MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND GRANT YOU PEACE

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD - Luke 2:16-21

We begin the New Year in the company of Mary, the “mother of the Lord” (Lk 1:43). It is with her that we ask God’s blessings, mainly the good wine of love and peace.

In the Catholic Church, the first day of the Year is a day of prayer for peace and of reflection on what should be done to bring peace into our world. For the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis guides us on a reflection about politics and peace, affirming that “Good politics is at the service of peace” (see http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20181208_messaggio-52giornatamondiale-pace2019.pdf). A good politician is someone who is committed to building a society based on justice, without exploitation and oppression. At the heart of his decisions and his actions, a good politician tries to put into practice the great commandment of love.

In his message to the World Day of Peace, Pope Francis quotes the “Beatitudes of the Politician”, “proposed by Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Vãn Thuận, a faithful witness to the Gospel who died in 2002: 

Blessed be the politician with a lofty sense and deep understanding of his role.
Blessed be the politician who personally exemplifies credibility.
Blessed be the politician who works for the common good and not his or her own interest. 

Blessed be the politician who remains consistent.
Blessed be the politician who works for unity.
Blessed be the politician who works to accomplish radical change. 

Blessed be the politician who is capable of listening. 

Blessed be the politician who is without fear.”

Psalm 67:2-3,5,6,8

And we can ask God’s blessings with the Psalm 67

O God, be gracious and bless us.

O God, be gracious and bless us

  and let your face shed its light upon us.

So will your ways be known upon earth

  and all nations learn your saving help.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the nations be glad and exult

  for you rule the world with justice.

With fairness you rule the peoples,

  you guide the nations on earth.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

  let all the peoples praise you.

May God still give us his blessing

  till the ends of the earth revere him.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

May the Lord bless you all and give a New Year full of his graces. May he grant you peace.

JESUS REMAINED BEHIND IN JERUSALEM

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY - Lk 2:41-52

Jesus’ family, which we call the Holy Family, was a very special family, yet in so many ways it was a family like many others. Joseph and Mary had to struggle and work hard in order to survive and to provide for Jesus the best they could. As a carpenter - self-employed or working for others, maybe even in the huge projects of King Herod - Joseph would not have an easy life. With him, Jesus learned the craft; that’s why he would be known as the “carpenter” (Mk 6:3).

We know nothing about the daily life of Jesus’ family. This Sunday’s gospel gives us a glimpse of the relationship between Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They were a devout family who followed the religious traditions of their people and who initiated Jesus in the ways of the Lord. It was the duty of every adult Jew to participate in the Passover celebration. And so, each year, big crowds went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the big feast. Jesus’ parents kept to the tradition and every year “used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover”. Being the only child, it was probable that, most of the times, Jesus was taken as well. At thirteen years of age, he would undergo the rite of passage Bar Mitzvah, thus being considered an adult, responsible for his own acts. The Gospel presents Jesus at the age of twelve, still under the tutelage of his parents, but already becoming an adult. He accompanied his parents on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and there he became so carried away by the Temple and its liturgy that he forgot everything else. It was as if all his dreams were fulfilled and he didn’t need anything else. There, in the Temple, he found the purpose of his life, and he remained.

Reading this Sunday’s gospel, we get the impression that Joseph and Mary considered Jesus as being already a responsible adult, allowing him freedom of movement so that he could be with relatives or with friends who came from Galilee or even from Nazareth. So, until they found out that he had remained behind, they did not worry too much. Then, they returned to Jerusalem in search of him, and, to their big surprise, they found him in the Temple in conversation with the great teachers of the law. And everybody was “astounded at his intelligence and his replies”. While all the onlookers saw in him a child prodigy, his mother was not pleased and reproached him that he had been so irresponsible, causing them so much trouble. Hearing his mother’s complaint, Jesus was surprised that Mary and Joseph could not understand his attitude: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?” In his answer, Jesus already shows awareness of his vocation and clearly tells his mother that one day he will leave home and family to be only at the service of the “Father”. For this, he would live and die. 

Meanwhile, "Jesus went down with them to Nazareth and was submissive to them.”

