A Marriage Homily

Marilyn Monroe sang 'I want to be loved by you ... (Boop-boop-a-doop)  ... and if you recall her performance in the movie 'Some Like It Hot' I'm sure you'll agree - she meant it.

To be loved ... isn't that everyone's dream? I want to be loved by you, just you, and nobody else but you? I'm sure that's the dream of every bride and groom and I'm sure it's the dream of J... and T... today.

Some would say that to be loved is our greatest desire and our greatest human joy. That may well be true. However, others, and I'm one of them, would say that our greatest desire is to love.

To be loved is pure gift, often undeserved, while to love is the expression of our greatest human potential and therefore constitutes our greatest accomplishment. For this reason, to the extent that most of us seek accomplishment rather than gift, I would say we prefer to love rather than to be loved.

Learning to love without conditions and self-interest is a painful journey requiring an extraordinary depth of soul; a depth reached by the constant excavation of the ego - self-emptying for the sake of the beloved.

And still there is an even greater love, an heroic love. This is the love poured out upon the unlovable - those who do not deserve our love. This is the love with which Christ has loved us. He sacrificed himself for us in a most painful and humiliating way while, as Romans 5:8 says: we were still sinners. This is the great love I wish for you in your marriage.

J.. and T.., how do you intend to love one another? To what degree of greatness?

• Some couples love till someone better comes along.
• Some until it all gets too difficult.
• Some until they get hurt by the other.
• Some, because they just lose interest.

The story of your marriage will be the story of the love you are capable of giving. As this capacity grows it will, hopefully, reach the point, if it has not yet already done so, where you are willing to give your very lives for each other! That will be a great day, a wonderful day! That will be the day you arrive at the summit and fulfilment of what you begin today. I pray that you, as husband and wife, will constantly pray to the Lord who loves you unconditionally for the grace to do the same to each other.

The Baptism of the Lord - Year A

Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Matthew 3:13-17

Atheists and believers are not always dissimilar, especially the non-practising ones. Atheists claim life is ultimately without meaning but most live as though it were not so. They are like the believers who claim faith in an afterlife but live as though their true home was here, on planet earth.

It’s difficult to fully live what we believe and few people actually do so. The great saints are exceptions, as are the great sinners. Teresa of Calcutta, John Paul II, Mary MacKillop are at one end of the spectrum while Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot are at the other.

Between these two extremes we find – ourselves - drifting on the fringes of the huge whirlpool of life, slowly rotating in the little eddies of our private lives, at a more or less safe distance from that violent centre which so preoccupies the true believer as well as the true atheist. Too many of us have somehow convinced ourselves that coasting along is really how it’s meant to be. We conveniently forget, though we deny that we do so, that we, too, will one day be claimed and drawn into the vortex of that great mystery at the heart of things. But that’s only one day and, in the meantime, we have such a lot of living to do.

At heart, the true problem of our religious lives is not faith as much as faithfulness to faith, or to put it in the words of today’s Opening Prayer faithfulness to our Baptism. Let me pursue this thought.

Baptism is many things but in the first place it is a rebirth. We have actually been born again. We have been regenerated. We are new, really and truly, new, and therefore we are different.

The philosophers speak of the foundation of our being as our ontological being. Ontologically we are men or women, ontologically we are human. No scalpel, however sharp, can change a man into a woman or a human into an animal. Our ontological foundation is inviolable – unreachable - except to the Sacraments.

We who have been baptised have been born again into a new life, the divine life of God, in Christ. This life was lost through Original Sin and with it the possibility of friendship with God. Baptism does not restore us, like a house is restored with a coat of paint, but we are made altogether new – ontologically. Now the very Spirit of God lives within us, in the core of our being; now we are ontologically sons and daughters of God and, therefore, members of his people on earth; now we are pointed towards, orientated to, destined for heaven.

The Opening Prayer puts it all in neat summary and adds a further thought: Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling.

Baptism is also a calling. We have been born again into a new life which we, in our turn, are called to live. It is not a no-strings-attached gift from God but calls us to a whole new way of life.

The call is not an invitation; it is a command. The call to Baptism is an invitation; the call to live the Baptism we have received is a command, and unfortunately therein lies the crisis of the times we live in.

It is my firm belief that we do not, generally speaking, live our Baptism because we do not understand what it is we have received and what it has caused us to become.

The remedy for this sad state of affairs is, of course, clearer catechesis from the pulpit and a courageous repetition of the teaching even when some cry ‘Enough!’.

On the other hand, there is the matter of your, yes your, personal responsibility. I was speaking to someone, a Catholic in good standing, who expressed some surprise on learning that the Church does, in fact, still teach that to miss Sunday Mass without adequate reason is a mortal sin. He rightly criticised the priests for not telling him this was still the case, when others were saying it had all changed. He said: It would be better to get rid of the teaching than to keep it quiet like this because it confuses people and brings the teaching into disrepute. I agreed.

However, there is the matter of the responsibility of every lay person to educate himself in the faith and to make himself a catechetically mature Christian. The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Catechism, are freely available in Catholic bookshops and on the Internet. Everyone should have a copy of the Catechism and everyone who is able should read it. The Internet abounds with good audio talks for those who find reading difficult. CDs and tapes are also freely available.

