YES AND NO;,Mass Homily (Mt. 21: 28-32). Fr. Raymond. - Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael Monday 29 Sept.

Fw: The Daily Gospel

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)   Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk,  domdonald.org.uk    

On Saturday, 27 September 2014, 17:06, DGO <noreply@evzo.org> wrote:   

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 21:28-32.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards he changed his mind and went. 
The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go. 
Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

YES AND NO

Homily by Fr. Raymond

In The gospel story today the first son says ‘no’, but does go to work in his father’s vineyard, and the second son says ‘yes’ but doesn’t go to work in his father’s ‘ vineyard.  Jesus is obviously comparing the first son with the gentile peoples who at first don’t keep God’s laws but who, on hearing the teaching of Jesus are led to obey their true Father, God.  On the other hand he is comparing the original people of God, the Jews, to the second son because they are the first to acknowledge the true God but fail to obey his Messiah when he finally comes. If we are to learn anything from this parable there is not much point in just applying it to the Jews as though it were just a history lesson.  We must learn to apply it to ourselves, each and every one of us, in our daily lives.  We must realise how often there is this ‘yes and no’ in our own lives as we face so many daily choices between what we know very well to be our duty before God and what is our own convenience in one way or another.  To ‘go to the vineyard’ means, for each of us, to do what we well know we ought to do.  We say always say ‘yes’ to our conscience and we should always carry out that ‘yes’.  It is so easy to put off the execution of our good intentions for a thousand and one reasons, or even for no reason at all.  And finally we forget to carry them out altogether. It’s not only for others that we should be true to our word.  The first person to whom we owe our sincerity in what we promise is our own selves.  The more we let others down, the more we let our own selves down. The more we let others down, the more we lose not only the respect and confidence of others but also our own respect and confidence for ourselves.  Trust is one of the most essential elements of human life.  The whole of human society is built on trust.  Where there is no sense of reliability and trust in others there can only chaos and fear.  All commerce is based on it.  All education is based on it.  Marriage and the family itself are based on it.  Our very hope in God is base on it.  The very climax of the passion of Christ was not the pain of the scourging and the nails, but the last desperate ploy of Satan to deprive Jesus of his trust in his heavenly Father;  a temptation that forced from him that terrible cry of ‘My God my God, why have your forsaken me’.  St Paul teaches us that we can always trust the promises of God:  Christ is the great ‘Yes’ of God to Mankind.

Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels ...

www.catholicculture.org200 × 244Search by image

Daily Readings for: September 29, 2014 (Readings on USCCB website)

The following day, Monday 29 September,

Fr. Raymond was Presiding the Mass. 

He began the introduction by reciting the Archangel Prayer learned by heart as he knew at the Low Mass some time past. (Pope Leo XIII 1903).

Short Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

The well-known short version of this prayer follows in English and Latin. The Pope ordered this prayer to be recited daily after Low Mass in all the churches throughout the Catholic world. However this practice was almost completely swept away in the 1960s by liturgical changes made in the wake of Vatican Council II.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Sáncte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in proélio, cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium. Ímperet ílli Déus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Ámen

ICN:  Posted: Sunday, September 28, 2014 12:09 am

---

Saint of the day: 29th September

Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

The name Michael means 'He who is like unto God'. The archangel engages in a great cosmic battle with the Devil. In the Book of Jude, he contends with the Devil over the body of Moses, rebuking the Evil One in God's name. The imagery reveals that with the triumph of Jesus, evil no longer reigns throughout the cosmos, but remains on earth as the enemy of those who seek to follow God's will.

In the New Testament Michael is twice represented as the helper of God's chosen people.

Gabriel (his name means man of God) is an archangel who assists Daniel, helping him to understand his visions. Gabriel has a special role in the New Testament. To Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, he announces the birth of the future prophet. He brings the message to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the Mother of God.

Raphael appears in the Book of Tobit as one of the seven archangels who stand in God's presence. Tobit presents him as hearing our prayers and bring them to God. Raphael means 'God heals'.

