Sunday December 20th. to Saturday December 26th.
Sunday December 20th. to Saturday December 26th. Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings.
Sunday December 20th. Fourth Sunday in Advent in Year Two. ‘O Clavis David’
Readings
2 Samuel 7/1-5, 8-11, 16 :
Paul’s Letter to the Romans 16/25-27
: Luke 1/26-38
Today’s readings remind us that Christmas is
very near and help us prepare during these last few days before the feast.
There are very obvious links between the
reading from the Old Testament and the Gospel reading as there so often is. The
genealogies in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospel are at pains to make it clear
that Jesus was of the lineage of David, the great king as the prophets had
foretold. The Messiah would be of David’s line and family.
In the reading from the Second Book of Samuel
we read of how David planned to build a house or Temple for the Lord God since
up until that time the Tent of Meeting or Tabernacle as we often call it, was
the place where God was believed to dwell in a very special and unique way.
However, the prophet Nathan, God’s spokesman to David, is told to inform David
that his plans were not God’s plans, a not unusual situation. Instead of David
building a house for God, God assures David that he will build a ‘house’ for
him and that ‘house’ would be his ongoing dynasty. Through Nathan God assures
David that ‘your house and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me
and your throne will be established for ever’. Although these words were not
fulfilled historically, they were fulfilled in Jesus who is of David’s lineage
and whose sovereignty will stand for ever.
Contrasted with the behaviour of David is the
behaviour of Mary in the Gospel reading. In that reading which is so familiar, the
Gospel writer makes it clear that, first of all, Mary is espoused to Joseph who
is of the ‘house of David’ so that when Joseph takes Mary to be his wife, Jesus will be firmly
established in the lineage of David through Joseph.
As Luke tells the story, when Mary receives the
angelic visitation and greeting she is ‘deeply disturbed’ by his words. The
visitor reassures her and tells her that she will have a son who will be the ‘Son of the Most High’
who will receive the ‘the throne of his ancestor David’, ‘who will rule over
the house of Jacob for ever and ‘whose reign will have no end’.
Mary reacts as any human being would by asking
how this can be because she has no husband. The visitor tells her that ‘the
Most High will cover her with its shadow and so the child will be holy and
called the Son of God’. Furthermore Mary is given a sign that God is able to do
wonderful things because the elderly Elizabeth has herself conceived a son against
all odds to show that ‘nothing is impossible with God’.
This passage is full of allusions to the Jewish
scriptures and the way God has dealt with various important personages
throughout Jewish history.
Once Mary is reassured she calmly accepts what
has been told her and acquiesces to God’s will for her.
In this whole episode we see Mary, not full of
her own plans but fully co-operating with God’s will for her, unlike David who
had made plans and would have followed them through had it not been for
Nathan’s intervention.
The point of this story is that God comes into
our world as a little child through the co-operation of a woman. It is through his
humanity, given him by Mary that Jesus will preach and teach his followers and
do his wonderful works. It is as one of us that Jesus will suffer and die, sharing
our humanity to the bitter end. It is as one of us that Jesus will break the
bonds of the tomb and rise from the dead to lead us all through suffering and
death to the new life of the kingdom, God’s Reign of Love.
The significance of this beautiful story is
that the Word made flesh, Jesus, comes into our world through the co-operation
of a woman and it is his will to continue his work and ministry through women
and men like us in the Church which is his continuing presence in the world. In
this Mary is our model and it is for this that we must imitate her. Many great
works of art depict Mary at prayer or reading the Scriptures as she receives
the angelic visitor but we have no reason to think of her in this way. Mary was
an ordinary Jewish woman and her day would have been filled with the everyday
tasks with which Jewish women were occupied, cleaning, cooking, mending,
fetching water from the well. Mary may well have been about any of these tasks
when she was made aware of her pregnancy. What is important in the story is
that Mary was ready to do what was asked of her, once she understood, because
she is depicted as an intelligent woman who asks for an explanation of what had
been said to her. Mary is our model because we too must be ready as we have
been seeing all through this Advent time, ready to welcome to Lord whenever and
wherever he comes to us. We may be sure that Mary was also a woman of prayer
and it was because of this that she was ready when the call came. We too must
be people of prayer and those moments that we set aside to be alone and with
God, even though we are not aware of his presence during them, those moments
make us ready to welcome him when he comes to us in a very real way in our
daily lives. Whenever someone needs our love, perhaps only a friendly word or,
perhaps, something far more demanding we will be ready as Mary was.
In the extract from Paul’s letter to the Roman
Christian communities, Paul praises God for giving the Roman Christians the
strength to live according to the Gospel that he preaches, in other words, to
be the Church. The Hebrew Scriptures, Paul says, all looked forward to this
moment of revelation, a secret hidden throughout the ages, that God would dwell
among us.
More than just being Christ’s presence in the
world, Paul tells his readers, their role is also to give glory to God through
Jesus. By their very being they give God glory! This is also true of us the
Church. We are the Church as they were and it is by our very existence that we
are called to give God glory in the measure that we live up to the Gospel and
become more and more fully human. We must constantly look at ourselves and our
communities to ask ourselves whether our being in the world does give glory to
God? What sort of community are we and
how do we measure up to the standards of the Gospel?
