Nativity of Our Lord 25 December, Holy Family 26 December, Second Sunday after the Nativity 2 January
The Nativity of Our Lord Day Mass John 1:1-18
The readings considered here are those of the Mass during the day. John refers to him as ‘the Word’, for God has finally spoken his fullest word to the human race and as ‘the Light’, for he brings truth and direction in our darkness. We are invited to renew our faith and welcome the Word of light into our lives again.
Do I appreciate that the birth of Christ is God’s loving invitation to change my life?
Do I welcome the Word of life and light into the dark corners of my life?
We pray that the feast of Christmas will bring many to reconsider the Christian message.
Let us open our hearts to the grace and truth of God.
The Feast of the Holy Family Luke 2:41-52
Today’s gospel brings us a rare glimpse of the ‘hidden life’ of Jesus, the years spent under the care of Mary and Joseph. We encounter the mystery of the Son of God who has become man. He is fully human and subject to his parents, but from his earliest years Jesus is involved in his Father’s affairs. Luke stresses the anxiety of Mary, foreshadowing the three days of anguish when Jesus dies
What does this story of Jesus’ adolescence really teach us?
How is Luke preparing us for later events in the gospel story?
Let us pray with patience with ourselves and with others as we seek to grow in wisdom.
Let us pray for all our young people that they will be open to doing god’s will.
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Luke 2:16-21
One week after Christmas Day, we are asked to focus on the role and on the behaviour of Mary, the mother of the Messiah. The coming into a human life of the Son of God could only happen with the collaboration of Mary. Her response was a courageous and generous ‘yes’. Her yes is a turning point in history for it enables the Son of God to become a human being. Her ‘yes’ is an example to all those who, like Mary, endeavour to do the will of God by following Jesus.
Do I appreciate the courage and love of Mary and see her as an example?
Do I imitate Mary’s silence and her pondering of God’s goodness in her heart?
We pray that we may follow the example of Mary, the first servant of Jesus Christ, who listened to God’s word and responded with generosity.
We open our hearts to God at the beginning f a new year, that God may bless us and keep us day by day.
Second Sunday after Christmas John 1:1-18
This Sunday offers us the opportunity to reflect quietly with the help of the Scripture readings on the deeper meaning of the coming of Christ. ‘The Word was made flesh and lived among us’. Many will reject the Word, but those who accept him become children of God. We have all received from the fulness of the Word and in Ephesians we bless God who has chosen us in Christ to be adopted sons and daughter.
How can we ever fathom the marvellous love of God who humbles himself to share in our humanity?
Do I appreciate or simply forget that I am an adopted child of God?
We pray that the feast of Christmas will shed light on our darkness.
Let us open our hearts to the grace and truth which comes to us in Christ.
Fr. Adrian Graffy
Second, Third and Fourth Sundays in Advent (Year C) 5, 12, 19 December 2021
Second Sunday of Advent Luke 3:1-6
One of the great characters of the Advent season is John the Baptist, the prophet who prepared the way for Jesus. Luke gives an extraordinarily detailed list of the public officials who were in office when John and Jesus began their work and in this way they enter the real world of history, a world in which power and position dominate events. John’s work is to travel around the region near the Jordan river proclaiming ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’. The whole of creation is described as getting ready for the coming of the Lord. Luke makes clear that the Messiah comes to offer salvation to all nations.
How does the preaching of John the Baptist speak to me today?
Do I welcome the coming of Christ as a gift for all the people on earth?
Pray for the wisdom to see that God still cares for the real world of our day.
Pray for the zeal of John the Baptist to bear witness to Christ as he did.
Third Sunday of Advent Luke 3:10-18
Luke‘s gospel gives prominence to John the Baptist as a social reformer. The question ‘What must we do then?’ resonates through this reading. We are called upon to share with the hungry and with the needy, to act with justice and to avoid violence, john speaks of the mission of the Messiah, that he will wage battle against the forces of evil. The baptism he brings will demand a choice between working for goodness, truth and justice, or working for lesser and contrary aims. The overwhelming atmosphere here is of joyous anticipation of the one who will bring the good news, and who is the good news, the one who will bring healing, forgiveness and new life. We sense already the profound joy of the coming of the saviour.
What demands of justice and non-violence does the gospel bring me today?
Do I welcome the coming of Christ as good news in the deepest sense?
Pray for those who strive for a just distribution of the world’s riches.
Pray for the grace to ‘live simply so that others can simply live’.
Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke1:39-44
Today’s gospel passage is unique because it presents a meeting of the two mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, the deeper significance is that it is also the first meeting between the Messiah and the one who will prepare the way for him. The child in the womb of Elizabeth recognises the coming of the Lord. What John will do during his adult life, preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah, is anticipated here in the tender meeting of the two mothers. As we continue the reading of the gospel beyond today’s passage we hear the words of Mary’s hymn of thanksgiving, the Magnificat..
What can we learn from the behaviour and attitude of Mary and Elizabeth?
How ill the coming of Christ change me’
Pray for all mothers that they may welcome the children of their womb.
Pray for a deep spirit of thanksgiving for God’s goodness.
Fr. Adrian Graffy
First Sunday of Advent (Year C) 28 November 2021
Luke 21:25-28.34-36.
It may come as a surprise that on the first Sunday of Advent we are suddenly immersed in Luke’s version of the long speech of Jesus concerning the future and the end of time. We just need to remember that in Advent we look forward both to the first coming of the Son of God in Bethlehem, and to his glorious return. Our gospel passage speaks of the Son of Man coming ’with power and great glory’ In the Creed we say ‘He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.’ What should our attitude to this coming be? Our gospel reading tells us.
