Sunday November 22nd. to Saturday November 28th.
Sunday November 22nd. to Saturday November 28th. Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings.
Sunday November 22nd. The Solemnity
of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Universal King.
This feast is of comparatively recent origin
and dates only from 1925 when Pope Pius XIth. on December 11th. at
the close of special Jubilee year decreed that it should be celebrated annually
on the last Sunday of October. To a certain extent it was the ravages of the
First World War which had ended only in 1918 that led the Pope to institute
this feast for the whole of the Western Church. His purpose as he sets it out
in the Letter that he wrote at the time. ‘Quam primas’, was to remind the
Catholic faithful of the all-embracing authority of Christ Jesus which calls
men and women into his reign of peace and love.
The day was, obviously, meant to be celebrated
near the feast of All Saints on November 1st with which it was
clearly linked.
Over the years many were not happy with this
feast which seemed, in many ways, to duplicate the Feast of the Epiphany when
we also celebrate Christ as the universal King. With the reform of the Roman
Calendar after the Second Vatican Council many hoped that this feast might disappear
altogether but, instead, it was moved to the last Sunday before Advent. This is
not altogether a happy arrangement though it does mean the feast becomes a sort
of conclusion to what are the weeks of the year that are known as ‘ordinary’.
One of the great problems about the feast is,
of course, that it speaks of Jesus as King. The notion of royalty, in spite of
the survival of our own royal family, seems to most people an anachronism and
no-one would want to imagine Jesus as the sort of monarch that we have in our
present Queen!
In order to appreciate fully the ideas that lie
behind the feast we have to remind ourselves of how monarchy was seen in the
Hebrew Scriptures and this is what today’s readings attempt to do.
Readings
Ezekiel 34/11-12, 15-17 : Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians
15/20-26, 28 : Matthew 25/31-46
It is worth looking at the psalm we sing
between the first and the second reading today, Psalm 22, which is, perhaps,
the best known of all the psalms. In it we begin to have a much clearer idea of
how the Jewish people envisaged their ideal king.
The King was often thought of as the shepherd
of the people who, like a shepherd, would lead them, caring for them and
protecting them. David, the ex-shepherd boy was always seen as the ideal king,
in spite of his failings.
The shepherd in the Middle East in Biblical
times and even now is, above all, someone who cares for his sheep. Athough this
may be true to some extent, of shepherds in the West in these days, the
shepherd in the East is someone who, literally, leads his sheep, going before
them in order to make sure the path is safe , protecting them from wild beasts
and finding for them the best pastures.
The ideal king, therefore, was someone who knew
his people, who understood their needs and who would lead them into prosperity
and safety. Even the mention in the psalm of a banquet reflects the fact that
kings would often lay on lavish feasts for their subjects.
For these reasons, God is often called ‘the
shepherd of Israel’ in the Hebrew Scriptures and when Jesus speaks of himself
as the ‘good shepherd’ this is the image that he would have evoked. It is this
sort of image that we have to keep in mind when we speak of Jesus as ‘king’.
He is the one who leads us, taking to himself
our humanity so that he si truly one of us. He is the one who goes ahead of us,
even through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ as he faces death on the Cross
and leads us into the new life of the Resurrection. He is the one who has
prepared a banquet for us, foreshadowed in the Eucharist but fulfilled at the
great banquet of the Reign of God.
In the first reading the prophet Ezekiel speaks
of God as the shepherd of his people and describes all the ways in which he
will care for them. God will ‘look for the lost, bring back the stray, bandage
the wounded and make the weak strong’. Even the fat and the healthy God ‘will
watch over them’. No one is excluded from his care. He is the true shepherd.
This gives us a much better picture of what it
is that we are celebrating today. Not a king reigning gloriously in Heaven but
a king who is among us, who cares for us, who knows us by our name and is
always there to guide us. This is the God who Jesus has revealed to us. Take
away the crowns and the thrones and the majesty and see the man Jesus who is
the epitome of love and who reveals to us the God who is love.
