January 30th 2022.  Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL    4:21-30

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL   Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying:
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say,
'Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. The word of God is prophetic. It is not about endorsing what we are but is aimed at shaking us. We must be open to the transcendent dimension of God’s word and action, not reading things merely from the point of view of the flesh.

This Sunday we read of the negative reaction of the people of Nazareth to Jesus’ words in the synagogue (which were recounted in last Sunday’s Gospel). The story is prepared by the first reading narrating the resistance by the king and people to the prophecy of Jeremiah. Prophecy is not just a piece of furniture in our lives, but is a witness to a truth that shakes us. The word of God is not about affirmation of what we already are but is directed towards correction and growth. In the Gospel, the people start to murmur about Jesus. Ever since Mary conceived virginally, they knew that there was something not “normal” about the provenance of Jesus. The pregnancy of Mary didn’t fit in with the usual timeframe of the Jewish marriage customs. Nazareth was the place of the incredible faith of Mary, but also the place of incredulity. The people look upon Jesus merely from the point of view of the flesh, from what their eyes can see, with no openness to mystery. The rejection of prophecy, in fact, is the rejection of the transcendent dimension of things, the perspective of God.

 

2. We Christians often look upon Jesus as if he were merely the son of Joseph. We do not realize the incredible grace that is at our fingertips. It is essential that we appreciate our distance from God and be conscious of the extraordinary manner in which he bends down to us.

Jesus responds with strong words, pointing out historical cases of those who were outsiders and yet received God’s blessing which was denied in those instances to the people of Israel. Often, we do not appreciate what we have before us. The people of Nazareth were too used to seeing Jesus. We Christians tend to take for granted the greatness that we have at our fingertips. We interpret our situations without the prophetic spirit, in a horizontal way. We have grace within our reach, but that grace ends up being received only by those who return to the Church from a life of sin, those who are transformed by the mercy offered to them, whilst the rest of us do not appreciate what we are part of. In a sense, we behave like the people of Nazareth who see Jesus merely as the son of Joseph, full of preconceptions. It is essential that we are aware of our extraneity from God and appreciate the extraordinary blessings of his grace, rather than looking enviously elsewhere and complaining as if it were a national sport. When we read the word of God, let us allow its prophetic nature to challenge us, correct us, confront us with our shortcomings. This can only do us good.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In Sunday’s Gospel we read how Jesus’ words disturbed the people of Nazareth. A true prophet is not an astrologer who does your horoscope and tells you what you want to hear. God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. Whenever the Lord speaks to me, he must tell me something different to what I am thinking myself. Otherwise it is not God who is speaking to me! I cannot go to the liturgy and expect the word of God to leave me unmoved! True joy and true consolation require being shaken out of my own closed mentality to return to the Lord. How often we turn the word of God into something sugary and domesticated. Or else we turn it into an abstraction to stimulate our intelligence. But the word of God is a place where the Lord is actively caring for us and seeking to transform us. When we pray, or go into the liturgy or contemplate the word of God, it is essential that we do so ready to be challenged, ready to allow God to visit us and redeem us. When we hear the word of God, it is as if we are on the banks of the Red Sea, waiting to see if the waters will open or if our enemies will reach us. We must contemplate the word in the context of the real drama of our own lives.

January 23rd 2022.  Sunday of the Word of God

GOSPEL   Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL   Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events
that have been fulfilled among us,
just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning
and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew,
to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,
most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings
you have received.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. We do not listen to the word of God in order to learn abstract concepts, but in order to live the present moment in which I find myself