Today we sing another of the great ‘O’
antiphons with Mary’s song at Evening Prayer and, yet again it is ful of
allusions to the Jewish Scriptures. It is ‘O Clavis David’, ‘O Key of David’.
This reminds us that Jesus is the key that
unlocks all the mysteries of God and of human life. He reveals to us the
mysteries of God in his teaching and in one simple but utterly mind-blowing way
that God is love! Moreover, he tells us that it is only in loving one another
that we can truly love God.
Once that door is opened it reveals to us the
vast treasure house that is our Christian faith, the fruit of centuries of
living the Gospel and reflecting on this one essential mystery. It opens the
door that leads us out of the darkness of selfishness and sin and into the
fullness of the life of love. It opens to us the way that leads us to an ever
greater understanding of God’s mysteries in an ever growing awareness that the
more we know, the more we recognise that we know absolutely nothing.
Here then is today’s beautiful antiphon:
O KEY OF DAVID,
royal power of the House of Israel.
What you open none can close,
what you close none can open.
COME
and out of the prison of darkness
lead all those who sit in the shadow of death.
Monday December 21st. Fourth Monday
in Advent. ‘O Oriens, ‘O Morning Star’.
Readings
Song of songs 2/8-14 :
Luke 39-45
In today’s Gospel reading we have the second
part of Mary’s reaction to the message that she had received from the angelic
visitor. Yesterday we read how Mary was reassured as to the authenticity of the
heavenly message by the knowledge that another promise had been fulfilled. Her
cousin Elizabeth, in spite of her old age and her apparent inability to have a
child, had herself conceived a son.
Mary’s response to this information is to set
out to help the older woman in her pregnancy. It is in this encounter that Luke
uses the dialogue between the two women to advance his story. When Elizabeth
hears Mary’s greeting the child in her womb leaps for joy and Elizabeth herself
is filled with the Holy SD[rit. Elizabeth, by what she says, reveals the full
significance pf Mary’s pregnancy. She utters the words which have become a
Christian prayer for so many centuries, ’You are blessed among women and
blessed is the fruit of your womb. How do I deserve to have the mother of my
Lord visit me?’ The child in Mary’s womb is recognised by Elizabeth to be her
Lord! From the outset Mary is praised for her faith because she has believed
that what had been told her would be fulfilled. Later Jesus will also praise
his mother for her faith when he responds to the woman who says how the woman
who gave him birth is blessed.
Jesus replies ‘Rather are those blessed who
hear the word of God and keep it’.
This beautiful moment in Luke’s story of the
events leading up to the birth of Christ has long been seen as a natural
development of what we read yesterday. Mary, overshadowed by the Spirit, brings
the unborn Jesus in her womb to Elizabeth and both she and her child are filled
with the Spirit.
This is an image of the Church since we,
overshadowed by the Spirit as we are in the waters of Baptism and the anointing
with oil, are the means by which Jesus is made present in our world.
This scene from the Gospel tells us what the
role of the Church ought to be in our world. Our presence should be a source of
joy for all those around us! With the Lord dwelling among us, we are the means
by which his love and his message are brought to the world not by our words but
by our very presence and our involvement in the world in which we live.
If people are not glad to have us around perhaps
there is something wrong with us and perhaps we are not being what we are
called to be for all who come our way, Jesus’ presence in our flesh. Not pious
words and ‘bible bashing’ but doing what Mary did, rolling up our sleeves and
getting involved in whatever it is, whether it be welcoming refugees, caring
for the sick or whatever. This is what brings joy to others.
This is true of us as communities but also of
us as individuals and how do people see us we must ask ourselves. If it is not true of our communities then we
must ask ourselves what we can do to make it a reality.
Of course, we must always remember that in
being Christ we are also finding Christ in our neighbours and in all those who
need our love and our care.
The beautiful passage fom the great love poem,
‘the Song of songs’ echoes the cry of Elizabeth, ‘I hear my beloved. See how he
comes’ but it also reminds us that Jesus comes among us as our lover. He is the
presence of the God who is in love with each and every one of us, who can’t get
enough of us, who never gives up on us and who says to us ‘Come then, my love,
my lovely one, come’. This what Jesus says to us every day, ‘Come, follow me,
you who I love more than words can say, you who are my heart’s delight, come’.
‘O Oriens’, ‘O Morning Star’.
The great ‘O’ antiphon which we sing with
Mary’s Song at Evening Prayer again cries out to the Lord to come and enlighten
us. When the morning star appears in the sky hope is restored because we know
that the coming day is approaching. We
call on the Lord to shine on us and to enlighten us because we live in a world
where there is so much darkness but also because there is a darkness in each of
us, the darkness of our own selfishness and sin which needs to be illuminated
and cleared. Because of this we often live in the shadow of death rather than
in the light of Christ.
