#also Martin as a character is very much me fr so that may be also why it hits

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

Decided I kind of wanted to gush about this on tumblr a little, because it’s important to me I think, and maybe others will be in a similar boat!

Being in an MLM relationship, I often find that for me, representation that I see myself in, especially in the media I personally enjoy, is astoundingly hard to find. I imagine that’s more of just a personal thing, and I’m sure there’s a lot of MLM representation others relate too, which I’m glad, but for me it’s always been a bit of a struggle.

I think Jon and Martin are one of the first times I’ve ever had a canon MLM relationship that just clicked, that felt real to me in a way others hadn’t before. I think it may have something to do with the fact both are deeply traumatised characters who are still allowed to be in a relationship, which sounds weird, but I’ve had a lot of awful fandom experiences regarding traumatised characters and romantic relationships, and the idea it’s inherently wrong unless they’ve been through intensive therapy first, or they’ve magically recovered and solved all their issue, and so to have a relationship between two men that acknowledges their trauma, shows them trying to work through it together, while still having arguments, acting irrationally, and snapping at each other unprompted etc… it doesn’t hide the messy side of PTSD/C-PTSD, I guess is the way to put it, and that’s so important to have!

They are their own people with their own problems and beliefs and so sometimes they clash — they aren’t a unit all the time. I imagine, had the Eyepocalypse not have happened, they would have had more time to tackle their boundaries and respective traumas and responses in a better environment, leading to a healthier relationship, but, unfortunately, they didn’t have that, and so we get all the raw stuff, and I’m genuinely glad we do. These characters clicked with me more for it, as did their relationship.

Realistically, Martin and Jon’s relationship is far too complex to truly cover In a post that’s just about gushing, but seriously, it’s insane how well written and grounded their responses are, and for that, I see myself in them and their struggles.

There’s also the element of Jon being Bi-Ace like myself, which isn’t an identity I expected I be represented in such a popular series, let alone in a character I loved. It just makes me happy, honestly.

I don’t get this feeling a lot, and I think it’s a show of how important varied representation is. Sometimes stuff is messy, and it isn’t always perfect, and you have to work through that, and maybe it’ll be okay in the end.

[mycupofteafanzine]

My Cup of Tea contributor announcement: part 1!

We are excited to share our list of artists in the zine! You can also find our cosplayers and writers here. See below the cut for links to their socials and their answers to the question: Why do you love Martin?

Ghoulie | tumblr

Oh man, what's not to love? I fell for him immediately for his sweet nature and softness and ended up admiring his inner strength even more. I see so much of myself in him and he makes me want to be better by killing with kindness and finding beauty and love for others even in the loneliness.

Willow | tumblr twitter insta

martin is just a silly little guy. he is one of my favs of the tma cast bc i love his voice tbh LMAO

Bori | tumblr twitter insta tiktok

He's such a sweet character while also being an absolute bitch when he wants to and I just love that for him!! 80% of my love for him stems from "he's just like me fr" and the other 20 is just "he's so effortlessly funny, damn mister there's-a-door-in-the-way"

Charlie | tumblr

He absolutely steals the show--Where else are you going to find someone with an aficionado for spiders, tea, and lying? The perfect man's right here.

Pikachic | tumblr youtube

The second I heard his voice in podcast I was like “oh no I’m going to love this guy aren’t I” and I was right! I initially just liked him because he was the nice one, but I found myself relating to him a lot and I loved seeing his character arc unfold.

Wormthist | tumblr insta

I really enjoy his growth as a character over the series!

Elias | tumblr

I relate to him, I feel loneliness in a very similar way and I'm way too nice and forgiving to people who may not deserve it. When Annabelle said "Because you always managed to get what you wanted through smiles and shrugs and stammerings that weren’t nearly as awkward as they seemed." I had to reconsider a few things about myself. Also I adore whenever he gets to be a bit bitchy, he's just an interesting character overall.

Sprig | twitter insta

I love Martin because of how passionately loyal he is. It takes a truly special person to prefer the world ending over losing someone they love. He deserves as much love as he gives out.

Dol | tumblr

I’m bad at putting feelings into words, but let’s give it a shot. Martin is a well written and complex character, and his arcs throughout the podcast really gets to me— but in a good way! A lot of the things that he say in relation to the Lonely and general loneliness hits quite a bit close to home, and not to mention his responses to situations and the occasional comedic/light-hearted moments that just,, make him Him! He’s portrayed realistically to me (or, well, as realistically a horror anthology podcast can be), and is just,,, a really good character trying to make the best out of the situation he is given. But I get sad thinking about him so thinking of him being happy is also ideally the short version to this aha

Squeeney | tumblr insta

I really connected to his storyline with the Lonely and his overall struggle to be the one that 'keeps it together'. He's incredibly multifaceted, like many characters in TMA, and I love the way his character is explored through how others choose to perceive him and his actions.

GUTPUNKS | twitter insta neocities

squishy

saintmalev | twitter

He represents that we can all just but that little guy who can do great things and fall in love. The epitome of 'the littlest people can make the biggest difference'.

Ochre | tumbr ko-fi

he tries his best <3

yakov-ukha | tumblr

Great guy, hater of rollercoasters, overall exquisite person.

Lee | tumblr

Martin has been such a relatable character to me and thats why I first started liking him. I slowly fell in love with how silly, cute and sweet his character can be.

Hawkfurze | tumblr

I love him for being both a sweet character and being so so flawed, its much more interesting than the blundering sweetheart they could have went with

Butzenscheibe | tumblr

he's a great representation for all us people pleasers, those guilty of self isolation and people with hearts big enough for everyone but themselves. he is someone you're not sad to recognize yourself in and it's a thing of great importance

Jox | tumblr twitter tiktok

Mmmartin,,, Martin is a huge comfort character for me and I heavily relate to him alot, i love his character development over the series and his interactions/ appearances too. I found that he was the first character i started liking when first listening to the magnus archives !

Mossii | tumblr tiktok youtube

mmmmmmartin. I think he's an incredibly well written character. The way he interacts with and is affected by trauma is very well done, not to mention how it then changes the way he experiences and approaches relationships. Overall he's a very three-dimensional character, something that probably isn't easy to create with an audio-only format. Also he's sassy.

K.M. | tumblr

I’m accidentally a Jon kinnie so did I really ever have a choice? Big /jk there. An honest answer would have to be how much he kept surprising me- kept me coming back for more!

Gammija | tumblr insta

There's a lot of answers to this, but most of all I love how multi-faceted he is. He's kind, a people pleaser, he wants everyone to be happy, and he's passive aggressive and needs his alone time. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he lies about stuff all the time. He avoids acknowledging the awful truth as long as possible, and he has already considered the worst case scenario. And on top of all that he likes spiders. Character of all time.

Xenoglssie | tumblr

I like that he’s sympathetic and emotionally intelligent, but also kind of really mean. He’s a really well written character.

Leland | tumblr insta

Because he's Martin!

Wyatt | tumblr insta

"I can't hear you, Elias, there's a door in the way" or whatever the quote is ywy

Taro | tumblr insta

I have a crush on him <3 also because he's such a multifaceted character with so many layers to him. I love his bitchy side and his sweet side. He's very dear to me and I relate to him in some aspects.

Candlecoo | tumblr

Martin is just such a strong character emotionally, he is the teams rock taking the blunt of everyone's (mostly Jon's) outbursts yet still comforts them when he can. He's not perfect but he try's. and I think that's rather admirable. He's also really funny and relatable too, but that's just an added bonus.

FateSpoiled | twitter insta

It's Martin, have you seen him? No but, for real, he's such a sweet character who goes through so much across each season, and grows from each experience. His character development from that soft, bumbling idiot (as John portrays him) into the Antichrist's +1 is beautiful to watch, and, quite frankly, I love his voice!

Starryspells | tumblr twitter insta

Martin is a character that slowly found his way into my heart! He has so much depth to him beyond first glance, and I really resonated with his story and feelings! I’m overwhelmed with gratitude at the opportunity to express my love for this character!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Rereading Emma, I’m noticing the degree to which it includes an inversion of Sense and Sensibility: in both of them, a young man is in a secret engagement with a poor woman of whom his family would strongly disapprove, but he appears to have fallen in love with another young lady whom he met after the start of the engagement. In both of them, the woman he is engaged to notices this other attachment.

The contrast is in the utterly different personalities of Jane Fairfax and Emma relative to Lucy Steele and Elinor. Lucy is posessive and feigns friendship with Elinor in order to taunt and watch her, whereas Jane is distant from Emma and would rather break the engagement than have him marry her out of obligation. In personality, the compare-and-contrast effect is heightened by Jane Fairfax and Elinor Dashwood - in opposite positions in the real or supposed triangles - having extremely similar personalities: reserved, polite, self-controlled, valuing morals and good behaviour over personal comfort, and willing to bear patiently with difficulties.

Emma, however, behaves extremely badly by Jane in spreading (if only to Frank) the groundless speculation of a romantic connection between Jane and Jane’s friend’s husband. In addition to this being extremely insulting in particular to a woman like Jane with very high moral standards, Emma (not knowing of the engagement) is under the impression that Jane is going to be a governess, and being suspected of such a thing, if it got spread around by gossip, could be extremely destructive to Jane’s job prospects. Though Emma has no real malice, one could easily see Jane feeling similar about her to how Elinor feels about Lucy.

The other contrast with S&S, of course, is that neither Emma nor Frank is either in love with each other; they just have a lively friendship and enjoy other people shipping them (Frank to conceal his actual engagement; Emma for reasons of vanity and because he’s really the only person who’s both socially eligible and close to her age that she’s ever met in her limited social circle).

The other thing that stands out is that, relative to Austen’s other novels, Emma is much more of a sitcom. Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion all have comparatively linear narratives revolving around 1-3 relationships involving the main characters. Emma’s much more episodic, without either Emma or Mr. Knightley realizing their feelings until later in the book, and with very low stakes for both of them through most of the book. Austen’s novels seem to alternate in this way. Northanger Abbey (written first, but not published at the time) satirizes popular melodramatic novels, and so to a lesser degree does Sense & Sensibility. The lighter and wittier Pride & Prejudice is followed by the more serious and sober Mansfield Park, which is clearly in conversation with P&P with the strong parallels and contrasts between the two in characters, relationships, and scenes. Then the lighter and more comedic Emma follows the more serious MP, and is in term followed by the more serious and dramatic Persuasion. This feels deliberate on Austen’s part, and would have given her contemporary readers a good amount of variety.

Emma’s an interesting character in that, while her flaws (mainly her snobbishness towards the Martins and how manipulative she is regarding Harriet’s interactions with them, as well as her bad behaviour to Jane) do bother me more than any of Austen’s other protagonists, she also has virtues I couldn’t imagine having (her father is so aggravating, and she’s so patient and tactful and good at understanding how to manage his interactions with guests in a way that is comfortable for everyone). Really, despite very different social classes, Mr. Woodhouse and Miss Bates are notably similar in being very kind and well-meaning but also very irritating, and taking a long time to say very little. I feel like that may be an intentional parallel.

My sympathies in the book (apart from Jane Fairfax and Mr. Knightley) are most with Mr. John Knightley, Isabella’s husband, and if I were in the book he’s probably the one I would most enjoy spending time with. I too would get annoyed sometimes with many of these people! I too weary of meaningless small talk and local gossip! I could happily accept a little occasional ill-humour from him in exchange for the rare blessing of thirty minutes’ rational conversation.

[feliciamontagues]

My Ranking of Every Hercule Flambeau Episode (S01-S08)

There are some spoilers for S7 and S8, but they are fairly vague and pretty much the sort of thing that you might see on the official press release. So not true spoilers as such. Also this is totally subjective and the result of my own personal biases. It’s also behind the cut because it’s looooonnng. 

8. The Two Deaths of Hercule Flambeau (s06e10)--

So, this episode is *fine*. It’s hardly the worst episode of the show, but it’s easily the weakest of the Flamby eps, despite their being a few isolated moments I enjoy. (Hercule getting a long overdue bedroom scene for one :P)

My main gripe is with this episode is the uneven way Lisandra Flambeau is written. The script seems to flip-flop over whether we are supposed to find her sympathetic or not.  On one hand,  many scenes imply that she genuinely loves Hercule despite them having a shotgun marriage after only a few days of knowing each other. On the other hand, she does not hesitate for a minute before poisoning an innocent (Fr. B) for no other reason than to hurt Flamby, which makes her lose a lot of sympathy points.

And as a result, it seems to make Flambeau seem like more of arse than normal for betraying her, while somehow also absolving him of responsibility for doing so, because she turns around and does *THAT.*

And ngl, it does make me a little uncomfortable that while the character of Lisandra (as an Italian) is possibly not meant to be interpreted as a POC, the actress portraying her definitely is. (Sara Martins is of Afro-Portuguese descent).  Which makes the uneven characterization (and underwritten-ness) seem even more glaring, especially  when compared to that of the other (white) women in Flambeau’s life (his first love Rebecca and his daughter Marianne, arguably Lady Felicia as well). It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth even if  in all likelihood, the part wasn’t written with Sara Martins in mind.

I think a much more interesting approach to Lisandra would be to have intending to betray Flambeau all along. Maybe she had her own agenda for seducing Flamby, meanwhile he thinks he’s the one using her for his plan. Maybe she does develop some feelings for him along the way, but it only makes her hesitate for a moment before going ahead with her original plan. That way, she keeps her agency and isn’t reduced to the “woman scorned” stereotype while also leaving the writers free to ship Flamby with others in the future without seemingly endorsing guilt-free adultery .

Other random note: I can’t take  parts of this episode seriously because the “Crown of Lombardy” is very obviously Guinevere’s crown from BBC Merlin with no attempt to alter or disguise it. 

7. The Daughter of Autolycus (s04e05)--

Not gonna lie, I am not really a fan of “character has long lost relative that we’ve never heard of until now” plots. And that goes double when said long-lost relative is a child or sibling. As such my low ranking of this episode is partly due to unconscious personal biases against that trope.

That being said, if we had to get a long-lost relative that we’ve never heard of until now plot, I’m so glad we got Marianne--even if it takes her another episode to really live up to her potential. 

I have to knock off a few more points for Nero Hound as a villain. For one thing, he was played by Nancy Carroll’s real-life hubby, but they didn’t let let him interact with Lady F at all. Such a *waste.*  Also Nero Hound is far too similar a name to Nero Wolfe, and I’ve definitely confused them on more than one occasion). He’s also rather generic in my opinion, even compared to some of Flambeau’s other “generic mobster” rivals/associates like the ones in S8.

However, there are some moments in this episode I genuinely like--particularly the theft “imagine spot” and Flambeau’s bishop disguise in general. Plus, the scenes where Flambeau and Marianne appear together are excellent, as are the hints that Marianne will become a redemptive trigger in Flambeau’s life.

6. The Judgement of Man (s03e10)--

Again, the low ranking of this one may be due to personal biases.  In this case, I’m still low-key bitter--five years later-- at the BBC marketing department for baiting me with the idea of Flambeau actually interacting with the rest of the squad (esp romantic tiems with Lady F)  and then giving me the absolute minimum of Felicia/Flambeau flirting and no Flambeau/Sid and Flambeau/Mrs. M interaction.

But there are other reasons why this is in my bottom 3 Flambeau episodes. 

Honestly, I feel like an equally compelling episode about the Vatican’s complicity in Nazi art theft could’ve been made without having to insert Flambeau in it. I mean I suppose it does make sense to have the art thief character  in the art episode, but still I feel like both Flambeau backstory and important historical lesson about Nazis, the Church, and Jewish art suffer from being crammed into the same episode. 

That being said, Mrs. McCarthy’s duchess disguise in this episode cleared my skin, watered my crops, etc, which is why I’ve ranked it higher than the previous two. 

5. The Folly of Jephthah (s08e05)

It loses a few points because I got very exited about the idea of Marianne becoming Bunty’s thief gf cool new friend, and yet in the episode itself, they only shared one scene and didn’t really interact much in it. That being said, I did like like that Bunty and Mrs. M had a bigger role in this episode than the squad usually gets in Flambeau episodes. 