Saint Paul writing to the church in Corinth has
a very different image of kingship. However, it is still in line with the
shepherd king who leads his people. Paul has Jesus, having overcome death,
conquering all the enemies and finally death itself. Jesus will gather all
things together to himself like the shepherd who gathers together his flock. He
is the ‘first fruits of the dead’ but he will bring all those who have died to
be with him so that ‘God may be all in all’.
Though the Gospel reading that we have today
may have had a very special meaning for the Jewish Christian community for whom
Matthew was writing his Gospel, for us the meaning is very clear. The shepherd
becomes the one who judges in this great picture that Matthew creates for his
readers. This parable is addressed by Jesus specifically to his disciples and
not to the crowd or to the Pharisees and the scribes to whom so many of the
parables are addressed.
The setting of the parable is the final
judgement and depicts the Son of Man in glory surrounded by the angels but he
judges not like a monarch but like a simple shepherd. The criteria for his
judgement are amazingly straightforward and it is based entirely on the
attention given to those who are in need. What is so striking and, indeed,
alarming is that the judge identifies himself personally with the needy. This
means, in simple terms, that being a true disciple of Jesus is measured not by
what we believe or even by religious practice. True discipleship is measured by
the ability to recognise that the Lord whom we seek to follow is found in the
poor and the needy and following him means looking after and caring for them.
This means, of course, that anyone who cares
for others in need finds the Lord, probably without realising it. This is typified
in the story which we read recently about Saint Martin. He didn’t cut his cloak
in half to give it to the poor beggar because he saw Jesus in him. He did it
out of compassion for the poor man and it was only later in his dream that it
was revealed to him that in doing this he had served the Lord and it was after
this episode, it would seem, that he sought Baptism. So we must understand from
Jesus’ words that all those who care for others care for God in Christ. This Gospel is so appropriate for funerals
when the person who has died has no particular religious belief because one can
say, quoting Jesus’ words, that though they may not have realised it, they have
found the Lord in the good they did for others.
The other aspect of this Gospel reading which
seem rather alarming is the fate of those who have not cared. Unless someone is
so sick or wounded that they are devoid of human compassion, there will surely
always be acts of love in their lives and it will be these that come to
fruition when they meet the Lord face to face as it were. Those who love and
care for others are living the divine life already even if they have no faith.
They are, in some sense, already in God’s presence and being in God’s presence
is to be in Heaven. To love others is then to create Heaven here and now for
this is the Kingdom of God where love reigns.
The opposite of all this, the parable concludes
is that those who do not love are isolated in their selfishness and to be alone
is to be separated from God which is the very meaning of Hell. So by our selfishness
and our lack of love we can also create our own Hell on earth. But since we
believe that God is love and love conquers all, we can also believe that the
love of God will never let anyone escape!
So today we give thanks for Jesus who is the
Good Shepherd and King and we pray that we may be able to give love to others
and so establish his Reign of love a little more each day.
Monday November 23rd. Monday in Week Thirty Four in Year Two.
Memory of Clement of Rome (+c.100) and of
Columbanus, monk missionary (c.540-615)
Readings
Apocalypse 14/1-5 :
Luke 21/1-4
The reading from the Revelation to John follows
on from some violent imagery of the dragon and the two beasts who would seem to
stand for a false prophet and the evil of Emperor worship. The Lamb and the
symbolically numbered 144,000 form a consoling picture meant to reassure the
Christians who are reading this that they will survive the assaults of the
dragon and the two beasts. The sound of harps has, unfortunately, entered many
popular and even humourous pictures of Heaven but it is meant to evoke a great
sea of music enfolding everyone.
The description of those who follow the Lamb
indicates those who have never given themselves to idolatry or worship of the
Emperor although there may be an allusion to sexual continence here as well.
Above all, they have been truthful and never allowed a lie to pass their lips,
something which is seen as a characteristic of all those who follow Christ
faithfully.
Although we may not be able to draw much out of
this reading for ourselves today, there are two things upon which we might
reflect. The one is the assurance that all will be well and all will be
gathered into God in Christ. The other is the idea of truthfulness which we
might well take on board. How truthful am I? How much do I allow myself to be
economical with the truth? What does it mean to be totally truthful? This is
all part of being our true selves and not pretending to be anything other and,
of course, creating communities of truthfulness where no one need pretend to be
anything but themselves because they are accepted in love.