All three archangels appear in later Christian writings many times, with Michael often seen as the receiver of souls of the departed - as in the spiritual Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

23rd Sunday (A) 2014 Mt. 18: 15-20 'Discourse on the Church', 'reconciliation with God and others' Fr. Aelred

St. Bernard, earlier portrait came to Nunraw 1946,
with the founders from Roscrea Abbey
inset Fr. Aelred

 

23^rd Sunday (A)

Homily by Fr. Aelred.

1. The 18^th chapter of Mathew’s Gospel, from which today’s Gospel passage is taken, is often called the ‘Discourse on the Church’, because it collects together Jesus teachings that directly apply to the life of church communities. Today we have the teachings on fraternal correction and prayer in common; next Sunday, on the forgiveness of offences. 

And today’s Responsorial Psalm, ‘O that you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts’, show the close connection between fraternal correction and forgiveness.

2. In countries that experience long droughts, say in the Middle East or Africa, you see what the absence of rain does. The ground turns into desert. Sometimes when the rain eventually comes, the ground is so hard that it can’t penetrate, and so it runs away causing flash flooding. So it is with the human heart when ot becomes hard. To be heart-harded is the worst of all conditions. A hard heart is invulnerable to sorrow, but neither can it experience joy. It is a closed heart, so can’t receive. Hard heart is a barren heart.

3.Jesus came to purify our hearts, not to soften them, to make them more supple human. To sow the seed of God’s word in them, and to turn them from wastelands into fertile ground.

4. In the Christian tradition many of the spiritual masters emphasise the role of the heart in attaining to a deeper prayer life and coming closer to God. To give one example, St. Bernard tells us when he was visited by the divine word: ‘As soon as he enters in, he awakens my slumbering soul; he stirs and soothes and pierces my heart, for before it was hard as stone. He begins to build up and to plan, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones; to open what is closed and to warm what was cold. To make crooked straight and rough places smooth. It was not by any of my senses that I perceived he had penetrated to the depths of my being. Only by the movement of my heart did I perceive his presence’.

5. ‘O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts’. In these words God is calling us from the error of our ways into a closer relationship with him and with one another. And today’s Liturgy provides us with an opportunity to head them.

6. Softened by the rain of God’s grace, and warmed by the sun of his love, the human heart can be turned from a desert into a garden. A place where reconciliation with God and others becomes possible.

 + + + + 

The following introduction to and selection from St. Bernard's Sermons on the Song of Songs was done by Prof. Katherine Gill for her courses at Yale Divinity School and Boston College. The page is reproduced here with permission.

Bernard of Clairvaux

  http://people.bu.edu/dklepper/RN413/bernard_sermons.html  

Sermon 74
6. You ask then how I knew he was present, when his ways can in no way be traced? He is life and power, and as soon as he enters in, he awakens my slumbering soul; he stirs and soothes and pierces my heart, for before it was hard as stone, and diseased. So he has begun to pluck out and destroy, to build up and to plant, to water dry places and illuminate dark ones; to open what was closed and to warm what was cold; to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth, so that my soul may bless the Lord, and all that is within me may praise his holy name. So when the Bridegroom/ the Word, came to me, he never made known his coming any signs, not by sight, not by sound, not by touch. It was not by any movement of his that I recognized his coming; it was not by any of MY senses that I perceived he had penetrated to the depth of my being. Only by the movement of my heart, as I have told did I perceive his presence; and I knew the power of his might cause my faults were put to flight and my human yearnings brought into subjection. I have marvelled at the depth of his wisdom when my secret faults have been revealed and made visible the very slightest amendment of my way of life I have experience his goodness and mercy; in the renewal and remaking of the spirit of my mind, that is of my inmost being, I have perceived the excellence of his glorious beauty, and when I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe and wonder at his manifold greatness.