There may be great horrors to witness and endure. We have seen plenty of these in recent years. Jesus tells us not to fear the violence of men, or the devastation nature can bring. Jesus tells us to ‘stand erect and hold our heads high’. Jesus speaks of our coming ‘liberation’. Since Jesus has conquered sin and death and demonstrated that the love of God is stronger than both of these, we have no need to fear.
There is also some timely advice for our daily lives that our hearts should not be ‘coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life’. Our faith in Jesus means that our very life-style will change and will challenge the values and behaviour of our contemporary society.
Finally, we are told to ‘stay awake, praying at all times’. We do not know the day or the hour in which the Lord will call us. But as Christians, though we may still fear the process of death, we know that death is the gateway to eternal life.
Does my faith really inspire the whole of my life?
What is my attitude to the future and the end of my life on earth?
Let us pray for all those who are fearful today for whatever reason.
Let us pray with the early Christians ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!’.
Fr. Adrian Graffy
Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) 7 November 2021
Mark 12:38-44
We are approaching the end of our reading of the gospel of Mark. Today’s reading provides a contrast: the self-assured scribes parading their virtue, and the humble widow offering all she had to live on.
Jesus attacks the hypocrisy of those religious people who make an outward show of virtue, but whose hearts are full of greed. His words against such behaviour are harsh: they will receive a severe sentence. Such texts as this are sometimes used as a pretext for a general denigration of all the teachers of Judaism. We must bear in mind that the gospels also tell us of good and virtuous scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus observes the generosity of the poor widow. Unlike the scribes he has previously criticized, she does not trumpet her virtue. Almost unnoticed, she gives all she can for the upkeep of the temple of God. Jesus then ‘called the disciples and said to them’. In this way the evangelist underlines this teaching of Jesus.
Our first reading, from the Book of Kings, portrays another widow, the widow of Sidon who is suffering from a punishing famine. Like the widow in the gospel, she shows remarkable generosity and trust in God. Though she does not have enough for herself and her son, she agrees to prepare something to eat for Elijah too, with remarkable consequences. Her example of faith is recalled by Jesus in chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel.
Do I parade my good deeds before others in order to appear better than I am?
Am I prepared to take risks in being generous?
Let us pray for a spirit of thankfulness and generous sharing of what we have.
Let us pray that those who are immersed in selfishness will take up the call to share with the poor.
Fr. Adrian Graffy
All Saints (Year B) 31 October 2021
Matthew 5:1-12
The feast of All Saints gathers together in one great celebration all those who throughout history have sought for God and found God in Christ. We celebrate our belonging to the great ‘communion’ of sains’ and long to be fully united with those who have gone before us ‘marked with the sign of faith’. Should not our celebration include all those who in seeking what is true and good have searched for the one, true God?
Our gospel contains the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. In these ‘beatitudes’ Jesus teaches us about the values, attitudes and actions of those who truly seek God. They do not seek their own advantage. Jesus promises the rewards of the kingdom for those who live in this way.
We are born into the life of the saints, of God’s holy people, through our baptism and faith in Christ. But our other two readings for this feast look forward to the future life of the saints. John reminds us in the second reading that we can have no idea what our future will be like. But, he says, ‘we shall be like him’. Christians are assured that they will be brought into the very life of God.
The book of the Apocalypse, or of Revelation, with its colourful vision of the future, is perhaps best suited to help us yearn for the life of God. It shows us that this life is for the present beyond our imagining. We know of it only through visions and images. In the vision depicted here we see those who have ‘been though the great persecution’. We are reminded that so many of those who follow Christ in our day still give their lives in martyrdom.. That way of following Christ may not be asked of us, but self-giving after the example of Christ is.
Do I treasure my membership of the Church, the holy people of God?
Do I try to make real in my life the simplicity of the beatitudes?
We celebrate being one with our brothers and sisters in the communion of the saints.
We pray for all the faithful departed that they may have the fulness of life.
Fr. Adrian Graffy
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) 24 October 2021
Mark 10:46-52
With this gospel passage we reach the end of chapter 10 of the Gospel of Mark, and, more significantly, we are reaching the end of the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem. St the beginning of the next chapter Mark will recount the triumphal entry of Jesus into the holy city. During the journey Jesus has spoken on three clear occasions of his coming suffering and death, and he has attempted to teach the disciples about the mystery of martyrdom, the martyrdom which he and they must face.
What place does our present passage have in the story? Bartimaeus reminds us of the basics as he sits ‘by the road’. Human beings are in need of healing and forgiveness, and these are the things that Jesus provides. He calls out to Jesus with the title ‘Son of David’. He has an inkling that he is the Messiah, but he will have had little idea that the Messiah is called to suffer and die min Jerusalem. Nevertheless, his call of faith is heard and Jesus in turns calls Bartimaeus to him. He is told to ‘get up’, an expression which would have reminded the early Christians of the resurrection. His rising up in faith and his subsequent healing point to the full gift of new life through faith in Jesus.
The gift of sight to Bartimaeus symbolises the gift of faith. Faith allows us to see with open eyes and a true heart. Unlike an earlier healing of a blind man in Mark, Jesus heals by word alone. The faith of Bartimaeus triggers the command of healing from Jesus. This time there is no delay in the healing. Bartimaeus receives his sight without delay. He becomes a disciple and follows Jesus along the road, exultant, on the last stages of the journey towards Jerusalem.
Do I seek true vision?
How determined am I to be healed by Jesus and to become his disciple?
Let us thank God for the light of faith.
Let us pray for all teachers of the faith that they may bring the light of truth to those to whom they minister. Fr. Adrian Graffy