But we also pray for the leaders and
governments of the world, those who pursue wickedness and warfare, who treat
others like goods to be trafficked, those who accumulate great wealth and so
many others, these all live in the darkness. We pray that the light may
enlighten them, that they may hear the voice of conscience which is the Sprit
at work in them and their clouded minds may see what is right and good and they
may put evil aside and pursue what is, not only for the good of others but will
bring them back to fullness of life and true joy.
O MORNING STAR,
splendour of the eternal light,
true Sun of justice,
COME
and shed your light upon us
and on all those
who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death.
Memory of Saint Peter Canisius (1521-1597)
Although it is so close to Christmas we
remember Peter Canisius on the anniversary of his death today. Born in 1521 he
became Jesuit priest giving his time, above all, to instructing people in their
faith. His preaching was very simple and he tended to stick to the basics of
the Christian faith and to avoid those things which were peripheral and, at
that time, extremely controversial such as Indulgences, purgatory and
pilgrimages. He was also devoted to those who were in prison or sick and his
whole life was characterised by his gentle love for others. His fame was so
great that he has been called the second Apostle of Germany since he was born
in Nijmegen which was at that time part of Germany. He died in 1597 after a
stroke but, in spite of being paralysed, he continued to write and to teach.
We pray today that we may return to the
simplicity of the Gospel and put to one side all those peripheral teachings and
practices which seem to be so rife once again.
We pray too for all those whose lives are affected by strokes and all
those who care for them.
We remember too the people of Germany, their
government and the German churches.
Tuesday December 22nd. Fourth
Tuesday in Advent. ‘O Rex gentium’ ‘O
King of the peoples’
Readings
1 Samuel 1/24-28 :
Luke 1/46-56
Today’s Gospel reading follows on immediately
from that of yesterday and Luke puts into the mouth of Mary the song that we
know as the ‘Magnificat’ This song has been part of the Evening Prayer of the
Western church for many centuries and survived in the Book of Common Prayer of
the reformed Church of England. For this reason it has been set to music by
innumerable composers and is one of the treasures especially of English Church
Music.
The framework of the song is provided by the
song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, of whom we read in today’s first reading.
It is Hannah’s response to God’s giving her a child despite her barrenness (1
Samuel 2/1-10). Luke develops Hannah’s song by allusions to other sources such
as the psalms. Mary would have been familiar with all these texts and might
well have quoted them spontaneously.
This wonderful song not only gives thanks to
God for what he has done for Mary herself but widens out to include what God
has done for all those for who ‘fear’ him in every age. To ‘fear’ in this sense
is not to be afraid but to be in awe of the God who does wonders.
The song moves on in stages from the reversal
of Mary’s condition of lowliness to exaltation , then to a general statement of
God’s mercy to those who fear him, then to a recital of his past and present
reversals and, finally recalls how that mercy is being shown to Israel in
fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham.
As the song moves outwards, Mary becomes the
personification of Israel and the mercy shown reflects and exemplifies the
mercy shown to the people. The song speaks of God in words that will be applied
later to the child Mary is carrying. He will be ‘Lord’ and ‘saviour’ and
‘holy’.
The richness of this song as we sing it every
day, makes it a source of inspiration and joy and a fitting climax to Evening
Prayer as we praise and thank God for turning the whole world upside down
beginning with the girl of Nazareth.
‘O Rex gentium’ ‘O King of the peoples’.
The ‘O’ antiphon which accompanies the Song of
Mary this evening reminds us that there is a longing in every human heart for
that which makes sense of life and gives it meaning. This gives us a chance to
reflect upon the fact that the millions who have followed and still follow
different faiths and traditions from the very beginnings of the human family
are all searching for the same thing, meaning in their lives. People find it in
many different ways but as the Decrees of the Second Vatican Council teach us,
there is truth in every faith and, indeed, that we have a great deal in common
with those of other faith traditions.
Today’s antiphon calls us to dialogue with
those of other faiths and, indeed, of no faith so that we may work together to
find greater meaning in all our lives and make our world a better place for all
God’s children. Even without knowing it, ‘all long for him’ who is the One who
gives sense and meaning to life.
The cornerstone is a reminder of our Jewish
sisters and brothers. Jesus, the Jew, is the One who is the cornerstone between
the two sides of the building which is our common heritage. We are all one
family and so we ought to be seeking ways to know and love those who are our
older sisters and brothers in the faith. At this time when anti-Semitism seems
to be on the increase it is even more incumbent upon us to stress our
relationship with Judaism and how we share a common heritage.
In its final words this antiphon recalls the
story of creation and, in so doing reminds us of our relationship with the
earth. As Pope Francis reminds us forcibly in his Letter ‘Laudato si’, the
earth is our common heritage and it is for us to preserve this great gift that
God has made to us and to do it with people of every faith and none.
The richness of this short antiphon gives us
plenty upon which to reflect and about which to pray today. Though we call on
the Lord to come, however, it is only through us that he will come to achieve
all that this short antiphon sets out as a programme. So it is up to us, once
again!
Here is today’s ‘O’ Antiphon.
O KING OF ALL PEOPLES,
all have been longing for
you,
you are the Cornerstone that binds together in one
both Jew and Gentile.
COME
and save humankind
whom you formed from the slime of the earth.
