January 17^th 2016.  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

Kieran’s summary . . . 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. The fact is that, sooner or later, the wine runs out in all human relationships! All relationships eventually encounter crisis, 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!

In the first reading and in the Gospel, the relationship of God and humanity is represented by the image of a wedding feast.

The first reading contains the beautiful spousal call that is found in the book of Isaiah. The people of Israel will be like a glorious crown held by the hand of the Lord.  “As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you”. The paradigm of marriage is used to describe what salvation will be like. The Gospel for Sunday recounts the first sign worked by Jesus. It is good that the Gospel uses the word “sign” instead of miracle, because the notion of “sign” points to the deeper meaning of the event. Once again, as in the first reading, the relationship of God and humanity is represented by the wonderful, joyful occasion of a marriage feast. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus begins his public ministry by means of a sign worked at a wedding celebration.

The wine runs out in all human relationships. All relationships eventually encounter crisis. This crisis is an opportunity to begin relying on God. Only he can be the basis of something good and permanent. The crisis is the opportunity to lift the relationship onto a higher level

This text has infinite meaning and richness. Through the ministry of the Blessed Virgin, the power of God erupts during this wedding. As we know, the wine runs out at one point. We should note that marriage is considered the model and highpoint of all human relationships, paternal relations, maternal relations, friendship. And all relationships experience the day when the “wine runs out” – a moment of crisis looms. I know of no human relationship which does not one day have to confront the moment of the desert experience, aridity, emptiness. Wine represents joy, colour, cheerfulness and happiness; the day will come in all human relationships when it will dry up. It is not that the marriage is a mistake if crisis comes: it is when crisis comes that the marriage has the potential truly to begin. Friendship becomes more profound when it is presented with difficulty. Any relationship of collaboration has the potential to become more robust at the moment when confrontation and conflict arise. When parents are no longer able to communicate with their children and don’t know what to do: this shouldn’t be thought of as a moment that should never have arisen – it is a necessary stage of development. It is impossible to live an authentic life except through what we call the Paschal mystery - the moment when there appears to be no more life; when our capacities are no longer sufficient to save the situation. We are inclined to think that if something is right then it should be able to proceed without ever encountering difficulties. But, no, situations that are right are those that know how to confront emptiness. Human life, ironically, is something for which the human being by himself is not enough. Human life is a call to love, love of a spousal kind, where we must go beyond ourselves, beyond the limits of our own talents and capacities. In order to love to the end, it is not enough to have the intention to do so. Our good will, at most, can predispose us to grace. Love is a theological virtue and comes only from God. God has written his love in human hearts and lots of non-Christians are capable of it. But only the creator can overcome the void that one day confronts all human relationships.

In the Gospel the wine runs out and what does Our Lady do? She turns to Jesus and instructs everyone to do as he says. When crisis comes then we must stop relying on our own strategies and instead abandon ourselves in obedience into the hands of Jesus

In the Gospel story, when the wine runs out, the servants are told to fill the jars with water. The Blessed Virgin had said to them, “Do whatever he tells you”. It is important to arrive at our limits in order to discover that God, in that moment, asks for our obedience; to proceed according to his designs; refrain from following our own strategies and instead abandon ourselves to his. Our Lady is the expert at this. She said, “Let it be done unto me according to your word”. She tells the servants to do what Jesus wants and then something extraordinary happens. I usually seek to save situations on my own initiative, only to discover that I am unable. At this point I can abandon everything, which is the case with many marriages that fold up once a crisis arrives. But who says that crisis signifies the end of a relationship? It is a sign of the beginning, but the crisis can only be resolved if I cease to rely on my own strengths. It was this reliance that led to the crisis in the first place! And the crisis is the occasion to abandon oneself into the hands of God and seek to obey him! Pass over to the other side and rely on his strategy. May God allow us to appreciate how he manifests himself through our poverty and humble obedience. It is a curious thing that Jesus changes the water into wine without moving an inch. It is we servants who perform the miracle by filling the jars with water. The Lord tells us what to do and it is our hands that have the joy of performing the beautiful works. May the Lord truly grant that we come to know him through obedience, which is the way out of our emptiness and crises.

January 10^th 2016. THE FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

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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.”

