God Made Flesh

The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn.1:14

John gives witness to what he heard, saw and touched... God made flesh.

The Christmas Octave is drawing to a close, proclaiming what it declared from its beginning. God has visited his people. This outrageous claim is at the heart of Christianity. Deny this and you aren't Christian.

When I reaffirm my faith in Jesus as the Son of God, I reestablish my foundation for life. This affects every area of my life, both here on earth and in the life to come. I am given grace and truth, and life makes sense.

Jesus, you are my foundation for today and hope for the future. Walk beside me Lord.
Saint John the Apostle, please pray for me.

 

Man up and be a Joseph

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.
Ps.127:3,4

The first blessing that comes to a man who fears the Lord is family.

Today being the Feast of the Holy Family, focus is given to Mary, Jesus and Joseph. Mary and Jesus, Jesus and Mary. At this stage of the Holy Family it seems like they are one person. Joseph's role is to cherish, protect and provide for this most holy of people. In so doing he role models what it means to be a man.  

Lord, you have given me my wife, my children, my grandchildren. Help me be Joseph to them and cherish, protect and provide.
Saint Joseph, please pray for me.

Walk in the Light

Yet in another way, what I am writing to you, and what is being carried out in your lives as it was in his, is a new commandment; because the night is over and the real light is already shining.
1Jn.2:8

John writes that hatred is in darkness but love brings in the light. Now that God has visited his people in Christ, the light is permanently on.

Light or dark. The choice is that stark. The night is over, the light is shining. Today I choose to walk in the light.

Jesus, you are the light of my life. Shine in me and through me today.

Saint Thomas Becket, please pray for me.

We Win!

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loudly lamenting:
it was Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted because they were no more.
Mt.2:18

In his jealousy and rage Herod has all male boys in and around Bethlehem under two years of age slaughtered. Jesus' birth brought great joy and great sorrow.

It seems when great good rises up, great evil rises to oppose it. Such is our human condition and the spiritual battle that swirls about us. It pays to keep one eye firmly on the end goal. Jesus' victory. That is the only thing that makes sense of the pain and suffering in the world. Jesus wins in the end and we who follow him share in that victory. Alleluia!

Jesus, I keep my eyes fixed on you both in good times and in bad.
Holy Innocents, please pray for us.

See and Believe

Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.
Jn.20:8

John the Apostle reaches the tomb of Jesus but defers to Peter, letting him enter first. John then enters and seeing the empty tomb has his epiphany. He believes. 

Christmas is so great a day that the Church allocates eight days to celebrate. Yet, while transported in joy by the babe in the manger, the shadow of the cross falls over the scene. But this is a new and greater source of joy. The complete plan of God visiting his people is only realised at the empty tomb. Like Saint John, I see and believe. 

Jesus, I look at you as a babe lying in the manger, the shadow of the cross falling over you. Thank you lord for your great love for me. I adore you.
Saint John, please pray for me.

 

The Baby Changes Everything

The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn.1:14

The morning sun has crested. The glorious light, previously just a hint in the night sky, has burst over us. The unfathomable power of God, the Word, has become flesh. God has visited his people.

Up until Christ's birth, God was only revealed through signs and his word. Now he became flesh, one of us, truly with us. Being with us he could fully love us and fully save us. The baby changes everything. Oh happy day!

This joy is mine, a joy nothing can take away. It is a joy not only meant for Christmas Day but for every day of the year. It is the gift that keeps on giving. 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

God Has Visited His People

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel for he has visited his people, he has come to their rescue and he has raised up for us a power for salvation.
Lk.1:68

John’s father Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit after nine months of muteness, his first words praising God for visiting his people. God's plan of salvation is about to commence with the birth of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem.

There is the reason for our joy. God has visited his people. If we believe that, Christmas makes sense and we are transported into joy. If we don't believe that... well, all you are left with is "happy holidays". Holidays come and go. Truth is eternal. 

The sun is about to rise on that great and glorious day. Merry Christmas!

Alleluia, alleluia!

Come,

Radiant Dawn,

splendour of eternal light, sun of justice:

shine on those lost in the darkness of death!

Alleluia!

Turn the Hearts

Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.
Mal.3:23,24 

The prophet Malachi foretells the reappearance of Elijah to herald the coming Messiah. John the Baptist fulfills this role. 

The final prophecy of the final book in the Old Testament carries both joy and warning. The Messiah is coming, but if hearts of fathers are not turned the land will be struck with a curse. Are we not witnessing this very curse today with the current wave of youth crime over the nation? The common factor in the lives of these young offenders is the absence of fathers. They are a broken generation from broken families.

Good news! They can be fixed. Turn their father's hearts back to them. This requires a miracle and God is in the business of miracles. As today's Psalm cries out, "Lift your heads high and see: your redemption is near at hand."

"God defend New Zealand. Come Lord Jesus, come!
Mary, patroness of New Zealand, please pray for us.

Come, King of All Nations

Alleluia, alleluia! 

Come, 

King of all nations, 

source of your Church’s unity and faith: 

save all people, 

your own creation! 

Alleluia!

With all four Advent candles blazing the Church raises its voice, crying in Christmas, the source of all unity and faith. 

As the world scrubs Christ out of Christmas, leaving a hollow, tinselled shell called the "holiday season", the Church heralds Jesus in, acknowledging him as the source and creator of everything. The world gorges on sensory opiates and is left feeling empty. So great is the Church's joy that we take eight days to celebrate Christmas.

I'm so grateful for my Christian faith. 

Come, King of all nations, source of your Church’s unity and faith: save all people, your own creation! 
Mary, mother of God, pray for us.

God is On the Move

Come then, my love, my lovely one, come. For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The season of glad songs has come.
Song of Songs:2:10-12

The Advent focus is shifted from us longing for God to God longing for us. Our lover is calling us home.