ASCENSION 2014 Homily of Fr. Raymond

Flowers for Ascension

Ascension, Mass Homily, 

ASCENSION 2014

Among all the mysteries of our faith the importance of the Mystery of the Lord’s bodily ascension into heaven is underlined for us in several ways.  First, it is mentioned in the earliest of the Christian Creeds, from the very beginning of the development of Dogma.  These early Creeds were meant to summarise the essential elements of the Church’s teaching for us.  The Ascension is also mentioned in one breath along with the Passion, death &  Resurrection of the Lord in the Canon of the Mass.  And, very significantly, in our own day it has been retained as one of the few remaining Holidays of Obligation where so many of the other more “popular” feasts have been passed over.

So, there can be no doubting the centrality of the mystery of the Ascension for our understanding of the whole of the Paschal Mystery.

Let’s approach this understanding today by p rescinding from all of God’s other revelations to us.  Let’s go back to the dawn of creation itself, before any revelation from God at all. The Psalmist helps us to do this by so many beautiful expressions of wonder at God’s creation:  “How great is you name O Lord our God through all the earth!  Praise him sun and moon!  Praise him shining stars!  Praise God from the earth; sea creatures and all the oceans!  Fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy winds that obey his word!  This sense of wonder at God’s marvellous creation is at the  foundation of our appreciation of the mystery of Our Lord’s bodily ascension into heaven.  This comes about because when we have first praised him for the wonders of all creation we then praise him even more for the wonder of our own being.  Men and angels alone, the very peak of God’s creation, can understand and appreciate the gift of existence and life and offer thanks for it.

But then, from the wonder of the created world, and from the wonder of our own being, we are drawn by the mystery of the bodily ascension of Christ to see in it a pledge and promise that that this world of time, and we with it, are to be lifted up and fused into the very heaven of heavens.  The world we live in is so beautiful in so many ways!  What then will it be like as the new heaven and new earth that God promises to make it for us.  And what will we ourselves be as we too are lifted up by the resurrection of the dead.  Life is to be changed, not ended.  And if we would get a glimpse of it’s ultimate destiny we need only look up with the apostles and see “Christ, the head and first fruits of our human race, ascending bodily into the heavens”.

Sunday 25th May. John 14:15-21 "he will not leave us orphans. He has asked the Father to give us ‘another Advocate to be with us always, the Spirit of truth’."

Banners of Templars procession
 - St. Andrew, Cistercian

6^th Sunday of Easter (A)

Mass Homily,  – Fr. Aelred

In the latter part of Easter Season we move from the accounts of the resurrection appearances to meditation upon the continued presence of the exalted Christ with his Church through the Spirit. In the 1^st reading from the Acts of the Apostles we see that the Church is a community in which the Spirit is given and shared! When the Gospel is preached in Samaria it is important that the Samaritans remain in union with the mother Church in Jerusalem where Christ’s Passover was accomplished. And in the Gospel we see that the communion with the risen Christ, and through Him with the Father, is in fact a Trinitarian experience. Sometimes this is an ecstatic experience, though not always; but keeping the commandments is the touchstone of the love of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit.

The Church makes frequent use of St. John’s Gospel during Eastertide. Nor is this accidental. St. John has been described as ‘he who knows the secrets’. St John seems to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of Jesus than do other parts of Scripture. He tells us that the man Jesus, whom we have seen in the first three Gospels performing miracles and speaking in parables, thereby causing controversy, is at the same tome the very Word of God. Jesus’ divinity is shown more clearly in St. John than elsewhere. Armed with this deeper insight into who Jesus really is we can re-read the other Gospels and indeed the whole of the NT with greater profit and penetration.

St. John tells us that his purpose in writing his Gospel was that his readers might ‘believe that Jesus is the Christ, the, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name’. This purpose is not fundamentally different from that of the other Gospel writers, but many people through the centuries have found in John’s Gospel a favoured means of perceiving the Spirit’s active presence.

In today’s Reading from St. John, Jesus tells us he will not leave us orphans. He has asked the Father to give us ‘another Advocate to be with us always, the Spirit of truth’. Invisible to human eyes, but perceptive with the eyes of faith, the Advocate allows the disciples to believe without having seen. And to recognize that the Lord is in his Father, that we are in him, and he in us.