The Gospel reading is Luke’s account of an incident
which is also recorded in Mark’s Gospel.
The poor woman and her humble offering symbolise the Kingdom of God.
Though, being all alone in human terms and being one of the ‘little ones’, the
‘poor’, the ‘Anawim’, the woman is ready to give all that she has in the
service of God. Jesus calls us to follow her example and to give ourselves
totally to the service of God by serving our sisters and brothers, especially
those most in need.
Here we must ask ourselves, How generous am I?
Does my life give the impression of piety rather than goodness and generosity?
Do I create a little Heaven by the love I have for others or do I allow myself
sometimes to retreat into my own private Hell and wallow in self-pity and my
own sufferings?
Memory of Clement, bishop of Rome and martyr
(+c.100).
After Peter’s martyrdom in Rome Linus and
Cletus are said have succeeded him though we know nothing about them for
certain. Clement, however, who is said to have succeeded Cletus is a much more
historical figure, known mainly for his Letter to the church in Corinth,
written about the year 90 C.E. This is
an exceptionally early witness to the function and authority of the ministers
of the Christian Church. It shows, for the first time, a bishop of Rome
intervening effectively in the affairs of another church, calling for
repentance and the restoration of unjustly deposed presbyters. The Letter also
provides evidence for the residence and martyrdom of both Peter and Paul in
Rome. There are other writings attributed to Clement but they are not
authentic.
Legend has it that Clement was exiled to the
Crimea for being a Christian and there he was made to work in the mines which
was, virtually, a death sentence. But, according to another legend Clement was
thrown into the sea with an anchor round his beck. He has always been venerated
as a martyr though the legend is totally unreliable and he is often depicted
with an anchor beside him.
In the ninth century C.E. Saints Cyril and
Methodius claimed to have found Clement’s remains together with an anchor and
these were brought to Rome and buried in the church of San Clemente, a
fascinating building built on several levels and on the foundations of a first
century house church belonging to a certain Clement though this was probably
not the Clement we are remembering today.
We pray today for Clement’s successor, Francis,
the present bishop of Rome and for the reform of the Roman Curia that it may
support him in his ministry.
We pray too for all who are enslaved and who
are forced to work in inhumane conditions.
There are proper readings for Clement though
almost certainly those of the day will be use. Those for Clement are :
First Letter of Peter 5/1-4
which si about the ministry of those who are
Elders in the Church and the care that they should have for the flock entrusted
to them
Matthew 16/13-19
which is Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus
who he declares to be the Christ and Jesus’ assurance that he will build his
Church on Peter’s faith.
Memory of Columbanus, (c.540-615 C.E) monk and
missionary.
Columbanus lived at the time of the fall of the
Roman Empire when everything was breaking down and people were living, once
again, in fear and confusion over the devastation wrought by the pagan tribes.
Columbanus was born about the year 540 C.E. in
West Leinster in Ireland and became a monk of Bangor which, at that time, was
the most famous school in the whole country. After some twenty years as a monk,
Columbanus was sent with twelve others to renew the Christian faith in Gaul.
They began at a ruined Roman fort at Annegray and people flocked to hear their
message, many joining them. Within a short time Columbanus had founded two
other monasteries in the area. Columbanus was outspoken in his criticism of the immoral life of Theodoric, the king of
Burgundy and earned both the King’s displeasure and that of the local bishops
who had never had the courage to speak out against the wrongs of the King. The whole group of Irish monks were ordered
to return to Ireland but Columbanus escaped
across the Alps with his only possession a copy of the Gospels. He ended up in Bobbio in Italy where he died
in 615 C.E. while helping to build a new church. Columbanus’ monasteries led to
the foundation of others and they became havens of learning and prayer so that
he is reckoned to be the greatest of the Irish missionary monks who had such a
profound effect on mainland Europe.
We remember the Church in Europe today and we
pray for the peoples of Europe and our own future relationship with them in
spite of our leaving the European Union. We pray that we may not forget that we
are part of the European church and maintain close contacts with the church
throughout the continent.