In the first reading from Nehemiah we hear the very important account of the rereading by Ezra of the book of the Law before Israel. This is after the return from seventy years of exile. The exile occurred following centuries of the closing of the hearts of the people (and especially the kings) to the Lord. After this process of tragic degeneration, the people return and repossess their own history with this celebration of the liturgy of the word. In the Gospel, Jesus takes the scroll in the synagogue and reads the text from Isaiah announcing the coming of the Messiah. Then he rolls the scroll up again and returns it to the official. This act of re-rolling the scroll is very significant as it marks the fulfilment of the prophetic text. In fact, Jesus tells them that the words they have heard are being fulfilled in their presence. When a teacher explains a text that has just been read, his true motive is to connect the word of God to the reality we are now living, just as Ezra did in the reading from Nehemiah. We do not listen to the word of God in order to form abstract concepts, or to learn moral values, even if these are important. No, we listen to God’s word in order to live this present moment. This is what Christ does, when he unites the Word of God to human flesh in his very person.

 

2. The word of God is a marvellous instrument for welcoming, receiving, understanding and obeying the will of God for me

Psalm 129 tells us that the word of the Lord is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path. What is more important, the lamp, or the pathway that I must walk? What is important is the path, the life that I am living day by day. When we are attentive to applying the word of God to our daily journey, we are also attentive to the will of God for my life. The word of God is a marvellous instrument for welcoming, receiving, understanding and obeying the will of God for me. In a sense, we, and our lives, are a word of God, to be understood by means of contemplating his word. The most important thing, though, is not comprehending the word of God but becoming the word of God that we already are but do not realize. In the light of the Scriptures, we come to the awareness that we are the great masterpiece of God. It is essential and urgent that we give time to the word. St Jerome said that whoever ignores the Scriptures ignores Christ. We cannot understand the Christ who illuminates every man without understanding the Scriptures.

 

3. Christ’s liberation is here in this moment, despite its difficulties. Let us live this salvation illuminated by the word of God.

The liberation announced by Christ in today’s Gospel - the light for the blind, the freedom for prisoners, the glad tidings for the poor - this is all true in our present moment. It is correct to say that we are in difficult times, but yet Scripture proclaims that this is the time of our liberation. We too must roll up the scroll, not in the sense of forgetting the word of God, but in the sense of applying it, of living our present moment as the moment of salvation. The challenges we face are the pathway to life and light! Jesus is the key for understanding every problem and every grace in our lives. That Jesus might assist us in passing from comprehending his word to living it, to pass from reading Scripture to living it in the present moment.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

The theme this week is the power and efficacy of the word of God. In the first reading, the people of Israel rejoice when the long-lost book of the Law is read out to them. In the Gospel, Jesus goes into the synagogue and reads the announcement of liberation from the prophet Isaiah. These words are being fulfilled today in the people’s hearing, Jesus announces. The difficulty in our modern world is that words are being emptied of their meaning. Important words like “love” are being misused, profaned, and given contradictory and even perverse meanings. It is important that we recuperate the sense of the importance of words and God’s word in particular. We are rational beings and we are incredibly affected by the words that are spoken to us. We can be exposed to words of salvation or words of destruction. Think of the influence that the harsh words of a parent can have on the heart of the child. Think of the damage that the serpent’s word in Genesis 3 caused to humanity! But inside each one of us are the words of salvation that have been spoken to us through our personal history. How important it is to ponder these words often and proclaim them to others for their salvation also.

January 16th 2022.  Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL John 2:1-11

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

 

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GOSPEL John 2:1-11

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine’. Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called the bridegroom and said; ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now’.

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. Each one of us is called to live in a spousal way, whether we are married or single. However, this existence can sometimes become monotonous or stale. What can be done when this happens?

The miracle performed at Cana is the first sign of the salvation Jesus offers to humanity. This Gospel is read to us after the celebrations of Christmas, the Maternity of Mary, the Epiphany and the Baptism of Christ. Now, after contemplating these mysteries, we turn to consider how they impinge on our lives. The theme of the wedding feast is an essential one because – regardless of the particular mission one might have - humanity is called to live in a spousal way (self-giving, unitive). However, some married people live as if they were still single, whereas some consecrated people live spousally, giving themselves in service to the Lord and others. Each one of us, regardless of our state in life, is called to live this kind of self-giving, to enter into this wedding feast. At Cana, however, the wedding feast takes a bad turn. They run out of wine. This recalls the moments in all of our lives when things become insipid, monotonous, dry and stale. We accept a mission, but later give in to the temptation of banalizing everything. This loss of the sense of the extraordinary can happen in marriage, ecclesial life and in many different areas.