Overall, I feel this episode works a lot better than most of the other “backstory-heavy” Flambeau episodes, because we’ve already gotten the Marianne-related exposition out of the way and can focus more on allowing her character, Flambeau’s and their relationship with each other to develop.

I’m also a bit smug in that I predicted (or at least hoped for) this exact character arc for Marianne within a few weeks of “The Daughter of Autocylus” airing and that my hopes came to fruition so beautifully.

It doesn’t particularly impact the ranking too much, but I do feel like this episode deserves a special shout out, because it has established a (hopefully-continuing!) pattern of Father Brown calling Flamby  almost exclusively by his first name, which is a major significant step in their bromance and deserves recognition as such. 

4. The Blue Cross (s01e10)--

As someone who was first exposed to Father Brown through reading the stories for a college course, I always find it especially interesting to look at the episodes that were adapted from Chesterton. 

This episode is neither the most faithful book-to-show adaptation (which is probably “The Three Tools of Death”) nor is it the best (imo “The Sign of the Broken Sword’) , but it is arguably the most significant. “The Blue Cross” was the first ever Fr. Brown story and is probably the most well-known. It’s also the first real look we get at the character of Flambeau, who (in the stories and arguably the show as well) is probably the closest thing we get to a clear character arc.

The show keeps some of the important elements of the short  story: Flambeau’s clergyman disguise, the switching of the packages. But it also has the challenging task of upping the relatively low stakes of the story, as well as introducing a major recurring character that resembles his book counterpart but remains distinct enough to justify the fairly different direction show canon is taking him. 

The show does this reasonably well--if not particularly imaginatively. I do enjoy some of the touches (I’ve written an entire meta before about Flamby’s reading material on the train and how it relates to his character)--particularly the show’s choice to have Flambeau fixated on religious art specifically (RIP for Flambeau’s Dairy Company though. It will always live in my heart).

Unfortunately in the adaptation, loses a few points for not really using the show-original characters particularly effectively. It loses still more for Flambeau’s characterization in this episode . He comes across as much more  serious and menacing in this episode than in all the others. It works okay when we consider this as a standalone episode but provides some glaring Early Installment Weirdness when we compare it to other episodes. 

3. The Penitent Man (s05e15)--

So as the rest of this list  will testify, I have strong preference for the “fun” Flambeau episodes over the more series ones. This is the exception that proves the rule--the  serious, cerebral, melancholy episode that simply “works” for me in the way that some of the others have not.

A lot of it is due to the more-intense-than-usual Flambeau character focus that goes into this. Sure, we’ve met his (presumably ex-by-now) wife, his daughter, and his first love by this point, but all of those episodes focused primarily on Flambeau as an extension of the relationships with others. (”The Judgement of Man”  in particular is far more Rebecca’s story than Hercule’s.)

Whereas this episode is very definitively focused on Flambeau himself and allows more nuanced exploration of two of the most defining facets of Flambeau’s character:  (1) his fascination with religion--and spiritual salvation in particular--  as  something he seems to resist and crave in near equal measure  (2) his almost masochistic streak of recklessness.

Even though Flambeau’s supposed “piety” is revealed to be all part of his heist plan, there are strong hints that his desire for redemption and atonement are at least somewhat genuine, even if he is not  ready to pursue them just yet. 

Off topic, but a few random things of note in this episode: this episode all-but-confirms bi!Flambeau, wet!Flambeau at the end is extremely relevant to my interests, Father Brown attempts to smuggle Flamby a lock pick from the beginning and has the audacity to say “ I only use it when I get locked out of the presbytery.”

Also, it has this iconic exchange:

Goodfellow: What is that awful smell?

Father Brown (covered in sewage): It’s me

2. The Honorable Thief (S07e10)-- So nearly all of the Flambeau-centered episodes from S3 on  have been a little preoccupied with filling in some of the gaps in Flambeau’s backstory, which is *fine*, but honestly, I feel like in doing so, they’ve really lost sight of why we fell in love with the character in the first place. 

 He’s vibrant and clever and funny and over-the-top. But most importantly, Flambeau is a lot of fun. Therefore, it follows that episodes that feature him should be a lot of fun too. 

And well... they are all fun in some way,  but they aren’t as fun as they really could be. John Light is insanely charismatic, but charisma can only go so far when the episode in question is a downer.

Fortunately, this episode is the furthest thing from a downer imaginable. It’s absolutely delightful from start to finish. The plot is serious enough to keep things engaging, but also light enough to keep us from getting too distracted by angst. 

I’m also incredibly biased in favor of this episode, because it finally gave me the Felicia/Flambeau ship tease I’d been passionately hoping for (if not really expecting to get after “The Judgement of Man” disappointed me). But it was so much and so good, and I wasn’t ready for it.

In a broader sense though, this episode really delivered with Flambeau/squad interaction in general--which was a key component that has been missing from most of the other episodes. And the Father Brown & Flambeau interactions were also has heartwarming and funny as they always are.

If I have one tiny little gripe with the episode, it’s that Daniel is not Sid. He has enough broad similarities with Sid that I can’t help but wonder if the episode was originally written with Sid and then hastily re-written when Alex Price couldn’t return. That being said, he was a likable enough guest character in his own right, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

1.  The Mysteries of the Rosary (S02e05)-- Perfection. Not only is this THE definitive Flambeau episode, but is also one of the best episodes of the show overall. It has everything: the birth of bearded Flamby, bromantic road trips, a treasure hunt, great guest turns from Anton Lesser and Sylvestra Le Touzel.

I think part of the reason this episode resonates so strongly with me is that it’s really the first proper sense that we get of Show!Flambeau as a character. Sure we officially met him in “The Blue Cross,” but considering he didn’t show up until halfway through the episode and was in disguise for most of it, we didn’t really get much of a sense of who he is.

This episode changes all that and sets Flambeau up as the character we will know and love for the rest of the series--charming, urbane, funny, passionate, a carefree carpe diem exterior masking (or overcompensating for?) a sense of uncertainty and conflictedness.

Somewhat off topic, but as great an episode as this is for Flambeau’s character, it is nearly as wonderful for both Sid and Father Brown’s characters. We get to see Sid’s  ease with Father Brown, the casual camraderie that the two of them have--as well as Sid’s protectiveness (and jealousy) when Flambeau decides to gatecrash their bromantic road trip. 

Honestly, there are so many things that are great about this episode that I don’t think I could possibly list them--but one little detail that really struck my the last time I watched was that the first proper glimpse we see of Flambeau in this episode (we see him in shadow in a flashback before) involves him  saving Father Brown’s life.  Whereas the last proper glimpse we see of Flambeau is after Father Brown has saved Flambeau’s life.  Thematic reversals. Cinematic parallels. We love to see it. 

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

27th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 10:22-30 for Tuesday, Fourth Week of Eastertide: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice’.

Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Reflections (11)

(i) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares, ‘the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice’. An essential element of following Jesus is listening to his voice. We are to be constantly asking ourselves, ‘What is the Lord saying to us? What is he saying to me?’ This is the action of discernment. We try to discern, in the circumstances of our day to day lives, what the Lord is asking of us, the path he wants us to take. The first reading suggests that Barnabas knew how to listen to the voice of the shepherd. When the gospel was first preached to non-Jews in the city of Antioch, and a new kind of local church began to be formed consisting of both Jews and pagans, the church in Jerusalem decided to send Barnabas to Antioch to investigate this new development. When he got there, according to the reading, ‘he could see for himself that God had given grace’. He discerned that this unexpected development was from God and that the Lord was asking him to support what was happening in Antioch. This Barnabas proceeded to do, urging the whole church to remain faithful to the Lord. Barnabas continued to listen to what the Lord was saying to him. He discerned that Paul who had recently encountered the risen Lord just outside Damascus would be the ideal person to give leadership to the church in Antioch. After all, Paul knew the Lord was calling him to be the apostle to the Gentiles and here was a church with a significant number of Gentile converts. So, Barnabas went to Tarsus and brought Paul with him back to Antioch, where Paul became a significant presence in that church. Barnabas inspires us to keep listening to what the Lord may be saying to us in and through the circumstances of our daily lives. It is said of Barnabas in that reading that he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. It is the Holy Spirit who helps us to discern what the Lord is saying to us. If we really listen to the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will work through us in ways that build up the church and enrich our world, just as he worked through Barnabas.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

The phenomenon of theft is much more common than it used to be. We are much more security conscious than we were in the past. We generally think of the phenomenon of stealing in relation to things, to objects of various kinds. We also know that people can be stolen. We refer to this as kidnapping or people trafficking. When this happens people are being treated as objects or things. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus declares that on one will ever steal one of his followers from him or from his heavenly Father. Jesus seems to be saying there that if we continue to seek to follow him, he will hold onto us. He is speaking here as the good Shepherd who is prepared to lay down his life so that the members of his flock can have life and have it to the full. There are no lengths to which the Lord will not go to hold onto us, to keep us in relationship with him. There are forces in the world that seek to undermine that relationship and even destroy it. Jesus was very aware of that reality. That is why he taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’. Yet this morning’s gospel assures us that the Lord’s hold on us is stronger than the forces which seek to remove us from him. All he asks is that we keep listening to his voice and keep trying to follow him. If we do that we can be sure that we will never lose the firm hold of the good Shepherd.

 And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus speaks as the shepherd who looks after each member of his flock and keeps them all united to himself. He says that ‘they will never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me’. He is declaring there that if we do our best to keep following him, if we keep on trying to listen to his voice, he will keep us faithful to himself. He will not allow the forces that are hostile to our relationship with him to get the better of us. Just as shepherd will not allow any of his flock to be stolen, because he is so protective of them, the Lord will not allow us to fall away from him, because he is so protective of us, as long as we want to remain a member of his flock and do not deliberately walk away from him. The gospel reading suggests that just as a shepherd holds his flock together, it is the Lord who holds the church together, the community of his followers. His investment in us will always be greater than our investment in him. We are being reminded that the life of the church and the quality of our own personal relationship with the Lord is not all down to us. Yes, we have a role to play; we have to listen to his voice and endeavour to go where he leads. Yet, his work on our behalf is always more significant than our work on his behalf.

And/Or

 (iv) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In the gospel reading Jesus declares that no one will steal his disciples from him. It is a very reassuring promise for all of us. Jesus is speaking as the good shepherd who defends the members of his flock in times of danger, who stands up against the thieves and robbers who intend to do harm to the flock. He is the good shepherd who is prepared to put his life on the line for his flock. Indeed he has already done so, laying down his life so that we may have life and have it to the full. We seek to follow the Lord in the knowledge that he will stop at nothing to ensure that we remain members of his flock, people who belong to his new family, the community of believers we call the church. Saint Paul had that same conviction which he expressed in his letter to the Romans when he said, ‘If God is for us, who is against us?’ God is for us in and through Jesus our good shepherd. The Lord will not allow anything or anyone to come between himself and ourselves. We have a part to play, of course. We need to listen to his voice and to keep him in view so that we can take our lead from him. Yet, the Lord’s part in our relationship with him is always so much greater than ours. Therein lies our confidence, especially in times of struggle and failure.

 And/Or

(v) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Barnabas who appears in this morning’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles is one of the most attractive characters in the New Testament. Barnabas was a nick name; it meant ‘Son of Encouragement’. He had a reputation for encouraging people. That is very evident from that reading we have heard this morning. When something new was happening in the city of Antioch, when pagans were coming to believe in Jesus as well as Jews, Barnabas was sent down from Jerusalem to look at what was happening. He like what he saw and gave them all great encouragement, urging them all to remain faithful to the Lord. He immediately went off to Tarsus to look for Saul, or Paul, who had recently come to faith in Christ and Barnabas encouraged him to go to Antioch and support this new development there. Paul went on to become a leading member of the church in Antioch. Barnabas was what we would call today, an enabler. That is part of the calling of each one of us. We are called to encourage one another in the faith, to help one another to grow in our relationship with the Lord, to enable one another to be faithful. That ministry of mutual encouragement was very important in the early church and is just as important today.

 And/Or

(vi) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Barnabas features prominently in today’s first reading. He is described there as a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. He was a leader of the church in Jerusalem and he approved very much of what he saw happening in the church of Antioch where the gospel was being preached not only to Jews but to pagans as well. He was also someone who had the insight to see that this new and exciting development in the church of Antioch was the perfect place for the recently converted Saul to exercise his gifts. Barnabas introduced Saul to the church in Antioch and Saul went on to become a leading member of that church, and the church became an important spiritual home for Saul. Barnabas was one of those people who made way for others, who have the generosity of spirit to see that that a certain situation could benefit from the gifts of someone else. Today we might call such a person a facilitator or an enabler of others. We all have a role to play in calling forth the gifts of others by recognizing situations that would be ideally suited to them and by creating space for them in which to work. The Lord may not be calling on us to take on some particular work but he may be calling on us to encourage someone else to take it on, as Barnabas encouraged Paul.

 And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus tells the Jews that the works he does in his Father’s name are his witness; what he does bears witness to his identity as the one sent from God. We bear witness to Jesus by what we say, but above all by what we do, by our works. In the first reading we have a good example of someone who bears witness to Jesus by his works. In Antioch Barnabas witnessed the new development of a community of believers consisting of both Jews and Gentiles. He then travelled all the way to Tarsus to encourage Paul to come to Antioch and to work among the believers there. Barnabas saw that the new development in Antioch was a great opportunity for Paul to use his gifts and he obviously saw that the church in Antioch could greatly benefit from Paul’s gifts. Barnabas linked a person and a place to the mutual benefit of both. This work of Barnabas allowed the risen Lord to continue his work. We all have opportunities from time to time to create openings for people that allow the Lord’s work to be done. Creating such openings for others is just one example of the many good works we can do that bear witness to the Lord.

 And/Or

(viii) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Many of us are concerned about break-ins at the moment. We are anxious lest someone might steal from us. We take various security precautions to prevent that from happening. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus makes reference to stealing. He declares that no one will ever steal his followers from him. It is as if Jesus is saying that he has such a strong grip on his followers that no one will ever take them from him against his will. When you reflect on that saying of Jesus, it is indeed very reassuring. Jesus will do all in his power to keep us united with himself and to prevent us from being taken away from him or falling away from him. Yet, there is something that we must do as well. In the gospel reading, Jesus also declares, ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice’. We need to pay attention, in some way, to the Lord. We try to hear what he may be saying to us; we seek to follow where he is leading us. If we do that, the gospel reading suggests that we can be assured that the Lord will do the rest. The Lord’s contribution to the relationship between us and him is much more significant than ours. Our ultimate salvation is much more the Lord’s doing than ours. Therein lies our confidence and hope.

 And/Or

(ix) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Barnabas features in this morning’s first reading. According the Acts of the Apostles, the name Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement’. It was a kind of a nickname given to him because he had a reputation for giving encouragement to others. He was an enabler; he brought out the best in others. We see that gift of Barnabas at work in this morning’s reading. Following on his conversion, Paul had returned to Tarsus, his home city. Barnabas could see that the emergence of a new kind of the church in Antioch, a mixed church of Jews and Gentiles, was crying out for someone like Paul, a Jew who had become the apostle to the Gentiles. Barnabas brought Paul from Tarsus to Antioch. Paul went on to make an important contribution to the life of the church in Antioch, and the church there, in turn, was a great support to Paul in his future missionary work. We all have the potential to be a Barnabas, to open doors for others so that the Lord can work powerfully through them. It takes a certain amount of humility to make way for the gifts of others. John the Baptist was such a person; he made way for Jesus, just as Barnabas made way for Paul. As parishioners of the parish of St  John the Baptist, we might think of ourselves as having a special calling to enable, to encourage, using our own gifts while also making way for the gifts of others.

 And/Or

(x) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks as the shepherd who will never allow any of his sheep to be stolen from him. Jesus invites us to imagine a shepherd who will stop at nothing to prevent any would-be thief from stealing even one sheep from his flock. It is an image that speaks to us of the Lord’s determination to hold onto us and prevent us from becoming separated from him. It is a consolation to know that the Lord is so devoted to us and so committed to our well-being, and, in particular, our ultimate well-being, our eternal well-being. As Jesus says in that gospel reading, ‘I give them eternal life’. Yet, we are not just passive sheep. When it comes to the Lord’s relationship with us, there is a role for us as well. The Lord will do all he can to hold onto us but we also have our part to play. In that gospel reading, Jesus declares that ‘the sheep who belong to me listen to my voice… they follow me’. The Lord is very attentive to us, but we need to attend to him as well. We try to listen to his voice, especially as it comes to us in the words of the gospels, of the New Testament as a whole, and, indeed, in all of the Scriptures. There are many voices competing for our attention today, but in the midst of them all we need to be attentive to the voice of the Lord so that we can follow him each day. We listen to him, we follow him, in the confidence that his devotion to us and to our ultimate well-being is unconditional.