It is through our life in the same Spirit that we can enter more deeply into the secrets of the Fourth Gospel and live by it’s faith.

Lent 1st Sunday Homily of Fr. Raymond

Mass Homily,  Fr. Raymond. ....

Lent 1st Sunday, March 2014.
Gospel - Jesus fass for forty days  and is tempted. 
 Matthew 4:1-11. ... and angels appeared and looked after him.

Lent Sun 1 yr.A

The Story of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness is a very consoling one for us. It reminds us first of what St Paul says about it. "He was tempted in every way that we are though he did not sin." However the story of the temptation of Christ ends with the revelation that angels came and comforted him. If he truly claims to be like us in all things, then he surely owes it to us that whenever we overcome the temptation to sin the angels must surely come to comfort us too. We may never see them, but the peace that comes from our victory is surely a token of their presence with us; their joy at our victory.

If we turn to the first reading of today's liturgy, it gives us an account of the creation of the first man and woman and the story of the very first sin; the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace. If we want to avoid the same fate as they did we would do well to study this scene in the garden of Eden and try to analyse their behaviour. Surely we have here a portrayal of just what is at the heart of all sin. There are many different kinds of sin of course and they are all put before us in the ten commandments, but there is something common to every sin, no matter what particular kind of sin it is; no matter which particular commandment it breaks.

The story of the temptation begins with a command and a threat from God: thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge or you will die. Then follows a question from Satan challenging the command and the threat and giving instead a false promise "No, you wont die! Indeed you will belike gods yourselves". the world was not condemned to death because Adam and Eve ate an apple. The apple was only incidental to the whole story. Nor was the world condemned because of the act of disobedience, although that was bad enough. but the real heart of the matter, the real essence of the sin, the real thing which so offended God was the fact that Adam and Eve did not trust his word; they trusted rather the word of Satan. "No you will not die".

This is what we all do every time we sin. We have God's word for it that sin is evil and leads to death and yet we still follow the pleasure, the satisfaction. We deny the voice of our conscience and we reach out to take that rosy apple which "seems so good to eat".

Sermon of the Mount February 23, 2014 Homily Fr. Aelred

23/02/2014

7th Sunday (A)

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Mt. 5:48

Homily; Fr. Aelred

(1)Today’s Gospel from St. Matthew continues with me the Sermon of the Mount. In the centre of the Sermon of the Mount stands the Lord’s Prayer in whose centre again the petition for the coming of the Kingdom

(2) Jesus contemporaries knew that God’s kingly rule is eternal and stretches out over the wide world. Although God’s sovereignty is fully acknowledged only in Israel, the near day is near when God will break into history to manifest Himself as the ruler of all, to free his people from bondage, and to subject all nations to his holy will. The prophets had announced a coming Kingdom of God, but Jesus brought the Kingdom of God

…..

(6)Today’s passage concludes with the command ‘You must be perfect’ just as ‘your heavenly Father ‘is perfect’. The word ‘perfect here does not denote a moral or other perfection which we are not really capable of. Seen in the light of its OT background it means rather ‘whole-hearted in, sincere, undivided. As in Deuteronomy says, ‘You shall be whole-hearted in your service of the Lord your God’. It is related to the ‘pure of heart who shall see God’ of the Beatitudes, denoting consistency as well as total commitment and generosity. It is not an optional ‘counsel’ for those who already keep the commandments, but a must for those who want to enter the kingdom.

Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Fr. Raymond - Homily

Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time

"You are the light of the earth. ... -- From Today's Gospel Matthew 5: 13-16

Sun 5 yr.1

Jesus says that his followers will be a light to the world and salt for the earth.