Don Fabio tells us that the baptism of Jesus is the key by which we are to understand our own baptism. In the Gospel, a contrast is made between the figure of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. John is prescriptive, telling the people how deficient their lives are and what they need to do to prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus, by contrast, is portrayed as someone radically in relationship with his Father in heaven. At the baptism, the heavens are thrown open and we are given a glimpse of the secret life of the Trinity, which is a relation of love. This is the key to understanding our baptism and our vocation as Christians. Salvation is not about busily doing things for God, but is about entering into a relationship of love with God. Life makes little sense if viewed through the lens of success, possessions or praise. But if viewed through the lens of this relationship of love with God, then what beautiful sense it makes! Just as the Father is well pleased with Jesus, so too he is well pleased with us and wishes us to be immersed further in this relationship of love with him.

Luke’s account of the baptism is distinctive because it focuses on Jesus in a moment of prayer

The baptism of Jesus is recounted by the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in slightly different ways. The peculiar feature of Luke’s account is that it focuses on what happened after the baptism while Jesus was in prayer. Let us examine the passage in detail.

John points out our deficiencies to us, but he cannot bring us wholeness

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people and they “were asking in their hearts if John might be the Christ.” This expression “asking in their hearts” is a very interesting one. In the Bible, the heart is the centre of the essence of the human being. All genuine actions arise from the heart. People at the time were asking at the deepest level of their beings if John was the expected messiah. During Advent we heard how John had put before the people the things they needed to do in order to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John was the last of the prophets and his preaching was essentially focused on the law. He demanded that people show greater integrity and coherence with respect to the law. All of us are reasonably aware of our faults and the areas in our lives that are deficient. We all know in our hearts that we need a messiah. But is a messiah someone who simply says, “You must try harder. You must have greater integrity. You must change your behaviour for the better”? John the Baptist does have an important role in redemption because we cannot arrive at the threshold of salvation unless we become aware of our need of a saviour. But John is not the messiah. He baptizes with water, an action of immersion in an everyday element. This cannot compare to baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John says openly that he cannot undo the latch of Jesus’ sandal, a reference to a ritual act in Jewish society. If a man was betrothed to a lady, but decided not to go ahead with the matrimony, a second man could publicly undo the strap of the original spouse’s sandal, thereby publicly asserting his right to become the spouse in place of the first. Jesus is our true spouse and John does not wish to take his place. John cannot enter into the intimate heart of our need for a saviour. He can only remain on the outside, pointing the way.

John tells people what they must do, but only Jesus can bring salvation, and he does it by relating directly to his Father in heaven.

Jesus, the true spouse of humanity, does not relate to us on the level of obligation, the level of outlining the things that must be done to better ourselves. Words of prescription or encouragement do not take us very far in the spiritual life. The scene placed before us in Luke’s Gospel is very informative. We have the two men in very different poses. Which one is the Messiah? Which one is the Saviour? John is telling the people the things that they must do to live lives of integrity. Jesus instead is lost in prayer. Jesus is the one who has a direct relation with heaven, and heaven opens. Salvation does not come from us, but from heaven. Salvation descends from above through the generosity of God. This does not mean that we don’t have to do anything. But the initiative comes from above, and our task is to welcome it fervently. When our lives are in crisis, we often do our best to sort out our problems and move on, but we usually find, sooner or later, that we are back where we started. What we are capable of changing with our most supreme efforts is generally very little. Such minor “improvements’ should not be undervalued, but they can never bring us salvation. They do not represent the kind of novelty or complete turning of the page that is the characteristic of salvation.

Salvation does not involve doing things, but entering into the loving life of the Trinity.

Through his baptism Jesus enters into our condition, and while he is in prayer, salvation - the work of God - descends from heaven. The heavens are thrown open, the Holy Spirit comes, and the Trinity, the hidden truth of God, manifests itself. If a human being is to be changed, then he must encounter the hidden truth of God. He must hear the voice of the Father “You are my Son, the beloved. In you I am well pleased.” What do we have here? The one who comes as our messiah is full of love, and he is defined by his relation with his Father, who is love. The one who transforms our condition is one who is in relationship with the God of love, who experiences the love by God, and who in his person constitutes the expression of God’s love.