 

2. We need the intercession of Mary! To have the beauty of our lives restored, we must respond with obedience to Christ, even in the little things.

When this happens what can we do? The intercession of the Blessed Virgin can obtain that which seems to be not forthcoming. In the dialogue of Cana between Christ and his mother there is something very profound, though obscured by difficulties in translation. What begins here will be completed at the foot of the cross. The sign Jesus performs is a little peculiar. In fact, he does nothing himself. The fulcrum of the event is in the words Mary expresses: “Do whatever he tells you”. This, effectively, is the same sentiment Mary expresses at the Annunciation. She gives us the key to resolving our insipidness. To have our beauty restored, we must learn to do what the Lord says. In Cana, obedience to God’s word involves the urns used for purification rites. These urns were lying empty which indicates that the family was not using them for the purifications prescribed by the Law. Great errors do not happen in isolation. When one begins to neglect our relationship with the Lord in small things then we risk falling into deeper infidelity. Jesus is directing the family to begin with these urns which had not been used for their proper task of purification. With Jesus, we return to obeying the little things well, and then the wine of greatness begins to flow! Sometimes when a disaster occurs, we do not see the small things that led to this situation.

 

3. When we allow God to have the reins in our lives, then he will achieve a transformation. The cross will be turned into the road to salvation.

The servants do as Jesus asks them, even though it seems totally incongruent! They take water in urns that were normally used for purification to be tested by the head waiter. He testifies that the wine is of an altogether different quality. Indeed, we have entered into something completely new here, something that humanity could never have achieved. God can change the nature of things. He transforms water into wine, a human being into the child of God, the cross into a road to salvation. This, the first of his great signs, is achieved by Jesus doing nothing. The servants carry out his word. When we fill with water the urns of purification, we will see the transformation that he can achieve. What matters is that we no longer do things as everyone else does them, but according to the initiative of God. This Gospel encourages us to see in Christ a completely new quality of things.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

The Gospel recounts the story of the wine running out at the wedding feast of Cana. A marriage feast is an image of the best of relationships, and is often used to symbolize the joy of a proper relationship with God. But the fact is that, sooner or later, the wine runs out in all human relationships! All relationships eventually encounter crises, but a crisis doesn’t mean that the relationship should be broken off or abandoned! A crisis is an opportunity to begin relying on God. Only the Lord can be the basis of a bond that is good and permanent. The crisis is an opportunity to lift the relationship onto a higher level. In the Gospel, when the wine runs out, what does Our Lady do? She turns to Jesus and instructs everyone to do as he says. When crisis comes in life then we must stop relying on our own strategies. Instead we must abandon ourselves in obedience into the hands of Jesus. When we abandon ourselves to him in obedience, then the wine begins to flow! Then we begin to live joyful and productive lives!

January 9th 2022.  The Baptism of Our Lord

GOSPEL Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
"I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
"You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. Jesus is “mightier” than John because he is the beloved Son of the Father. We too can be even greater than John if we live as beloved children of God

Luke’s Gospel presents the baptism of Jesus as occurring during a moment of prayer. John’s baptism is one of conversion in preparation for the Messiah, but the one who is coming, the “stronger one”, will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Who is this stronger one? After the baptism, while Jesus is praying, the heavens are opened. This is the stronger one, the one who can open the heavens. The image of the Holy Spirit descending evokes the moment of creation, and, indeed, this is the new creation. Then a voice comes from heaven, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. The stronger one, thus, is the one who knows the Father. Later, Jesus will say that John is the greatest among men, but the least in the Kingdom is still greater. John represents the Old Testament, the fidelity to the covenant, but we are greater than him if we live as children of the Father. In every single act that he does, Jesus demonstrates that he is the beloved Son. This is the key to baptism. We are adopted sons in Christ, because he is the beloved Son. We are not children of God in some independent sense, but because we are beloved in Christ.