 And/Or

(xi) Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter

Today’s first reading makes reference to the persecution of the early church. After the execution of Stephen, the church in Jerusalem experienced a time of persecution. As a result, many of the Jewish Christians there had to flee from the city. Yet, Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, highlights that this experience of persecution was actually a blessing for the church. Some of those who fled Jerusalem brought the gospel to places where it had not been preached, including the city of Antioch, where the gospel was preached for the first time to pagans. As a result of the success of this mission, Barnabas came from Jerusalem to Antioch to give encouragement to this new development, and, in his wisdom, he went to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch, recognizing that this was a church where someone like Saul or Paul could flourish. Barnabas was proved right. The church of Antioch became Paul’s spiritual home and the base for his missionary journeys. So, according to Luke, great good came from the persecution of the church in Jerusalem. Difficult times for the church can often be moments of renewal, of new and unexpected growth. The Lord works in life-giving ways in what can seem to be desolate places. Resistance, even hostility, to the church’s message can allow the Lord to work in new ways. In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks out of an experience of resistance on the part of some to what he says and does. Yet, as Jesus declares there, ‘the Father… is greater than anyone’. God’s work will not ultimately be derailed. This realization can keep us hopeful and energized in difficult times.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[paula-of-christ]

Traditional Femininity

This is both going to be a vague blog and an outright call out post of how myself and some other members have acted on here.

The first thing I want to start of with, being the most important and if you only read part of this, let it be the stuff before the cut, is an apology to @tradcatmaria. I don’t know her very well (we haven’t talked in a long time until recently) and so I wasn’t comfortable bringing up mild concerns I had regarding her relationship. Really, I’m a nobody online who is basing this off a very small portion of what I see through the internet. It is certainly one thing if I were more involved, and had gone to her, but I didn’t. I saw a post about concern for her and her views and mentioned it. While I may still have my feelings on the matter, Maria knows him much MUCH better than I do, and she knows herself as well. We are the same age and if some rando online made a comment about someone I was dating/engaged to, I’d be pretty upset too.

But this also brings up the fact that a lot of people were commenting and making posts about her, when she had largely no idea about it. How can we call ourselves Christians, or to follow Christ, without first following what is taught us in the bible, primarily the writings of Paul? To go to our brother (or sister) and bring it up to them, and only after they refuse several times to clarify or change their ways, is it proper to bring things to the public. And even then, I hardly think this applies to “online” publicity.

Which brings me to my next and lesser point, the idea that people “need” to clarify themselves or refute claims made against them online. Barring some serious allegations like rape/incest/racism/etc, by and large, people don’t owe you an explanation for the posts that they make. Such as, if I make a post about my dogs and the stuff we do together, and some PETA advocate asked me the specifics of how I take care of my dogs and what is going on, and then proceeds to assume things about me or my character, that’s obviously wrong. So why do we allow that in the Catholic community? Barring different opinions on rites and Latin Mass versus Novus Ordo, we are still brother’s and sister’s in Christ, and so owe one another the respect that is due, and the mercy that we would treat any of our brother’s and sister’s in real life.

To demand that something be made public because the original post was public is. . . dishonest at best. Simply because someone said something publicly does not mean that they need be reprimanded publicly. For example, Fr. James Martin would probably be much better reprimanded if his bishop and superior general sat him down and explained things to him, rather than other priests on twitter (or bishops) “calling him out”.

This call-out culture, rampant mainly on twitter and tumblr, is a symptom of cancel culture, and I’m not going to stand behind it anymore. We, as Christians, are to stand apart from the world. And through the grace and mercy of His Most Precious Blood, I will do just that.

[romancatholicreflections]

22nd October >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 12:13-21 for Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Be on your guard against avarice of any kind’.

Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 12:13-21

Fool! This very night your soul will be demanded of you.

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’    Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 12:13-21

And the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”    Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”

Reflections (8)

(i) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

The parable Jesus tells in today’s gospel reading is the story of a man who sought to make his life secure by holding on to and enhancing what he owns. At the beginning of the story he is already a rich man; he has more than he needs. When he has an even bigger harvest than expected, his only problem is how to store this unexpected bonus. The answer he comes up with is to tear down his perfectly good barns and to build bigger ones. His preoccupation with storing his surplus blinds him to other more important considerations, such as, ‘What might God be asking me to do with my surplus?’ ‘How can I serve others with this surplus?’ He was looking for security in the wrong place. He thought that a greater abundance of possessions would make his life more secure. However, death came to him in the midst of his abundance; his life could not be secured in the way he thought. Jesus is saying to us that what makes our life really secure is making ourselves rich in the sight of God. We become rich in the sight of God by recognizing that all we have is ultimately a gift from God to be shared with others. God graces us so that we in turn can grace others. If we make ourselves rich in the sight of God by living generously out of the abundance that God has given us, then our lives will be truly secure with a security that endures beyond this earthly life into eternity.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

We all place a high value on security, in its various forms. We like our lives to be financially secure; we like to feel that our job is secure, that our home is secure, that our health is secure, that we live we a secure society. Security is a very legitimate human need and requirement. In this part of the world we are likely to have more security that people who live in other parts of the world. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks about security of life. He says that a person’s life is not made secure by what he owns. Possessions can only give us so much security and no more. The man in the parable we have just heard made the mistake of thinking that possessions would provide him with total security of life. Jesus declares in the gospel reading that it is the person who is rich in the sight of God who will be secure in the ultimate and true sense of that word. We are rich in the sight of God when we live our lives generously, when we give of ourselves, as Jesus did, rather than hoarding for ourselves, like the man in the parable. We pray that the same generous spirit that filled the life of Jesus would also fill our lives, so that we would know true and lasting security.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

We all know that wills can be very contentious affairs. There has been many a family row over inheritance. In this morning’s gospel reading, such a family dispute is brought to Jesus’ attention. A man comes up to Jesus to ask him to intervene in a family dispute about inheritance. Jesus very wisely declines to get involved, and most of us would do the same in similar circumstances. However, Jesus takes the opportunity to give a teaching on what constitutes true riches or true security. We all like to feel financially secure. Jesus reminds us in that gospel reading, however, that we also need to be rich in the sight of God, because our ultimate security is to be found in God. Being rich in the sight of God means being generous with what God has given us, whether that be our earthly riches, our health, our time, our talents and gifts. The man in the parable is the ultimate hoarder; he hoarded everything for his own selfish purposes. For all his riches he ended up poor in the sight of God; for all his material security, his life was very insecure. This morning’s gospel reading calls on us to pay attention to where true security and lasting riches are to be found.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Issues of inheritance can be very divisive in a family. Family members have been known to fall out over wills. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus is portrayed as showing a great reluctance to get involved with a family dispute over inheritance. Instead, he takes the opportunity to give a teaching on the dangers of greed of any kind, and he illustrates his teaching with a parable. The main character in the parable comes across as rather insecure. He has had a wonderful harvest, but he is not happy. He immediately begins worrying about how he is going to store all his extra grain. He begins to be happy when he builds himself bigger barns to store all his extra grain and his goods. He begins to feel secure. However, having built all his barns he dies; he was storing all his goods for himself to secure his life, but it turned out to be a false security. Jesus’ comment on the parable suggests that we find our security not in storing up excessively for ourselves but in making ourselves rich in the sight of God, and we do that by emptying ourselves as Jesus did so that others might become rich. The message of the Scriptures is that God is our rock, our refuge, our security. If God is our security, then we are freed to give generously of what we have been given, after the example of Jesus.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus had a great capacity for telling very short but memorable stories. Many of this stories or parables involve more than one character, but this morning’s parable has only one character in it. He fills the story; there is no room for anyone else in there. That feature of the story reflects the character of the person of the centre of it. This rich man was so absorbed by his possessions, so self-absorbed, that there was no room in his life for others, especially for those who could have benefited from his abundance. There was also no room in his life for God. All his plans are for himself; he speaks only in terms of ‘I’ and ‘my’. Jesus is painting a picture of where excessive greed can lead to. The desire to keep acquiring can leave us blind to other, more important, realities; it can impoverish our relationship with other people and with God. Jesus contrasts that way of life, with what he calls ‘making ourselves rich in the sight of God’. The person who was rich in the sight of God more than any other person was, of course, Jesus himself and that was because, in the words of Saint Paul, ‘he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant’. Elsewhere Paul said that Jesus became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich, rich in the sight of God. We look to Jesus to understand what it is to be rich in the sight of God. We call on the Holy Spirit to form in us what Paul calls ‘the mind of Christ’, so that like Jesus we learn to empty ourselves, to become poor, in the service of others, and, ultimately, in God’s service.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

We have become more security conscious in recent times. We all want to feel secure in our homes especially when we hear of break-ins in the neighbourhood. At a deeper level we want to feel secure also. We want to secure our lives. We can sometimes look for security in possessions of one kind or another. In the gospel reading Jesus warns against seeking security in accumulating desirable objects. When someone comes up to Jesus asking him to intervene in an inheritance dispute, Jesus informs him that a person’s life is not made secure by what he owns. There can come a time in our lives when we realize this more clearly and we find a freedom to let go of what we have been hanging on to. We realize that possessing things is not meant to be an end in itself but rather what we possess is always for the good of others at the end of the day. This is a lesson that the rich man in the parable that Jesus spoke had not learned. He accumulated the goods of this world for the sake of accumulating. He stored them but they were serving no useful purpose. He made the mistake of thinking that accumulating and storing would make his life secure. However, when God suddenly called him out of this world, he stood before God a poor man. In spite of his many possessions, he was not rich in the eyes of God. Jesus calls us to be rich in the sight of God. This will often entail making ourselves poor for the sake of others, emptying ourselves in some way so that the lives of others are enriched. Jesus shows us the way. Saint Paul says of him, ‘though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich’.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Inheritance disputes can be very contentious. Families can fall out over such disputes. In this morning’s gospel reading an attempt is made to draw Jesus into a family dispute over inheritance. A man wants Jesus to take his side against his brother in the dispute. Very wisely, Jesus does not allow himself to get drawn into this dispute. Instead, he addresses the issue that is likely to be at the heart of the dispute, greed. Jesus recognizes that underneath the greed that seeks to accumulate can be a great insecurity. Some people accumulate more than they need and hang on to it because they want their lives to be secure. We all need to find some level of financial security. What Jesus warns about is thinking that genuine, enduring security is to be found in accumulating wealth or possessions. ‘A person’s life is not made secure by what he owns’, Jesus declares. This truth is illustrated by the parable of the rich man who put huge energy into accumulating, holding onto and storing large quantities of grain. His was a false security; when his life came to a sudden end, his real insecurity was revealed. He had built his house on sand. Jesus declares that genuine security comes from making ourselves rich in the sight of God. Jesus was the person who was supremely rich in the sight of God. Rather than accumulating, he emptied himself in the service of God and God’s people. Insofar as we can enter into that self-emptying love of the Lord, we too will be rich in God’s sight and our lives will be truly secure.

And/Or

(viii) Monday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus tells a story of a man whose whole focus in life is to accumulate more and more. He is already rich at the beginning of the story. Nonetheless, it seems what he possessed wasn’t enough for him. After an exceptionally good harvest, he decides to go on a building spree. He knocks down perfectly good barns and builds bigger and better ones to store his extra grain and make his future even more secure than it already was. It is a story of someone who is thoroughly focused on himself; his speech is peppered with the words ‘I’ and ‘my’. In commenting on his own story, Jesus declares that even though this man looked very rich, at a more fundamental level he was very poor, because he was not rich in the sight of God. In immersing himself in his own possessions, he had lost sight of God completely. He never spoke to God; he was not aware of God. Yet, God was aware of him, and, at the end of the story, God spoke to him. God never loses touch with us, but we can lose touch with God. When that happens, our life is impoverished, even if we are well endowed with this world’s goods. In a sense, the gospel this morning calls on us to put first things first, to put God before all else. Being rich in the sight of God is more important than being rich in our own eyes or in the eyes of others. We are rich in the sight of God when we live our lives in the Spirit of God’s Son, who, more than any human being, was rich in the sight of God.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[wailingwcmen-blog]

listen ya’ll — the excitement to be here ?? it’s REAL. lemme tell you how damn bad i’ve been waiting for a group like this ?? which may have you asking rachel ?? why tf are you late then ?? bEcaUSe WOrk. it’s a bank holiday in lil ol ireland so the stress is real my eight/nine hour swifts have been turning into thirteen-fourteen hour shifts and i want to die. anywhoot, enough rambling about me — under the cut you’ll find the t i n e s t intro ever to exist because.. ya’ll who doesn’t know about this iconic character tho ?? 

❝ was that HOLLAND RODEN? oh, no… it was just LYDIA MARTIN. she has been living in beacon hills for NINETEEN YEARS/ONE WEEK and is NINETEEN years old. i also heard she is a BANSHEE but i wouldn’t put much stock in that. i would say she is CISFEMALE and ENCHANTING & HEADSTRONG but MATERIALISTIC & BREAKABLE though. maybe she will survive this town. ❞

okay so first things first ..... pls ignore the length of time she’s been back in beacon hills for because i now know that it’s like august here so she would’ve been off college for the summer. 

soOO, she’s been hanging around for like ?? two months or so now

i should probably hit up the main about changing it but anywHOot.

so i’m really not going to go into any detail about lydia because it’s unlikely that anyone in this group doesn’t know who she is but i mean ?? if you don’t hmu and i will happily talk about this precious angel who deserves better for approx 39023 years. 

ya girl just wanted a nice summer home but her plans are being wRECked because of all this suspicious shit happening and it’s driving her genius-level brain wild.

she has a hella bad feeling about the whole thing tbh, and is very eager to figure out what in the mother fuck is going on. 

this was weaker than me when i see lydia martin tbh, but i worked a fourteen hour shift and i literally want to diE. i’m going to get up a starter and then i may or may not pass out ?? but if i don’t i’ll get to the other starters already available. pls !! hit !! me !! up !! if you !! want 1! to !! plot !! like .. fr this bitch is bEgGINg i’m thirsty for plots.

[fr-martin-gospel-reflections]

24th December - ‘Let what you have said be done to me’, Reflection on today’s gospel reading (Lk 1:26-38)

Fourth Sunday of Advent

It doesn’t happen very often that the fourth Sunday of Advent coincides with Christmas Eve. The Season of Advent has been shorter than usual. The waiting of Advent has been reduced to three weeks. On this eve of Christmas Day some of us may feel that we could do with a little more time to prepare for Christmas. We may feel that everything isn’t quite ready. Even apart from this year, with its short Advent, we often feel as we approach Christmas that everything isn’t quite right. Some of us may feel that everything isn’t quite right at a personal level or at the level of our family this Christmas. Christmas can have a way of magnifying the sense of everything not being quite right.

The same could be said of the scene that is placed before us in today’s gospel reading. The principal character in the scene is a young woman, perhaps only in her early teens, who lives in an unknown village in a province on the very edge of the Roman Empire. She is betrothed to a young man in her village, named Joseph. Betrothal was much more than our engagement. The couple had entered into a legally binding relationship, probably at the initiative of the two sets of parents. They were married in the eyes of the law, without actually living together as husband and wife, which would usually only happen after twelve months of being betrothed. Yet, it is revealed to Mary by God that during this time of betrothal she is to conceive and give birth to a son. This child would be her son, but would also be God’s Son. It is no surprise that Mary is portrayed as distressed and full of incomprehension. She was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the words of Gabriel. She asked her heavenly visitor, ‘How can this come about?’ There is a whiff of scandal about the whole scenario. What will people say when Mary’s child is born too soon, before herself and Joseph came to live together as husband and wife? The situation is somewhat messy for Mary and Joseph and their extended families. Nobody could have planned this scenario.