God has a plan for each one of us. We do well to understand this plan. It is a wonderful plan; a plan for peace. It begins with Baptism and leads, through a life of faithfulness to faith, to an eternal happiness in heaven with God. It is not impossible that your Christian life may touch the jaded heart of an atheist somewhere and lead him to reconsider whether he might not finally subscribe to God's plans for him.

The Epiphany of the Lord - Year A

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3.5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus had been born …

After Jesus had been born things start to happen. An energy is unleashed, an unstoppable power, a joyful, irresistible movement. The longing of the centuries suddenly becomes a seeking, a setting out, a life's journey to find the One who is now among us.

It begins with some shepherds in the fields nearby. An angel appears as they watch over their sheep; the darkness is pierced by the glory of heaven; the joyful message of his arrival is announced. They leave their flocks and set out to seek his face - the face of their desire.

Countless human hearts, for 2000 years now, have followed in their footsteps, their quest no different from that of the shepherds, or of the Magi.

The sky opens above Bethlehem and the darkness is pierced by glory of heaven. Do you understand what has happened? Everything has changed. The universe begins to move around a new centre, drawing all men of good will to itself. The shepherds are first to leave their orbit - how appropriate that it should begin with them, the poor!

They come to him, acknowledging the child. These simple peasants would not have understood it all. Do you understand when you come and kneel in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Do you know the full mystery before which you kneel? Of course not, and neither do I. But we come anyway - drawn by the same irresistible power which drew the shepherds.

Next come the wise men from the east following a star which knows its creator. All nature now knows and is ready to share its secret with hearts that are pure.

The journey of the Magi is longer, slower, more heroic. Some of us find Christ soon in life and others much later, after a long journey, but it is all the one journey - the journey that started back then - after Jesus had been born.

The wise men have come to do him homage. They have a need to do this, as we have, because it is the real purpose of every human life – to give oneself entirely and in a totally unrestricted manner to God.

They have gifts for the newborn King of the Jews - gold, frankincense, myrrh, but first they give themselves.

… and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage.

How wonderful to be allowed to worship the Lord, to come before him and do him homage! Could we ask for more?

Following the star which had filled them with delight they reach their destination and find themselves before the Lord. Yes, they find themselves. Do you understand? What a moment of joy, of fulfilment, of destiny!

Now they open their treasures and give. And how generously they would have given! Look at them, admire them, envy them and imitate them. We are all at our happiest, most satisfied, most noble, most beautiful - on our knees before Jesus – giving ourselves to him.

We note with sadness that some do not come. Herod misses out. It seems his orbit will not be breached. He wants everyone to circle around him, as he does.

The Jewish elders miss out too. They have all the facts of the case, they know where the Child is to be born, but they miss out on the Truth. How sad! Where will their journey take them?

But let us rejoice together. We have come into the house and gathered round the altar. In a few moments we will see the child. Let us, too, fall to our knees and do him homage.

Mary, Mother of God - Year A

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21

One of the things I love about the Catholic Church is her courage when it comes to speaking of Mary. Protestantism is timid in speaking of her but Catholicism never baulks. The Church will confidently give to Mary all her titles and will speak of all her prerogatives as she deserves.

I'll never forget the raised eyebrows of a pastor friend of mine when he read in one of the books on my shelf that Mary was 'the mother of our salvation'. Well, Jesus is our salvation and she is his mother, so she deserves to be called: Mother of our Salvation!

Every serious-minded Catholic has a love for Mary. We readily speak of her as the Mother of God, the mother of Jesus, and our mother too.

Firstly, we know that she is the Mother of Jesus. We have just finished celebrating Christmas which is not only the feast of the birth of our Saviour but also of his birth from Mary.

Secondly, we know that she became our Mother at the foot of the Cross when seeing her and John standing at the foot of the Cross Jesus said to her: Woman, this is your son.

The Church has always believed that, at that moment, Jesus confided all humanity into the care of his Mother.

Protestant Christians maintain the we Catholics are misreading Sacred Scripture when we claim Jesus gave us all to Mary. They say he was just making sure she was going to be looked after.

Well, there are two things about this:

• Why, then, did he give John to Mary first? He said Woman, this is your son - only then did he say: This is your mother.

• And then, why would he want to make sure she would be looked after if, as Protestants say, she had all these other children, the 'brothers and sisters' of Jesus?

Thirdly, we have the greatest of all Mary’s titles, given to her officially at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD – Mother of God.

To put it simply - Mary is the Mother of God because Jesus is God and she is his mother.

Mary did not just give birth to the human nature of Jesus but to the entire Jesus. Mother’s don’t give birth to 'bits' of their children but to the whole person of their child – body and soul.

Mary is not the ‘author’ or ‘creator’ of Jesus’ divinity, but she is the mother of a child who was human and divine in one single person.

So Mary can rightfully be called Mother of God and so she was, from earliest Christian times. It is a title given to her by God’s generosity towards her and towards the human race to which she belongs.

Holy Family - Year A

Ecclesiasticus 3:206.12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15.19-23

Let us reflect on the Entrance Antiphon of today’s Mass. It says: The shepherds hastened to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

We are told the what the baby was doing, it was lying in the manger. This has a prophetic significance. A manger is a feeding trough. Mary’s infant was already teaching us who he was - food for the world.