A HOLY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU

With the ecstasy of Mary

and the simplicity of Joseph,

let’s approach the baby Jesus

born poor and humble,

ignored by the wise and powerful,

but recognized, loved

and adored

by those who are touched

by the mystery of life

in which they experience

the wonders of the Lord

who saves us.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, full of Jesus' blessings - Fr. José

Mu kupokelela ipalo nga Maria

na mu kuicefya nga Yosefu,

natupalamine Yesu mwana,

uwafyelwe umupina,

kabili uwasulilwe ku bamano na bamaka,

lelo bamwishibe, bamutemenwe

no kumupepa

kuli abo bonse abakumishiwe

ku bwile bwa bumi

umo basanga ifisungusho fya Mfumu

uwaisa mu kutupususha.

Musefye Noel ne cimwemwe, kabili Yesu Mwana amufumfumwine amapalo. - Fr. José

MARY IS PROCLAIMED BLESSED

IV SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Luke 1:39-45

After being informed by the angel that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant, Mary wasted no time and with strong resolution, she “set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah”. It was a difficult journey, a journey that would not be done by a young woman, unless under very pressing circumstances. Did Mary venture to go alone? There is no way of knowing, but it is well possible and probable that she went with some family member or friend or she might have joined a group of people going to Jerusalem. In doing the journey from Nazareth to “the hill country of Judah”, in the South, Mary showed the determination and courage fo someone who is strongly motivated. At all costs, she needed to go and contemplate the wonders which the Lord had done in Elizabeth for the sake of his people. And she had to share her secret with someone who had also been graced and favoured. Carrying with her the mystery of God’s love, she felt the need to be with someone who had also embraced the mystery, so that her words of joy, praise, and thanksgiving would find echo and response. 

Upon hearing Mary's greeting, Elizabeth felt the child leaping in her bosom with joy and, there and then, she was filled with the Holy Spirit, making it possible for her to recognise that Mary was the mother of the Lord.

There are people who try to ignore Mary or to despise her role in God’s plan of salvation, speaking of her as a common woman. Elizabeth, guided by the Holy Spirit was able to recognise her dignity and her role. Mary is not a simple villager from Nazareth or an ordinary woman from any other village or town, but she is the chosen one of the Lord. That’s why Elizabeth proclaimed her "blessed among women" and she is blessed because she "believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

In order to share in Mary’s blessing, we must have the same attitude of faith, accepting God’s word and putting into practice in our lives. Only this attitude of faith enables us to recognise and to accept God’s gift of grace and love. With Mary, let us prepare ourselves, guided by the Holy Spirit, to welcome Jesus in our lives. May he be born in our hearts.

JOHN’S MESSAGE

III SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Luke 3:10-18

This Sunday’s gospel presents the teaching of John the Baptist. In the desert, his life was hard and difficult. Anyway, it is always difficult to survive in the desert, even though people like the Bedouin live a nomadic life in the desert. The people of Israel had made that experience and the life in the desert always remained as a kind of ideal: a life in which people entrust themselves to the Lord and allow him to be the shepherd that guides and protects them. In spite of appearing like a crazy person, people recognised in John a person touched by God and moved by his Spirit and they went to him to hear his message and to accept his advice. When people are weighed down by a life full of hardships, they are ready to go anywhere looking for relief. When they feel lost, they look for the meaning and purpose of their lives and they are ready to make sacrifices in order to find it. And so they crossed the desert and went down to the Jordan River so that they could receive guidance from John.

Luke presents three groups of people going to John: the people in general, the tax collectors and the soldiers; and all of them asked the same question: "What should we do?" That is the same question that people go on asking: What should we do to get out of this mess which we are in? The question implies that we are responsible for our own lives and that the outcome depends on what we do.  If we dream of a different world and want it to be a world of justice and peace, then we must ask: What should we do? However, the question is only meaningful if we are ready to do what needs to be done. In his answer to the question, John gave an indication of what is essential, presenting three attitudes that we must put into practice: 

1. Share what we have with the neediest. We must put an end to our selfishness, accepting that we are responsible for the fate of the others. We must pay attention to the most vulnerable so that they do not feel abandoned and ignored in their suffering.
2. Practice justice in the demands we make on others. We must put an end to the exploitation of others so that we enrich ourselves and consider us superior to all the others. The world belongs to all and is not my private property.
3. Practice non-violence, never using authority to oppress others, but putting ourselves at the service of peace. We must put an end to oppression on the ones who depend on us and we must stop behaving as if we are the lords who must always be obeyed.

