Displaying items by tag: Celebrating At Home

Homecomings can turn out to be very mixed events.
Initial warmth and welcome can turn, surprisingly quickly, to doubt, antagonism and rejection.
In the Gospels for this Sunday and next, Luke tells the story of Jesus’ visit to his hometown of Nazareth.
Before that story begins, however, the Church has included the very first lines of Luke’s Gospel in today’s reading. Here Luke explains, in classical literary fashion, what the purpose of his writings is: to offer an authentic and ordered account of the Christian movement, designed to give Theophilus firm reassurance about the things he has been taught.
After this introduction the first part of the story of Jesus’ homecoming follows. We will hear the second part in next week’s Gospel.
Following his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returns to Galilee, the region in which he had grown up. He sets about teaching in the synagogues, winning many admirers.
Eventually, Jesus appears in his hometown of Nazareth and attends synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did. He does the second reading of the synagogue service - the reading from the Prophets, in this case from the prophet Isaiah.
What Jesus reads out becomes and explanation of his mission and ministry. In the Spirit of the Lord, with which Jesus has been anointed, he will bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, new sight to the blind, freedom to the downtrodden and proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour.
The essential good news that Jesus preaches and enacts is of God’s acceptance and welcome (not judgement) of the people who find themselves bound, trapped and afflicted.
Here Jesus sets the pattern not only for his own life and ministry, but also for those who would wish to follow him. We, too, anointed by the Spirit, are called to be God’s acceptance, welcome and freedom for all who are bound, trapped or afflicted in their lives.
In the broader context of Luke’s Gospel, this message is not to be reduced to metaphor. It is about giving real help for all who are struggling in one way or another with the concrete situations of their lives.

Weddings are usually wonderful occasions. Family and friends come together to witness to and celebrate a couples’ love and commitment. The ritual is crowned with singing, dancing, eating and drinking. It has been so for centuries. In Jewish tradition a wedding could last for days, not hours.
It’s interesting that, in John’s Gospel, Jesus begins his ministry in the warm and homely setting of a village wedding in the same region in which Jesus had grown up. Mary, Jesus and his disciples have been invited.
Disaster strikes when the wine runs out. It’s not hard to imagine how acutely embarrassing and humiliating that would have been for the wedding couple and their families. From then on the wedding would have been remembered as, ‘the one when the wine ran out’.
Mary sees what has happened and mentions it to Jesus but he seems reluctant to do anything about it: ‘My hour,’ he says, ‘has not come yet.’ In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ hour will come on the cross, when he will reveal God as God truly is, through the sacrifice of divine love for the world.
Mary is not put off by Jesus’ reply. Perhaps she knows her Son better than he does himself at this point. ‘Do whatever he tells you,’ she says to the servants.
Even though his time had not yet come, Jesus acts with kindness and compassion, saving the couple from acute embarrassment and ensuring that the wedding celebration can continue with plenty of ‘the best wine’.
In telling this story, John is drawing on Old Testament themes which picture God as the ‘bridegroom’ of Israel. The bond of love between God and Israel was meant to be deep and enduring - like a marriage.
Such themes led to the expectation that the promised Messiah would restore this relationship.
In Jewish tradition it was the bridegroom’s responsibility to provide the wine for the wedding. In John’s story it is Jesus who ends up providing an abundance of the best wine, revealing Jesus as the divine bridegroom, come to take Israel back as bride. At the end of this Gospel passage, John tells us that Jesus’ action in turning the water into wine was the first of the signs he gave. In John’s Gospel there will be six more. All of them to do with healing, saving, restoring, feeding and giving life to human beings.
None are empty displays of Jesus’ power. The ‘glory’ of Jesus lies in revealing the God of love, especially in moments of real human need. The signs show that the power of love which comes from God is always at the service of human beings.
We, too, are called to allow the glory of God to shine out through us in loving, healing, transforming words and actions. 