But Mary and Joseph, what were they doing? They were busy simply being with Jesus - like the first Apostles called ‘to be with him’.

For nine months Mary had been carrying this extraordinary child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, in her womb. Joseph had almost left her because of this child. It was only the message of an angel that had stopped him: Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.

Now they could see with their very own eyes what was ‘in her’ – an infant, a son, who was to save his people from their sins.

How they must have wondered! How they must have longed to see his face, and now that he was here they could ‘read’ the Word of God in the his tiny face.

The shepherds, too, were eagerly seeking the face of the Christ. They wanted to see the Messiah, the Promised One. They hastened to Bethlehem. I’m glad they hastened. It would have been unseemly for them to dawdle along the way. The only fitting way, really, for us to seek the Lord is to hasten.

So what did they find when they got to Bethlehem? They found Mary and Joseph and the baby. They were seeking Jesus the Saviour but they found Mary and Joseph too.

There is a Christianity which would push aside Mary and Joseph and focus totally on Jesus. This is not Catholic Christianity. Don’t ever be misled by people who say Mary and Joseph ‘distract’ from Jesus or ‘take away’ from him. When we seek Jesus we find him with Mary, and Joseph - the Holy Family!

Jesus came to earth as a human child, in a human family, with human friends and foes. God wanted it that way. Jesus, too, wanted a family, he needed a family, he had a family and he does not expect us to brush them away. The face of Christ our Saviour is the face of a man standing between his parents.

As Jesus honoured his family so he wants us to honour them. And so let us repeat the Entrance Antiphon whose wording is not a mistake but carries with it this deep mystery about our Redeemer: The shepherds hastened to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

A famous mystic once wrote on this subject from another angle when he complained about those who ignore the Old Testament and just concentrate on the New Testament. As he said, at that time: I don’t want a Jesus who is not speaking with Moses and Elijah. In our turn we can say: I don’t want a Jesus who is not with Mary and Joseph.

This infant lying in the manger is the Son of Mary but also the father of his own family – a family made up of all those who were to believe in him. Even from the cradle he began to call this family to himself, beginning with Mary and Joseph beside the manger, and then the shepherds, and then the wise men, and then you!

Do you think Jesus would be pleased if others pushed you aside in order to get close to him? I don’t think so. I think Jesus wants you to be in the picture with him, along with all the countless souls he has washed clean in his Blood and now calls his brothers and sisters.

A charming incident is recorded in one of Vassula Ryden’s diaries when Jesus allegedly appeared to her. I say allegedly because these apparitions have not been okayed by the Church.

Anyway, Jesus allegedly appeared to her and Vassula could see there was someone standing behind him. He said “I’ve brought someone”. Vassula then saw who it was and exclaimed, “It’s your Mother!” He said, “Yes, and your mother too.”

If Jesus is our brother then Mary is our Mother too, and Joseph our father. We are members of ‘the Family’.

We join him today as family around the altar on which he will become present and feed us with his Body and Blood. There are many Catholics who will not come to Mass this Sunday. They would sweep us away and say ‘We want only Jesus – we can pray to him at home'.

This is not true Christianity! As Jesus wanted to be found in his family in the stable of Bethlehem so he wants to be found in his family of faith in the Church. Those who want Jesus but not his Church are not fully Christian.

So now, as the Opening Prayer of the Mass says “Let us pray, as the family of God, who share in his life.”

Christmas Day - Year A

Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:-18

Do you know what the Bible records as the first action of God, way back ‘In the beginning’ when he created the world? It’s in the Book of Genesis. We are told that God did something very simple - he spoke.

God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light.

In fact, if you read the first chapter of Genesis you will see God created everything simply by speaking the word of command – and it came to be.

• God said, 'Let there be a vault in the waters ...’
• God said, 'Let the waters under heaven come together ...’
• God said, 'Let the earth produce vegetation …’
• God said, 'Let us make man in our own image …’

The opening lines of the Gospel of John tell us more about the word of God. He states three things in one sentence:

• In the beginning was the Word:
• and the Word was with God
• and the Word was God.

Very interesting!

• The Word of God existed even before the creation of the world, it existed in the beginning.
• It existed with God and so John distinguishes between God and the Word, they are separate and distinct.
• And yet, the Word was God.

The next line sounds like just a repetition but John adds a crucial word: He was with God in the beginning.

John doesn’t call the Word it but he - a personal pronoun – used to indicate here a person.

We will resist the temptation to now go looking for the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, and turn this into a homily about the Blessed Trinity, instead we’ll go on with what John is concerned to teach us.

Through him all things came to be ... This is consistent with what we learn from the Book of Genesis, that God made everything through his Word by ‘speaking’.

He was coming into the world… John is saying that the Word of God, through whom we are created, in whom we have life, was coming into the world! The eternal Word was coming to his own creation. How would the person of the Word do this?

He would do it by becoming human, one of us, and living among us. He did it by becoming flesh! The Word was made flesh and lived among us.

This is the feast we celebrate this morning – the Word made flesh in the infant of Bethlehem. It is an astounding mystery which has no parallel in human thought. Our God has joined himself to us and become one of us. He took to himself our human nature and through the Virgin Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, he became Man and lived among us. But:

• He was in the world that had its being through him, and the world did not know him.
• He came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him.