John's advice is simple and workable. Although it must be enacted by each individual, this adice has a communitarian and social dimension. And if we want to build a fair and peaceful society, we must act upon this advice and change it into policies in our society. 

John did not work any miracles that might attract the crowds, but they were ready to endure the hardships of the desert just to listen to his word - a simple, sincere and direct word, full of truth, which touched the hearts of people. John’s word is a word that confronts and judges us, leading us to face our actions and our motives for those actions. 

John was an honourable, sincere and honest man, who was well aware of his mission and of the limits of that mission. And so he plainly spoke the truth about himself:

“I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. This Someone - the Christ- will baptise us with the Holy Spirit, thus making us children of God.

JOHN, THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

II SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Luke 3:1-6

In order to write his gospel, Luke searched carefully (Lk 1:3), so that he would transmit the truth and not some fairy tales. For us to understand that he is narrating something that truly happened, he gives us the narratives historical setting. Presenting John the Baptist and his prophetic ministry, he tells us that John started his preaching “in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign” (Lk 3:1). Tiberius was the Roman emperor, as his rule was exercised in Judea by the governor Pontius Pilate, while Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was the tetrarch of Galilee, and his half-brother Philip “tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis”. Luke gives us also the names of the religious authorities: Annas and Caiaphas. They would play a big role in Jesus’ passion and death. With this kind of introduction to the ministry of John, which immediately preceded the ministry of Jesus, Luke makes it clear that he is not giving us myths, but historical facts. If we read the Bible attentively, we can easily discover that history has played a major role in God’s revelation, since he always presented himself as the one who is always present and always acts in history. Our faith has an essential historical dimension because our God is present and active in human history and this reaches its summit in the incarnation.

After the historical introduction, Luke presents John the Baptist, as the voice from the wilderness, which cries out as a lonely voice that finally reaches the ears and hearts of many. John is the prophet of the desert, whose life was a protest against the status quo of the religious institution and the religious life in Judea. His message was a call to repentance for all those who were ready to listen. At the same time, his words were full of hope, because he announced that the coming of the Lord was at hand.

John’s message is repeated today. It comes as a protest and a denunciation, being thus a call to repentance: “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.” If we do so, then “all mankind shall see the salvation of God.”

MAKE MORE AND MORE PROGRESS, ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL

I SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Luke 21:25-28,34-36

Advent is always a time full of hope in which we look forward together with Mary to the coming of Jesus. This Sunday's readings present us with some basic attitudes which we should cultivate, especially during this Advent time.

In the Gospel, Jesus advises us to pay attention to what is happening about us. It is so easy to lead a distracted life, not paying attention to the signs that appear along the way, mainly the danger signs. We live as if everything is running smoothly. However, Jesus gives us a strong warning: we will pass through widespread situations of crisis, uncertainty and anguish that may lead us into despair, causing us to do acts of true madness. The world will feel threatened and people will be at a loss on how to deal with such menace, in such a way that there will be “men dying of fear”. In fact, humanity has faced catastrophe so many times that it got used to it until the day it will reach its climax. However, Jesus’ warning is not in order to instil fear, but in order to strengthen us and fill us with hope.

In the first reading, Jeremiah announces that there will be a time of “honesty and integrity in the land”. There will be a time for salvation when we “shall dwell in confidence” and peace. And city we will live in will be called “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer 33:14-16). Such a time will be brought in by the Messiah, who will come to establish God’s Kingdom.

And Jesus speaks of the Son of Man “coming in a cloud with power and great glory” to establish his kingdom, a kingdom of justice and peace. He will come to put under his feet all the powers of evil. He will come as judge and Saviour. That will be a time of liberation, in which we will be filled with joy and pride because God our Father will grant us the inheritance promised to us as his children. Indeed, we can “stand erect” and hold our “heads high”, and we will join all the saints singing God’s praises.

Finally, Jesus advises us to “stay awake, praying at all times”. We will go through difficult times and on our own only we will not have “the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” It is so easy to go astray and so we must be on the watch, not allowing our hearts to “be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life”. We may fall into a “trap”, accepting false values as the true ones and taking this passing world for the eternal.

In the second reading, Paul advises us to grow in holiness: “Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus to make more and more progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants” (1 Tes 4:1). May the Lord grant us his grace, so that we grow more and more in love.