Yet, in the midst of this messy situation, God brought forth an extraordinary blessing, not just for Mary and Joseph, but for all of humanity. Mary’s child, who was conceived and born in what must have seemed suspect circumstances by the standards of the time, would be none other than the Son of God. The Holy Spirit was powerfully at work in what was, from a human perspective, a very unsatisfactory situation. Gabriel says to Mary, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow’. God is about to take up residence in the most difficult of circumstances. As a result, although neighbours may look upon Mary with suspicious eyes, God’s messenger declares her to be highly favoured and invites her to rejoice. Perhaps there is a message here for all of us. When all does not seem well with us, when our lives seem to us and to others to be somewhat out of kilter, we can be tempted to think that the Lord has abandoned us. Yet, perhaps it is above all in those times that the Lord is most intimately with us. It is often in those moments when we view ourselves or others view us poorly that the Lord is seeking to assure us that we are, ‘highly favoured’ in the words of today’s gospel reading.

The angel Gabriel declared Mary to be ‘highly favoured’. She was highly favoured because God had chosen her. It wasn’t that God chose her because she was highly favoured. Nothing is said in the gospel reading about Mary’s virtue or otherwise. In the passage that precedes our gospel reading, the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth and Zechariah, it was said of this elderly couple that ‘both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord’. Nothing similar is said of Mary. She is simply a very young woman in a little village of a remote province of the Empire. Yet, God mysteriously chose her and so she was highly favoured. Through God’s choice of Mary, God has chosen each one of us, because Mary’s child was God’s gift to us all. Because God has chosen us through Mary, we are all highly favoured, regardless of how messy our lives may seem to us or to others.

In the gospel reading, Mary displays a great openness to receiving God’s loving choice of her. Even though she does not fully understand how she could be so highly favoured by God, she welcomes this grace of God’s favour. She, thereby, opened a space in her life for God’s mysterious but loving purposes to prevail. Perhaps this is where we have something to learn from Mary. We can learn from her to allow ourselves to be graced by the Lord who has chosen us in his love and who relates to us as highly favoured. In whatever personal circumstances we find ourselves, our response to God’s loving choice of us can find no better expression than Mary’s final response to Gabriel, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.

Fr Martin Hogan

Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland

Parish Website:  www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Join us via our webcam

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17th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 1:1-17 for The 17th December: ‘A genealogy of  Jesus Christ’.

17th December

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 1:1-17

The ancestry of Jesus Christ, the son of David

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother, Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother, Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother, Obed was the father of Jesse; and Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Azariah, Azariah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah; and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place. After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 1:1-17

The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.    Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.    David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.    After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.    Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

Reflections (8)

(i) 17th December

Today we begin the Octave of Christmas. The readings, especially the gospel readings, relate much more to the birth and childhood of Jesus. The alleluia verses are a series of beautiful Advent prayers, each of which is worth making our own this Advent season. The genealogy of Jesus with its list of strange names may strike us as an unusual gospel reading. Why include it in the lectionary at all? Yet, it reminds us very forcibly of the humanity of Jesus. Yes, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but he was also a son of Abraham and a son of David. He belonged to the people of Abraham’s God, the people of Israel. Through Joseph, his father, he was a descendant of King David. Jesus was deeply rooted in the Jewish world and tradition. His family tree was a Jewish family tree. His Scriptures were the Jewish Scriptures. When God became human, he did so among a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time in history. Yet, God sent his Son into the world for all peoples, for every place and for all future time. Jesus, now risen Lord, is to be found among us, in this place, in this time. When God sent his Son into the world it was for everyone, in every time and place. The child Jesus was born not just to Mary and Joseph of Nazareth two thousand years ago, but to each one of us today. That is why we celebrate the birth of this child as good news for us, for me personally. Christmas is the time when we give thanks to God for the greatest gift he could have given us, the gift of his very self, the gift of his Son, who is light from light. Having given such a wonderful gift, God will never take it back. Because of the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph, we have all been eternally graced and we are called to live out of that grace.

And/Or

(ii) 17th December

The gospel reading we have just read is probably one of the strangest gospel readings of the church’s liturgical year. We might ask, ‘Why bother with that long list of names?’ It was clearly important for the evangelist Matthew to communicate some sense of Jesus’ family tree. There seems to be an increasing interest in family trees in recent times. More and more people want to know ‘Where have I come from?’ and ‘Who are the people who have helped to make me the person I am?’ Each of us is very aware that the story of our ancestors is an important part of our story. It is the part of our story that is below ground, like the roots of a tree. And where would a tree be without its roots? In a similar way, Matthew knew that the story of Jesus’ ancestors was a very important chapter in his own story. In Jesus’ genealogical tree that Matthew gives us there are a number of people who were anything but paragons of virtue. Many of them had what we would call today a dark side. Yet, Matthew is declaring that God worked through all of these people, including those whose character left a lot to be desired, to give the world its Saviour. Matthew’s genealogy reminds us that, in the words of Saint Paul, God’s power can be made perfect in weakness. Even when we are not at our best, God’s purpose for our lives and for the lives of others continues to work itself out.

 And/Or

(iii) 17th December

The gospel reading we have just read is probably one of the strangest gospel readings of the church’s liturgical year. We might ask, ‘Why bother with that long list of names?’ It was clearly important for the evangelist Matthew to communicate some sense of Jesus’ family tree. There seems to be an increasing interest in family trees in recent times. More and more people want to know ‘Where have I come from?’ and ‘Who are the people who have helped to make me the person I am?’ Each of us is very aware that the story of my ancestors is an important part of my story. It is the part of my story that is below ground, like the roots of a tree. And where would a tree be without its roots? In a similar way, Matthew knew that the story of Jesus’ ancestors was a very important chapter in his own story. The genealogy, the family tree, of Jesus that Matthew presents in this morning’s gospel reading stresses in the very first line that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David. As son of David, he is the promised Messianic King of the Jews; as son of Abraham he fulfils the God’s promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Jesus, the long awaited Messianic king of the Jews has come, not just for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of all the nations, and that includes all of us. Jesus may be a Jew, but he is the light of the nations.

 And/Or

(iv) 17th December

This morning we begin the octave of Christmas. The readings for these eight days are very specially chosen. The first reading invariably consists of one of the great Messianic promises in the Jewish Scriptures. The gospel acclamation on each of these eight days is also very significant. Each one is a beautiful prayer, a variation on the simple, ‘Come Lord Jesus’. You may have noticed the gospel acclamation for this morning’s Mass, ‘Wisdom of the Most High; ordering all things with strength and gentleness, come and teach us the way of truth’. The gospel readings for these eight days, apart from tomorrow Sunday, are all taken from the first chapter of the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. This morning’s gospel reading consists of the opening seventeen verses of the gospel of Matthew. It is an unusual gospel reading; it is tempting to ask ‘what is the point of that long list of names’. What was Matthew doing by beginning his gospel in this particular way? He wanted to show that Jesus was rooted in the Jewish people; his family tree included Abraham and Isaac, David and Solomon, and many others. Jesus was hewn from the rock of Abraham, like the remainder of the people of Israel. We are being reminded that the deepest roots of our own Christian faith are to be found in the story of the people of Israel. That list of names is anything but a list of saints; there are plenty of people whose lives left a lot to be desired; we only have to think of David. Yet, Matthew is saying that in some mysterious way, God worked through all of those characters to bring Jesus to humanity. Matthew is reminding us there that God can bring great good out of human sin and brokenness. That realization is not an encouragement to sin but it gives us hope that even when we fall short of our calling the Lord’s saving purpose continues to work itself out.

 And/Or

(v) 17th December

Matthew’s gospel opens with the genealogy of Jesus. You may wonder why it is given to us as a gospel reading at the beginning of this novena of days before Christmas. After all, it is only a long list of mostly unpronounceable names. We are being reminded that the child whose birth we are soon to celebrate did not just drop out of the sky. He was fully human and like all humans, all of us, he had an ancestry, he had a family tree. He had roots and he was shaped by those roots. When you look at that list of names, they are a very mixed bag. Many of them are far from being paragons of virtue. Yet, each of them played a part in the making of Jesus. Each of them ultimately served God’s good purpose. There will be good and bad in our own family tree just as there will be good and bad in our own personal lives. Yet, God can work in a life-giving way even through the darker and what we would think of as the more negative experiences of our lives. Every experience can serve God’s purpose if we remain to God’s presence to us. He is constantly at work in our lives bringing new life out of death and great good out of failure.

 And/Or

(vi) 17th December

Today we begin the octave of Christmas. The gospel readings from the 17th December up to and including Christmas Eve are all taken from the first chapter of the gospel of Matthew and of the gospel of Luke. This morning’s gospel gives us the opening seventeen verses of Matthew’s gospel, the genealogy of Jesus. You might be tempted to ask, ‘Why do we read these verses at all in our liturgy?’ What are we to make of this long list of unpronounceable names? At the very beginning of his gospel Matthew is telling us that Jesus is a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and of David. His roots and our roots as his followers are to be found in Judaism. Matthew was aware that many of those listed in the genealogy of Jesus were anything but paragons of virtue. Yet they had a role to play in the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, to all men and women, Jew and pagan. Matthew may be reminding us that God can work powerfully in and through flawed human beings. Our own personal frailties and weaknesses do not prevent God from working through us. Even though we may be far from perfect, we can still have a role to play in bringing Jesus, Emmanuel, to all those who continue to long for his coming.

 And/Or

(vii) 17th December

Today, the first day of the Octave of Christmas, we traditionally read Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Jesus. At one level it seems like a rather dry list of names. Yet, this is how Matthew has chosen to begin his gospel and this list of names clearly had great significance for him. It tells us that Jesus had an ancestry; he did not just drop out of the sky, as it were. This ancestry was solidly Jewish. As the first line of the gospel reading states, Jesus was ‘son of David, son of Abraham’. Matthew is reminding us that Jesus, and the church that emerged from him, have their roots in the story of God’s dealings with the people of Israel in the Jewish Scriptures. In this solidly male list of names, four women are mentioned, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah. They are all non-Jewish in origin. Matthew is suggesting that Jesus’ heritage line brought in Gentiles as well. Jesus’ initial concern during his public ministry was for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but he as risen Lord he sent his disciples to go out and make disciples of all the nations. The church, like Jesus, has deep Jewish roots, but is open to the world. Many of the named people in Jesus’ genealogy, both the men and the women, were anything but paragons of virtue. Matthew suggests that there were plenty of skeletons in Jesus’ cupboard. Yet, God worked through them all to bring us Jesus. The same can be true of our own ancestral story. Even out own personal story will not always be one of pure virtue. Perhaps one of the messages of this gospel reading is that the Lord can turn all of our experiences to a good purpose, both the sinful and the virtuous ones, both the darkness and the light. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good for those who love God’.

 And/Or

(viii) 17th December

Today, 17th December, we begin the octave of Christmas. The readings these days are special to each day. The Alleluia verse for these days is a special verse relating to the coming of the Saviour. They are lovely prayers in their own right, and would make a perfect prayer programme for these eight days. The Alleluia verse or antiphon for today is, ‘Wisdom of the Most High, ordering all things with strength and gentleness, come and teach us the way of truth’. The gospel readings for these eight days are all taken from the opening chapters of the gospel of Matthew and Luke, the story of the birth and infancy of Jesus. Today’s gospel reading is probably the strangest of all. Why do we read this long list of names on 17th of December? It is the genealogy of Jesus according to Matthew. This evangelist gives his version of the generations that led up to the birth of Jesus. In this way, he reminds us that this special child who has the unique name ‘God-with-us’, has a human ancestry. Like every human being, he has a family tree, a Jewish family tree. Jesus, the Son of God, is also the son of Abraham. Some of his Jewish ancestors mentioned in this list left a lot to be desired. Yet, God worked through them all to bring Jesus, God’s Son, to the human race in the fullness of time. The evangelist may be reminding us that God can always bring good out of what falls short of his desire for us. That is true of our own personal lives, as well. Even the darker experiences of our lives can serve God’s purpose for us, if we keep entrusting ourselves to God in love through it all. As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, ‘all things work together for good, for those who love God’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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20th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 7:40-52 for Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent: ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him’.

Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Gospel (Except USA)

John 7:40-52

The Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without hearing him

Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

   The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’ ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.’

Gospel (USA)

John 7:40-53

The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

   So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

   Then each went to his own house.

Reflections (9)

(i) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Many people today feel that nobody is listening to them; they are not being given a hearing. We may not end up agreeing with people’s opinion on something but we can still listen attentively to them and try to understand them. In today’s gospel reading, the temple police who were sent to arrest Jesus found themselves listening to him and, against their expectations, being greatly impressed by what he said, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him’, they said. However, the chief priests and Pharisees who had sent the police to arrest Jesus were completely closed to what Jesus had to say. They had made up their minds that he was not from God. Yet, one of their number separated himself out from his peers and challenged their refusal to listen with the question, ‘Surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ Nicodemus was insisting that Jesus was deserving of being given a hearing before judgement was made on him. It takes courage to stand up to one’s peers and express a view that is at odds with the consensus. A kind of herd mentality can easily dismiss someone who is seen as a threat to the position and status of the group. Every group, no matter how small or large, needs at least one person who, from time to time, sees through the prejudice and blindness that may lie buried within the easy consensus. Every group needs someone who is prepared to stand up and say, ‘Wait a minute! Let us not rush to judgement. We need to listen to this other point of view. It may have something to teach us. God may be speaking to us through this alien voice’. God was speaking through Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, even though the informed consensus was, ‘prophets do not come from Galilee’. Nicodemus inspires us to be open to the Lord speaking to us in ways we might never have expected.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Nicodemus features in this morning’s gospel reading. This is one of three times that he appears in the gospel of John. He appears for the first time at the very beginning of the gospel when he came to Jesus by night, drawn by Jesus and yet not quite ready to commit to him. He appears for the third time at the very end of the gospel in the company of Joseph of Arimathea, as, together, they arrange for Jesus to have a dignified burial. He is on a journey towards Jesus that spans the whole gospel of John. This morning’s gospel is the middle appearance of Nicodemus. He is a Pharisee and, yet, he has the courage to challenge his fellow Pharisees who have already made up their minds about Jesus, dismissing him because of his origins in Galilee, that remote region to the north, far from the centre, far from Jerusalem. Nicodemus insists that Jesus be given a hearing before coming to a judgement about him. He breaks with his peers, expressing a view which goes against the dominant view of his fellow Pharisees. As often happens to such people, his speaking up against the consensus meets with derision, ‘Are you from Galilee too?’ His emerging relationship with Jesus left him increasingly isolated in the world where he had been so much at home. The figure of Nicodemus reminds us that as we grow in our relationship with Jesus, there is often a price to be paid. We may find ourselves a lone voice among our peers. At such times, we know that the Lord is with us and we can say in the words of this morning’s responsorial psalm, ‘God is the shield that protects me’.

 And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Nicodemus features in this morning’s gospel reading. It is the second time Nicodemus appears in the gospel of John. Earlier in the gospel he had come to Jesus by night. He was a member of the Pharisees, a group generally hostile to Jesus in John’s gospel. Yet, there was something about Jesus that drew Nicodemus to Jesus, even if his first coming was under cover of darkness. In this morning’s gospel reading we find Nicodemus challenging the prejudice of his fellow Pharisees towards Jesus. He expresses the view that his peers are not giving Jesus a fair hearing. Nicodemus will appear one more time in John’s gospel, at the foot of the cross, when he assists Joseph of Arimathea in giving Jesus a dignified burial. Nicodemus comes across as someone who gradually made his way towards Jesus. His story reminds us that different people journey at different paces towards the Lord. The Lord respects the uniqueness of each person’s faith journey. The Lord relates to each one of us differently, because we each relate to him differently. Our response to the Lord’s call can be tentative at times, just as Nicodemus’ initial response was tentative. Yet, the Lord continues to call to us, and he is happy to wait until we are ready to take the next step in our relationship with him.

