Christmas Message

One of my cherished memories of Christmas, growing up and still today, has been listening to the list of titles given for the long awaited Messiah, in the reading from the prophet Isaiah from our First Reading at the night Mass: "For a child has been born to us, a son given to us; authority rests on his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Is. 9: 6) People then, as for today, were afflicted with all manner of threats to their safety and prosperity. Life has changed and so has its challenges but we are still in need of the same love and reassurance. The message of Christmas is just the tonic we need. Christ is our redeemer! As victor over sin and death in his resurrection he answered all our needs and desires super-abundantly. Christmas is the dawn of God's love shining on a darkened and anxious world with the promise of endless day. This we taste in sacrament as already reigning in our hearts: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry ''Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.." (Rom 8: 15-16)  We rejoice in God's love today and its that love which overflows to our families, friends, fellow parishioners and strangers in the street or waiting in line at the supermarket. Whatever our situation let the joy of Christmas fill our hearts since: "You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, a people exult when dividing the plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian." (Is. 9: 3-4) Happy Christmas everyone! 

4th Sunday of Advent

Today we hear the beautiful story of the Annunciation. The dialogue between the archangel Gabriel and a virgin called Mary stirs our hearts. Would she not have been so young to make such a momentous decision? Yet, she is humble and courageous in her response. She knows that what the angel is saying is amazing yet she is able to take the message on board and say: "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." (Lk 1: 38) This can be contrasted with Zechariah's defiance when the same angel brought him good news which answered his prayers over so many years. Gabriel tells him: "But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur." (Lk 1: 20) The priest is shown up by the teenager for lack of faith! Let us imitate the Blessed Virgin in her holiness, obedience and courage: "By reason of the gift and role of divine maternity, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother. By her belief and obedience, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as the new Eve she brought forth on earth the very Son of the Father, showing an undefiled faith, not in the word of the ancient serpent, but in that of God's messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love." (Lumen gentium, 63)

3rd Sunday of Advent

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near." (Phil. 4: 4) This is the entrance antiphon for Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent which gives us the reference for the expression Gaudete Sunday, taken from the Latin word, second person plural imperative,  for "rejoice!" I like to think of joy as being the fulfillment of hope. Our hope is that not only we receive of the benefits of the Lord in this life but we will be with him forever in the next. We rejoice to see that the birthday of the Lord is near since the Incarnation was a new birth for humanity. In our baptism we were born into the relationship with God enjoyed by Christ as of right. As adopted children we anticipate a share in his inheritance. Throughout Advent we have been looking to prepare ourselves spiritually for the coming feast: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and  if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ - if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him." (Romans 8: 14-17) Advent then speaks not only to birth but also to suffering and death since we share in his Passion as well as his Nativity.

2nd Sunday of Advent

Today we hear the exhortation of St John the Baptist: "'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'." (Mark 1: 4) In New Zealand we constantly see work being done on motorways to straighten them so as to make travel by motor vehicles quicker, safer and easier. By analogy, Advent is a time when we seek to straighten out the twists and turns in our spiritual and moral life so as to make the movement of the Holy Spirit easier and more effective in our lives. When I am distracted by anger, frustration, hurt feelings, resentment and bitterness I am less able to receive the Lord in my heart. Let us not emulate the secular world for whom the celebration of Christmas concludes on Christmas Day. We have the whole of Christmastide to rejoice in the birth of our Saviour and enter into the mystery of the Incarnation through the great feasts of that season. For us Advent is a time of spiritual reflection and preparation for anticipating the Second Coming and celebrating the First Coming even  if we have secular obligations to attend to. Integral to our spiritual preparation is the sacrament of penance. It is an ideal way to enact the spiritual roadworks that open up my soul to the Lord who loved us so much that he not only became human like us but also died for us while we were still sinners: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - although perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 6-8)   

1st Sunday of Advent

The First and Second Readings on this day, at the start of a new liturgical year, both speak of confidence in God's mercy and love. In the First Isaiah is mindful of the failings of the people and longs for the Messiah to vindicate God's rule: "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence." (Is. 64: 1) In the Second St Paul encourages the Corinthians to be faithful so they may continue in their faith until the Lord returns as he promised: "He will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 1: 8) Surrounded as we are with all the tinsel and blandishments of consumerism it is possible for us to lose heart. The apostasy of Western civilization to materialism, scientism and other idealogies antithetical to the Gospel can cause us sadness. How could people who have known the hope of the Gospel turn aside to other gods and other empty promises?: "Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. 2: 11-13).The answer is for us, in this season of preparation, to renew our trust in God and in his ways: "Yet, O Lord , you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Is. 64: 8) We do this through prayer and alms giving along with a reaffirmation in the power of God to save even when, as we see in the lead up to Jesus' birth, that all appeared to be lost.

Christ the King

It is difficult for us to appreciate what a king would have meant to people in the time of Jesus. The early Christians saw Jesus primarily as the Good Shepherd and later on as the Pantocrator - ruler of the Universe. The latter would have been influenced by the new status of Christianity under the emperor Constantine. Today's feast, however, is not an ancient one. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 amid the rise of fascism in Europe. Benito Mussolini had come to power on 1922. Jesus reign as Universal King began at the Crucifixion and he is enthroned on his Cross. Conquering sin and death he did as he prophesied: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (Jn 12: 31-32) Sin no longer reigns unopposed in this world but continues to struggle and win over people to the rule of Satan. Nevertheless, the end of the Universe is clear: "And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Heb 9: 27-28) The question is whether we are prepared for when the King returns? Have we manifested the fruit of his grace in our lives?

33rd Week in Ordinary Time

There is an attitude in our society and even sometimes among churchgoers that if there is life after death, however you might think of it, everyone will enter beatitude - no questions asked. In other words, there is no sense that there is a judgement or accountability for what we have done during our lives. St Paul is clear on this: "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each must receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Cor 5: 10) In today's Gospel the Lord says: "For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." (Mtt 25: 29) God cannot lie! He will not invent a life of good deeds and truth when what was there was in fact a lie. Such people who lack any reception of God's grace will experience further loss in eternal death while those who have cooperated with grace will receive even greater grace in eternal life. The onus is on us, assisted by grace, to use that beautiful gift to love God and our neighbour in such a way that we all hear the words: "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master." (Matt 25: 23)