reminded of our Lord’s answer to those who asked him about the people who had been recently killed. He said to them, Do you suppose that they were greater sinners than the others? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.

Our passage today can serve to remind us that we must repent, and decide to live in a way pleasing to God and not simply be satisfied with having the assurance of God’s presence among us. Let us resolve to live in such a way that the thought of God’s presence actually shapes the moral course of every detail of our lives, all our thoughts, words and actions.

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If you say that you want to imitate Christ...and yet have time on your hands, then you are on the road to lukewarmness.

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like his Master in being labelled a "disturber of the peace." In a very troubled period in the Church, his holiness was lived out in both scholarship and controversy. Raised a pagan, he was converted to Christianity when he met his God of nature in the Scriptures. His wife was still living when he was chosen, against his will, to be the bishop of Poitiers in France. He was soon taken up with battling what became the scourge of the fourth century, Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ. The heresy spread rapidly. St. Jerome said "The world groaned and marvelled to find that it was Arian." When Emperor Constantius ordered all the bishops of the West to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, the great defender of the faith in the East, Hilary refused and was banished from France to far off Phrygia (in modern-day Turkey). Eventually he was called the "Athanasius of the West." While writing in exile, he was invited by some semi-Arians (hoping for reconciliation) to a council the emperor called to counteract the Council of Nicea. But Hilary predictably defended the Church, and when he sought public debate with the heretical bishop who had exiled him, the Arians, dreading the meeting and its outcome, pleaded with the emperor to send this troublemaker back home. Hilary was welcomed by his people. (AmericanCatholic.org)

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . . He said to the paralytic, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, We have never seen anything like this! (Mark 2: 1-12)

Forgiveness of sin There are clear references in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus to the forgiveness of sin through sin offerings. “The priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.” In the following passage, in speaking of a ruler who (unwittingly) sins, Fr. Ted Tyler

a goat will be offered for his sin — “so the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.” The point is repeated in respect to “one of the common people” who “sins unwittingly” — “the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven” (Leviticus 4:20-31). There are more references to sin and guilt offerings in Leviticus, chapter 6. In Solomon’s prayer to God “before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel” (1 Kings 8:22), there is the appeal for forgiveness of sin: “forgive the sin of thy people Israel” (8:34.36.39.50). There are specific statements about this in the psalms: “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; then you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). Again, “Lord, ... you forgave the iniquity of your people, you pardoned all their sin” (Psalm 85:2). Just what “the forgiveness of sin” by God was thought to entail in the Old Testament could be discussed. Certainly, it is the plain teaching of the New Testament that it is Jesus Christ who “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and that there is “salvation in no one else” (Acts 4:12). The point here, though, is that what is abundantly clear in the Old Testament is that it is God and God alone who can forgive sin. Great as Abraham was as a paragon of faith in God, it would be ridiculous to imagine that Abraham presumed to forgive sins. Such a thought was never associated with the Patriarchs. Moses, great as he was in the establishment of the chosen people of God and for the introduction of the Covenant of Sinai, was never imagined as exercising power to forgive sins. No prophet — from Samuel, through to Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, or any of the other prophets — would have thought of such an initiative, despite the unending need for the forgiveness of sin. The consciousness of sin, and the appeal for forgiveness was a distinguishing feature of Old Testament religion. But is was recognized as God’s prerogative alone.

There are many ways to interpret the revealed religion of the Old Testament. One feature of it is its longing for the forgiveness of sin — a definitive removal or taking away of sin, and a cleansing of man once and for all. But as already said, only God could remove sin and there was the vague sense in some of the prophecies that he would do this by means of the Messiah. All of this brings us to our Gospel passage today (Mark 2: 1-12). Our Lord, in the presence of a considerable crowd together with teachers of the Law who were very disposed to find fault in him, and without, as we might say, “batting an eyelid,” forgave a person’s sins. It was unprecedented in the history of the chosen people, and our Lord sovereignly uttered what must have been unforgettable words to the paralytic before him: “Son, your sins are forgiven.” One might have thought that any astute person with a sense of political judgment would have refrained from so astounding and provocative a statement. It was bound to lose him friends, especially among those in high places of religion. The blasphemous impertinence of the man! was the inevitable reaction to come. But no, our Lord proceeded with the utmost ease in his unique course. He forgave the man’s sins, and forthwith proved that heaven sanctioned and supported his power to do so. He instantly raised the man from his paralysis to excellent health — the man may have lived to a ripe old age, never again with anything resembling paralysis of any form. Here was a man who acted as God alone would act. He was doing something radically different from John the Baptist who administered a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. No-one accused John of pretending to forgive sins in his ceremony of baptism by water. But instantly in our scene today, the onlookers — especially the religiously savvy among them — knew what was happening. Here was a man who presumed to forgive sins at a mere word. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” It may be unique in religious history. While non-Christian religious leaders could pray for the forgiveness of sinners, I do not think any religion claims for them the power to forgive sins. It was one of the things Jesus Christ unhesitatingly did.