Since we are his followers then we must consider ourselves as being this ‘light for the world’ this ‘salt for the earth’.  Certainly it would be, to say the least, a bit presumptuous of us if we just to say it of ourselves.  But it is Christ himself who says it of us and therefore it is something we must believe in; and not only is it something we must believe in, but it is something we must try our very best to live up to.  In fact it is one of the very fundamental obligations of  our Baptism.  Just as “No one lives for himself alone; no one dies for himself alone”,  so too, no one is baptized for himself alone.  The privilege of our Baptism means that we must do our best to share among our brothers and sisters in this world the wonderful light and life of grace that we have inherited.

In facing up to this tremendous responsibility it is encouraging for us to realise the power of the grace that is in us;  the tremendous power that is at work in us; the tremendous power that enables us to carry it out effectively and fruitfully.  When we look around at the world about us we could easily be dismayed.  There is so much evil at work.  Its influence seems to be so widespread and so powerful.  What can we do about it?  How can we possibly make any difference?  How can you and I be a light to the world and salt to the earth? The forces of Evil seem to have such a hold on the media, for instance; the press, the radio, television.  Unhealthy values are blared out on every side and dinned into our sight and hearing, into our minds day and night everywhere.

But here we must remember those wonderful words of St Paul:  “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more”.  The face of grace is not so brazen as the face of evil; the voice of grace is not so strident as the voice of evil, but grace is none the less more powerful in many ways than they are to reach into the minds and hearts of men.  Grace and goodness are more powerful to lead them to the good than sin is to lead them to evil.  “Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more”. We must believe very firmly in that truth.  “Overcome evil with good” St Paul tell us, and he could not say that unless it was indeed possible to overcome evil with good; he could not say that unless Good was indeed more powerful than Evil.

The ultimate proof of this was given us on the hill of Calvary where evil thought it had triumphed over good but where , what it thought was its triumph, was in fact its own undoing.   

Fr. Raymond

   

 

  

Raymond Homily Sunday, 25 August 2013

Fr. Raymond

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 13:22-30.

"Sir, will there be only a few saved?" v. 30 ...

Sun 21 C 2013

“Sir, will there be only a few saved?” Jesus’ answer to this awkward question more or less amounted to: “That’s none of your business”.

We can presume that the reason for this was that if the answer was ‘yes, only a very few will be saved’ then we would all be very much discouraged and even perhaps despairing, knowing that we could hardly call ourselves exceptionally virtuous.  On the other hand, if the answer was ‘no, the vast majority of souls will be saved’ then we might become presumptious and not bother trying to live a very good life since we could be reasonably sure that we were in much the same boat as most people and therefore sure of salvation.

But Jesus points to ‘the narrow door’ and indicates that we must strive, we must try hard, to enter there.  Jesus sums it up in another place where he says that ‘ the kingdom of God suffers violence and it is the violent who conquer it’.  The attitude to the kingdom of heaven that Jesus wants us to adopt is not one of numbers; how many will be saved? but one of striving; one of trying to love the Lord our God with all our mind and heart and soul; one of longing and hope.  Christian tradition depicts the virtue of Hope as an anchor that the soul casts up into the clouds to catch a hold of heaven for us so that we can haul ourselves up there by it.

The more we hope for it the more surely do we attain it.

2 Anointings Homily, Fr. Raymond, 11th Sunday Luke 7:36-50

TWO ANOINTINGS

16JUN

THE REPENTANT WOMAN   (A biblical reflection on the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time [Year C]- June 16, 2013)  First Reading: 2Sam 12:7-10,13; Psalms: Ps 32:1-2,5,7,11; Second Reading: Gal 2:16,19-21; Gospel Reading: Luke 7:36-8:3 (Luke 7:36-50) 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Raymond ....

Sent: Tuesday, 18 June 2013, 18:23
Subject: 2 Anointings

THE TWO ANOINTINGS OF JESUS FEET

Sometimes in the Gospels we find two stories, two incidents in the life of Jesus that are strikingly similar although they happen at different times and in different places.  We have, for example, today’s story of the anointing of Jesus feet by the sinful woman, compared with the story of the anointing of Jesus feet by Mary of Bethany a week or so before his passion.

The anointing of his feet by a woman is the common link between these stories, but there the similarity ends.