 

2. We seek autonomy, life on our own terms. But the Father is the origin of our life, and we have life only because he loves us.

It is evident when a person is loved. We see it in how they reason, how they speak, how they behave. Equally, when a person is not loved, it is also obvious. The person who knows they are loved possesses something that cannot be taken from them. Children that are loved grow up differently to those who are not. They do not feel they are being constantly examined. As St Paul says in Romans, there is no further condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When we are loved, we are welcomed and forgiven, for love always involves pardon. I exist because another (the Lord) loves me, is happy that I exist. We cannot have life of ourselves. Only the Father, who generates the Son, exists of himself. Unfortunately we seek to live in a different manner. In recent centuries, humanity has affirmed its autonomous existence. The truth is that we are children of our creator, we only exist because we have been loved.

 

3. We think are lives are constructed on possessions and abilities, but it is the love of the Father that is the most profound truth of our existence.

It is significant that the public ministry of Jesus begins with this affirmation from the Father. In every act, he is the Son of the Father who loves him. Everything Jesus does is an act of gratitude and love towards the Father, right up to and including his crucifixion. We are inclined to think that our lives hold together when we have possessions or talents. No! Our lives hold together when we are aware that we are loved by God. When this voice of the Father that speaks to Christ becomes a voice in our heads, then we are able to put up with anything! When, through the action of the Holy Spirit who enters us and recreates us anew, we hear “You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased!” then we will have discovered the most profound truth of our existence, that we are loved.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

At the time of John the Baptist, people were expecting the Messiah to come soon, but what happened at the baptism of Jesus took everyone by surprise. It was expected that the Messiah would be a righteous man who would call others back to a proper fulfilment of our duties before God. But what happens during the baptism is a stunning piece of divine revelation. The spirit hovers over Jesus and we hear the words of the Father, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. At the beginning of Genesis, the Spirit hovered over the waters and brought forth creation. Now he hovers over the waters of the Jordan and the new Adam, the beloved Son, emerges. And this is crucial for the understanding of our own baptism. When we reflect on Jesus emerging from the water, we should imagine that each one of us emerges with him to hear the voice of the Father who delights in us. The tragedy of humanity is our distrust in the loving fatherhood of God. At baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and seals our identity as beloved children of a tender Father. The real work of evangelisation is the task of communicating to people that God is a loving Father who delights in each one of us.

January 2nd 2022. Second Sunday after Christmas

GOSPEL  John 1:1-18

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

_______________________________________________________

 

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

 

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GOSPEL        John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word:

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things came to be,

not one thing had its being but through him.

All that came to be had life in him

and that life was the light of men,

a light that shines in the dark,

a light that darkness could not overpower.

A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

He came as a witness,

as a witness to speak for the light,

so that everyone might believe through him.

He was not the light,

only a witness to speak for the light.

The Word was the true light

that enlightens all men;

and he was coming into the world.

He was in the world

that had its being through him,

and the world did not know him.

He came to his own domain

and his own people did not accept him.

But to all who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to all who believe in the name of him

who was born not out of human stock

or urge of the flesh

or will of man

but of God himself.

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.

John appears as his witness. He proclaims:

‘This is the one of whom I said:

He who comes after me ranks before me

because he existed before me’.

Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –

yes, grace in return for grace,

since, though the Law was given through Moses,

grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God;

it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,

who has made him known.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

HOMILY

1. Too often, our vision is focused on immediate and instantaneous things, and we forget the ultimate purpose of our existence, the blessing to which we are called in heaven.