Wednesday December 23rd. Fourth Wednesday in Advent. ‘O Emmanuel’.
John of Kenty.
Readings
Malachi 3/1-4, 21-24 :
Luke 1/57-66
Today’s Gospel reading completes the story of
John the Baptist’s birth with the fulfilment of the prophecy made to Zachariah
and the general rejoicing that accompanied the event. When the eighth day after
his birth arrives and the naming of the child should accompany his circumcision
Elizabeth has to resist pressure from her neighbours to call the child after
his father. Zachariah then accepts the instruction he had received and calls
for a writing tablet that he may confirm that the child should be named John. Zachariah’s first words after his dumbness is
lifted are words of praise for the God who sets his people free so that they
may worship him freely and without fear.The extract ends with the people all
wondering what the child might turn out to be given the strange circumstances
of his birth.
The reading from the prophet Malachi is the
answer to their wondering. The prophet foretells the one who will prepare for
the coming of the Lord. He will be another Elijah the prophet says. All of this
is fulfilled in John the Baptist.
One of the lovely details in this episode of
Luke’s story is the way in which Zachariah’s and Elizabeth’s neighbours all
share in the joy of the elderly couple at their good fortune in having a child
so late in life. They are all involved in the event, even to the extent of
insisting that the new born child should be called after his father when the
moment comes for his circumcision, obviously a community event. Those of you
who have seen the film about the martyr monks of Atlas will remember how the
local Muslim population insisted that the monks share in their joy at the
circumcision of a new child. It is the same with our Jewish friends when it comes
to the moment for a young boy to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah, becoming an adult
Jew (the word means ‘son of the commandment’) when everyone joins in the
celebrations. It is sad that we seem to have lost this community dimension in
our lives and, perhaps, the present pandemic has made us realise how isolated
so many people are and how we need one another, not just for support but
especially to rejoice and celebrate together. Can we do anything to bring
people together more and to build up our local community?
We shall read that song of Zachariah tomorrow
on Christmas Eve.
Memory of John of Kenty (1390-1473)
It seems strange to be remembering a saint
today when we are so close to Christmas but John is a saint of great importance
for our many Polish friends and neighbours.
John was born in 1390 at Kanti in Poland coming
from an affluent family. After studying at the University of Cracow he was
ordained priest. He became famous, not only for his academic excellence but
also for the austerity of his life and his generosity to the poor and the
needy. He died in 1473 and was canonised in 1767. He is held in such high
regard that his academic gown it still used to vest each new Doctor of the
University of Cracow.
We pray for the people of Poland and for the
church in that country. We remember the many Polish people who live around us
now and for whom Christmas is such an important festival thinking especially of
those who are separated from their families.
‘O Emmanuel’
The ‘O’ antiphon today at Evening Prayer brings
to a close the whole series with a great cry of longing for the One who will be
Emmanuel, God with us.
He is the ‘Ruler’, the Word through whom all
things were made and through whose power and might the whole Universe is ruled
but he is the One who must rule our lives also.
He is the ‘lawgiver’ since it is by his law
that all things are governed, he who is the wisdom and power of God.
He is the ‘hope all the peoples’ since it is
only by living by his law of love that people of every race and none may find
fulfilment, unity and peace.
For all of this he is the ‘Saviour’ since his
rule and his power saves us all from our selfishness and sin and leads us into
the new life of love.
So today we pray earnestly that he would come
again to rule and govern our lives since his law of love, if we accept it, will
bring freedom and fullness of humanity to us and we open our hearts and lives
to his coming.
We pray too that he, the God who is with us in
everyone and in everything, will touch the hearts and minds of each and every
one of the whole human family so that we may learn to live together in unity,
peace ,justice and love.
Let us pray this last antiphon with sincerity
and love.
O
EMMANUEL,
Ruler and Lawgiver,
Hope of all the peoples
and saviour of all,
COME
and save us,
O Lord, our God.
Thursday December 24th. Christmas
Eve.
Readings
2 Samuel 7/1-5, 8-11, 16 :
Luke 1/67-79
The reading from the Second Book of Samuel
tells how David, having built himself a fine palace, wanted to build a Temple
for the Ark of God, the sacred object over which God was believed to dwell in a
special and unique way. When David shares his intentions with the prophet
Nathan, he tells David that God has revealed to him that David would not be the
one to build a Temple but that, instead, God would bless his house and his
family and his line would be established for ever. In these words we see the
foretelling of the coming of the Messiah who would spring from the house and
line of David.
The Gospel reading brings to a conclusion the
episode which we read yesterday and we hear Zachariah breaking into song with
the great hymn which we have come to know as the ‘Benedictus’ from its first
words. It is a magnificent hymn of praise couched in a typically Jewish way. It
begins with a blessing of God, a giving of thanks to God for his visiting his
people and redeeming them. Strictly speaking, redemption means the buying off
of a slave but here it infers the freeing of the people so that they may be
able to serve God in holiness and righteousness. It then speaks of the Saviour
who comes in fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, saving the people from their
enemies, showing them mercy and keeping his covenant with them. The focus is
then on the specific role of John the Baptist who will prepare the people for
the coming of the Messiah. He will do this by bidding them seek forgiveness for
their sins and he will prepare them, not for a violent revolt but to be led
‘into the way of peace’. The song ends by praising God for his mercy by which
the dawn from on high will break upon the people so that those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death are guided into the way of peace.