The dramatic unfolding of our rejection of the Word of God made flesh is the Paschal Mystery, the Easter story, but for now we wonder at the mystery of the Incarnation, the Christmas story, God’s love for us made Man.

Our Catholic Faith is a faith in mystery and for us mystery is not a locked door or a barred gate, it is an open door inviting us to enter. When we do so we find an immense banquet set out for us, a banquet of truth, of beauty and of love. We cannot consume it all but we can feed ourselves, day by day, according to our capacity.

God became man for us in Jesus, as Jesus became food for us in the Bread of the Eucharist. Let us adore him today. Let us meditate on him today. Let us give ourselves to him today, as he gives himself to us.

Christmas Midnight - Year A

Isaiah 9:1-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14

This morning we gather as God’s family in this parish and as part of the larger family of God throughout the world. We gather round the crib of our Saviour, the infant Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.

We welcome visitors.

If you are alone or lonely you are doubly welcome. Many of us are like that.

If, deep down within you, where others can’t see, you are unhappy in some way - be consoled, come and join us.

Perhaps you are struggling with something in your life - a demon, maybe. Or perhaps you are struggling in your marriage, in a relationship, family. The babe of Bethlehem welcomes you.

If you have some darkness within you - a guilt, a shame, a sinfulness, a mortal wound known only to you – whisper your sorrow to the child in the manger, he loves you and will not reject you - he stretches out his arms and embraces you.

Today we gather, just as we are, with all our hurts and sins and brokenness, around the crib of a little child. We contemplate his face. It is the face of God made visible in a human child - a God who calls us to repentance, healing and holiness. He came in human flesh 'so that sins might be forgiven'.

We don’t always appreciate that a baby is the greatest blessing that can ever come to earth - and the greatest joy that has ever come to creation is the birth of this baby - Jesus - the human child who brings us the life of God.

And so we gather around his crib. We are the people the prophet Isaiah speaks of in the first reading - The people that walked in darkness … those who live in a land of deep shadow. For us all tonight, whatever and whoever we are, a light has shone. We have seen a great light.

It’s a paradox, really, that this child, who is the light, can only be truly appreciated and understood by those who are in touch with their own darkness, their own littleness and need. But it's always been like that. Sinners understand forgiveness best, like sick people understand healing. They are the ones who, like moths drawn to a lantern, are truly able to appreciate the light they are being drawn to.

It was the tax collectors and the prostitutes, who lived in the dark, who were drawn to Jesus. The respectable ones were not. They were already bathing in the splendour of their own so-called light.

Today the darkness is all around us. Sometimes the world seems to be on the brink of disaster. But tonight is a night for rejoicing - and only those who see the darkness may rejoice - they are the only ones who have a reason to rejoice – because the light has come into the world.

God has come down into the world - not just to be with us - but that we might be with him. He is not here to be looked at and admired but to be lived. He does not want to appear in little cribs but in human hearts.

If you find yourself attracted to this child but are holding back because of sin, if you want so much to embrace him but know yourself to be unworthy somehow, then why not resolve here and now to do your best to change. Let the Sacrament of Reconciliation rediscover the innocent child of God within you. It's not hard. It's not hard at all. Look how effortlessly the light pushes away the darkness.

And then you can embrace him in Holy Communion and be entirely one with him again - two children, playing together.

In this child God's grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race, and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus. He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no ambition except to do good.

I wish you all a merry Christmas! May the Christ child reign in your families and in your hearts.

Christmas Vigil - Year A

Isaiah 62:1-5; Acts 13:16-17.22-25; Matthew 1:1-25

Some very close friends of mine are a happily married couple who told me one day their marriage was nothing like they had planned. They listed all the ways in which their plans had failed to materialise and I remember well how we all laughed. Then they listed the ways God had blessed them instead and we became rather serious and admitted to each other how marvellous God is. It was proof of the saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

St Joseph was a man of honour. Tradition tells us he was rather older than Mary at the time he decided to marry. The story goes that the elders could not decide amongst the many who put in for the hand of Mary who had lived in the Temple from an early age. Finally the elders asked God to intervene and required each of the suitors to leave their staff in the Temple overnight. In the morning, the staff of Joseph had sprouted lilies, the sign of purity. Needless to say he won the hand of the fair maiden.

The tradition also speaks to us of Mary. She had promised God from her earliest years to remain a virgin. When the Temple elders determined she should marry she put all her trust in God whom she was convinced had, nevertheless, accepted her vow.

Joseph must have praised God that he had been found worthy to become the husband of Mary. We can all imagine his gratitude.

What were his plans for the future? We don't really know. What we do know is that very soon this man bumped into the plan of God in a way he could never have foreseen.

The first thing he discovered was that Mary was pregnant and he was not the father. Oh, dear, what a calamity! It would be hard to think of worse news for a young man preparing to be married. This was definitely not in the script he had been working from. What should he do?

The options were several. The most obvious was to express his hurt and get even. She had shamed him, now he would shame her. She had wrecked his dreams, now he would wreck hers. She had pretended to be holy, he would show the world what she was really like.

Instead, Joseph decided to show the world what he was really like. He decided to divorce her informally, so she would be spared publicity. What a man! No wonder Jesus had chosen him for his father - someone who could fear God that much and treat his mother with such dignity.