In the first story the setting is in the house of a stranger;  a stranger who, in fact is not very much of a host.  Jesus even complains about his lack of hospitality. In the second story, the anointing at Bethany, Jesus is in the house of his very dear and special friends; Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  He knows how much they love him and how much they revere him.

Both stories are about an act of great love, but the first anointing is one that is all about a love that is repentant for a life of sin.  The second anointing, however, is not about sin at all it is an act of love, spontaneous love, pure and simple.

Why then should both acts of love; a repentant love, and a pure and simple love, be put to us in the gospel in such a similar way?  Surely it is so that we will compare them in our minds and hearts and learn something from the comparison!  I think that one of the things we can learn from this comparison is that, no matter how much we may have sinned in the past, our repentant love means as much to Jesus as the love of those who have remained innocent and pure.

“Many sins have been forgiven her because she has loved much”

“There is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety nine who have no need of repentance.”

Mass Homily. Fr. Raymond. - Joseph being the recipient of all the other angelic communications regarding her child

Pope Francis's Inaugural Mass
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21840910                                   
Before our community Mass, some of the brethren were able to view the BBC television of the Piaza San Petro and panel comentary of the historic event.
At Nunraw, we were snowed under and it was a minim attendance from the congragation for the Mass of Saint Joseph. As usual the lambing time brings the snow.
Fr. Raymond had the Homily - memorable words on Saint Joseph.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Raymond  ....
To: Donald ...
Sent: Tuesday, 19 March 2013, 13:34
Subject: 

ST JOSEPH 2013

St Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary at the hour of incense and foretold the birth of his son John, the Baptist.

He also tells us that the angels appeared to the shepherds to tell them about the birth of the Messiah.

In Matthew the angel appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.

We may presume that it was also an angel who appeared to the Magi in a dream warning them not to return to Herod.

Then again an angel appeared to Joseph to warn him to take the Mother and Child and flee to Egypt .

Finally an angel appears to Joseph again in a dream and tells him to return to the Land of Israel because Herod is now dead.

So the pattern of the Gospel story is always that the angels are said to appear except, however, at the Annunciation where a different turn of phrase is used; in this case, the angel Gabriel is said to ”come in ” to speak to Mary..

Equally significant is that, at the Annunciation, the departure of Angel Gabriel is described, not as a “disappearing” but as leaving; we read that “the Angel left her”.

St Thomas Aquinas, if  I remember rightly, (or was it John of the Cross?) says that the description of Gabriel at the Annunciation as “coming in” and “leaving” is to indicate a visible tangible form of presence as would befit the messenger of the “real visible, tangible Incarnation” of the Word of God.  Intriguing as all this may be, how does it lead us to the person of Joseph.  After all it is Joseph who is the main focus of our attention today?

It leads us to Joseph because it is so striking that all the appearances of the angel to Joseph follow on after the “departure” of the Angel from Mary.  Once the Annunciation to Mary is accomplished, a chapter in the Infancy story closes.  There is a great finality about that closing phrase of the Annunciation scene: “The Angel left her.”  Yes the Angel left her indeed.  He left her, no more to return to her, at least as far as the Gospel Story is told us.  Surely there must be a great significance in this unique description of the manner of the Angels coming and going at the annunciation and in this strange, apparent, passing over of Mary and dealing with Joseph from then on, even though the Angelic Messengers still have such a frequent role to play in the rest of the infancy story?

We might analyse this significance as being a demonstration to Mary, and to us all, that privileged as she was, and blessed among all women down the centuries to come, as she was, the child she bore was not for herself alone.  She received him on trust; on trust for us all.  The gift was for the whole human family. She and her husband Joseph were just the representatives of that family. And so it was brought home to her, through Joseph being the recipient of all the other angelic communications regarding her child, that she was being caught up into a mystery, a plan, a purpose of God, which was much bigger than she alone was in herself.  She had a role to play, and a great role, but it was now to be through Joseph, and through the role God was now handing him to play, she humbly realised that she was only part of a much greater picture.  In short, it is through this role of Joseph, once the angel had left Mary, that we see ourselves, each and every one of us being brought into the picture.