It is not surprising that the song of Zachariah
has found its place in the Morning Prayer of the Western Church for countless
centuries just as Mary’s song has been the climax of Evening Prayer. It is the
ideal prayer for the morning when we give thanks to God for all his goodness
but above all for sending us the Saviour. It also reminds each day that we too
have been chosen to prepare the way of the Lord by our lives and our love.
Finally, as the day begins, we give thanks that the ‘dawn from on high’ has
broken upon us and, as the darkness lifts, so the Lord enlightens us and guides
us this day and every day into ‘the way of peace’.
Today will, in spite of the present strange
circumstances, no doubt be a busy one as we prepare for Christmas day but let’s
try to find some moments of silence and peace
when we can prepare for tomorrow. Today has, traditionally, been a day
of fasting so let’s save all the good things for Christmas Day and make this a
day of simplicity and, perhaps, of final decisions as to what we might be able
to give to those who are in so much more need than ourselves.
Evening Mass on Christmas Eve.
Unlike most Sundays and feast days, the
readings for this Mass are not the same as those for Christmas Day and they
are, in fact, a rather strange mixture of Advent and Christmas and don’t have
the flavour of Christmas at all which may come as a disappointment for those
who go to this Mass as their Christmas Mass. In many cases the readings will be
chosen from those for Christmas but it is worth looking at those appointed for
this evening.
Readings
Isaiah 62/1-5 :
Acts of the Apostles 13/16-17, 22-25
: Matthew 1/1-25
The reading from the prophet Isaiah is a song
of splendid impatience as God breaks the silence of many years. Zion’s
vindication breaks forth with the suddenness of the desert dawn. These verses
seem to allude to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles when lights were kindled so
that the whole place blazed ‘like a torch’. The reference to a ‘crown’ and a
‘diadem’ seems to refer to the practice of the statues of the pagan gods
wearing a crown patterned like the city walls so that the crown that God wears
will be patterned after his people. All the waywardness of the Jewish people
will be forgotten, especially their worship of false foreign gods and the names
that they bore of ‘forsaken’ and ‘abandoned’ will be changed for ‘My delight in
her’ and ‘The wedded one’. Although they may seem odd to us, these are all
names that were known and used amongst the Jewish people. Adulterous Israel is
restored to the joyful innocence of long ago when she was the virgin spouse of
God. These words become more appropriate as we reflect on the true meaning of
Christmas. In Christ, God comes among us to call us once again to himself and
to renew hi love affair with us! God is wedded to our humanity in Jesus’ coming
so that today is, in fact, a wedding feast!
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows
us something of how the Good News of the Gospel was proclaimed by Paul and the
others. After the long preparation of his people, Israel, God sends the
promised Messiah with John the Baptist to prepare the way for him. It is as if
this reading makes us realise that Advent is over and, after all our efforts of
preparing for it is at an end, the Lord has arrived! But it is also a reminder
of how the Gospel was proclaimed in the beginning from which we may well be
able to learn something for today.
In the Gospel reading we hear yet again the
long genealogy from Matthew which traces Jesus’ ancestry back to Abraham
through David and with the addition of the unexpected women who make it quite
clear that this child would be someone very different from what had been
expected.
To further make that clear, the Gospel writer
tells the story of Joseph’s dream and the foretelling of the One who will be
Emmanuel, ‘God is with us’, born of Mary through God’s own intervention.
These readings may help us to prepare for
tomorrow even if we are not going to Mass this evening.
Friday December 25th. Christmas day - the Solemnity of the birth
of our Lord.
The date of Christmas and the Epiphany, or
Twelfth Night as we called it in England, are both linked with the Winter
Solstice , adopting celebrations that already existed in the pagan world. It is
at Rome in the early fourth century that we find the first evidence of
Christmas being celebrated. In the year 274 C.E. the Emperor Aurelian had
introduced a festival of the Invincible
Sun,’ Natalis Solis invictus’ to be celebrated on December 25th. At
some point before the year 336, the Roman church must have established on this
date the celebration of the Incarnation, the Birth of the Sun of Righteousness
and ancient documents show that by that year Christmas was being celebrated on
December 25th. as the beginning of the Church’s year. The feast
spread throughout the Western Church and, eventually, to the Eastern Churches
though for them the feast of the Epiphany was of greater importance as it still
is.
In the Western Church, following the example of
Rome, the day was marked by the celebration of three Masses, given later a
significance by relating this to the threefold birth of Christ, firstly in the
bosom of the Father from all eternity, secondly from the womb of Mary and
thirdly in the heart of every Christian though this seems rather fanciful.
In fact the reason for the three Masses came
most probably from the Roman custom of celebrating the feast at midnight in the
church of Saint Mary Major where it was believed that the manger from Bethlehem
was enshrined as a relic.