The book "The City of God" written by Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda tells us that Joseph said nothing to Mary. He at first thought he must be mistaken. He watched her carefully until he was entirely certain she was with child. Even then he said nothing. He did not want to cause her embarrassment. He would just leave quietly.

And then God intervened. He sent an angel to Joseph. The angel read him another script - the one he had already read to Mary, the one that had been written from all eternity and which was vastly more wonderful than Joseph's own plans for his marriage.

Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.

Joseph listened as Mary had listened and did what Mary had done. He set aside his plans for himself and submitted to God's plans for him. He did it without a murmur. He did it with total faith. He did it immediately.

When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do.

It's almost a shame, after meditating on so sublime an episode, to insinuate banal considerations for ourselves and our own lives, nevertheless, please forgive me for making just one point.

Every day I meet people who have received bad news - news about their health, their marriage, their children, their work ... occasionally I receive bad news of my own. There is just so much incomprehensible suffering in the world.

If only I can live to see my grandson. If only I can be at my daughter's wedding. If only .. if only ...

The news for Joseph was devastating, disastrous - his wife-to-be was pregnant! Things can looks so dark, so bleak, so hopelessly awful that we can imagine there is no God, or that he has forsaken us. Yet this bad news of Joseph’s turned out to be not just good news but the best news the entire universe has ever heard - the coming of the Saviour - the One who would bring us eternal life.

Our bad news is never bad news if we trust in God.

But come, let us be still! Tonight, as the conductor raises his baton and holds it motionless over the little town of Bethlehem, the orchestra of the old dispensation falls silent and centuries of rehearsal come to an end. Let us, too, be still.

Anticipation grows - the infant is to be born - the Woman is already in labour. Creation strains to hear the first sound, the first cry of its Redeemer. The moment is joyful, inexpressibly joyful, and full of excitement. He is nearly here - Emmanuel, God with us!

4th Sunday of Advent - Year A

Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24

The liturgy today presents a series of images all of which basically fall into two categories – from above and from below, the divine and the human, heaven and earth.

• clouds rain down the just one - earth brings forth a Saviour (Entrance Antiphon)

This is a wonderful nuptial image, a marriage of heaven and earth, an impregnation of the rain into the earth which then brings forth life, in this case a Saviour.

Mary is the earth, the cloud is God, the rain is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit overshadows her and she conceives.

It is the earth (Mary’s womb) that brings forth a Saviour, the Word of the Father. As we say in the Angelus: and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was God’s will that Jesus should take on our human nature because, as Preface III of Sundays of Ordinary Time tells us: He wanted us to be saved by one like us…

• Ask … a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above (First Reading)

Ahaz was told to ask for a sign but he refused; a sign from above or below. The Lord gave him both.

The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Emmanuel, a name which means "God-is-with-us”.

The sign given to Ahaz was both from above and from below – a maiden with child who would be called God-is-with-us. To Ahaz at that point of salvation history the prophecy is not clear. It will become clear as time goes on. Heaven will live on earth in a human child who is truly God.

• Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart who desires not worthless things. (Responsorial Psalm)

Now we have another image but this time from below to above. From Man to God, from earth to heaven. It is the image of the mountain. The man who climbs the mountain is first of all Christ; he alone has pure hands and clean heart; he alone desires not worthless things. But with Christ are all those who follow him.

The mountain is the Christian life, the mountain of discipleship, which every disciple must climb. Its paths are steep and rocky and dangerous and only purity of heart and blameless life will see us through. If we desire worthless things we will be trapped below and never arrive at its summit.

• He shall receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him. Such are the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob (Responsorial Psalm)

We, too, are called to climb the mountain on which God reveals himself to us, the mountain on which we seek the face of the God of Jacob. If we do this we shall receive blessing from above, reward from God who dwells on high.

• He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of God appeared to him in a dream … and said … do not be afraid … (Gospel)

Joseph was called to climb the mountain of faith and he ascended without faltering. The divine help he received came at precisely the right time. He trusted in the one who never fails the lowly and his trust was rewarded.

The final consequence of the communication between heaven and earth, the final line of the Gospel, is perhaps the lesson we should take to ourselves as Christians:

• When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.

3rd Sunday of Advent - Year A

Isaiah 35:1-6.10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

All three readings today are about the coming of the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah announces that he will come; the evangelist Matthew tells us he has come; the apostle James tells us that he will come again.

Isaiah’s prophecy is bursting at the seams with joy: Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom, let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil, let it rejoice and sing for joy.

C S Lewis has a great character in the Chronicles of Narnia called Tashlan - a figure of the anti-Christ. Tashlan, of course, was pure evil. He had the ugly face of an evil bird of prey and a cloud of noxious insects followed in his wake and wherever he walked the grass would shrivel under his feet, the flowers would wilt, and the trees would die.

In another place Isaiah (52:7) speaks again of the coming of the Messiah in the following words: How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation, and tells Zion, 'Your God is king!’

As the Messiah passes: …the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy; for water gushes in the desert, streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah is the great prophet of hope. His words are directed to the demoralised exiles of Israel but are directed also, prophetically, to us the new Israel exiled from our heavenly homeland, the new Jerusalem. The words of Isaiah give us hope in our own day, in this vale of tears.