Moreover, Christ by his sovereign authority endowed certain among his disciples — those whom he called Apostles — with a share in this very power to forgive sins. On the night he rose from the dead, he appeared to them as a group and immediately did what John the Baptist, in other terms (John 1:29.33), had foretold of him. He imparted to them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and gave them the authority to forgive sin. “Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them” (John 20:23). It is this power which the Church possesses, and which is in the hands of those ordained to the ministerial priesthood, and the benefits of which are so readily available to all the Church’s members. Let us preserve in ourselves a sense of the awesome mystery of it, then!

Our true need There are many reasons why people remain in the Christian faith they have accepted from their earliest years, and there are various reasons why people seek to meet and know our Lord. Some reasons are worthier than others. We remember, for instance, how King Herod heard about the miracles of Jesus and wanted to meet and to see him. Fr. Ted Tyler

But our Lord referred to him as a fox, and when they finally met up during our Lord’s Passion, our Lord would not so much as speak to him. That is to say, we ought be seeking Jesus for the right reasons and wanting from him what God wants for us and what Christ came to give. In our Gospel passage today, our Lord was preaching the word inside a packed house with people spilling out at the front door. Some people came to him bringing a paralytic carried by four men. But the crowd in front of Jesus was so dense that the newcomers could not get in. So they climbed onto the roof, made an opening and lowered the paralysed man in front of Jesus for him to cure him. They had come to Jesus for a laudable purpose, to obtain a physical healing. There was nothing wrong with that, and indeed they would receive what they had come for. But what did our Lord do when he saw the sick person in front of him? He forgave him his sins (Mark 2: 1-12). Perhaps he saw the man was conscious of his sinfulness. In any case, the first thing our Lord wanted to do was to take away his sins. Only then did he heal.

Many things can draw us to Jesus and lead us to hold on to our faith in him. Those reasons can be varied in value. But we should learn to listen to Jesus carefully in prayer, and to the Church which represents him and teaches in his name, and thus learn what above all he wants to give us. Great crowds followed our Lord. But when he explained his doctrine of the Eucharist, many of his disciples left him. Our Lord wants to sanctify us and to reconcile us to God. This is above all what we ought be seeking in our striving to be with Jesus. He brings to us grace and truth and life in God. Our fundamental need is for holiness and the victory over sin – and it is especially this which God sent his Son to give to us. Let us then keep a true focus, while asking Jesus for all our needs and those of others.

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Professional work — and the work of a housewife is one of the greatest of professions — is a witness to the worth of the human creature. It provides a chance to develop one’s own personality; it creates a bond of union with others; it constitutes a fund of resources; it is a way of helping in the improvement of the society we live in, and of promoting the progress of the whole human race... For a Christian, these grand views become even deeper and wider. For work, which Christ took up as something both redeemed and redeeming, becomes a means, a way of holiness, a specific task which sanctifies and can be sanctified.

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

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 offence at anything. His advice was that to forgive offences is an act of penance most pleasing to God. He predicted the day of his own death: January 11, 1501. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:13-17)

The heart of man It seems that tax collectors in the Roman Empire had an appalling reputation for extortion, rapacity and merciless hounding of their victims. Philo (Judaeus) (30 BC — 45 AD) was a Jewish philosopher who lived in the city of Alexandria in northern Egypt, and was a contemporary of our Lord. His writings influenced Plotinus and Augustine. He has this to say: “They [Romans] deliberately choose as tax collectors men who are absolutely ruthless and savage, and give them the means of satisfying their greed. These people who are mischief-makers by nature, gain added immunity because of their superior orders, obsequious in everything where their masters are concerned, leave undone no cruelty of any kind and recognize no equity or gentleness . . . as they collect the taxes they spread confusion and chaos everywhere. They exact money not only from people's property but also from their bodies by means of personal injuries, assault and completely unheard of forms of torture.” (Philo, De Specialibus Legibus 2.19 (93-95) (trans. Maxwell-Stuart, supra note 35 at 160). For many Jewish commentators, the tax collector was a particularly hateful individual who often operated outside the law, whether they chose simply to overcharge the taxpayer for their own gain or carried out more extreme measures, including extortion or torture. Jewish legislation classified the tax-collectors with robbers. Thus, for instance, it was forbidden to take payment in coin from the treasury of the tax-gatherer or to receive alms from it, because the money had been gained by robbery. We can understand why Christ’s association with tax collectors as a group provided such a fertile pretext for criticism by his enemies, especially his being prepared to have a tax collector (as in our Gospel today) among his disciples — one of the Twelve, no less. It also illustrates Christ’s sovereign freedom from the attitudes of his times — though he also shows full awareness of the moral degradation of many in the tax-gatherer class. In view of all this, our incident today is impressive. Christ is recognized by the crowds as a holy teacher of high authority — but he has no hesitation in calling to his company even a tax-collector. Further, he mixes and dines with many of them and makes them feel free to follow him.