There are proper readings for Columbanus
though, almost certainly, those for the day will be used. Those for Columbanus
are:
Isaiah 52/7-10
which speaks of those who, like Columbanus,
bring the Good News to ‘all the ends of the earth’.
Luke 9/57-62
which speaks of the demands made of those who,
like Columbanus, seek to follow Jesus as his disciple.
Tuesday November 24th. Memory of
Andrew Dung-Lac and others. Week Thirty Four Year Two.
Christianity was first brought to Viet Nam by a
French Jesuit priest in the early eighteenth century and during the first two
hundred years it is believed that about 100,000 Vietnamese were martyred though there is little historical record of
these. The first of whom there are
records are the Spanish Dominicans.
During the first years of the nineteenth
century Christianity made steady progress but this was dramatically interrupted
by renewed persecutions under the kings Minh-Mang and Tu-Duc who reigned from
1820 to 1883. From 1832 Minh expelled all foreign missionaries and forced the
Vietnamese Christians to renounce their faith by treading on a crucifix. He
destroyed churches and banned the teaching of the Christian faith. Many
suffered extreme hardship and torture and many lost their lives. Persecution
was again revived in 1847 when Christians were suspected of complicity in
rebellion and again many suffered and died. Christians were marked on their
faces with ‘ta dao’ which meant that
they were followers of a false religion,
husbands and wives were separated, their children taken from them, their
villages completely destroyed and their possessions taken and distributed.
In a further round of persecution from 1857 to
1862 many more suffered and died. Among the many who gave their lives were
bishops and priests from Europe and thousands of Vietnamese people.
Andrew Dung-Lac was the first Vietnamese priest
to be executed in 1839 with another native priest, Peter Thi. Today we remember
with them some 117 martyrs among whom were 59 laymen and women, 50 priests both
foreign and Vietnamese and 8 bishops. We remember too the vast number of those
who died for their faith but of whom we have no record.
We remember today the Vietnamese people and for the Christian churches in
Vietnam and we also remember the many Vietnamese Catholics who now live around
us and worship with us and who have, in many instances, clung to their
faith through thick and thin and in
truly difficult circumstances.
Readings
Apocalypse 14/14-19 :
Luke 21/5-11
The passage from the Revelation to John which
we read today is a vision of the Son of Man, the Lord himself, with a sickle in
his hand, together with the angels who execute a bloody judgement throwing the vintage of the earth into the
winepress of God’s fury. The scene is
one of judgement on the wickedness of the Roman Empire which the visionary sees
all around him and an assurance to all those who read his words that justice
will be done.
It is difficult for us not to associate this
vision with our own times but we must resist this temptation for the writer is
writing for his times and not for ours. As we have come to reflect on the God
whom Jesus reveals to us we cannot equate his revelation with that of a God who
wreaks vengeance, even on the most wicked. One way of looking at this scene is
to apply God’s judgement, not to the perpetrators of great evils but to the
evils themselves and to see in this an assurance that in God’s good time these
will be done away with and all humankind
will live in prosperity and peace but that is the vision of the kingdom that is
to come. Another way of seeing all this is to see in the vision the righteous
anger of God at the evils which we perpetrate.
We cannot conceive of a loving God who does not
feel great anger at the way in which we treat each other but that anger is,
somehow, turned into love and compassion for the wicked. We ourselves cannot
pretend that we don’t feel anger when, for instance, we see thousands of war
graves in the recent remembrance of the Wars of the last century. Our anger is
stirred at the wickedness of those who sent thousands of young men to their
death and who oversaw what was, in effect, mass slaughter.
Anger is our natural reaction but we must also
feel sadness that those in command could be so blind and use human beings in
this way and pity them for their lack of humanity. In the end we must love them
all.
The Gospel reading today shows Jesus’ reaction
to the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. This was a building which had been
greatly embellished by Herod as a sign to the world of his power and might.