Above all he gives hope to the weary, the overburdened, the exhausted: Courage! he exclaims, Do not be afraid.

Although the coming of the Messiah will mean vengeance, retribution and salvation we should understand this not only as the just punishment of evil-doers, Satan and his followers who oppose themselves to God and his people, but also a restoration of the proper order of things - justice, everlasting joy, harmony and peace.

We now turn to the Gospel, to John the Baptist in prison. John the Baptist was the last and greatest of the prophets to announce the coming of the Christ. He had leapt for joy in his mother’s womb at the approach of the as yet unborn Messiah. By the river Jordan he had pointed out the Messiah with great confidence: Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. But now in the darkness of his prison cell John began to question. Perhaps he found it difficult to reconcile the line of Ps 145: the Lord, who sets prisoners free, with his present condition.

The prophet who had immediately preceded John was Malachi. It seems he had expected a fiery Messiah who would come in great power: Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner's fire and the fullers' alkali.(Mal 3:2)

John’s own preaching bears witness to this overpowering judgment which he had expected to come among them in the person of the Messiah: Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire … the one who follows me is more powerful than I am …his winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out. (Matt 3:10-11)

Jesus comes to John’s aid and reminds him of another description of the Messiah, the one from Isaiah which we read in our first reading. This is a description of a gentle Messiah who sets people free through love: the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.

In the solitude of his prison John the Baptist would have deeply pondered the Lord’s response. We can confidently hope that it would not have taken him long to realise that every word of the prophets and psalmist was applicable to the Saviour. The violence he had come to execute was against sin and death while the power he had come to exercise was in gentleness, healing, mercy and forgiveness. Definitive judgment would come but that would be reserved to the Day of the Lord which would come soon enough.

The apostle James, too, refers to the prophets in the second reading. They spoke their words with great forbearance and patience as they awaited the their accomplishment. James exhorts us to similar patience: You have to be patient; do not lose heart.

We here in this church are a people waiting for the return of the Messiah. St James says he ‘is already to be seen waiting at the gates.’ Instead of empty musings let us turn our minds often to consideration of the joys of heaven. In faith we can already begin enjoying them as one begins enjoying the pleasures of home after a long trip abroad. Like Malcolm Muggeridge on the cruise ship soon to dock in the harbour we should 'begin packing our bags’.

4th Sunday of Advent - Year C

Micah 5:1-4; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-44

We began our Mass with the Entrance Antiphon. It's on the back of the bulletin and it's wonderful. I'll read it again: Let the clouds rain down the Just one, and the earth bring forth a Saviour.

I'sn't that a beautiful prayer!

Each year, on the fourth Sunday of Advent we have this same antiphon and it's worth looking at more closely right now.

The first thing we notice is that it is a natural image - an image taken from nature.

The clouds rain down ... the earth brings forth ...
How often have we seen this happen? A dry field, a bare lawn, a thirsty vegetable garden, then a cloudburst. The rain falls, covers the earth, penetrates the soil - and the earth brings forth new life. Rain transforms, rain renews.

Secondly we notice that to this natural image has been added a supernatural dimension.

It is the Just One who is rained down - it is a Saviour who is brought forth.

The obvious meaning the Church intends us to take from this is that the Just One, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, has come from above, from heaven, and yet, truly Man, he is brought forth by the earth, from below - God and man - human and divine.

Thirdly, the word let makes the whole thing not just a statement of truth but a graceful prayer: Let the clouds rain down the Just one, and the earth bring forth a Saviour.

Is it possible to say these words without them expressing our longing for the Lord while at the same time increasing our longing for him? I can't imagine that.

Next, we notice that this is a nuptial image in which heaven and earth, the divine and the human, are the groom and the bride. We might see this more clearly if I quote the lines from Isaiah on which this antiphon is based.

Rain righteousness, you heavens, let the skies above pour down; let the earth open to receive it, that it may bear the fruit of salvation .... (Isaiah 45:8)

You can't tell me that is not a clear yet delicate nuptial image, an image of procreation.

If we had time we could reflect more deeply and show a connection to Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body which proposes that our sexuality and the marriage act, being essentially good and holy, are in fact a revelation of God himself. Certainly God here unashamedly associates the coming of his Son Jesus to earth with the nuptial act by which new life is created - in a subtle and alluring natural procreative image.

Finally, we see in this Antiphon a looking forward to that moment of intimacy between God and man, when the Virgin Mary surrendered totally to the Will of God with her yes to the message of the angel, and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, letting the rain of his grace fall into her open womb, and she brought forth the Saviour of the world - a moment of utter human fruitfulness.

No wonder the Communion Antiphon exalts:

The Virgin is with child, and shall bear a son, and she will call him Immanuel.

2nd Sunday of Advent - Year A

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12

[Logan Tom found the children barricaded behind the heavy iron-sheeted door on the fourth floor. It was locked. The children had become wary of strangers and would not open the door. He pleaded with them for some time but they refused to let him in. Finally the leader of the children said she might open the door if he gave her a reason. Logan called out ‘What can I tell you that will help?’ - ‘Tell us everything’ came the reply. ‘We will know if you are telling us the truth, so don’t lie.’]