What is at work here is not only Christ’s freedom from the attitudes of his culture, but more importantly his knowledge of the human heart. He effortlessly perceived the moral and religious attitudes of each person, whether high or low. While he condemned the corruption of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no condemnation of a person simply because he is, let us say, a Pharisee. He received Nicodemus by night, and doubtlessly made Nicodemus feel thoroughly accepted precisely as a disciple — just as much as he had accepted Matthew the tax collector. Nicodemus was a follower, though in secret — as was Joseph of Arimathea, another leader of the Jews. Christ saw their hearts. He also saw the hearts of others who had their strengths, and serious limitations too. When the rich young man approached our Lord to ask him what he must do to gain eternal life — for he had kept God’s commandments since his youth — our Lord read his heart, looked on him and loved him. But that young man failed his precious call, for he chose not to accept our Lord’s invitation to follow him. At the beginning of his Gospel, John the Evangelist provides us with the account of our Lord’s meeting with his first disciples. Those first disciples appear to have been excellent young men. Andrew and John had been disciples of the Baptist. Notice the call of Nathanael: when Philip brought him to Jesus, Jesus said of him: “There is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” (John 1:47). Our Lord read his heart and saw he was a man of truth, and that he would accept the Truth when he encountered it. When our Lord was passing through Jericho, at a certain point he stopped, and would have brought the crowd that was in tow to a stop. He looked up into the sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus perched there among the branches, peering down at him. With a broad smile, our Lord addressed him by name and invited him down for he was to dine with him that day. Zacchaeus was a chief tax-collector. We read of our Lord’s judgment on him: he was a true son of Abraham. Our Lord had read his heart. What was the fundamental issue? The issue was whether a person was in recognition of his sinfulness, and ready to repent, to believe, and to accept the One whom God had sent as his Revelation.

Christ’s call to Matthew and his association with tax-collectors (Mark 2:13-17) reminds us of the mystery of the human heart. The call of man is to recognize the authority of God and to accept that sovereign authority in obedience. External obedience to God’s law is essential, but the fundamental requirement is the readiness of the heart to put away sin, to repent, and to accept the Word made flesh. All, high and low, sinner and devout, must have these attitudes of the heart — otherwise there will be a falling away into further sin. Let us ask God for the grace to have a heart with which he will be pleased, a heart that is ready to turn away from sin and believe the Gospel.

Christ’s love There is a figure of the Old Testament who was marked out by God for special promise and a special work in life. He was Saul the son of Kish, the first of the anointed kings of Israel. We are told that “when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ‘That is the man of whom I told you; he shall rule my people’” (1 Samuel 9:1-4.17-19.10:1). He had a great work in life ahead of him, a work given to him by God himself. Undoubtedly he had the necessary qualities, and God’s help would have accompanied him. Yet he turned out very badly. This was due to his choosing to disobey God, and more fundamentally because he chose not to repent from his disobedience. Other examples in the Scriptures of disobedience and failure to repent could also be mentioned. Solomon himself ended badly, as did many other kings of Israel. We think too of Judas, especially chosen by Christ to be one of the Twelve. Now, in our Gospel scene today (Mark 2:13-17), we see our Lord with the tax collectors and sinners. Levi the tax collector was called by our Lord to follow him, “and he got up and followed him.” Then a number of “tax collectors and sinners” sat at the table with Jesus and his disciples. They wanted to be with him which itself shows that while Jesus hates sin he loves the sinner, especially if the sinner wishes to repent. He told his critics (the scribes and the Pharisees) that he was the doctor for the sinner, and had come to call sinners to repentance.

Let us think of the choice God has made of each of us. St Paul tells us that before the world was made, God chose us; chose us in Christ to be holy and full of love in his sight. What then — we ought ask ourselves — have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What shall I do for him? I have the present moment and possibly some time ahead. I must then repent, begin again, and give my life over to the work God has given me to do. I must resolve to do it well, to avoid sin, and to serve God in everything.

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The Lord wants his children, those of us who have received the gift of faith, to proclaim the original optimistic view of creation, the love for the world which is at the heart of the Christian message. So there should always be enthusiasm in your professional work, and in your effort to build up the earthly city.

Entrance Antiphon Ps 66 (65):4 All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Most High!