Luke presents Jesus once again as the prophet
who not only speaks in God’s name but also foretells the future. Luke’s readers will know how Jesus’ words
have already been fulfilled and so will have greater confidence in the rest of
what he says. He warns against the false prophets who spring up in every age
and his words will remind those who were hearing them of the Jewish revolt against the Roman
occupying force which precipitated the
destruction of Jerusalem and the great Temple. But ‘the end is not so soon’ he
tells us and so we have to live our lives, aware that the End will come but
taking each day as it comes and doing our best to live good lives as well as we
are able.
Are there false prophets in our day? Surely
those who from within the Church have backed President Trump and encouraged
their people to do so are false prophets? Surely those who continually present
us with visions and apparitions, mostly of the Mother of God, and which all
lead us to believe that the End is near and that we must do this or pray that
to avoid this happening, surely they are false prophets. We must constantly
look back to the Gospel and Jesus’ own teaching and refuse what these false
prophets are saying.
Of course, there are false prophets in the
world around us who are constantly telling us that if we have this or that we
will find happiness and our television screens are overloaded with what is, in
effect, false prophecy. All of these we must resist and remind ourselves
constantly that the only way to true happiness is the way of love.
There are special readings for the Vietnamese
martyrs though, almost certainly, those of the day will be used. Those for the
martyrs are:
Ecclesiasticus 51/1-8
which speaks of the martyrs’ victory over death
and how, in spite of torture and persecution the Lord delivers his chosen ones
from their sufferings
Matthew 10/28-33
in which Jesus speaks of God’s care for all his
children and how even the hairs of their head are numbered. The martyrs were in
the hands of God .
Wednesday November 25th. Week Thirty
Four in Year Two. Memory Catherine of
Alexandria.
Readings
Apocalypse 15/1-4 :
Luke 21.12-19
In today’s passage from the Revelation to John
we read of the seven plagues that are to precede the final judgement of the
world. Before the plagues are poured out the writer sees a vision of the
heavenly court. There the Song of Moses is being sung echoing the victory of
the Israelites as they cross the Red Sea as we usually call it. All those who
join in the hymn are those who have resisted the evil tyranny of Rome and
gained victory over the Evil One himself, epitomised by
in the Emperor.
What does this extract have to say to us? It
speaks of the final overthrow of evil and prophesies in the hymn of victory
that all will come to worship the Lord God, the almighty One. It is this that
we do every time we celebrate the Eucharist! There, gathered around the Lamb
who was slain on the Cross we praise the God who has overcome and will overcome
all evil just as he has overcome sin and death and in Jesus and who will gather
all humankind into the oneness of his love.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus is again
prophesying and foretelling to his followers what will befall them and how they
will suffer before the fall of Jerusalem. The language that Jesus uses is
echoed in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles and those who read or
heard these words will know that they have been proved true already in the
sufferings of Jesus’ followers up until that time.
We may not have to face the persecution and
suffering that those first followers of Jesus had to endure but following Jesus
will always involve pain of some sort. As Jesus’ followers we are called to
stand up for things and causes that are not popular such as the way in which we
welcome immigrants or the way we treat those who offend our laws and our whole
penal system. This may well involve suffering since it may alienate us from our
neighbours and even our friends and family.
Jesus assures us that we need not be afraid
because he will be with us to the end and God will always protect us.
As we ask ourselves how courageous we are in
going against the tide of popular opinion or even against what we believe to be
wrong in the Church we must always remember those who are suffering in a very
real way for their faith or their convictions. Muslims in Myanmar, Christians
in Pakistan, Jewish people in many places, even our own society, Muslims who
suffer because of the Islamophobia which they constantly encounter and those
who struggle for human rights and freedom in places like Hong Kong. Suffering
for faith or convictions is not the prerogative of Christians but we ought to
be in the forefront of all those who seek to free our world of all oppression
and discrimination.
Memory of Catherine of Alexandria Martyr (4th.
century C.E.?)
This celebration was suppressed in 1963 but
restored again recently though it is difficult to understand quite why.
Catherine in supposed to have lived in the fourth century C.E. and to have been
a learned woman. Following her conversion to Christianity at the age of
eighteen, legend has it that she preached the Gospel throughout Alexandria.