            Jesus becomes incarnate, takes on our condition, and the heavens are opened on our impoverished humanity. The tragedy of Adam was that he had removed himself from direct relation with God. The Lord had sought him out after the first sin, but Adam hid himself in the bushes. These bushes represent the defence mechanisms by which we hide ourselves for fear of God. In Luke’s Gospel, the people in their hearts were wondering if John was the messiah. There is always the conviction in our hearts that we must do something in order to be saved. But it is God who takes the initiative, and our task is to believe, to welcome, to allow ourselves to be consumed with the knowledge that in us God is well pleased. Through baptism, we are inserted into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, immersed into the relation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Love is the only lens through which to view our lives

Our lives only make sense in the context of love. If we try to make sense of our existence using the criterion of success, then we will find that our lives are a failure. Any material success that we might achieve will be small and insufficient in comparison to the trials of life. If the value of life is measured in terms of possessions, then we always find that we have too little to leave us satisfied. If the meaning of life lies in the affirmation of our egos, then we will always be left frustrated because the ego’s thirst for affirmation can never be satisfied. But if life is understood through the lens of love, then things begin to make sense. Humiliation and suffering are occasions for growth in which we learn how to love.

The baptism of Jesus is the key by which we understand our own baptism

Ultimately, love is all about relationship. The human being in the state of sin is a being that is out of relation with God. He can make what efforts he pleases, but the heavens will not open to him. With Christ, by contrast, the heavens are thrown wide open. In Luke’s account we see him in a moment of prayer. This is not simply an act of concentration and gritting one’s teeth, but is a relation with the Father.  How fortunate we are as Christians to have this revelation of the relational nature of God in Christ! The nature of God is love. We have a tendency to lose sight of this fact, busying ourselves “doing things for God,” instead of opening ourselves to a relationship with God. In every moment, and in everything we do, we must seek to enter into this encounter with God. This is not an obligation imposed by God on us, but a gift given to us in baptism. The Baptism of Jesus helps us to see what our own baptism is, which is our immersion in God, and an experience of how incredibly well pleased he is to have us in relation with him!

January 3^rd 2016. Second Sunday after Christmas

GOSPEL  John 1:1-18

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

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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

Kieran’s summary . . .  In the Old Testament we read that God’s wisdom is present in his people. The Gospel reading tells us that the wisdom of God, in the form of his only-begotten son, Jesus, comes to live among us. Sure, he lives among us in the sense that we have his intellectual and moral teachings, right? No! Jesus actually pitches his tent among us in the sense of becoming fully human and living in our flesh! As the Gospel tells us, Jesus is the Son who comes from the Father, and he lives this sonship in a body like ours! This has an extraordinary consequence for each one of us. It means that the Christian is someone whose existence is radically founded upon the fact that he or she is a son or daughter of God. What does this mean in practical terms? It means that, in everything we do, we must first and foremost be with the Father. How much time we waste on activities that lead us nowhere and are utterly directed towards ourselves! Our first task every day is to be with the Father! We must devote time to being with the Lord so that we are always “coming from” the Father before we embark on any task or activity, just as Jesus is the one who radically comes from the Father.

The Old Testament tells us that the wisdom of God is present in the people of Israel. Is this referring to the way that all ancient peoples had a shared body of knowledge and customs? Or is it a prophecy about a much more profound incarnation of God’s wisdom in the midst of his people?

The first reading is a beautiful passage from the twenty fourth chapter of Ecclesiasticus. It may seem strange that this reading about wisdom is chosen for the Christmas season, but when we reflect on it we begin to see why it is so appropriate. The word “wisdom” in Hebrew is one of the possible translations for the Hebrew word for the law, Torah. Wisdom involves learning and instruction. The reading tells us that the people of Israel have been gifted with this treasure of knowing the decrees of the Lord, of understanding his reality. The book of Ecclesiasticus tries to construct a bridge between the Jewish and Hellenistic cultures. It asserts that the descendants of Jacob are characterised by the presence of this knowledge or wisdom that guides them in life. Wisdom has pitched its tent, established its dwelling, in the midst of the people of Israel. It is always interesting to discover the knowledge and customs that are possessed by ancient peoples and cultures. Israel could be considered to be one people among many others, even if the writer of Ecclesiasticus claims that they possess the one superior or definitive form of wisdom.

Jesus does not just give us an impressive collection of teachings or intellectual and moral content. He becomes one of us and lives out a relationship of sonship with his Father through our human flesh