The Gospel for Sunday is from the Prologue of John’s Gospel. As a key of interpretation, for a change, let us consider the joyous opening words of the letter to the Ephesians: “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ”. This blessing is a little peculiar. It is not concerned with a mundane prosperity or with physical wellbeing. My life is blessed, not because I – living here in this world – now possess this blessing, but so that I will one day arrive at this blessing! My life is a journey towards a blessing that awaits me in heaven. Too often, our vision is focused on immediate and instantaneous things, and we forget the ultimate purpose of our existence. The value of a journey is its destination. If the destination is something wonderful then the journey is great, but if the destination is my destruction, then the journey is a tragedy and a delusion, no matter how enjoyable it may have seemed.

 

2. Humanity is called to happiness, but we are not happy unless we love according to God’s parameters.

The letter continues: “Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and immaculate, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved.” We were elected by him before the creation of the cosmos! Why? To live this holy and immaculate love, not a love according to human parameters but according to Him. Humanity is not happy unless it lives according to this type of authentic heavenly love. The predestination spoken of in this passage is not a guarantee that we will arrive at this level of love. We have indeed been predestined by him, but we can accept or reject God’s plan for us. Every man and woman has been made with the intention that they would arrive at this sublime state of life. But we make do with imitations of this love and as a result we do not find happiness.

 

3. Let us rediscover how precious and wonderful we are - created in Christ to love as he loves.

This passage emphasizes the gratuity of God’s blessing. It is given to us freely and generously. We are invited to echo this generosity in our lives. We have been graced, blessed, loved, chosen. This beauty of ours is something that we constantly forget and is something that is offended and derided around us constantly, in the violence done to women and children and in the fact that we ourselves do not treat ourselves according to the truth of our inner mystery, which is that we are beautiful, set apart, called to a heavenly blessing. At the beginning of the year, let us recall that we have been created in Christ, with a view to sharing in his nature. Let us rediscover how precious and wonderful we are. Let us not undermine ourselves or others with our jealousies. It is not important to compare ourselves to others but to be ourselves and to arrive at the wonderful destination the Lord has marked out for us. Let us begin the year recalling that Christ became human because being human is something good and important. Christ became human flesh because our flesh merited the visitation of God and is worthy of salvation. Let us be conscious of the manner in which we have been blessed and how precious we are!

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In the Old Testament, we read that God’s wisdom is present in his people. The Gospel reading from John’s Prologue tells us that the wisdom of God, in the form of his only-begotten son, Jesus, comes to live among us. The Greek expression used is to “pitch his tent” among us. Our tendency, generally, is to try to raise ourselves up, to make ourselves greater or more important, to flee our misery, but the Gospel tells us that Christ, the second person of the Trinity, comes in search of us just as we are. He is born in miserable circumstances, in the very circumstances that we seek to avoid. This time of celebrating the incarnation of Christ is not a time to despise who we are but, rather, to welcome the gift that we possess. The fixation of our culture with looks and image, of wanting to be different, is actually a form of non-acceptance of who we are. Christmas tells us that it is exactly in this humble manger, in you and me, that the Lord wishes to become incarnate. We are fixated with beauty, but we are called to real beauty, to discover who we are in the eyes of God. Vatican Two tells us that Christ reveals man to man. Only in Christ do I discover who I am. In John’s Gospel, the theme of the indwelling of God in each of us is very important. It is essential that we stop running away from ourselves in search of “treasures” when the real treasure is within us! Christ died for us on the cross to show how important we are. As John Paul II said, it is great and beautiful to be human because Christ chose to be human. This Christmas, let us allow God to unveil the wonder of our own lives. Even if our lives are difficult and complicated, this does not mean they are not beautiful. The Lord is working in us, leading us to fulness of existence.  Christ shown us the glory of the Father in a manger and upon the cross, two places that are not ideal according to our vision of success and affirmation. Here Christ shows us that he can dwell in every situation, every challenge and every difficulty. This Second Sunday of Christmas may we continue to be filled with the desire to live the Christian life, which is a wonderful life always and in whatever circumstance!