There's a wonderful scene in C S Lewis' book, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, where Father Christmas arrives amid the melting snow of the hundred year winter. He Joyfully cries out these Advent words,  "Winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The season of glad songs has come." The witch has been defeated and Aslan is on the move!

Evil has been defeated and God is on the move! Advent has almost finished and the glory of Christmas, just over the horizon, is filling the sky. God is longing for me, calling me further up, further in, further closer to him. 

My Lord my love, here I come bounding over the mountains! I'm coming home!

Mary Mother of God, please pray for me.

A Perfect Heart

Alleluia, alleluia! 

Come, Lord, bring to us your peace: 

let us rejoice before you with a perfect heart. 

Alleluia!

Ps. 84.8

Today's gospel acclamation cries out to God for peace so we can respond with joy. In such a state our hearts are perfect.

The Advent cry for more peace, more joy is growing. Rich or poor, our cry is the same. We all yearn for peace and joy. And no wonder, for when peace and joy are mine I yearn no more. No more striving, no more constant longing. My heart is perfectly fulfilled.

Come Lord, bring me your peace. Let me rejoice before you with a perfect heart.
Mary, Mother of God, please pray for me.

Come Home

For the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love for you will never leave you and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken, says the Lord who takes pity on you.

Is.54:10

Isaiah prophesies God's call to his wayward people to bring them home, a home of love, peace and compassion. 

My workplace has scrubbed the word "Christmas" from all communications. It's all about the "holiday season". Yet, the great call of Advent remains. Come home, come home to love and peace. The human heart yearns for this place of joy and peace that only God can give. 

He offers the way back by giving us a mewling, puking little baby to look upon in awe and wonder. God made man. Follow that baby and I will find my way home.

Lord Jesus, my heart is restless until it finds its rest in you. 

Mary, mother of God, please pray for me.

The Bar of Humility

I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Mt.21:31,32

Jesus accuses the chief priests and elders of stubborn obstinacy and pride which holds them back. He points out gross sinners who are heading for God's kingdom because they believed and repented. 

The king of the universe was born in a stinking stable. You couldn't get much more humble beginnings. This sets the bar, the bar of humility, for anyone who is to follow. The bar of humility is high and difficult for the proud and low and easy for the humble. 

Lord Jesus, you are humble of heart. Make me humble of heart that I may be closer to you.
Saint Lucy, please pray for me

Go Meet Him

Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord will come: go out to meet him!
He is the prince of peace.
Alleluia!

Today's gospel acclamation proclaims an Advent cry. Jesus is coming! Be ready for him, the prince of peace.

Jesus is coming, be excited! This is the source of my joy. Yes, I celebrate his birth, but it's his second coming that pops my cork. Maybe next year, maybe this week, maybe today, as long as I'm ready it doesn't really matter when. Advent helps me get ready.

Lord Jesus, your peace is needed so much in our world, in my world. Come Lord Jesus, come.
Mary Mother of God, please pray for me.

A Yes Man

I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.
Lk.1:38

Mary's yes defeats Eve's no, opening the door for the way back to the garden, the way back home.

Advent for me is the time of Mary. I focus on her, pregnant with baby Jesus, on the back of a donkey being led by Joseph, making her way determinedly to Bethlehem. She travels slowly but resolutely to fulfill her destiny that stated with her "Yes" to God's plan for salvation of all mankind. 

Today can be my "yes" day. Who knows where that could lead me?

Lord Jesus, you came into the world through your mother's yes. Help me be a yes man today.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me now and at the hour of my death. Amen.

Slow Down

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Mt.11:28-30

Jesus calls all, not just some but all who are overburdened to find the deepest kind of rest. Rest for your soul.

While increasing in joy, Advent has us decreasing in speed. Just at the time the world is starting to climb into pre-Christmas frenzy, I am called to stop and rest. 

Advent moves at the speed of a donkey, a donkey slowly but inexorably moving towards Bethlehem where something wonderful is about to take place.

Jesus, help me slow down to rest and enjoy this Advent journey.
Saint Joseph, please pray for me.

Evil Conquered by Love

He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.
Is.40:11

Isaiah tells of when our victorious God returns to restore peace and justice with compassion and love.

The excitement of Advent is mounting. Isaiah paints a picture of God as a mighty and victorious warrior then switches to the image of a loving shepherd embracing his sheep against his breast. God is both warrior and shepherd. The warrior conquers evil, the shepherd nurtures the flock. 

I can leave all justice to the warrior and look forward to the embrace of the shepherd. The evil within me is conquered by love. 

Jesus, conquer the evil in my heart with the love in your heart. Come Lord Jesus, come.

The Home Straight

Go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.
Mt.10:7,8

Jesus is instructing the twelve before their first mission trip. Even though God's kingdom is close at hand there is still much work to be done.

The home straight of a race is never easy. In fact it is where the most effort is expended. The same is true of these last days. Jesus doesn't intend it to be a cakewalk. The "get ready" of Advent is not just a call for me to brush up for Christ's arrival. It's a call for me to bring as many others as possible with me. 

Lord Jesus, you even called in the Good Thief while nailed to the cross with only minutes left to live. Give me your zeal for souls right to the end. 
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Hear and Do

Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.
Mt.7:24,25

Jesus warns about true and false prophets and wise and foolish builders. All will be exposed, either on judgement day or when calamity falls.

There are three messages here. First, there is a foolish way to build my life and a wise way. Second, the difference depends on inaction or action. Third, troubles will come. 

Rain, floods and gales of life happen and Jesus has never said his followers will be exempt. But what he does say today is that if I hear and do his Word I will stand. 

Holy Spirit, help me hear and do today that I may stand.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.