 And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

You remember the story in John’s gospel of Nicodemus, the Pharisee, who went to Jesus by night. He sought out Jesus under cover of darkness so as not to draw attention to himself. There he is again in this morning’s gospel reading, only this time he is drawing attention to himself. He is challenging his peers, his fellow Pharisees, to give Jesus a fair hearing, and not to prejudge him. His peers have closed minds, ‘Prophets do not come out of Galilee’, they say. Nicodemus is typical of those people of integrity who have the courage to keep seeking after truth, even in the face of great pressure to do otherwise. There are open to truth wherever it is to be found, even when taking the truth on board will be painful. Nicodemus is a man who allowed himself to be drawn by the light, in spite of peer pressure. Jesus had earlier said in John’s gospel, ‘those who do what is true come to the light’. Nicodemus is a gospel character who encourages us to keep on seeking the light of truth, no matter where it is to be found, no matter how challenging its finding might be. We know that that whenever we find the truth we will find the Lord, because the Lord said of himself, ‘I am the truth’.

 And/Or

(v) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Nicodemus features in this morning’s gospel reading. This is the Nicodemus who had earlier come to Jesus under cover of darkness and who, later on, would arrange with Joseph of Arimathea for Jesus to have a dignified burial. He appears three times in John’s gospel and this morning’s gospel scene in the middle one of the three. There we find him challenging his peers, his fellow Pharisees. They had already written Jesus off as a sinner. Nicodemus, however, was much more open; he felt Jesus should be given a hearing; it was worth the effort to find out what Jesus was really about. Nicodemus was open, not closed. He was also courageous; he was prepared to state his views about Jesus even though it brought down the criticism of his fellow Pharisees on his head. He was a seeker after truth and he was faithful to that search, although it was clear it would cost him a great deal. Nicodemus teaches us to keep seeking the Lord, in spite of the pressure to do otherwise. He encourages us to be true to what is deepest within us, even when it leaves us isolated in certain company.

 And/Or

(vi) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

I was very struck when Pope Francis came to the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica on the night of his election. Before he gave the crowd his blessing he asked them to pray for him in silence. A great hush came over them all as they prayed for him as he bowed down towards them. Only then did he give them his blessing. It was as if he was saying to them, ‘I need your prayers more than you need my blessing’. He was recognizing all of us as his partners on the journey that lay ahead of him. He spoke about the ‘camino’, the journey, the way, which we would travel together, bishop and people. His whole tone suggested that together we are partners on the journey of faith. We may have different roles in the church, and no one would envy Pope Francis his role, but we are one before the Lord, one in Christ, together members of one body, the body of Christ. That very respectful attitude of Pope Francis towards the people in St Peter’s Square and towards all of us in the church stands in total contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees towards the people in this morning’s gospel reading. Because some of the people were being drawn to Jesus, the Pharisees said, ‘this rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned’. It took Nicodemus, one of their own, to stand up and say, ‘Wait a minute. We cannot pass judgement on this man without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about’. Our calling is precisely that, to give Jesus a hearing, to take his word into our hearts and allow it to shape our lives. As Pope Francis has already reminded us, it is that relationship with Jesus which makes us church.

 And/Or

(vii) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

We hear a lot about peer pressure today. Young people especially seem quite susceptible to peer pressure in various ways. If something is not considered ‘cool’ by their peers it can be very difficult for them to take it on.  When it comes to acknowledging one’s faith and witnessing to it, peer pressure often works against young people. It is not easy for young people to witness to their faith in any kind of public way. That is why we all have to support those young people who are trying to do so, whether it is our young readers, our young Eucharistic ministers, our youth choir. They need role models to help them resist the kind of peer pressure that makes light of their faith. We all need such models. There is one such model in today’s gospel reading, Nicodemus. His peers, his fellow Pharisees, had already made up their minds about Jesus. He was leading people astray. Nicodemus, who was a prominent member of the Pharisees, challenged his peers, ‘Surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovery what he is about?’ He was saying to his fellow Pharisees, ‘Don’t prejudge Jesus. Give him a hearing’. If you remember, Nicodemus had already come to Jesus by night and had engaged Jesus in serious conversation. Like many a person who goes against his or her peers, Nicodemus incurred the disdain of his fellow teachers of the Law, ‘Are you a Galilean too?’  We need plenty of people like Nicodemus today who are prepared to risk isolation because of their faith, even if it is only an emerging faith, as was the case with Nicodemus. Indeed, we all need to have something of his courage and integrity today.

 And/Or

(viii) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Several questions are asked by a variety of people in today’s gospel reading. The question that stands out for me is the one asked by Nicodemus, ‘Surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ It raises the question for us all, ‘On what basis do we make a judgement about someone?’ Do we make a judgement after giving someone a hearing with an open heart and mind and after seeking to discover what he or she is really about?’ It seems that Nicodemus’ fellow Pharisees were ready to make a judgement about Jesus without having given him a proper hearing or making a serious effort to discover what he is really about. Nicodemus was prepared to stand up against the emerging consensus among his peers, a consensus that wasn’t well thought through or based on a genuine search for truth. Nicodemus’ independence of mind and spirit earned him the dismissive comment, ‘Are you a Galilean too? From the perspective of Jerusalem where many of Nicodemus’ peers were based, Galilee was a marginal area whose residents could be dismissed as rabble who know nothing about God’s Law. The figure of Nicodemus encourages us to think for ourselves, especially when it comes to our faith. He invites us to give Jesus a hearing and to discover what he is about, even when such a path is unfashionable. When it comes to witnessing to our faith or to our emerging faith, as was the case with Nicodemus, we will often need something of his independence of mind and spirit, something of his courage.

 And/Or

(ix) Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

At the beginning of John’s question, Nathanael asked the question in relation to Jesus, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Something of that same attitude is to be found among the Pharisees at the end of today’s gospel reading, ‘Prophets do not come out of Galilee’. Both are examples of what we would call prejudice, prejudging someone, judging someone before giving them a fair hearing. This is the criticism that Nicodemus levels against his fellow Pharisees in the gospel reading, ‘Surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ Earlier in this gospel of John, Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee, had given Jesus a hearing, even though he was perplexed by what Jesus said to him. We are all too familiar with the phenomenon of prejudice in our own day and the often very deadly consequences of prejudice. The temptation to prejudge someone is always real for all of us. We can all find ourselves at times asking the question, ‘Can anything good come out of ….?’ substituting something or someone else for ‘Nazareth’. The portrait of Jesus as found in all the gospels is of someone who, in the words of Nicodemus, gave people a hearing so as to discover what they were about. That is how the risen Lord relates to each one of us today. He takes it for granted that good can come out of us all, and he works to bring to pass that potential good in us. This is not only how the Lord relates to us, but it is also how he would like us to relate to each other.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

3rd September >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 5:1-11 for Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Put out into deep water’.

Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 5:1-11

They left everything and followed him

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.

When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 5:1-11

They left everything and followed Jesus.

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Reflections (7)

(i) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Simon and his companions had worked hard all night fishing but had caught nothing. It is often the way that our hard work can appear to bear very little fruit. Then, Jesus called on them to set out into the deep again, at the least promising time for catching fish. Peter set out in response to Jesus’ word and, amazingly, without doing much work at all, he and his companions caught an astounding catch of fish, so much so that their nets began to tear. Their hard work bore no fruit, and, now, Jesus seems to have gifted them this extraordinary catch. For Simon Peter, this was pure gift, an experience of the Lord’s abundant generosity. Sometimes, the Lord can grace us in similar ways. We work hard and nothing happens, and, then, without our doing much we are abundantly graced. It was this experience of the Lord’s abundant love and generosity that brought home to Simon Peter his own unworthiness to be in the Lord’s presence, ‘Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’. The more we come to experience the Lord’s love for us, the more we realize how small our response to that love is. Peter experienced himself at that moment by the shore of the Sea of Galilee as a loved sinner, and that is what we all are. Pope Francis often speaks of himself as a loved sinner. Yet, in spite of Peter’s sense of his unworthiness before Jesus and his desire to put space between Jesus and himself, Jesus had important work for Peter to do, ‘from now on it is people you will catch’. The Lord wants to work through each of us, imperfect as we are. Even though we may be tainted by sin, the Lord can work powerfully through us, if, like Simon Peter, we set out in response to his word.

And/Or

(ii) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we can have a strong sense of our own unworthiness when we are in the presence of the Lord. Several characters in the gospels express this sense of unworthiness before Jesus. John the Baptist expressed his unworthiness to baptize Jesus; the Roman centurion expressed his unworthiness to have Jesus come to his home. In this morning’s gospel reading, Simon Peter expresses his unworthiness just to be in the presence of Jesus. Each of these characters felt that the gap between themselves and Jesus was so great that they simply weren’t worthy to have him draw close to them. Yet, on each occasion, Jesus brushed aside the objection. He insisted on John baptizing him; he insisted on going to the home of the Roman centurion; he insists to Simon Peter that he will not be departing from him. On the contrary, Simon Peter was called by Jesus to share intimately in his work of catching people, gathering people into God’s kingdom. The Lord does not want our sense of unworthiness to become a block between himself and us. Yes, we are unworthy, but the Lord does not ask us to be worthy. Rather, he asks us to be willing, to be responsive to his will for our lives. His purpose for our lives is always so much more generous than the plans or purposes we might have for ourselves. Like Simon Peter in the gospel reading, we can discover that at the very moment when we are most aware of our unworthiness, the Lord is looking ahead to the person we can become and to the role we can play in his work in the world.

 And/Or

(iii) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading suggests that Peter heard the call of Jesus in the midst of his daily occupations, as he went about his work as a fisherman. Jesus seems to enter into Peter’s experience of being a fisherman, even offering advice on where to cast the net after Peter and his companions had laboured to no avail all night. Fisherman would not usually appreciate advice on how to fish from the son of a carpenter. Yet, in the gospel reading Peter does what Jesus suggested; he had perhaps come to appreciate that the word of this man from Nazareth had a power and authority that was special. Peter’s saying ‘yes’ to that particular call of Jesus was the prelude to his saying ‘yes’ to the bigger call of Jesus that was to follow, ‘from now on it is people you will catch’. We all hear the Lord’s call in the context of our day to day lives. The Lords calls out to us in and through the ordinary, daily tasks and occupations of our lives. Peter heard the Lord’s call in the context of failure, professional failure in his inability to catch fish, and personal failure as he became aware of himself as a sinner in the Lord’s presence. Peter’s failure was not an obstacle to the Lord calling him. It is the same for each one of us. The Lord does not wait for us to be perfect before calling us to become his follower or to share in his work. He looks to us to have something of the qualities of Peter, the humility to acknowledge our need of the Lord and his forgiveness, and a generous heart and willing spirit.

 And/Or

(iv) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, having experienced the Lord’s generosity in the extra-ordinary catch of fish, Peter becomes suddenly aware of his own weakness and unworthiness. He becomes aware that he does not deserve such generosity from Jesus. He went on to make the discovery that the Lord loved him and have a generous purpose for his life in spite of his weakness and unworthiness. From now on he would gather people into the nets of God’s kingdom. The Lord’s generosity with us is not dependant on our worthiness. The Lord does not wait for us to be worthy to bestow his graces on us or to call us to a share in his life-giving work in the world. Indeed, it is the insight into our unworthiness which creates an opening for the Lord to work through us. The Lord cannot really engage us in his service if we think of ourselves as complete. As Paul says in the first reading this morning, ‘if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise’.

 And/Or

(v) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

It is said of Peter and his companions in today’s gospel reading that ‘they were completely overcome by the catch they had made’. They had worked hard all night long and caught nothing; then with very little effort at all, in response to the Lord’s word, they caught a huge number of fish. When we are unexpectedly graced, we too can be overcome. It can happen in life that, in the midst of our toil and struggles which can take so much out of us and that seem to bear very little fruit, we are suddenly greatly blessed and graced. Some gift comes our way when we are least expecting it, when we are at our lowest. Out of nowhere, a light shines in the darkness. Like Peter in the gospel we are touched by the Lord’s presence and we feel overcome. Peter was overcome by a sense of his own unworthiness, a sense of himself as a sinner, and he wanted to put space between the Lord and himself. However, Jesus would have none of it. The Lord comes to us as we are; he does not ask us to reach a certain standard first. He graces us in our weakness. In doing so, he also calls us, as he called Peter, to share in his work in the world.

 And/Or

(vi) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

Most of us will have tasted the experience of failure in one shape or form. We may have failed to live up to the values and the goals that we had set ourselves; some enterprise or some initiative that we had invested in may have come to nothing; some relationship that was important to us may have slipped away from us. All such experiences can leave us feeling disheartened. Such an experience of failure is to be found in this morning’s gospel reading. We can hear the note of failure in the words of Peter to Jesus, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing’, and in his later words to Jesus, ‘leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man’. Yet, the gospel reading proclaims loudly that failure does not need to have the last word, because the Lord is stronger than our failures and can work powerfully through them. The Lord transformed the fruitless night’s labour of the disciples into an abundant catch of fish, and he insisted that the sinful Peter would share in his own work of drawing people into the nets of God’s kingdom. The Lord is constantly at work in all kinds of seemingly unpromising situations, drawing new life out of loss and failure. Yet, for this to happen, the Lord needs us not to give in to discouragement. He needs us to keeping putting out into deep water in response to his faithful word.

 And/Or

(vii) Thursday, Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

The words of Simon Peter in today’s gospel reading, ‘We worked hard all night long and caught nothing’, would find an echo in many people’s hearts. We can all have the experience of investing a lot of time and energy in something or someone and discovering that there can can be very little to show for all our investment. We live in a very result orientated world. Targets and outcomes are all important and if they are not reached then we can be judged a failure by others. The gospel reading today suggests that the Lord does not relate to us on that basis. The Lord spoke a word into Simon Peter’s situation of failure, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch’. The Lord saw life in abundance in the deep where Simon and others had only experienced absence. When Simon and his companions responded to the Lord’s word, the night of failure gave way to the day of abundance. The Lord’s way of seeing is always more hopeful than ours. The Lord’s word is always directing us to the presence of new life in places we have come to experience as having little to offer. After the abundant catch of fish, Simon Peter came to see himself as having little to offer, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man’. Yet, Jesus saw him with the same hopeful eyes as he had seen the Sea of Galilee, ‘Do not be afraid, from now on it is people you will catch’. The Lord invites us to see as he sees, to see our situation, to see ourselves and others with his hopeful, expectant and generous eyes.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[romancatholicreflections]

1st September >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 25:14-30 for Saturday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time: 'Everyone who has will be given more'.

Saturday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time  

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 25:14-30

You have been faithful in small things: come and join in your master's happiness

Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out.

   ‘The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way. But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

   ‘Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made.”

   ‘His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”

   ‘Next the man with the two talents came forward. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.”

   ‘Last came forward the man who had the one talent. “Sir,” said he “I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back.” But his master answered him, “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 25:14-30

Since you have been faithful in small matters, come, share your master’s joy.