The great Christmas feast is almost here. As always in Advent, what is promised in the first reading is brought to fulfilment in the Gospel reading. We began Advent with the cry, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’. We will end it with the joyful shout, ‘God is with us!’ Beautiful words from the Prophet Micah form the first reading today which looks forward to the birth of a leader for Israel who, as a shepherd king gathers the people and feeds them with the power of the Lord and the majesty of God. His powerful reign will bring about an era of security and he himself will be peace.
What Micah looks forward to in words becomes flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.
Luke’s touching story of the meeting of the pregnant cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, is full of joy, warmth and love.
It’s not hard to imagine the joyful greetings and embrace at Mary’s surprise visit. Mary greets Elizabeth with the usual greeting, Shalom (‘Peace!’) which is exactly what she brings with her - the One Micah talks about in the first reading, the Messiah. In his very first act of witness to the presence of the Messiah, John leaps in his mother’s womb which releases within her the power of prophecy. Filled with the Holy Spirit Elizabeth proclaims Mary as blessed, wonders at why she, herself, should have been found worthy to give hospitality to the mother of the Lord, and blesses Mary’s faith that the promises of the Lord would indeed find fulfilment in her.
Can we dare to imagine that we, too, carry within us the Peace of God? Can we welcome the presence of God within us and one another? Can we find the ways to nourish our awareness of that presence, let it grow stronger and deeper until our whole life is filled with God, immersed in God and overflows in every word, thought and action of ours?

We continue to focus on John the Baptist in the Gospel today. Last week we heard about John’s ministry of preaching repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. The idea of repentance is about turning around and facing in a new direction. John’s call to the people was to turn away from the old ways of life and to turn towards God.
The Gospel opens with the people, the tax collectors and some soldiers, having heard the call to change their lives, all asking John, ‘What must we do?” These three groups would normally be very suspicious of each other. The Roman soldiers, occupying the country, the locals who collected tax on behalf of the Romans, and the crowd, often the victim of both.
Yet somehow John’s preaching has brought them all together in a community of sorts.
Notice how practical John’s advice is. And, at the same time, it is a call to live by the values of compassion (to the crowd), justice (to the tax collectors), and the promotion of peace (to the soldiers). Values and behaviours opposite to these hinder relationship with God, dehumanise others and ruin life in community.
What results from conversion is a new way of life. In the Gospel, John spells out what that new way of life might look like for these groups of people.
John’s teaching and advice build a sense of expectancy among the crowd. “Is this the One?” they ask themselves.
It would have been easy for John to get carried away with his popularity, but he proves to be a true servant of the Word (like the prophets) and directs the peoples’ attention away from himself and towards the One who is to come.
Feelings of expectation and rejoicing dominate the prayers and readings of this part of Advent as we grow closer to celebrating the Christmas feast.
Our celebration of the historical birth of Jesus is the lens through which we again contemplate the enduring presence of Jesus in our lives. Accompanied by the beautiful thoughts of the first reading we can be confident in God’s love, which (as the reading says) renews us.
How do we respond to this new awareness of God’s abiding love? We ask the same question as the people asked John, “What must I do?” Our response to that question leads to a reformation of our attitudes and behaviour towards others. To be baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire is to be baptised ‘from within’, to have hearts and minds re-made in the image and likeness of Christ.
Learning the way of Christ is how we become the wheat in the Kingdom of God, not the chaff in the fire.

The sense of preparing is very strong in our readings this weekend. The Gospel highlights the role of John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way for Jesus. It was John’s ministry of preaching and baptism which laid the foundation for Jesus’ ministry. The idea of repentance has less to do with feeling sorry for individual sins and more to do with turning around and facing in a new direction. John’s call to the people was to turn away from the old way of life and to turn towards God.
The first reading from the prophet Baruch is a call to do the same. It talks about taking off the dress of sorrow and distress and putting on the beauty and glory of God. It’s a call for the people to become God’s people. God will lower the mountains and smooth the way so that God’s people can walk in safety, guided by God’s light and escorted by mercy and integrity.
In the Gospel, Luke refers to a similar text found in the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Making straight paths for the Lord can be understood as the radical change of behaviour away from sin and towards God. The loving action of God gently fills in the valleys and lowers the mountains and straightens and smooths the roads so that we can be fully open to the living and transforming presence of Jesus so that ‘all mankind shall see the salvation of God’ in and through us.
Our Advent readings help us realise God’s profound love for us and his presence within us through the Holy Spirit. Knowing that God will always treat us with love and tender care helps us to turn again towards him and to trust in the depth of his mercy.
Our Advent journey is showing us how to prepare our hearts for a fresh discovery of God’s presence in our lives; how to recognise the hidden presence of Jesus among and around us; how to turn around and face towards God with faith, hope and love; and how to be the living presence of Jesus in our moment of history.