Collect Almighty ever-living God, who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people and bestow your peace on our times. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Samuel 3:3-10.19; Psalm 39; 1 Corinthians 6: 13-15.17-20; John 1: 35-42

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God! When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning round, Jesus saw them following and asked, What do you want? They said, Rabbi (which means Teacher), where are you staying? Come, he replied, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1: 35-42)

Seeking God In January of 2006, a stampede during the ritual ramy al-jamara-t on the last day of the Hajj in Mina (near Mecca, Arabia) killed at least 346 pilgrims and injured at least 289 more. Vast numbers of Muslims from all over the world were there to honour Allah and their prophet, Mahomet. In various parts of Asia there are great religious festivals too. Fr. Ted Tyler

In India, for instance, there are occasions when great numbers of Hindus gather and come and go on pilgrimage. The strong religious life of many peoples shows that characteristically man is not a secular but a religious being. He tends towards God not only by God’s formal calling but by his very nature. We in our Western society and culture are accustomed to seeing people uninterested in a religious life, but this is an aberration in human history. The normal thing is that man desires God and wants to worship him. The problem is that he is liable to do so in great darkness and not in the light of truth. He is apt to worship false gods. In our Gospel today (John 1:35-42) we are placed in a very beautiful scene. The two disciples of John the Baptist, having heard his testimony about Jesus, began to follow him. What was at the root of their doing this? It was that they wanted to know and to be with God. That is why they were disciples of John in the first place. That is why they followed Jesus after having heard the words of John about him. They sensed that to be with Jesus and to hear from him would be to draw close to God. When our Lord turned to them and asked what they were seeking, they could have said that they were seeking God. But rather they asked him where he lived, vaguely implying that they knew Jesus would bring them close to God. So he said, come and see. And they stayed with him the rest of that day. Consider their time with Jesus, for there we have a picture of man seeking God, and God coming to meet him in order to receive him into his personal friendship. As we think of this Gospel scene, let us appreciate anew the desire for God which has been planted in our hearts by our Creator. We ought ask ourselves if we are cultivating this desire and keeping it focussed on its proper object.

Our own Western culture strongly tempts a person to consider God not as an objective reality but rather as a personal preference or taste. Western societies consider God to be merely a personal opinion. It is thought that it does not matter much what one’s views on God are, nor what one’s religion is, provided one is moral. People tend to think that when it comes to public life, man should manage without God or prayer or recourse to religion. The result of this strong bent of public culture is that the very desire for God, so natural and instinctive to human nature and so universal among cultures, can diminish among the citizenry, and be replaced with the desire for other things. So then, alive to this danger, we must make a point of cultivating a burning desire for God. We must resolve to protect our desire for God from all that could harm or diminish it. We must do all we can to see this desire for God grow in society and in all men. There is a further point of great importance. We ought also guard against the assumption that the truth about God is not of great importance. We must beware of thinking that any faith will do as long as we are good and moral. For, wonderful as is the very desire for God, and tragic as it is when this desire is lost or greatly reduced, nevertheless the fact is that error about God abounds. The objective truth about God that comes from him is, relatively speaking, so little known. For instance, we see vast numbers of people committed to what their religion or philosophy says about God – be it Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or whatever. We also observe that these religions and philosophical views differ radically, and their claims about God contradict one another. This direct contradiction among claimants shows to any observer that many such claims must be wrong, for statements that contradict one another cannot all be correct in the same respect. The typical response of very many to this religious diversity is to think that ultimate truth does not matter and that it is impossible to attain truth anyway – or worse, that there is no objective truth. In the last analysis, truth is relative to the thinking subject. We must resist this resolutely. There is a truth, and that which contradicts it is false. The duty before us is to attain the truth and to live by it.

We can know the truth about God. It has been revealed by God. That truth is Christ, his Person and his teaching. He founded his Church, his body of which he is the living head. It is imperative that we know the truth revealed by Christ, that we hold to it and that we bring it to others. Let us encourage others to seek with determination the truth revealed by God and to adhere to it perseveringly. Let us bring them to the Person of Christ where he is to be found, in the Church his body. Let us think of those two disciples of our Gospel (John 1:35-42) implicitly yearning for God. They were put in direct touch with Christ by John the Baptist, and Christ took them to where he dwelt. Where does Christ dwell? He dwells in the Church, his Body and his Spouse.

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You must be careful: don’t let your professional success or failure — which will certainly come — make you forget, even for a moment, what the true aim of your work is: the glory of God!

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Christmastide B-2	1 Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God	2	3	4	5	6	7
First Week of Ordinary Time B-2	8 The Epiphany of The Lord	9The Baptism of The Lord	10	11	12	13	14
Second Week of Ordinary Time B-2	15