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then!  Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”

Reflections (3)

(i) Saturday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

When we hear the word ‘talent’ today, we think in terms of natural abilities or gifts that people have. In Jesus’ day, a talent was a very large sum of money and that is the meaning of the word in today’s parable. A wealthy person entrusts sums of money to three servants in accordance with their ability. The person who received two talents and made two more was just as successful as the one who received five talents and made five more. Each performed very well according to their ability. The servant to whom the master gave one talent was obviously capable of making one more talent and ending up with two. However, out of fear of his master he did nothing with the one talent he was given. The image he had of his master as a demanding person, reaping where he hadn’t sown and gathering where he hadn’t scattered, may not have been true to the master’s nature. The rest of the parable suggests that the master was a generous man who was willing to entrust his servants with great responsibility. The third servant’s image of his master left him paralysed by fear and incapable of taking any action at all. If he had trusted his master to the extent that his master had trusted him, then he would have been free to do the little he was capable of doing. Perhaps one of the messages of the parable is that the Lord has entrusted us with gifts out of his love for us. He wants us to love him in return by placing what he has given us at the service of others. The first letter of John in the New Testament declares that perfect love casts out fear. Our recognition of the Lord’s love for us gives us the freedom to make use of what he has given us, without being held back by the fear of failure or the fear of our own inadequacies. As Mother Teresa, now a saint, once said, the Lord does not ask us to be successful but only to be faithful. We do our best with what the Lord has given us, knowing that the Lord looks lovingly on our efforts and will work powerfully through our efforts, even when they seem to us to be a failure.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus speaks a parable in which there are several characters, the emphasis often falls on the third and final character to be mentioned, such as the Samaritan in the parable of the good Samaritan and the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son. In the parable of this morning’s gospel reading, the focus again falls on the third character, the servant who took the one talent his master had given him and simply hid it in the ground. His reason for doing this was that he considered his master an overly demanding person and was afraid to take any risk with what he had been given. Rather than risk losing what he had been given, he hid it so as to be able to give it back. The other two servants obviously had a different view of their master; they had the freedom to invest what they had been given. They seemed to have understood that their master would not blame them for trying and failing. The master had given them a gift; he never intended to look for it back; he simply wanted them to make good use of what he had given them. We have all been gifted and graced in different ways by God. God wants us to serve one another out of what we have been given. Fear can sometimes hold us back, as it held back the third servant, fear of God, fear of others, fear of failure. It was Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said that God does not ask to be successful, just to be faithful. Jesus is suggesting through this parable that if we have enough trust in the God who loves us unconditionally we will have the freedom to give from what we have received, without worrying too much about success or failure.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus speaks a parable involving three characters, very often the emphasis falls on the third character. We can think of the parable of the good Samaritan; it is the Samaritan, after the priest and Levite, who is the focus of the parable’s attention. In the parable we have just heard the third servant had a very negative view of his master; he saw him as a hard man, reaping where he had not sown. Because this servant was so afraid of his master, he did nothing with what he had been given. The other two servants, in contrast, had a much more generous view of their master. As a result, they had the freedom to take initiatives and even to take risks with what they had been given. Jesus has revealed a very generous God to us; he has shown God to be someone whose generosity leaves us astonished, who remains faithful even when we are not faithful. Jesus does not reveal a God who is just waiting for us to fail, which is how the third servant saw his master. Rather, Jesus shows us a God who wants us to launch out into the deep and who continues to befriend us whether or not we catch anything. God’s loving fidelity should give us the courage to take risks with what God has given us. Perfect love drives out fear, according to the first letter of John. The assurance of God’s perfect love should drive out the kind of fear that left the third servant in the parable crippled. God who has been generous with us asks us to be generous with what we have received, and then to leave the rest to God.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

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[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

29th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 12:1-11 for Monday of Holy Week:   ‘She had to keep this scent for the day of my burial’. 

Monday of Holy Week

Gospel (Except USA)

John 12:1-11

'She had to keep this scent for the day of my burial'

Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions. So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’

   Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

Gospel (USA)

John 12:1-11

Let her keep this for the day of my burial.

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

   The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Reflections (12)

(i) Monday of Holy Week

We are at the beginning of Holy Week. According to today’s gospel reading, at the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ life, which was to end so brutally, he experienced the hospitality and the loving care of friends. Jesus had brought light and joy into the darkness and sadness of this family by raising Lazarus from the dead. Now they wanted to express their gratitude to him by hosting a meal for him. One member of the family, Mary, went further, performing an act of extravagant generosity that displayed sensitivity and tenderness towards Jesus. Jesus interpreted Mary’s action as an anointing in preparation for his coming death. She was strengthening him for the journey ahead. At this meal, over against Mary’s generous act stood Judas who would betray Jesus to death and who objected to Mary’s deed as a waste of money. Judas is portrayed as a hypocrite, complaining about a waste of money while helping himself to money from the common fund that was to serve the needs of Jesus and the group of disciples. We are invited to identify with Mary in today’s gospel reading. Like her, we have been greatly blessed by the Lord. He died and rose from the dead so that we may have life to the full. He came among us full of grace and truth and from his fullness we have all received. Mary encourages us to give back to the Lord from all he has given to us. We can do this by serving the Lord in all who are vulnerable and in need, just as Mary served the vulnerable and needy Jesus on this occasion. The Lord comes to us in what the first reading calls the crushed reeds and wavering flames of our day, those who are longing for the kind of tender and sensitive love that Mary showed to Jesus. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘you have the poor with you always’.

And/Or

(ii) Monday of Holy Week

We are at the beginning of holy week during which we reflect on the final journey of Jesus. Most of the people Jesus encountered on that final journey were hostile to him. Yet, according to this morning’s gospel reading, six days before the feast of Passover during which Jesus was crucified, he experienced great kindness. Not only is he the guest at the table of a family that he loves, one member of that family, Mary, went to great expense to render him a very thoughtful service. She anointed his feet with very expensive perfume and dried them with her hair. A little later in the same gospel, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anticipates that servant gesture of Jesus. She gives herself to Jesus in a way that corresponds to how Jesus would give himself to his disciples, and to all of us. Jesus interprets Mary’s action as preparing him for his death and burial. At the beginning of the last week of his life, Jesus experienced great kindness from Mary of Bethany. What Mary did for Jesus we are called to do for each other. On our own journey through life, we may meet people who make our journey more difficult. We will also experience people like Mary who support us on our journey, and, hopefully, we can be for others what Mary was for Jesus, a kindly and generous presence in an often hostile world.

 And/Or

(iii) Monday of Holy Week

Gratitude is something that rises up within us when we feel that we have been graced or blessed by someone. We give thanks to God in response to the many ways that God has graced in and through the gift of his Son, Jesus. If we have been greatly graced, our gratitude is all the greater. In this morning’s gospel reading, Mary behaves as someone who has been greatly graced. Jesus has brought her brother, Lazarus, back to life from death. In response to such an extravagant gift, Mary displays her gratitude in an extravagant way. She anoints the feet of Jesus with very expensive perfume, and she dries his feet with her hair. Judas did not appreciate such extravagance; he saw it as a waste. He did not appreciate Mary’s extravagant gratitude because he did not recognize the extravagant way he was being graced by God through the person of Jesus. He had so little recognition of being graced by Jesus that he went on to betray him. Our lives are to be an act of thanksgiving to God who has abundantly blessed and graced us through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Sometimes that might lead us to do extravagant things that other people simply won’t understand or appreciate.

 And/Or

(iv) Monday of Holy Week

In this morning’s gospel reading, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, does something extravagant for Jesus, anointing the feet of Jesus with very costly ointment and then wiping them dry with her hair. This was her way of expressing gratitude to Jesus for the service he rendered to her family in raising her brother, Lazarus, to life. Whereas Judas tried to make little of her extravagant gesture, Jesus graciously received her generous outpouring of gratitude. We all have something to be grateful for. We have all been graced in some way. The ultimate source of every good gift we receive in life is the Lord. It is to him, above all, that we express our gratitude. This Holy Week we remember with gratitude how Jesus gave us the greatest gift anyone could give, the gift of his life. ‘No one has greater love than this’, said Jesus, ‘to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’. Jesus gave his life so that we may have life and have it to the full. This Holy Week we allow ourselves to be touched by that great and generous love, and like Mary in today’s gospel reading, we give expression to our gratitude in our own personal way.

 And/Or

(v) Monday of Holy Week

In this morning’s gospel reading, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints the feet of Jesus with very costly ointment. It was an extravagant gesture which, in the context, could be understood as an expression of love and gratitude to Jesus for restoring Lazarus to life. A very negative spin is put on Mary’s action by Judas who interprets it as a waste of good money that could have been given to the poor. Jesus, however, comes to the defence of Mary, interpreting her action as a timely anointing in preparation for his death and burial, which was imminent, and, indeed, which Judas would help to bring about. Good deeds, such as Mary’s good deed, will always be open to misinterpretation. Jesus himself is the ultimate example of someone whose good deeds were interpreted in the most negative way possible, as the works of Satan. In today’s gospel reading, it is Mary not Judas who is put before us by the evangelist for our admiration and our imitation. Like here, we too have been greatly blessed and graced by the Lord. Like her, we are called to respond to how we have been graced by giving ourselves generously to the Lord and to all that he might be asking of us, regardless of how that might be perceived by others.

 And/Or

(vi) Monday of Holy Week

Much of the story of Holy Week is the story of how badly Jesus was treated. The principal characters are either actively hostile towards him or fail him miserably. Yet Holy Week begins with the story of a woman’s outpouring of love for Jesus. Jesus who, in John’s gospel, goes on to wash the feet of his disciples in water, first has his own feet anointed with costly anointment by Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Her act of love for Jesus anticipates his act of love for his disciples. In the gospel reading, Mary stands over against Judas who dismisses her gesture of love and gratitude as a waste of money. Jesus defends Mary’s costly love, recognizing it as a sign of his own costly love. One of the last questions Jesus asks in John’s gospel is, ‘Do you love me?’ which he addressed to Simon Peter. It is a question addressed to each one of us. In our struggle to answer that question with our lives, we can look towards Mary, the sister of Lazarus, for inspiration. She models for us that love for the Lord which is the only proper response to the Lord’s love for us. It is a love for the Lord which shows itself in our love for each other. That is why when Peter declared his love for Jesus, Jesus immediately directed him towards the other disciples, ‘Feed my sheep... my lambs’. We are all called to feed each other with the Lord’s love.

 And/Or

(vii) Monday of Holy Week

The week during which Jesus is to suffer so much begins with an act of kindness towards him from a friend. In the previous chapter the evangelist had said that Jesus loved, Mary and Martha and Lazarus. This was a family to whom Jesus was close and who gave him hospitality and support. In thanksgiving for delivering their brother from death, the two sisters, Mary and Martha, put on a dinner for Jesus. Mary showed her appreciation of Jesus in a very dramatic way. She anointed his feet with very costly ointment and then dried them with her hair. It was a gesture Jesus greatly valued; he recognized it as an anointing in preparation for his coming death. He was being strengthened by this gesture of love and appreciation for the ordeal that faced him. Judas, in contrast, devalued Mary’s action, accusing her of wasting money that could have been given to the poor. Unlike Mary, Judas would not be a support to Jesus in his hour of need. We all need support when we are vulnerable and facing down a difficult road. Mary models for us the kind of attentive love that can be a light in someone’s darkness. We can anoint people by our attentive and caring presence at a time when things are stacked against them. The Jesus of Holy Week, the suffering Son of Man, comes to us in many guises, and it is Mary, rather than Judas, who shows us how to respond to his presence.

 And/Or

(viii) Monday of Holy Week

This morning’s gospel reading describes a very extravagant action by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus had just raised from the dead. We are told that she anointed the feet of Jesus with a pound of very costly ointment and then wiped his feet with her hair. It was a gesture of loving appreciation for Jesus’ life-giving ministry to her family. Yet, her action was strongly criticized by Judas as a waste of money that could have been given to the poor. He interpreted what Mary did in a very negative manner. He belittled it. Jesus, in contrast, saw Mary’s action for what it was and defended her against Judas’ criticism. The same action was interpreted very differently by Judas and Jesus. We can all be prone to seeing the negative in a situation or a person, while being blind to the good that is also obviously there. This then impacts on the way that we talk about that situation or that person or that group. Jesus once spoke a parable about a field of wheat in which weeds had been sown. We are all a little bit like that field, a mixture of the good and the not so good. If we only notice and comment upon what is not so good we can be missing a whole other dimension. This morning’s gospel reading at the beginning of Holy Week invites us to see with the eyes of Jesus rather than with the eyes of Judas. It calls on us to celebrate goodness, generosity and love, wherever it is to be found, even when it is not perfect. We also need to recognize those qualities in ourselves when they are there to be seen, rather than focusing only on what is wrong in our lives.

 And/Or

(ix) Monday of Holy Week

This is the beginning of Holy Week. It is the week when we contemplate the final week of Jesus’ life, which turned out to be a way of the cross, a journey through a dark valley. In the course of this week, Jesus will be shown very little love. Yet, right at the beginning of the week, according to our gospel reading, he experienced an outpouring of human love. Jesus had brought Lazarus back from death to life. In gratitude for this life-giving work, Martha, Mary and Lazarus put on a dinner in his honour. In the course of that meal, Mary expressed her loving gratitude to Jesus in her own very personal way, anointing his feet with expensive perfume and weeping them with her hair. The presence of Judas, who criticizes Mary’s action, brings the passion of Jesus very close. Yet, in this hour of darkness for Jesus, Mary’s loving action stands out as a bright light. Jesus interpreted her action as preparing him for his death and burial. She was strengthening him for the painful road that lay ahead. Her loving deed for Jesus at the beginning of the week in some way anticipates God’s own loving deed for Jesus at the end of the week when God took Jesus through death into a new life, in raising him from the dead and, thereby, raising with him all who believe in him. Mary anticipated God the Father’s loving and life-giving work on behalf of Jesus. She reminds us of our own baptismal calling to do the work of God, to bring love where there is hatred, life where there is death, light where there is darkness.

 And/Or

(x) Monday of Holy Week

The gospel reading for next Thursday, Holy Thursday, is the account of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples with a basin of water and wiping them with a towel. It was an act of loving service that pointed forward to the greater act of loving service he would perform for them and for all humanity on the following day when he would lay down his life as the good Shepherd. In today’s gospel reading, Mary performs an act of loving service for Jesus that looks ahead to his act of loving service on Holy Thursday. Rather than washing the feet of Jesus with water, she anoints his feet with very costly ointment, and rather than wiping his feet with a towel she wipes then with her hair. During the following six days, Jesus would be treated with total disrespect; he would be made to suffer the most ignominious death imaginable by crucifixion. However, at this meal, Jesus is shown a tender love and respect by Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Jesus interprets her gesture as preparing him, strengthening him, for what lies ahead. Mary was anointing him in advance of his death and burial. As Jesus entered his darkest hour, a ray of light shone through Mary. This woman inspires us to become a ray of light in whatever darkness others may be experiencing. Whenever we do something, no matter how small, to support those who are walking through their own valley of darkness, it is the Lord that we are serving.

 And/Or

(xi) Monday of Holy Week

The story of Holy Week begins with the lovely scene in today’s gospel reading. In a week when so many men let Jesus down or, worse, inflict terrible violence on him, a woman, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, shows him great respect and love. Jesus would go on to wash the feet of his disciples. Mary goes even further. She anoints the feet of Jesus with very costly ointment and wipes them with her hair, and the scent of her ointment filled the whole house. The love Jesus would show his disciples, she shows to him. To that extent, she is very much a Jesus figure. She is a beacon of light at the beginning of a very dark week for Jesus. Even though Jesus gave himself in love to others, he experienced deadly hostility from some. In a similar way, Mary’s act of extravagant love for Jesus was met with hostility by one person in particular, Judas Iscariot. Judas saw Mary’s gesture as a waste of money that could have been given to the poor. Jesus, however, saw it differently. He experienced Mary’s gesture as an anointing to strengthen him for his passion and death that was imminent, ‘she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial’. The scent that Mary’s gesture created was the tangible expression of her faith in Jesus and her love of him, even in the face of hostility. We can learn from Mary to remain faithful and loving, even when the expression of our faith and love is misunderstood and criticized. Saint Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, says, ‘we are the aroma of Christ to God’. Like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, we are to convey something of the aroma, the scent, of Christ, by our faith in Jesus and the love of others that flows from our faith.

 And/Or

(xii) Monday of Holy Week

In today’s gospel reading, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anoints the feet of Jesus. A few days later, Jesus will wash the feet of his disciples. Mary’s service of Jesus, anointing his feet, anticipates the way that Jesus will serve his disciples at the last supper. Mary’s service of Jesus was her grateful and loving response to Jesus’ act of raising her brother Lazarus from the dead. She experienced the Lord’s service of her family in a very personal way, and, now she serves the Lord in return. Having received something precious from the Lord, the gift of life for her beloved brother, she now wants to give something precious back to the Lord. Her gift was precious in financial terms. Judas declares that it was worth three hundred denarii, which was a lot of money at that time. Jesus appreciated Mary’s gift not so much for its financial value, but because of its timely quality. Jesus was just about to enter into his passion and death, and Mary anointed Jesus to strengthen him for this ordeal that lay ahead. As Jesus declares in the gospel reading, ‘she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial’. Mary’s gesture of loving service was a response to Jesus’ loving service of her family and it strengthened him for his loving service of all humanity that lay ahead, which would cost him his life. The action of Mary portrays what is at the heart of our life as followers of Jesus. Like her, we too have been graced by Jesus’ loving service of us and, like her, we seek to give back to the Lord from what we have received from him. Our lives, in that sense, are to be an act of loving service of the Lord, in gratitude for his service of us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

9th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 18:21-35 for Tuesday, Third Week of Lent: ‘Lord, how often must I forgive?’.

Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 18:21-35

To be forgiven, you must forgive

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.    ‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 18:21-35

Unless each of you forgives your brother and sister, the Father will not forgive you.

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Reflections (9)

(i) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

It can be helpful to pay attention to the questions that we find on the lips of the gospel characters, whether on the lips of Jesus or of those with whom he interacts. Today’s gospel begins with one such question, on the lips of Peter. He asks Jesus, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me?’ It is a question that Jesus’ teaching on the importance of forgiveness must have moved him to ask. Is there a limit to forgiveness? Peter proposes an answer to his own question, ‘Seven times’. In the Jewish tradition, the number ‘seven’ was the symbol of perfection. Peter must have been confident that the answer ‘seven’ would have been acceptable to Jesus. Instead, Jesus answers, ‘not seven but seventy-seven times’. Poor old Peter was probably sorry he asked the question in the first place! As so often, Jesus explains himself by telling a story. The first part of the story is one of limitless forgiveness. The amount the servant owed the master was astronomical. He asked for time to pay it back, but several lifetimes would not have been long enough to pay it back. The master simply cancels the debt. Jesus is suggesting that there is nothing calculating about God’s forgiveness. If we ask for it, God grants it, even though our debt to God, the weight of our sin, is enormous. The second part of the parable suggests that receiving God’s boundless forgiveness requires us to pass on that forgiveness to others. In this, the servant failed. A lower ranking servant asked for time to pay off a small debt; it could easily have been paid off over time, but time wasn’t given to him. Forgiveness was denied. If God gives forgiveness when we ask for it, we must stand ready to freely pass on God’s forgiveness when others ask for it of us.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

In the parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading, the servant who owed the king a huge amount of money pleaded, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. Another servant who owed this first servant a relatively small some of money pleaded with him in the same words, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. Both of them asked for time to pay a debt that they owed. Neither of the two servants was given the time that they asked for. The king simply cancelled the huge debt of the first servant, with the result that the servant did not need time to repay his debt. The first servant had the second servant thrown into prison, with the result that he was deprived of the time that he needed to repay the debt. In this parable, Jesus appears to be drawing a sharp contrast between how God relates to us and how we often relate to each other. When both servants asked for time, they were thinking in terms of work. They needed time to work off what they owed. However, the king gave the servant what he was looking for before he had time to work for it. The parable suggests that God does not ask us to work for the mercy that we need. The forgiveness that God extends to us when we sin is not a response to our efforts. Jesus reveals a God who gives generously to those who have nothing to offer. Having graced us in this extraordinarily generous way, God expects us to grace others in similar ways.

 And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

The question that Peter put to Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading suggested that there was a limit to forgiveness. ‘How often must I forgive? As often as seven times?’ When Jesus replied, ‘Not seven, but seventy seven times’, he was suggesting that there was no limit to forgiveness. Peter’s round figure of seven seemed very reasonable. However, it was not reasonable to Jesus. He pushed Peter beyond where Peter was inclined to stop. The exchange between Peter and Jesus reminds us just how demanding the message of Jesus in the gospels is. In a sense, Jesus calls on us to be God-like, in the matter of forgiveness as in other matters. Jesus implies that God’s readiness to forgive those who ask his forgiveness is limitless and our readiness to forgive should also be limitless. Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew’s gospel, and earlier in that gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had called on his disciples to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. In reality, he calls on us to be as merciful as God is merciful, as forgiving as God is forgiving. We certainly need the help of the Holy Spirit, of God’s Spirit, if we are to respond to that call, if we are to be God-like as Jesus was.

 And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Peter has a very significant profile in Matthew’s gospel. It is only in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus addresses him as the rock on which he will build his church. It is only in this gospel that we find Peter asking the question that he asks in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’  In the Scriptures, seven is a symbol of fullness and completion. To forgive someone seven times would seem to be as far as one could possibly go. However, in reply to Peter’s question Jesus states that we should forgive seventy seven times. In other words, there is to be no limit to our willingness to forgive. However, Jesus was aware that the human tendency was to put a limit on forgiveness; the parable he went on to speak bears that out. In that story, even someone who had been generously forgiven a huge debt could not find it in his heart to forgive another to a much lesser extent. Jesus was aware of how forgiving God was. In the gospel reading he is calling on Peter and on all of us to be God-like in our readiness to forgive. This is one aspect of what Jesus meant when he said earlier in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’.

 And/Or

(v) Tuesday, Third week of Lent

When Peter asked Jesus the question, ‘How many times must I forgive my brother or sister if he wrongs me?’ and then suggests an answer to his own question, ‘as often as seven times?’ Peter’s answer would have sounded very reasonable to most people. Seven was considered the perfect number; to forgive seven times was perfect forgiveness. However, Jesus goes further that Peter’s suggested answer, ‘seventy seven times’. In other words, forgiveness must be limitless. The parable he goes on to speak explains why this must be so. The first servant owed the king ten thousand talents, which was an astronomical sum at the time. In cancelling the debt the king shows extraordinary generosity; mercy certainly triumphs over justice. The parable is reminding us that God’s readiness to forgive is limitless. There is nothing calculating about God’s mercy. It goes beyond what is normally found in the world of human experience. All that is required to release such mercy is to ask for it. When the first servant was approached by a fellow servant who owed him a very small sum, this first servant who had been so greatly graced acted without mercy towards his fellow servant. The parable is suggesting that when people are in debt to us, it is nothing compared to how much we are in debt to God, and if God is endless in his mercy towards us, we must be limitless in our mercy towards others. Such a willingness and ability to forgive those who have wronged us won’t always come easy to us. It will often be a lifetime’s work. It is our growing awareness of how great God’s mercy is towards us that will free us to show mercy to others eventually.

 And/Or

(vi) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

You often hear the saying, ‘time is money’. That understanding of time seems to be present in this morning’s gospel reading. When the servant who owed the king a staggering amount of money discovered that he and all his family and possessions were to be sold into slavery to pay the debt, he asked the king for time to pay the debt, ‘Give me time and I will pay the whole sum’. The king agreed to his servant’s request. When the servant subsequently met a fellow servant who owed him a very small amount of money, his fellow servant made the same request of him that he had made of the king, ‘Give me time and I will pay you’. However the servant was not prepared to grant his fellow servant the precious gift of time, the time he needed to pay off the debt. Time can symbolize money but it can symbolize so much else as well. It can also symbolize forgiveness. Giving time to someone can be saying, ‘I withhold judgement for now’. One of the greatest gifts we can give to another is the gift of time. One of the messages of this morning’s parable may be that the Lord is much more generous with the gift of time that we are. The Lord gives us time to put things right, to return to him with all our heart, to give him the place in our lives that he deserves. As one of the letters of the New Testament puts it, ‘with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years’. The parable calls on us to give this gift of time to others with the same generosity that the Lord gives this gift to us.

 And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

Today’s first reading from the Book of Daniel is one of the great acts of sorrow for sin in the Jewish Scriptures. It is a communal act of sorrow. Although prayed by an individual, it is prayed on behalf of all the people. ‘Now we are despised throughout the world today because of our sins’. That confession of sin is followed by a firm promise to take a new path, ‘Now we put our whole heart into following you, into fearing you and seeking your face once more’. The prayer expresses confidence in God’s mercy, ‘Treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle and very merciful’. The people can make this prayer for mercy, in the confidence that the God of mercy will hear it. Although it is a Jewish prayer, it could be prayed by any Christian, as is the case with so many Jewish prayers. This prayer is reflected in the request of the servant in the gospel reading who threw himself at his master’s feet, imploring him, ‘Give me time and I will pay the whole sum’. He owed a very large sum of money to his master and needed time to pay it off. The master in the parable gave him more than he asked for. He simply cancelled the vast debt so that the time asked for was superfluous. There is an image here of God whose response to our prayer for mercy is always more generous than we could imagine. Having been graced so abundantly, the servant refused to grant a much smaller grace to a fellow servant who also asked for time to pay off a much smaller debt. As a result, the first servant lost the forgiveness he had been granted. Jesus is reminding us in this parable, that we are to give as we have received. The abundant mercy we have received from God obliges us to pass some of it on to others. That is why Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us’.

 And/Or

(viii) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

The first reading today is one of the great prayers for forgiveness in the Jewish Scriptures. The prayer reflects the experience of exile, after the overthrow of the king and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. ‘We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince, no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense, no place where we can offer you the first fruits’. The Temple, where people traditionally looked for and received God’s forgiveness is gone. Yet, the person praying is not despondent. They may not be able to offer sacrifices in the Temple, but they can offer another, more significant sacrifice, which doesn’t require a Temple, namely, ‘the contrite soul, the humbled spirit’ This sacrifice of a contrite soul and humble spirit gives the person praying confidence that God’s forgiveness will be forthcoming, ‘those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed’. The mood of this prayer is very close to the message of Jesus. He came to reassure people, as God’s Son, that those who put their trust in God’s mercy, those who look to God for forgiveness with a contrite spirit and heart, will receive God’s mercy in abundance. God does not withhold his mercy from those who seek it. That message finds expression in story form in the parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. The servant who owed an unpayable debt to his master has that debt cancelled because the servant pleaded with the master with a contrite soul and heart. If the first part of the parable has that consoling message, the second part has a more challenging message. We are to give to others, as we have received from God. We are to forgive others, when forgiveness is asked of us, just as God forgives us when we ask to be forgiven.

 And/Or

(ix) Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

It has been said that everyone is in favour of forgiveness until they have someone to forgive. It is easy to talk about the value of forgiveness but not so easy to give expression to that value in our lives when the need arises. It is only when we see forgiveness in action that we realize what a powerful reality it is. I was very struck by an expression of forgiveness in recent weeks. In the aftermath of the killings in Christchurch, a Muslim man in a wheelchair was in one of the Mosques at the time of the shooting. His wife was killed trying to protect him. The following day, he was asked by a member of the media what he would say to the mass murderer, if he were to meet him. He said, ‘I will tell him that inside him he has great potential to be a generous person, to be a kind person, to be a person who would save people, save humanity, rather than destroy them’. He went on to say, ‘I hope and I pray for him he would be a great civilian one day. I don’t have any grudge’. Such willingness to forgive in the face of evil leaves us all feeling very humbled. Here was a man who had so much to forgive and he freely forgave. In such moments, we catch a glimpse of God’s forgiveness. In the parable Jesus told, the master had much to forgive his servant but he forgave him freely. This same servant, having been forgiven so generously, subsequently had very little to forgive someone else but refused to do so. The parable suggests that God’s willingness to forgive generously is not in doubt. What can be in doubt is our willingness to pass on the forgiveness we have received to those who sin against us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

20th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 1:26-38 for The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle B: ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

Gospel (Except USA)

Luke 1:26-38

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’ The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 1:26–38

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Reflections (6)

(i) Fourth Sunday of Advent

We are only a few days now from Christmas Day. It will be a different Christmas this year to what we have been used to. Hopefully, it will be a time when we can connect with one another again after so many months of isolation for so many people. Because we are still living in Covid times, it may be a less hectic and calmer Christmas than we usually have, and that may not be a bad thing. It may be an opportunity to focus more fully on what is at the heart of all our celebrations. Christmas says something very important about God’s relationship with us and our relationship with God, and that great truth is worth reflecting upon and really taking to heart at this time of the year. It finds expression in the readings for this fourth Sunday of Advent, in particular, the gospel reading. Artists down the centuries have recognized the significance of what is going on in this gospel reading for our life of faith and that is why they have given such plentiful expression to this gospel scene in art form. In our own parish church, we have a beautiful stained glass depiction of the annunciation to Mary. It is worth going over to it this Sunday and taking in the scene in glass with its beautiful colours. The setting for our gospel reading is the humble home of a very young woman in a small village of Galilee called Nazareth, a village that is never once mentioned in the Jewish Scriptures. Many would have asked the question we find on the lips of Nathanael in the gospel of John, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Yet, it was this woman, Mary, from this village, Nazareth, whom God chose to be the mother of his Son. Why this woman, in this place, at this time? We can’t answer that question. We can only marvel at God’s mysterious ways which often defy human expectations. In the second reading, Paul says that God ‘alone is wisdom’. God’s wisdom often seems like foolishness to humans. God’s ways are not our ways. As Paul says in another of his letters, ‘God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong’, and Mary would have been considered among the ‘weak’ of the world. We can all count ourselves among the ‘weak’, because we are all weak in one way or another. Yet, just as God visited Mary in her home, God comes to each of us wherever we find ourselves. Although God’s loving choice of Mary had a unique quality, because she alone was chosen to be the Mother of God’s Son, God comes to each one of us and chooses us to serve his purposes in the world. God’s choice of Mary still required her to make her choice of God. In choosing her, God needed her free response. The gospel reading suggests that Mary’s response to God’s choice of her only came after something of a struggle. Initially, we are told Mary was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the angel’s greeting. When it became clear to her what God was asking of her, Mary was full of very legitimate questions, ‘How can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ If Mary was to conceive and bear a son before she had come to live with Joseph, her betrothed, what would the people of this small village think? Mary must have sensed that what God was asking of her would be costly for her. Yet, after God’s reassurance, ‘Do not be afraid’, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’, Mary freely assents to what God was asking of her, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. She places herself at the service of God’s purpose, and, as a result, she opened a space for God’s Son to dwell within her, and she carried him within her until she was ready to give birth to him for us all. The way Mary responds to God’s choice of her in that reading speaks to how we respond to God’s choice of us. Like Mary, we can often find God’s involvement in our lives somewhat disturbing, leaving us with many questions. We can hesitate before God’s choice of us, sensing that it might cost us too much. Yet, God is prepared to wait on our free response, as he waited on Mary’s response. God will also assure us, as he assured Mary, that the Holy Spirit will overshadow us if we respond to his choice of us. We won’t be left to our own human resources alone. If, like Mary, we can place our freedom at the service of God’s purpose for our lives, then we too will create a space for the Lord to dwell in our lives and, like her, we will bring the Lord to others. God chooses us so that his Son, the Lord, might be born in our lives, and, through us, in our world. God wants us to make a dwelling place in our lives for his Son, so that with Saint Paul we can each say, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’. This is our core baptismal calling. In the words of today’s second reading, it is ‘the way the eternal God wants things to be’.

And/Or

(ii) Fourth Sunday of Advent

It doesn’t happen very often that the fourth Sunday of Advent coincides with Christmas Eve. The Season of Advent has been shorter than usual. The waiting of Advent has been reduced to three weeks. On this eve of Christmas Day some of us may feel that we could do with a little more time to prepare for Christmas. We may feel that everything isn’t quite ready. Even apart from this year, with its short Advent, we often feel as we approach Christmas that everything isn’t quite right. Some of us may feel that everything isn’t quite right at a personal level or at the level of our family this Christmas. Christmas can have a way of magnifying the sense of everything not being quite right. The same could be said of the scene that is placed before us in today’s gospel reading. The principal character in the scene is a young woman, perhaps only in her early teens, who lives in an unknown village in a province on the very edge of the Roman Empire. She is betrothed to a young man in her village, named Joseph. Betrothal was much more than our engagement. The couple had entered into a legally binding relationship, probably at the initiative of the two sets of parents. They were married in the eyes of the law, without actually living together as husband and wife, which would usually only happen after twelve months of being betrothed. Yet, it is revealed to Mary by God that during this time of betrothal she is to conceive and give birth to a son. This child would be her son, but would also be God’s Son. It is no surprise that Mary is portrayed as distressed and full of incomprehension. She was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the words of Gabriel. She asked her heavenly visitor, ‘How can this come about?’ There is a whiff of scandal about the whole scenario. What will people say when Mary’s child is born too soon, before herself and Joseph came to live together as husband and wife? The situation is somewhat messy for Mary and Joseph and their extended families. Nobody could have planned this scenario. Yet, in the midst of this messy situation, God brought forth an extraordinary blessing, not just for Mary and Joseph, but for all of humanity. Mary’s child, who was conceived and born in what must have seemed suspect circumstances by the standards of the time, would be none other than the Son of God. The Holy Spirit was powerfully at work in what was, from a human perspective, a very unsatisfactory situation. Gabriel says to Mary, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow’. God is about to take up residence in the most difficult of circumstances. As a result, although neighbours may look upon Mary with suspicious eyes, God’s messenger declares her to be highly favoured and invites her to rejoice. Perhaps there is a message here for all of us. When all does not seem well with us, when our lives seem to us and to others to be somewhat out of kilter, we can be tempted to think that the Lord has abandoned us. Yet, perhaps it is above all in those times that the Lord is most intimately with us. It is often in those moments when we view ourselves or others view us poorly that the Lord is seeking to assure us that we are, ‘highly favoured’ in the words of today’s gospel reading. The angel Gabriel declared Mary to be ‘highly favoured’. She was highly favoured because God had chosen her. It wasn’t that God chose her because she was highly favoured. Nothing is said in the gospel reading about Mary’s virtue or otherwise. In the passage that precedes our gospel reading, the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth and Zechariah, it was said of this elderly couple that ‘both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord’. Nothing similar is said of Mary. She is simply a very young woman in a little village of a remote province of the Empire. Yet, God mysteriously chose her and so she was highly favoured. Through God’s choice of Mary, God has chosen each one of us, because Mary’s child was God’s gift to us all. Because God has chosen us through Mary, we are all highly favoured, regardless of how messy our lives may seem to us or to others. In the gospel reading, Mary displays a great openness to receiving God’s loving choice of her. Even though she does not fully understand how she could be so highly favoured by God, she welcomes this grace of God’s favour. She, thereby, opened a space in her life for God’s mysterious but loving purposes to prevail. Perhaps this is where we have something to learn from Mary. We can learn from her to allow ourselves to be graced by the Lord who has chosen us in his love and who relates to us as highly favoured. In whatever personal circumstances we find ourselves, our response to God’s loving choice of us can find no better expression than Mary’s final response to Gabriel, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.