The great Advent journey begins. The Advent readings are a rich tapestry of images centered on the truth that God has come among us. We do not pretend that we are waiting for Jesus to be born in a stable. That happened once, a long time ago, and it will not happen again. We remember that birth as we remember our own birthdays. The God who came among us is still among us.
Advent’s invitation is to become aware of the all-pervading presence of the risen Jesus as Emmanuel – God among us.
In the first reading this Sunday Jeremiah looks forward to the coming of one who will save God’s people, one who acts with honesty and integrity. In the second reading St Paul encourages the people of Thessalonica in their following of Christ. He prays that their love will grow and that their hearts will be ‘confirmed in holiness’. The early Christians believed that Jesus would return very soon as the Lord of Glory.
As time passed, they had to re-think this belief and work out how to live in the meantime, the time in between the first and final comings of Christ. That’s our challenge, too.
Today’s Gospel from St Luke warns Christians not to be distracted by the cares and snares of the world, but to be ready to stand confidently before the Son of Man when he comes. Remaining constant in love and attentive to our calling we become the living presence of Jesus until he comes again.

On this last Sunday of the Church’s year we always celebrate the Feast of Christ, the Universal King.
The first reading from the prophet, Daniel, speaks of the coming of one who will rule in the name of God in an eternal kingdom. The second reading from the Book of the Apocalypse speaks of Christ as the ‘faithful witness’ to God and ‘ruler of the kings of the earth’. Here is a king who loves his people and sheds his own blood to save them. The Gospel comes from the Passion of Jesus in St John’s Gospel. It is Jesus’ dialogue with Pilate about his kingship and the nature of his kingdom.
Jesus is anything but a traditional king. This King reigns, not from a golden throne, but a cross of rough wood; naked, with no rich, flowing robes; no bejewelled crown, just thorns; no orb and sceptre, just nails in his hands.
He comes among his people, not as a tyrant wielding weapons of suffering and death, but as a powerless baby.
Jesus says that his kingdom is ‘not of this world’. It is not a kingdom with geographical and national boundaries. It is not a kingdom in the earthly sense where power and oppression reign, but a kingdom where justice, love, mercy, truth and peace reign.
At the end of the day, the disciple is called to be the Kingdom (the living presence) of God in the world and to transform the suffering of its people into joy by deeds of loving kindness.
Virtuous disciples are the living presence of Jesus in the world. They realise that until Jesus comes again, the kingdom has been entrusted into their hands. In the Kingdom of Jesus, the disciple is not master but ‘servant’.
The power of the spirit of Jesus fuels deeds of loving kindness – reversing horrible human conditions, and bringing healing and salvation.
Whenever we act like Christ the Kingdom of God (the reign of God’s grace) breaks into our world. Whenever we are moved by the Spirit to proclaim the truth, to respond to need, to work for justice, to transform and heal our society, the Kingdom of God breaks into human reality and the grace of God becomes clearly visible in our words and actions.