This passage (my précis) from Volume One of Terry Brooks’ novel Armageddon’s Children brought me to a halt. It was a reprise of a discussion I had been having with some friends only the night before. ‘We will know if you are telling us the truth.’

My first response was to the beauty and power of the image - an impenetrable door whose lock would only surrender to the key of truth. It made me think somehow of the hymn for Morning Prayer in the Divine Office:

May what is false within usBefore your truth give way.

My next thought was ‘How would those children know that what Logan Tom is telling them is true? In fact, how would they even come to imagine that they could spot a lie?’

Judge Judy, with her vast experience, is pretty good at lie-spotting but children are even better, especially teenagers. They can sense dishonesty from a long way off and especially contradictions in behaviour and word, perhaps the most obvious lie. I once asked a teenager why she didn’t practise like her mother who went to Mass every Sunday. She replied, ‘Mum doesn’t really believe.’ She turned out to be right.

There is something within a lie that draws attention to itself because it basically doesn’t ‘belong’. A lie is a red flag in a field of green; a wiggle in a straight line; a false note in a lovely tune. As much as it wants to hide it can’t, at least not for long. Perhaps that’s why the children wanted Logan Tom to tell them ‘everything’. Eventually a lie will betray itself, self-destruct. A lie has no future.

The truth, on the other hand, is eternal. It appears, like John the Baptist, on the horizon of our lives and we, like the people of Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole Jordan district, are irresistibly drawn to it.

And why is this? It is because we know that in truth, and in truth alone, is security, peace, wholeness and life. In truth is every good to be found.

I once met a man about to appear in court for a very serious offence. He was beside himself with anxiety. He asked me what he should do to avoid going to prison. I told him ‘Tell the truth and trust in God.’ The judge rewarded his truthfulness with a mere 300 hours of community work. Truth always attracts mercy.

On various occasions people ask me why I believe Catholicism to be true. It's a good question, perhaps the question, for so many. The Faith is made up of many different elements including – the Bible and its many books, Tradition, the Catechism, the Code of Canon Law, Encyclicals and various Apostolic writings, the Liturgy and, very importantly, my own experience. All of these elements form one huge whole, without contradictions, without dissonant notes, without confusion. All fold seamlessly into one peace-giving wholeness. The truth is one, or as the one Master would say, ‘I am the Truth.’

John the Baptist comes in the name of this truth, to prepare his way; the way for the Way. Not only does he preach this truth but he lives it; herein lies his power to awaken within his listeners their love for the truth. People listening and watching catch no hint of masquerade of any sort and obey the message; they repent and confess and are baptised.

The Pharisees and Sadducees cling to a lie, namely: we are children of Abraham. A lie which is half true is still a lie because the truth cannot be divided. Is it important to be a Catholic? Of course it is. Does being a Catholic get you to heaven? No. God can make Catholics out of the stones on the ground as easily as children of Abraham. Having accepted the truth we must allow it to have its way in our lives – we must allow it to ‘make his paths straight’ – what is false within us must before your truth give way.

Advent is a time of restoration and renewal for ourselves. It is a time for us to put an axe to the root of every tree in us which is not bearing the appropriate fruit. You don’t need me to tell you what these might be. Just close your eyes tonight before going to bed and ask the Lord of truth to show you what things in your life you need to stop doing, and what things you need to start doing. He will tell you because he wants one day to be able to gather you into his barn.

6th Sunday of Easter - Year C

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Apocalypse 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29

'My husband and I have never had an argument in forty years.'

Call me judgmental, call me anything you want, but I find this impossible to believe. Leaving aside the question of the definition of the word argument I find this statement as incredible as the man (his name was not Joseph) who told me his wife 'had never committed a sin in her life.'

Arguments and conflicts are all around us; the devil loves them. Whether it is between couples, children, members of a parish or between nations, they're always there. And, coincidentally, like sin, they're not really such a big deal. What is far more important is the way we deal with them.

If the couple I quoted above meant that they had never dealt with controversy in their life, never actually confronted difficult issues, then I can well imagine they never had an argument. However, it might then be more honest to say, 'Our marriage is full of unresolved issues which we've never faced because we prefer not to have conflict.'

Controversy has dogged the Christian faith from its very beginning. When Jesus preached he was accused of disturbing the community. When he rose from the dead the disciples were accused of stealing the body, and when the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles with his power they were accused of 'drinking too much new wine.' This kind of controversy may sometimes best be dealt with by ignoring it. So what if there are voices from the sidelines criticising or laughing at the Church? As time moves on these voices often fade away and new ones take their place but the Church moves peacefully on, completing her mission.

We remember the first reading from Acts a couple of weeks ago. The Apostles were having so much success that huge crowds sought them out. The Jews, prompted by jealousy 'used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said.'  When this didn't work they incited others to turn against Paul and Barnabas and had them expelled from the city. And we noted how well they handled this controversy: ..they shook the dust from their feet .. and went off .. filled with joy, and the Holy Spirit.

When controversy arises within the Church there is greater cause for alarm. Dissension within must be faced or it can poison the life of the community. Even more important are those controversies which threaten the very identity of the Church, her charge to bring her members into communion with Christ.

Today we hear: Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, 'Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.' This is serious stuff! Unless this is properly dealt with there could be very serious consequences, even a schism.