The second Mass at dawn was celebrated in the
church of Saint Anastasia, an early martyr at Sirmium in Pannonia. This church
was, almost certainly, originally the church of the Anastasis or Resurrection
and it would seem logical that the Pope, having celebrated the birth of Christ
during the night, should go at dawn to celebrate the resurrection. This second
celebration became, however, particularly associated with the shepherds who in
the story came to visit the new born
child after the great mystery had been announced to them.
The third Mass during the day was celebrated in
the great church of Saint Paul outside the walls of the city of Rome in order
to emphasise the fact that Christ had come save all the peoples of the world
and Paul was seen as the Apostle of the nations. Latterly, though, the Mass
began to be celebrated again in the church of Saint Mary Major which was, in
Rome, the great church of the Incarnation.
The arrangement of the readings from the Bible
which we now have since the renewal of the Second Vatican Council is one of the
great successes of the reform. It has enabled people to hear so much more of
the Scriptures than ever before since in the unreformed Mass only the same
fifty two passages from the Gospels and fifty two from the Epistles were read
every year on Sundays and that was it. However, like most things there is a
flaw in this new arrangement, especially for weekdays, in that it presumes that
people go to Mass every day só that they are able to follow the readings
accordingly which, of course, is not the case. If you use these reflections,
you will know what I mean.
A similar problem occurs at Christmas because,
traditionally, as we have seen above, there have been three Masses on Christmas
Day. The first was at Midnight following the great Office of the Vigils, the
second at Dawn after Lauds or Morning Prayer and the third during the day, that
is, later in the morning. For monks and nuns who celebrate the daily worship of
the Church together, this makes sense but for ordinary people it means that
though there are three sets of
-11-
Readings they never hear them all. This is
particularly true in the way that the great Gospel of Christmas is cut into two
parts for the Midnight Mass and that of the Dawn. It would be good then to try
to read all the readings sometime today.
Readings at the Mass for Midnight.
Isaiah 9/1-7
: Letter to Titus 2/11-14 :
Luke 2/1-14
The reading from the prophet Isaiah is a
prophecy concerning the King Hezekiah whom Isaiah had prophesied would be great
but who, in fact, did not live up to the prophet’s expectations and so this
whole passage is transferred into the future and is seen by Christians at a
later date as referring to Jesus whose birth we are celebrating.
After the proclamation of the great light which
would dawn with the coming of the Promised One, there are verses that refer to
the lifting of the oppression of the Assyrians by God in a sort of holy war,
whence the reference to the Day of Midian. Finally, we have the verses that we
all know from Handel’s Messiah which elaborate the virtues of this Messiah who
would come to be a father to his people and bring about a reign of peace.
Perhaps the words which we tend to miss and
which are of the utmost importance are those which close the passage that ‘the
jealous love of the Lord will do this’. It is all because of God’s great love
that the Christ comes into the world and that love can be compared, the prophet
says, to the love of a jealous husband so powerful is it.
The short extract from the Letter to Titus,
written probably not by Paul but by a disciple of his, towards the end of the
first century, is addressed to Titus in Crete with his group of fairly new
Christians. It gives Titus advice about the life of his community. The writer
reminds those to whom he is writing of all that Christ has done for them, what
we are, in fact, celebrating today. He has come into the world for the whole of
humankind that they may find life, by not living according to the ways of the
pagan world around them but in the new way which Jesus has revealed to them.
The community of these new Christians must live in such a way as to attract
others and to be a sign of what God intends for all humankind. They must have
no ambition except to do good. What a wonderful ideal that is and as we
celebrate the birth of Jesus, what better way could we find to do this than by
resolving to try to have no ambition but to do good.
The Gospel reading is the familiar story of the
birth of Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem and the proclamation to the shepherds
of the arrival of a new-born child by an angelic visitor who is then joined by
the heavenly host singing ‘Glory to God’.
Here we have to think carefully about what is
written and what actually happened. The first thing that we must never forget is
that the Gospel writer tells his story in the light of the resurrection. He had
experienced something quite extraordinary with the risen Jesus and so he
presents what he has to say in a way that reveals what he believes about him.
Obviously, there were no eye witnesses at
Jesus’ birth and so what both Matthew and Luke have to say are ways of telling
the story that have gradually spread among those first Christians. They are not
historical accounts but a presentation of the events in such a way as to make it
clear who the writers believed Jesus to be.
Luke is, first of all, anxious to set this
event in an historical context and, although what he says may not be
historically accurate, his reasons are obvious. He wants to make it clear that
this event did actually happen at a specific time and it would be something
that would affect not only the Jewish people but all the peoples of the world.
The other factor to be taken into account is
the desire of the Gospel writers, especially Matthew, to show that Jesus
fulfilled the ancient prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures and Matthew does that
by frequently alluding to them.
What about the angels? In the Hebrew
Scriptures, angels appear primarily as those who speak for God and this would
seem to spring from the enormous respect for God that was characteristic of the
Jews which would forbid them imagining God speaking directly to a human person.