Imprisoned by the Emperor Maxentius she is said to have converted the Empress
and the leader of the armed forces. For this she is said to have been martyred on
a wheel which has given rise to the Catherine Wheel which figures prominently
among our fireworks.
There is absolutely no historical evidence for
any of this and we find no mention of her until the ninth century C.E. when her
body is supposed to have been miraculously carried to what is
now known as Saint Catherine’s Monastery on
Mount Sinai.
Part of Catherine’s legend is that her wisdom was so great that she was able to
dispute with and confound the great philosophers of her day and so this may
well be a day to remember the wisdom of women and to look for a greater
recognition of their talents and gifts within the community of the Church.
We pray too for the monks of Saint Catherine’s
monastery which is still a place of pilgrimage and the many pilgrims, both
Catholic and Eastern Christians, who make their way there to pray.
There are special readings for Catherine,
though, almost certainly those of the day will be used. Those for Catherine are
:
Apocalypse 21/5-7
which speaks of the victory of the martyrs and
how they will be rewarded for their faithfulness and constancy in the face of
suffering and persecution.
Matthew 10/28-33
where Jesus tells us that we must not be afraid
and that God cares for us, even as he cares for every sparrow that falls to the
ground. The martyr is in the hands of God.
Thursday November 26th. Thursday in
Week Twenty Four in Year Two.
Readings
Apocalypse 18/1-2, 21-23, 19/1-3, 9 :
Luke 21/20-28
Today’s reading from the Revelation to John
portrays the doom that awaits the great city of Rome. Babylon here is another
name for Rome and the angels proclaim her downfall. Like Babylon of old which was symbolically
cast into the river Euphrates (Jeremiah 51/53-54) so Rome also will be thrown into the sea.
Counterpoised with the lament for her downfall is the song of rejoicing that
follows. Rome is called the great prostitute, not only for her corruption and
the immorality of her ways but also, and above all, for her worship of false
gods. This is seen as an infidelity like that of someone who goes with many
lovers and abandons their true partner, in this case the one true God. This
whole episode ends with the wedding feast of the Lamb which anticipates the
final vision of the book. The marriage of God and his people is a frequent
theme in the sayings of the prophets and here it becomes the marriage of the
Lamb, the Son of God become flesh, with his followers, the Church.
The final words of this reading recall the
words that we now use as an invitation to the Lord’s Table and how blessed we
are to have that invitation extended to us and to all who would accept it and
join us.
In the Gospel reading Jesus speaks of the fall
of Jerusalem and the destruction of the great Temple. Those hearing Luke’s
words would, of course, know that this had already taken place. This gives
weight to what Jesus has to say about the coming of the Son of Man. If his
words about the Temple have already proven true then his prophecies about his
coming again must also be true.
This passage ends with the prophecy of the end
for all the nations and peoples of the world. It seems, however, quite
deliberate on the part of the author that there is no mention of when this will
happen. For the follower of Jesus, when these things do happen there is no
cause for alarm but rather they should be the occasion of welcoming the final
consummation of all things.
There is a constant danger into which many have
fallen of reading Jesus’ words as referring to the situation in our world
today. We must beware of this because
over the centuries there have been many moments when Jesus’ words seemed to
apply but it was not the End. We are not meant to know the time or the hour,
Jesus says, but we must be always alert and ready. This is the way of life that
Jesus enjoins on us so that we don’t wait until the End but are always ready to
welcome him here and now however he comes to us. He comes to us in our
neighbours and especially in those who are poor or in need of any kind. He is
in the detail of every moment if only we have eyes to see and ears to hear,
challenging us to love.
Happy are we when we are called to the Supper
of the Lamb when we gather around the Lord’s Table but happy are we if we also
recognise that the Lord comes to us at every moment and in every one. What
happiness to be able to welcome him and to love him over and over again!
Friday November 27th. Friday in Week
Thirty Four in Year Two.