With the approach next Sunday of the Feast of Christ the King and the end of the Liturgical Year, our readings this Sunday take on an ‘end times’ feel.
In the Gospel Mark presents a vision of the full establishment of the Kingdom and the coming of Christ as the final proof of God’s victory. The language is necessarily that of symbol and myth as it describes something yet to come, not an historical reality. But this does not mean that it has no relationship with reality.
The vision is set against the background of a time of distress. Early Christian communities, like Mark’s, certainly endured much distress through persecution and suffering and their struggles to follow the teachings of Jesus.
The coming in glory of the risen Jesus together with the great gathering of his people from every corner of the earth, were meant as reassurance to a weary and frightened community of believers. They have followed the way of discipleship, sharing in Jesus’ suffering, some to the point of death. One day the final victory will be God’s and they will enter with Jesus into the fullness of the Kingdom.
In the meantime, however, disciples have to learn to read the signs of the presence of Jesus in everyday life. Jesus is not sitting passively at God’s right hand. Through the Holy Spirit he continues to be actively present in the hearts and lives of believers, and in the universe.
Neither are the disciples to wait passively for the final coming. We wait in patient hope, but not in idleness, because the ministry of making Christ present in every thought, word and action, and every moment of history, continues.
The Gospel ends on a note of uncertain certainty: Christ will come, but we don’t know when.

Our readings this weekend should shape our response to those in need. It is two widows who show us the way to live according to the mind and heart of God.
The first reading tells of a poor widow’s generosity to Elijah the prophet. Even though she was down to her very last portion of food, which she was saving for her son and herself, she was prepared to share it with Elijah. Her reward was a never-ending supply of flour and oil.
The same generosity is shown by the widow (but not by the scribes) in the Gospel. Her dedication and generosity in the midst of her poverty was a real sacrifice.
The widow is a contrast to the wealthy scribes who parade around in long robes and make a show of lengthy prayers. Jesus condemns them for their insincerity, their use of religious show to enhance their status and their unjust exploitation of widows.
Jesus does not want his disciples imitating the showy religiosity of the corrupt scribes, but rather the sincerity and generosity of the widow who gave ‘her all’ just as Jesus will shortly give ‘his all’ on the Cross. It is a reinforcement of the messages about ‘coming to serve, not to be served’ which have dominated the last four weeks of readings.
The way of Jesus is not about show, but about sincere dedication and generosity in our service of God and one another. Remember the contrasting stories about James and John and Bartimaeus over the last couple of weeks.
Following Christ is not about giving the ‘left overs’ but giving everything. The two widows gave all they had to live on. Jesus will give his life for our salvation.
It is the kind of dedication and selfless generosity we see in people who put their own lives at risk while attempting to rescue others from disaster. Disciples are called to give all in their following of Jesus and in their generous service of others. 

The first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy and the Gospel today are linked by the words of the Shema – the creed which observant Jews pray every morning and evening. These words come from the Book of Deuteronomy: Listen, Israel: The Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. The title, Shema, comes from the Hebrew word for ‘listen’, the very first word of the prayer.
In a way, Shema is a call to conversion: to listen deeply with the heart and to respond to God’s grace and mercy with love, faithfulness and obedience.
When a scribe asks Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”, Jesus replies by quoting the Shema and then adds a quotation from the Book of Leviticus (19:18), “You must love your neighbour as yourself”.
According to Jesus, there is no commandment greater than these.
The scribe is impressed by Jesus’ reply. His words to Jesus show he has grasped what Jesus means. In repeating what Jesus has just said in his own words, the scribe also adds, “this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice”. Now it is Jesus who is impressed with the scribe’s depth of understanding: that love is the very heart of obedience to God and more important even than ritual worship. The scribe’s correct understanding of the Old Testament Law means he is very close to the Kingdom of God.
It also means that true faith, as Jesus teaches it, is about being in loving relationship with God and other human beings. Religious rituals are meant to be ways of reflecting on, savouring, remembering, celebrating and expressing that love. Sometimes they just end up as ‘empty’ rituals, when love has been replaced by fear, when we are trying to bargain with God, or when we are just ‘going through the motions’.
The Kingdom of God is not some far off place, but the moments when God’s life breaks into the human story. Those moments bring love, wisdom, grace, compassion, generosity, forgiveness and peace.
Those practiced in the things of God recognise God’s presence most of all in loving relationships. If our rituals grow out of and express our sincere love for God and neighbour then they have value. We are always at risk of putting ritual above the practise of love, of thinking that we are at rights with God just by attending a liturgy, by ‘paying God off’, in a sense.
The words of Jesus remind us of the importance of the other part of our religious lives – the liturgy of everyday life in which we make present and visible the love, mercy and compassion of God.