In other words, they are a way of speaking respectfully of God’s communication
with human beings. Those who are given names demonstrate this because their
names are all words containing one of the names given to God. The other role
angels seem to have had in Jewish thought was that of worship and ministry
which is, again, a way of expressing the total all-otherness of God who is to
be worshipped and adored in total awe but who, nevertheless, is involved with
his children, their needs and their affairs.
In later Judaism a whole doctrine of angels appeared
which re-appeared in the Church, especially during the Middle Ages, but this
was all total speculation and had no sound basis in Scripture. The attempt to
describe angels during the Middle Ages and later was totally fanciful and made
them appear as anatomical impossibilities, mostly of a somewhat feminine
appearance and not unlike the way in which fairies also came to be depicted.
In the Christmas story the angel who appears
first of all to the shepherds is a messenger and then the heavenly host who appear
praising God all fall into the categories described above,.
In all of this it is important that we must
never lose sight of the amazing fact that we are celebrating the birth of a
very ordinary baby to a very ordinary couple but a baby who would later come to
be recognised as the presence of God among us, living our life, sharing our
sufferings and our death and, above all, overcoming death and rising again. It
is not necessary for us to get rid of all the beautiful stories which surround
this event but merely to remember that they are beautiful ways of presenting
something so important that no embellishment is too much.
What happened is that a baby was born and that
baby was and is Godself in our humanity leading us to recognise that God dwells
among us constantly, in one another and in the whole of creation. As Saint
Irenaeus said in the second century, ‘God became human in order that humanity
might become divine’.
It is a pity that the story of Jesus’ birth is
chopped into two so that the shepherds leaving their flocks and going to see
the new-born is not read until the Dawn Mass. In many churches, however, common
sense will prevail and both extracts will be read together.
All the trimmings which surround this night should
make us more aware of the extraordinary nature of what we are celebrating but
not leave us wondering whether it is all true. It is! A baby was born who is
Christ the Lord! That’s the whole story. Let’s just be grateful that this extraordinary
reality has been preserved for us in the beautiful stories which have been
repeated down the ages and not in abstract arguments and dogmatic statements.
Readings at the Mass of the Dawn.
Isaiah 62/11-12 :
Letter to Titus ¾-7 : Luke 2/15-20
This Mass was originally, as was noted before,
an affirmation of the new born child as the One who has risen from the dead,
celebrated in the church of the Anastasis or Resurrection. The readings now
appointed for this Mass focus on the shepherds who leave their flocks to go to
see the mystery that has happened in Bethlehem.
The short reading from Isaiah is linked to the
Jewish Feast of Tabernacles when lights were kindled and these words can, so
obviously, be applied to the coming of the Saviour Jesus. The titles that the
prophet gives to the people are all able to be linked with the Incarnation as
the Marriage Feast when God is wedded to humankind in Jesus. By this we become
‘the holy people’, ‘the Lord’s redeemed’ and a people who have not been
forsaken by God but rather sought after by him in Jesus who has sought out our
humanity
The second reading, again from the letter to
Titus, reflects on God’s kindness, love and compassion when, without our
deserving it, God has come among us in Jesus. By our baptism into Christ and
the outpouring of his Spirit we are made one with him, justified by his free
gift.
Again, as Saint Irenaeus said, ‘God has become
human so that we may become divine’.
The Gospel reading concludes Luke’s account of
Jesus’ birth with the shepherds visiting the stable and finding the little
family there. The theme of Luke’s Gospel is clearly set out here. Jesus comes
to turn things upside down and the first to visit him are the shepherds who
were the outcasts of Jewish society.
Finally, Mary appears as the one who ‘treasures
all these things and ponders them in her heart’
She is to be our model over this Christmastime
as we reflect on the mystery of God’s coming among us in the flesh .Let’s make
sure that we imitate her and, even today, try to find those few precious
moments when we can be quiet and ponder over this mystery in our heart.
Readings at the Mass during the Day.
Isaiah 57/7-10 :
Letter to the Hebrews 1/1-16
: John 1/1-18
The Mass during the Day is very different from
the other two Masses today. It reflects more on the mystery that we are
celebrating and is dominated by the magnificent Prologue to John’s Gospel which
sums up so wonderfully the mystery of the Incarnation.
The reading from the prophet Isaiah is an excited
cry of joy that the very feet of the messengers who bring good tidings are
beautiful! Peace, happiness and salvation are all coming because God is king.
The messengers on the ruined walls of Jerusalem repeat the joyful cry that the
people will see the Lord face to face as he returns and in Jesus we do see God
face to face in our flesh. He comes like a king but not like any earthly
monarch. The very manner of his arrival shows that he will reign in a totally
different way and that he will turn the world’s values upside down.
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews
recalls the way in which God has spoken in the past and how now, everything is
changed because it is the Son who comes to reveal God to us. He is the perfect
image of God and, indeed, the Father’s Son. He is the One who sustains all
creation and who has overcome sin and death and he is at the Father’s side. He
is above all the powers of heaven and yet in him the mystery of the totally
incomprehensible God is revealed to us because we see God in someone who is
like us, Jesus.
The Gospel reading is, without doubt, one of
the most majestic readings of the year. It opens John’s Gospel and may well be
an ancient Christian hymn, summing up all that the Gospel writer wishes to say
about Jesus. He tells us who Jesus is and what he has done and how this action
of God in the human story takes place. This is the purpose of his Gospel.