Paul and Barnabas strongly challenge the visitors and their unsettling teaching, indeed, they have 'a long argument with these men.' It would have been a far from pleasant episode. From the use of such phrases as 'long argument' and 'disturbed you with their demands' we can imagine these men from Jerusalem were not about to take no for an answer.

The fact that there was a dispute within the Church was not the real problem, such things will always take place till the end of time. The essential thing was that after the 'long argument' during which the issues were clarified, the Church leaders delegated Paul and Barnabas and others to go up to Jerusalem to present this problem to the leaders there. Only they, the Magisterium of the Church, had authority to resolve the matter.

The apostles and elders, with the help of the Holy Spirit, decided the visitors were wrong; neither circumcision, nor the lack of it, was a determinant in the attainment of salvation. As far as the Church was concerned: here endeth the dispute - the apostles had spoken. From this moment on no one who wanted to remain within the Church could legitimately insist on circumcision.

For us here today an enormously important and helpful principle emerges from this unpleasant dispute in the early community. It is indicated by the observation of the Apostles: They (these men) acted without any authority ... .

Whenever someone troubles you with a new teaching challenge them, and ask them on whose authority they speak.

• ‘Oh, we don’t call God him anymore.’
• ‘You don’t have to go to Mass on Sunday anymore if you don’t feel like it.’
• ‘You can use contraception if your conscience is comfortable with it.’
• ‘It’s ok to live a homosexual lifestyle.’

Never ask these people their reasons for their teaching - always and immediately ask: What is the authority for this teaching of yours? Can you show me a Church document, or a passage in the Catechism, or a statement from the Pope? It's a seriously bad thing to teach falsehood, no matter how plausible or modern or attractive it may seem.

Let me end with a quote from Pope Paul VI: If anyone pretends to call himself Catholic, a son of the Roman Church, he must accept all its dogmas and essential structures, and first of all, the authority of Peter, which is both the symbol of unity and the cement of Holy Church.

1st Sunday of Advent - Year A

Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:37-44

It’s always a pleasure on this day, the first Sunday of Advent, to turn both the Missal and the Lectionary from the very last page back to the very first page, to begin the celebration of the paschal mystery all over again.

Today is a Mass of beginnings.

Firstly we begin a new liturgical year. There are three of them: Year A when we read the Gospel of Matthew; Year B when we read the Gospel of Mark; and Year C when we read the Gospel of Luke.

Today we begin the three year cycle again from the very beginning - Year A – and, in another sense, we are also beginning the journey of the rest of our life.

And so, from all the different areas of the parish, from many different walks of life, and from a great variety of human situations you and I have joined the long procession of Catholics who, throughout the world, have gathered in their own local church to celebrate these three new beginnings as disciples of Christ.

In this context the opening words of our celebration are especially significant. Hundreds of millions of Catholics will begin the Mass with these words: To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame. (Entrance Antiphon)

To you, my God, I lift my soul…

What beautiful words! We gather for this new season of Advent and the first thing the Church asks us to do is to say together: To you, my God, I lift my soul. This is the essence and definition of prayer - raising my soul to God.

There seems to me a special significance in the fact that we were not asked to say this in a plural form today, that is: To you, our God, we lift our souls. I wonder if it was intentional? In any event, the use of the singular is very appropriate here. As the millions of believers gather to pray it is fitting that each one should address God in a personal way.

Only I can lift my soul to God. It’s a very personal thing. You cannot lift my soul to God. You cannot trust God for me. Your wife or husband can pray for you at Mass but they cannot take your place before God.

Interestingly, the revised Mass translation which will soon come into force makes the same point. We will no longer say: We believe in one God. We will return to the original Latin: I believe in one God. You cannot believe for me; I cannot believe for you. I have to believe for myself – as an individual. And we might add here, that even though we make the journey of Advent together, no one can make it for us. You have to make if for yourself; I have to make it for myself.

So let us continue with the Entrance Antiphon. Having lifted my soul to God I now tell him: I trust in you.

Of all the prayers we can say to God this surely must be one of the most pleasing; telling him that we trust him. Saint Faustina confirms this for us in her Diary when she writes that trust in God will unlock the door of his mercy. It was the signature Jesus wanted placed under the image of Divine Mercy - Jesus, I trust in you.

Recognising our own weakness, however, we acknowledge that it can cause us to come to grief and so we plead: let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. Psalm 30 in verse 1 uses the even more humiliating expression ‘gloat’ over me. (Jerusalem Bible)

And our enemies do laugh at us, they do gloat. That’s what enemies do, that’s their job, they can’t help it. And to the degree that they cause us to turn to God we should be grateful to them.

The best kind of enemy to have is one who opposes you for the sake of the name of Christ; as we heard in our readings two weeks ago; You will be hated by all men on account of my name. Jesus then told us: Not a hair of your head will be lost, and that’s why we can pray with confidence, as in the conclusion of our Entrance Antiphon: No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.

So our themes are clear. Advent will be for us, or should I just say, for me?

• A time for gathering with the Church for the Sunday Mass.
• A time of looking forward to and waiting for the coming of Christ.
• A time of prayer, of lifting my soul to God every day, as often as possible.
• A time of renewed trust.
• A time of faith, of knowing that no one who waits for God is ever put to shame.