Readings
Apocalypse 20/1-4, 11-21/2 :
Luke 21/29-33
Today’s reading from the Revelation to John is,
to say the last, complex and difficult. It describes the millennial reign of
Christ, which has given rise to numerous theological disputes in the history of
Christianity. Only the Satanic dragon remains from the three beasts and now he
is shut up in a pit for a thousand years while Christ and the Christian martyr
saints reign on earth. After a thousand years Satan is let loose and then the
dragon will be thrown into the lake of fire. Both death and Hell yield up the
deceased and the dead are judged before the throne of God according to what is
written in the book of life and the second death takes place.
To replace the devastation of the first heaven
and the first earth there is a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem
that comes down from heaven like a bride adorned for her husband.
What can we make of all this? Obviously all
that the visionary presents to his readers is to encourage them in their
present trials and to assure the of the final triumph of good over evil so that
Christ will bring about the Reign of God, the bridegroom who marries his
people. For us today, we may marvel at the complex symbolism but we ought not
to try to delve into its meaning, especially not to try to give it meaning for
us in our day. For us it is a reassurance of the triumph of good over evil and
the coming Reign of God’s love and we ought to leave it there.
Following on from yesterday’s extract where
Jesus was predicting the fall of Jerusalem and other great signs today’s
reading is a more peaceful one.
The sign of the fig tree and all the trees
budding tells the observer that Sumer is near. In the same way, all these
things that Jesus has been describing will be signs that the End is near. They
will all happen within the lifetime of Luke’s readers, the Gospel says and, of
course, they did but the End was not yet. The Lord’s words will endure and we
must live by them, not knowing the day or the hour. Again this is an invitation
to be on the watch and waiting for the Lord whenever and however he comes to
us.
As we draw nearer to Advent the mood is being
set. We must watch and pray and trust in hope that the Kingdom will come and
that we have our part to play now in bringing it about by our love.
Saturday November 28th. Saturday in Week Thirty Four in Year Two.
Readings
Apocalypse 22/1-7 :
Luke 21/34-36
As we come to the end of the Revelation to John
the author, in a final vision sees the throne of God in the midst of the city
and there God and the Lamb reign with life flowing out from them. All will be
caught up in adoration, reigning for ever in the light of God’s love.
The writer concludes with a blessing on all who
read what he has written which, of course, means us too.
This vision is the last attempt by the author
to speak of that which is unspeakable and incomprehensible. He speaks of God
the unknowable, the One about whom we can say only that God is and that God is
love.
In some way which we cannot begin to understand
and about which words fail us we believe that we shall be caught up in that
inexpressible joy and love which is to be in God. Saint Paul says that in God ‘we live and move
and exist’ (Acts 17/28). Here the writer is trying to express how this being in
God comes to fulfilment, as the hymn says ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’
when all the love in our lives will be brought to its fulfilment in the God who
is love.
The Gospel reading is a further warning to be
on the watch and to guard ourselves against being ‘coursened’ by the ways of
the world. These are good words to lead us into Advent since Advent is the time
par excellence when we celebrate the God who comes to us and try to make
ourselves more ready to welcome his coming.
This year will be different and probably
quieter than usual but even so we must guard against letting the weeks that
lead up to Christmas slip by. Let’s make them a time when we try to prepare
calmly to celebrate the Lord’s coming at Christmas. We do that best, of course,
by the way in which we welcome him here and now. Let’s first of all resolve to
find those times of Quiet and prayer each day when we can be alone, perhaps
using these reflections if we find them helpful, recognising simply that we
are, as always, in the presence of God, the God who comes to us in the here and
now.
Let’s pray that we may not be ‘coursened’ by
the atmosphere all around us but try to be quieter and live more simply as we
prepare to celebrate the Lord’s birth. One sure way of preparing for that day
is to decide to give more generously during these four weeks of Advent. There
are so many charities which we can support, most especially for the homeless and
for refugees and asylum seekers at this time. If you are unsure look at Cafod’s
website where they invite us to give to those in need in a practical way and to
send a card to someone to whom we would normally give a present telling them
that we have given money for such and such a gift for someone in need. They
probably don’t need our present and may be inspired to give themselves to a
charity to help others.
In these very strange times let’s make our Advent
a truly good one and use the time that we have through the restrictions imposed
upon us to find time for prayer and for generous giving to Christ in all those
who are in need.
Comments
Post a Comment