The opening words of John’s Gospel reflect the
opening words of Genesis reminding us that in Christ there is a new creation.
In using the term ‘Word’ to describe the One who becomes flesh, the writer is
affirming that the purpose of a word is to say something and so this will be
the purpose of his whole text, to say something and to reveal God. The deeds
and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God made flesh in him. The Word
speaks out of intimacy with God and comes to give life, that fullness of life
for which humanity yearns. The Word comes to enlighten humankind. The Word
speaks God to us!
This text has inspired books to be written
about it and there is no end to what could be said about it so do read it
slowly and carefully, and not just once but more.
The writer anchors his story in history with
the coming of john the Baptist and he then goes on to say how the true light is
coming into the world that was created by him but which refuses to recognise him
but to those who do recognise him he gives life.
The words which dominate the whole passage are
‘The Word became flash and dwelt among us’ and in that man, Jesus, the very
glory of God was made visible.
In conclusion the writer reminds us that the
Law was given through Moses but through Jesus, the Word, have come grace and
truth, grace being the unsolicited gift of God in Christ, truth being the
revelation of the God who is in him.
This text has been revered more than any other
passage in the Gospels and in mediaeval times it was given an almost magical
quality but for us it must remain a constant source of revelation and joy,
worth reading over and over again with at its heart the wonderful words, ‘The
Word became flash and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth’.
Saturday December 26th. Feast of Stephen, deacon and first martyr
(+c.35)
Christmas is one of the two great feasts
together with Easter which have what is called an Octave. This means that the
feast is celebrated for eight days, each day being, as it were, a new
celebration of the feast and this is, of course, to emphasise its importance.
However, unlike Easter, the Christmas octave is
full of other celebrations so that almost each day we also remember an
important saint or event. For those who are interested in these things this
means that each day, the Offices of the Vigils and Morning Prayer and the Mass
are of the saint and Evening Prayer is that of Christmas Day.
Today then we remember the first person to lay
down their life for Christ, Stephen and this feast has been kept in both the
East and the West since the fourth century though the reason for it being
placed on this day seems totally lost. It is, in many ways, appropriate that
the first person to die for the Lord whose birth we are celebrating should be
celebrated now because it is a reminder that to follow this new born child will
not always be an easy path and may even involve laying down one’s life for him.
Stephen became enormously popular and the
discovery of his supposed relics in the fifth century increased that
popularity. These were moved from Kafr Gamala where they were discovered, first
to Constantinople and finally to Rome though some dismemberment took place.
The addition of the stones said to have been
used in Stephen’s martyrdom added to the popularity of the saint. All that we
know of him comes from the Acts of the Apostles which we read at Mass today.
Readings
Acts of the Apostles 6/8-10 :
Matthew 10/17-22
Stephen was one of the Seven deacons chosen by
the Apostles to look after the distribution of alms to the faithful, especially
the widows and they were to help with preaching. By his discourse before the
Council it is obvious that Stephen was well versed both in the Scriptures and
in the history of Judaism and he was an eloquent and forceful speaker. He was
able to make his defence of his faith by showing that Jesus was the fulfilment
of all that the Jewish people had been awaiting and for which they had been
longing. He ends by attacking his hearers for killing the Christ just as their
ancestors had killed the prophets. This was enough to make them accuse him of
blasphemy and, apparently, without trial, they took him out and stoned him to
death, a particularly gruesome and long drawn out method of execution.
Stephen brought his witness to a close by
affirming that he saw the heavens opened and the Christy, the Messiah at God’s
side. He then died as his Lord had done, forgiving those who were killing him.
Present at the execution and approving of it
was Saul,but we can only suppose that this incident may have stayed in his mind
and, perhaps, played a part in his conversion.
The first reading at Mass gives us the
beginning and the end of this story but it would be good to read the whole of
chapters six and seven of the Acts of the Apostles.
The Gospel reading has Jesus warning his
Apostles and, indeed, all his followers, that to follow him may involve
hardship and suffering and that they may be called upon to bear him witness.
Should that happen, Jesus says, we need not worry about what we are to say, the
Holy Spirit will help us and that was very evident in the case of
Stephen.Stephen and the other six deacons were chosen and set apart, above all,
to care for the poor and the needy of the community.
Today, as we still celebrate Christmas, it
would seem appropriate to remember all those for whom Christmas has not been
joyful, especially in the present circumstances when so many have had to be
alone. But we ought also to remember all those who are suffering throughout our
world, especially those in places where there is warfare and all those who have
been forced to become refugees. We have probably thought of them in the days
leading up to Christmas but they are still with us and we can best serve the
new born Christ by serving him in the poor and the needy. This is the witness
that we can give since we will probably not be called on to lay down our lives.
Today used to be called Boxing Day because it was the day for giving ‘Christmas
boxes’ gifts to those in need. Why not make a donation to some charity today to
honour the One who came to us so long ago in our flesh and who comes to us now,
especially in the flesh of the poor and the needy.
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