So the mystery of the Incarnation began in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and, of course, she never really lost her hold of him, but already, even while she still carried him within her, he was being snatched away from her control and possessed by those to whom he truly belonged and for whom he had come.  Thus he began his universal mission, as it were, through passing, into Joseph’s jurisdiction, even while still in Mary’s womb And thus, symbolically, he goes out already to the whole family of God, whoever they are and wherever they are.  Joseph is the catalyst of the Word made Flesh for the World.

And Mary, humbly in the background from then on, kept all these things in her heart.

Fri, March 8, 2013 Friday of the Third Week of Lent

---

Lent: March 8th

The Station, at Rome, is in the church of St. Sisto Vecchio. It was built in the 4th century, and was one of the first parish churches in Rome and was known as the Titulus Crescentianae. Tradition claims that it was founded by Pope Anastasius I. 

'The Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love him.'

Mark 12:28-34. http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030813.cfmMass Readings

Reflection

 Friday (March 8): "Which commandment is the first of all?"

Meditation: 

    What is the right and sure way to peace, happiness, and abundant life? The prophet Hosea addressed this question with his religious community - the people of Israel. Hosea's people lived in a time of economic anxiety and fear among the nations. They were tempted to put their security in their own possessions and in their political alliances with other nations rather than in God.  Hosea called his people to return to God to receive pardon, healing, and restoration. He reminded them that God would "heal their faithlessness and love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). God's ways are right and his wisdom brings strength and blessing to those who obey him.

How does love and obedience to God’s law go together? The Pharisees prided themselves in the knowledge of the law and their ritual requirements. They made it a life-time practice to study the six hundred and thirteen precepts of the Old Testament along with the numerous rabbinic commentaries. They tested Jesus to see if he correctly understood the law as they did. Jesus startled them with his profound simplicity and mastery of the law of God and its purpose. What does God require of us? Simply that we love as he loves! God is love and everything he does flows from his love for us. God loved us first and our love for him is a response to his exceeding grace and kindness towards us. The love of God comes first and the love of neighbor is firmly grounded in the love of God. The more we know of God's love and truth the more we love what he loves and reject what is hateful and contrary to his will.

What makes our love for God and his commands grow in us? Faith in God and hope in his promises strengthen us in the love of God. They are essential for a good relationship with God, for being united with him. The more we know of God the more we love him and the more we love him the greater we believe and hope in his promises. The Lord, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, gives us a new freedom to love as he loves (Galatians 5:13). Do you allow anything to keep you from the love of God and the joy of serving others with a generous heart? Paul the Apostle says: hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Do you know the love which conquers all?

"We love you, O our God; and we desire to love you more and more. Grant to us that we may love you as much as we desire, and as much as we ought. O dearest friend, who has so loved and saved us, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing sweeter, come with Christ and dwell in our hearts; that you keep a watch over our lips, our steps, our deeds, and we shall not need to be anxious either for our souls or our bodies. Give us love, sweetest of all gifts, which knows no enemy. Give us in our hearts pure love, born of your love to us, that we may love others as you love us. O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom flows all love, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to you and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So help and bless us in your Son." (Prayer of Anselm, 12th century)

---

This reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager, whose website is located at: http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/

Immaculate Conception - Community Mass. Homily by Fr. Aelred

    

8 December.Solemnity of the Feast of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, which we celebrate today.
Community Mass. Homily by Fr. Aelred

Immaculate Conception

Our Lady’s greatness consisted in her total availability to God. Many are not available to God. they are too full of their own plans. No doubt, Mary too had her own plans for her life and she might have said so to the Angel. But what she said was, ‘It’s is not what I want that matters. Let what God wants done to me’.

Mary made a complete gift of herself to God, and accepted the task he gave her. Even though she didn’t understand all the implications of it, she trusted that God would give her all the help she needed.