And/Or

(iii) Fourth Sunday of Advent

Christmas day is only two days away. The Christmas rush is in full swing. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, especially for children, but it can be experienced by many as something of a burden. We sometimes speak about ‘getting over’ Christmas, as if it were a hurdle. It can generate a lot of extra work and pressure for parents in particular, as they strive to make Christmas a special time for their children. Christmas can be a difficult time especially for those who have been recently bereaved. The loss of a loved one can be felt all the more intensely at Christmas time. Those who live alone can find the Christmas period a very lonely time. Hopefully, they will not be alone for Christmas day, at least. Most of us value company at this time, especially on Christmas day itself. We journey to be present with loved ones and friends, and they journey to be present with us, at least for Christmas dinner. We sense the value of being present to one another at this time of the year. We give presents to each other at Christmas, but, deep down we recognize that the greatest gift we can offer each other at this time is the gift of our own personal presence. Today’s gospel reading, two days before Christmas day, seems very appropriate in that regard. It is a story of presence, of two women who were cousins being present to each other, one of whom, Elizabeth, was quite a bit older than the other, Mary. Sometimes, someone has to take the initiative for such a moment of mutual presence to come about. In this instance, it was the younger woman, Mary, who took the initiative to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth. The long journey between Nazareth, Mary’s home, and the hill country of Judah, where Elizabeth lived, would have been more easily travelled by the younger, more agile, woman. I suspect a lot of people will set out in the spirit of Mary over the next few days, visiting relatives, friends, loved ones, who may not be as mobile as themselves, and who depend on others taking the initiative to visit them and be present to them. Such journeys, such visits, such efforts to be present to others, are, potentially, grace-filled events. They are examples of the gospel in action. Someone once wrote about ‘the possibility of infinite goodness in the most commonplace details of our lives’, such as the visit. The Word becomes flesh in the ordinary transactions of human contact and care. The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth could also be seen as one expression of the generations embracing one another. The younger woman, Mary, probably a teenager, brings her youthful vitality to her older cousin, Elizabeth whose need is greater. At the same time, Elizabeth, whose husband Zechariah said of her that she was getting on in years, offers her younger cousin the fruit of lived experience. She was a kind of elder mentor for Mary. Both the younger woman and the older woman had much to give each other and much to receive from each other. There will be many expressions of the generations embracing one another over the course of the Christmas season. Children’s engagement with the feast of Christmas can open up the mystery of this feast in new ways for both their parents and grandparents. Children’s engagement in carol services and in nativity plays at this time can touch the hearts of us adults with the joy of the gospel in a way nothing else might. Parents and grandparents in turn can open up for children the deeper meaning of what they are celebrating. In these ways too, today’s gospel scene will be a lived reality this Christmas in our homes, our parishes and our communities. Both women carried within them the mysterious power of God’s life, in the form of the unborn Jesus and the unborn John the Baptist. As a result, the two women were a source of blessing for each other. In response to Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In response to Elizabeth’s words to Mary, she in turn was filled with a spirit of prayer. She was inspired to pray her wonderful prayer that has come to be known as the Magnificat, which follows on immediately after our gospel reading. In this regard too, these two women can represent us all. We all carry the mysterious power of God’s life within us. The Word who became flesh and dwelt among us also dwells within each one of us. Like Mary, we too carry the Lord, in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit has been poured into our hearts and through the Spirit the Lord is being formed within us. Yes, we are all a work in progress, but, in virtue of our faith, we carry the mysterious power of God’s life, of God’s Son within us. Our calling is to allow God’s Son that we carry within us to really live in us and through us, so that we can be a source of blessing for others, just as Mary and Elizabeth were for each other. God has given us the most wonderful of Christmas gifts, his own Son wrapped in flesh and blood. Whenever we give this same gift of God’s Son to each other, the blessing of that first Christmas becomes flesh in and through us.

And/Or

(iv) Fourth Sunday of Advent

We are into the final run-up to Christmas now. The fourth candle has been lit on our Advent wreath. There only remains the central white candle which will be lit on Christmas day next Friday. The shortest day of the year is almost upon us. Once we pass that day we know that the days are imperceptibly getting longer. The brightness of our Advent wreath reminds us of the greater light that is soon to come towards us. I have always found the shortest day of the year significant. I am very aware on that day that on the following day the light of the sun will begin to make a comeback. I have no difficulty identifying with the mindset of those who built the wonderful passage tomb in Newgrange. On the shortest day of the year, they were celebrating the triumph of light over darkness. The rhythm of the church’s year is very much in harmony with the rhythm of nature at this time. Just as the sun’s light begins to make a comeback, we celebrate the great Christian feast of light, the feast of the birth of Christ who said of himself, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’. The various lights that we associate with Christmas, the natural light of candles, the electric light of Christmas tree lights, are all expressions of our celebration of the birth of Christ, the true light. In these difficult times for church and state, we need to remind ourselves that, in the words of John’s gospel, the light of the Lord’s presence shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. The most important way for us as followers of Christ to celebrate Christmas, the feast of light, is by giving expression in our daily lives to the presence of Christ the light of the world. We are called at all times, but especially at this time of the year, to be a light in the darkness, to bring the light of the Lord’s love to others. That is what we find Mary doing in this morning’s gospel reading. Carrying the child Jesus in her womb, she brings the light of the Lord’s presence to her cousin Elizabeth, in her hour of need. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth left Elizabeth blessed. The gospel reading declares that, as a result of Mary’s visit, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of the way that Elizabeth received Mary’s visit, Mary herself was filled with the Holy Spirit and was moved to pray the great prayers that we know as the Magnificat. Mary’s prayer went on to become an integral part of the church’s own prayer. Each of these women brought the light of the Lord’s presence to the other, and, as a result, each of them was the better for having met the other. As a result of their meeting, they were each equally bathed in the light of the Lord’s loving presence. This morning’s gospel reading reminds us that the real work of the Lord takes place not in moments of high drama, but in the ordinary encounters of our day to day lives. Any meeting between two people has the potential to be a graced moment for both, a revelation of God’s light. Over the coming week or so, we are likely to find ourselves visiting people and being visited by people. We will go out of our way to meet people and they will go out of their way to meet with us. We will set out on journeys to visit relations, friends and those alone, and some of those will set out on journeys to visit us. Many of those living abroad will have already arrived home for Christmas. People will meet up in all kinds of ways in the days and, indeed, the weeks ahead. If those encounters had something of the quality of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, then, indeed, the Lord’s light would shine more brightly in our darkness. Mary brought the Lord to Elizabeth and, as a result, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. That is our calling too, to bring the Lord to others, to meet with others in such a way that, as a result, they come away from meeting us filled with the Holy Spirit. We will probably give gifts to each other and receive gifts from each other over Christmas. This morning’s gospel reading reminds us that the greatest gift we can give to each other is the gift of the Lord, which is really the gift of ourselves, the gift of our presence, our time, our support, our understanding. This was the gift that Mary gave to Elizabeth. Much more important than the value of the gifts we buy, is the quality of our presence to each other. The heart of our celebration at this time of the year is the good news that God become flesh and dwelt among us in and through his Son, Jesus, who is our Lord. If the Lord, in some way, can become flesh in us, if the light of his presence among us can become visible through our presence to each other, then we will not just be celebrating the feast of Christmas, we will be living it.

And/Or

(v) Fourth Sunday of Advent

Christmas day is only six days away. Many of us will already be getting caught up in the Christmas rush. There are still presents to be bought, cards to be sent, food and drink to be purchased, travel arrangements to be finalized. It can be a very busy time, especially for parents. In the midst of all this activity, the readings of the fourth Sunday of Advent keep before us what is at the heart of our celebration of the feast of Christmas. They draw us into the true meaning of the feast and invite us to ponder it quietly and prayerfully at this busy time when activity seems the order of the day. We have been reading from the gospel of Matthew every Sunday since the first Sunday of Advent. Whereas in Luke’s gospel Mary is the significant adult in the story of Jesus’ birth and childhood, in Matthew’s gospel Joseph is the significant adult in that story. Our image of Joseph is often that of a somewhat aging figure. It might be better to think of him as a vigorous young man, a young carpenter betrothed to a young woman. Today’s gospel reading portrays him as faced with a very great dilemma. He discovers his betrothed is pregnant even though they haven’t lived together as husband and wife. He is as yet unaware that Mary’s pregnancy is the work of the Holy Spirit in her life. God’s work in the life of Mary has left Joseph at a loss to know what to do. His decision to divorce Mary quietly was the kindest decision he could have made in the circumstances in which he found himself in that culture. However, once it was revealed to him by God that Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Spirit, he did exactly what was asked of him by God - he took Mary to his home. His initial decision turned out to be the wrong one, even though it was the best decision given the information he had at the time. Joseph’s dilemma is, in a sense, one that we all share in different ways at different times. We make a decision based on the information that we have; at a later time we come upon new information which gives us a new understanding of the situation and enables us to make a better decision. It is not always easy to see the best way forward at any particular time, just as it wasn’t easy for Joseph initially to see clearly what was the right thing to do. Life can throw up complex situations, and, sometimes, all we can do is to make the best decision we can in the circumstances. In the gospel reading Joseph is instructed to give the name ‘Jesus’ to the child that is to be born of his betrothed, Mary, a name which means ‘God saves’. Joseph’s child is to be named ‘Jesus’ because ‘he is the one who is to save God’s people from their sins’. His mission in life will be to bring God’s forgiveness to sinners, to assure people that God’s merciful love is greater than their sin. In many ways the focal point of Jesus’ mission as an adult was to assure people that God’s forgiveness was available and accessible through him. Although we may not have a strong sense of sin today, in reality we all need to be saved from our sins. We are all equally in need of Joseph’s son, Jesus. We have all failed in our response to God’s call. We have all fallen short of what God asks of us. The publication of chapter 19 of the Murphy report reminds us yet again of the serious failings of individuals within the church of Dublin to deal properly with the horrendous crime of child sexual abuse by priests. We all welcome the very strong and unambiguous statement made by the Archbishop in response to that recent publication. The feast of Christmas is the feast of the one whom God has sent to save us from our sins. Christmas encourages us all to acknowledge our need of God’s mercy and in doing so to find the strength to make a new beginning. Indeed it is a feast that calls us to keep acknowledging our need of God’s mercy and to keep making new beginnings. Jesus’ other name according to Matthew in today’s gospel reading is Immanuel, which means God-is-with-us. Putting the names Jesus and Immanuel together tells us that the son of Joseph and Mary is the presence among us of God’s merciful love. We do not have to do anything to make God present. Jesus’ name is God is with us. We have been graced by God’s presence in a special way since the birth of Mary and Joseph’s son. God’s presence to us is an act of love on God’s part; that is why, in the second reading, Paul addresses the Christians of Rome as God’s beloved. It is because we are so greatly graced in this way that, again in the words of Paul in that reading, ‘we are called to be saints’. Indeed, Paul would say that in virtue of our baptism we are already saints, sanctified through the Spirit, and our calling is to become what we are. This time of year reminds us both of how greatly graced we are and of the obligation that lays on us to live graced lives.

And/Or

(vi) Fourth Sunday of Advent

If you were to ask a married couple how they came to fall in love, or if you asked two good friends how they came to be friends, they may have difficulty answering your question. They might say something like, ‘It just happened’. In one sense that may be true. In another sense it didn’t just happen. If two people are in a significant relationship with each other, be it marriage or friendship, it is because they have chosen each other. Why does someone choose one person rather than another as a future spouse or friend? Having made that choice of the other, why might the other then reciprocate? Why does someone choose to share something of his or her life with someone else, and vice versa? There we are into the mystery of human freedom, human preference. The more significant relationships in life cannot be forced. Favour is freely bestowed by one person on another; that other person freely receives what is bestowed and freely reciprocates, and a new relationship is born. There is an element of mystery about all that. If there is a mysterious quality to the relationship of one human being with another, that is even truer of the relationship between God and ourselves. Why did God choose Mary to be the mother of his Son? Why this particular woman in this particular small village at this particular time of human history? We are dealing here with the mysterious freedom and preference of God. Yet, there is a difference between God’s choice of Mary and the choice any one of us might make of another. When any one of us chooses another to love or to befriend, there is always, of necessity, an exclusive element to that choice. We choose this person rather than any number of others. Although we choose several people in the course of our lives in each case our choice of one excludes others. God’s choice of Mary was not exclusive in that sense. When God chose Mary, he was choosing all of us. He chose Mary for all our sakes. God chose her to carry God’s Son on behalf of us all, because her future child was God’s gift to us all. That is why how Mary responded to God’s choice of her was not just a matter that concerned herself. It concerned us all. We all had a vested interest in how she responded. Her response would also be our response. In a sense we looked to her to make an appropriate response on behalf of us all to God’s choice of us. The good news is that Mary did not let us down. Although initially disturbed and then perplexed by God’s choice of her, she eventually surrendered fully to that mysterious choice of God. Having been graced in this mysterious way, she responded wholeheartedly, ‘Let it be to me according to your word’. God freely chose her, and she in turn chose to place her freedom at God’s service. God’s choice of Mary, and Mary’s choice of God in response had the most wonderful consequences for all of us. She went on to sing, ‘the Almighty has done great things for me’. But, in reality, because of her response to God’s choice, we can all sing, ‘the Almighty has done great things for us’. We have all been graced through Mary’s response to God’s choice of her. If Mary’s response to God’s choice of her, God’s call, had enormous implications for us all, the same is true, to a lesser extent, of the personal response of each of us to God. How each of us responds or fails to respond to God’s choice of us always has implications for others. In that sense, my relationship with God is never purely private. It always has a communal dimension. It always impacts on others in one way or another. If I respond generously to what God is asking of me, my response will bear rich fruit for others. If I turn away from God’s call, others will somehow be impoverished. We are a pilgrim people journeying together towards the Lord. We are either helping or hindering each other on that journey. In the second reading, Paul speaks about ‘the way the eternal God wants things to be’. If, like Mary, I live in tune with the way the eternal God wants things to be, others will be helped to live as God wants them to live. My ‘yes’ to God’s choice, God’s call, is never mine alone, no more than Mary’s was. It always has implications for others. God worked powerfully and creatively through Mary’s generous response. God continues to work powerfully and creatively through each of us, when we respond to his call and his promptings. Mary gave birth to God’s Son for others. As we approach the feast of Christmas we ask Mary to help each of us in our own way to give birth to God’s Son for others.

Fr. Martin Hogan.