Some people tend to see Mary as too passive, not sufficiently self-assertive. But Mary was receptive, not completely passive in God’s hands. After all, God didn’t order her to become the mother of Jesus; God asked for her consent. Mary was a free agent. She didn’t have to say ‘yes’ She could have said ‘no’.

Mary was also a strong woman, with great powers of endurance. She seemed always capable at renewing herself, no matter what misfortune hit her. She knew what oppression was when she couldn’t find a room in which to give birth to Jesus. She lived as a refugee in a strange land. She knew the pain of having a child who doesn’t follow the accepted path, and the agony of seeing her only Son executed as a criminal. Many women throughout the ages have found plenty that they can identify in her life.

A brief look at the readings for today’s Liturgy shows that in the passage from Genesis, the Mother of the redeemer is already prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the Serpent which was given to our first parents after their fall into sin. In later OT passages she is the virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, whose name shall be called Emmanuel.

She stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. As Vatican II tells us ‘After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion and the new plan of Salvation is established, when the Son of God has taken human nature from her, that he might in the mysteries of his flesh free us from sin’.

In the Second Reading, Paul tells us that we were all chosen to be holy and spotless in Christ before the world began. This applies in its fullness for the mother who would give birth to Jesus Christ himself. The Angels greeting at the annunciation says she is filled with grace, always open to the working of the Holy Spirit.

Luke’s Gospel is about the annunciation too and not about Mary’s own conception, but they are linked. Jesus Christ comes to us as the Saviour who frees humanity from sin. Since Mary was human she had also to be freed from sin.

For centuries theologians wrestled with the problem of reconciling Mary’s sinlessness from the moment her conception with her need for redemption like this. For us, Christ’s death freed us from our sins. For Mary, Christ’s death preserved her from sin. She is perfectly redeemed.

Mk 9:30-37; ... “They they did not understand what he said” and “they were afraid to ask him what he meant” Homily Fr. Raymond

Rowan Trees Autumn

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Raymond <- - - >
To: Donald <- - ->
Sent: Sunday, 23 September 2012, 16:07
Subject: The two phrases: ““They they did not understand what he said”  and “they were afraid to ask him what he meant”

Sun. 25 2012     “....Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples....”   He took them away from their mission of preaching and teaching because the work was often so engrossing and demanding.  In fact, the gospels tell us that they sometimes couldn’t even find time to eat.   So, now he was taking them aside because he had something to tell them that was going to need their full attention; their full concentration  He was going to tell them about his forth-coming passion and death, and this was something he knew very well that they were going to find it hard to understand and even harder to accept. :    In the event this is exactly what did happen.  We read that:  “They they did not understand what he said”  and they were even “afraid to ask him what he meant”.  Here we have a very common trait in human nature: When we are confronted with something unpleasant; something  that’s threatening us and we can’t avoid it; then we tend not to face up to it, we tend to ignore it we hold ourselves in denial of it, we look the other way in the hope that it will disappear.  It is obvious from the gospels that Jesus had to repeat this lesson time and time again to try to drive it home into his disciples bewildered minds: the fact that he was destined to suffer grievously  and be put to death”.  The two phrases: ““They they did not understand what he said”  and “they were afraid to ask him what he meant”,  are at the heart of this passage of the gospels.  They challenge each of us to consider those aspects of Our Lord’s teaching that we find puzzling ourselves; those things that we ourselves are afraid to look at straight in the face.  Such things can be things in our lives that we know, deep down within us, to be at least displeasing to God, if not downright sinful;  It may be some choices we have made or some decisions we are about to make that we suspect God would rather we did not make.  On the other hand it might be about things we know we ought to do but have not done;  some reconciliation, perhaps that we keep on putting off;  some duty or responsibility that we keep on neglecting. It is in ways like these that we find ourselves in the same position as the disciples before the Lord’s prophecy of his passion.  We find the whole thing, consciously or sub-consciously, so repugnant that, although we do not understand we daren’t question it because we really don’t want to understand.

It takes courage to pray the prayer of the Psalmist; "Lord teach me your paths.!"