However, we see all of this in a new light when we read Sunday’s gospel, which once again gives us an opportunity to reflect of the marvellous prologue of the Gospel of John. This passage speaks in terms that have parallels in the reading from Ecclesiasticus, but it takes the discussion to a more profound level. The same word of God, or wisdom of God, is now described as a person, a divine person, who comes to live in the midst of his people. He fulfils that which is referred to in Ecclesiasticus, and he does it in a surprising way - by his incarnation. “The word became flesh and lived among us”. In the original Greek, the text says that he “pitched his tent among us”. Thus we have the same term as appeared in Ecclesiasticus, but the Gospel makes clear that this inhabitation of wisdom is not merely on an intellectual level. The word of God actually becomes flesh! His dwelling among us is not a mere expression of his presence or availability to us: he physically lives and moves among us. The wisdom that is being spoken of here actually involves a relationship of sonship, an only-begotten Son that comes from the Father. In Christ what we discover is not merely impressive erudition or a body of teachings. Jesus cannot be reduced to the content of his verbal expression. What we have is his life and his essence. The wonderful and unique things that he said do not exhaust the extraordinary fact that he is God in human flesh. Our human condition has been physically visited by something invisible, by the creator of the universe. This divine indwelling is not the indwelling of a God that is completely incomprehensible or distant: this God, rather, is someone who is fundamentally a father.

Jesus is the Son who comes from the Father. By becoming incarnate he shows all of us how to be sons and daughters of God while we are still in this flesh.

This second Sunday after Christmas we are celebrating that which has become a reality in the midst of the world: the filial life, the life of the one who lives as a child of God. The gospel reading speaks of the “glory of the only-begotten Son who comes from the Father”. What does it mean to live life as a son? Jesus in his human flesh showed how to live every single act as one who is a son coming from the Father. Jesus does not do the things that he does because he is someone exceptional: he does them because he lives as the Son of his Father. Jesus comes from the Father, and we too, even if we do not know it, come from the providence of God. We come from the Father and we will return to him. By the grace of the sacraments, the preaching that we have heard, the faith that we live, by the hope that lives in our hearts and the charity that we exercise concretely, we too live as children of God. It is essential to be aware of where we come from! If our past was marked by abandonment, by the errors we committed, by the mercy that we did not encounter, then that would be another thing. But once we become aware that we really come from the Father, then our lives are marked by peace and liberty, by the joy that flows from the awareness that we have been graced by pardon and mercy.

Our lives must be transformed by this fact that we come from the Father. This is the determining factor in Jesus’s life, and it must be the source of all that we do as well. Before we do anything else each day we must first “be” with the Father. This requires setting aside time for prayer, recollection, meditation every day of our lives!

It is important that we cease trying to do things separately from being with the Father! Jesus is first and foremost with the Father and this leads him to come to us and redeem us. We too must “come from the Father” every single day and live as his children. Thus Christmas let us devote a little time to be still, to pray, to place ourselves in the presence of the Lord, in order that we too might live our lives as people who come from the Father and behave like his sons and daughters. This is the new life of the Christian; this is the beautiful life!

December 27^th 2015. FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

GOSPEL                                  Luke 2:41-52

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

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL                                  Luke 2:41-52

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover, 
and when he was twelve years old, 
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning, 
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, 
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple, 
sitting in the midst of the teachers, 
listening to them and asking them questions, 
and all who heard him were astounded 
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished, 
and his mother said to him, 
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them; 
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favour
before God and man.

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

Kieran’s summary . . .  Parents think they know their children, but every child has gifts and capacities given by God that go beyond the capacities and expectations of their parents. How true this was of Jesus! When he says, “I must take care of my Father’s business”, the phrase really signifies, “I must be in my Father’s business”. What this means is that Jesus is totally caught up in his relationship with his Father. It is impossible for him to be any other way. And the same should be true for each one of us! We are created by God and our existence receives its meaning by its connection with God. If we are to live authentically, then we must base on lives on our primary relationship with the Father. Once we do this, then all the other relationships in our lives and in our families are ordered properly. Without God, our relationships with others are at a horizontal level. They can become obsessive, easily threatened, violent or abusive. But once we base all other relationships upon our primary connection with the Father, then these other relationships begin to draw life from the God who is the source of life. This Christmas, let us contemplate the Christ who is born of the Father. May we too become new creatures whose life derives from our relationship with the Father.

What does it mean to be a parent? To have possession of a child? Are relationships based on connections between people or should they be grounded first and foremost in God?

The first reading tells how Hannah, the mother of Samuel (the one who will anoint David as king of Israel), takes her son as soon as he is weaned and gives him over to the Lord. Samuel is left with the priest, Eli, who will raise him and educate him. Hannah had longed for a child for many years but now she has little time to enjoy him before giving him to the Lord. Maternity is not about the possession of a child. The sacrament of matrimony is about the construction of the Church and society, about raising, instructing and welcoming life in all its forms. In opposition to that, the tendency towards self-reference and egoism is ever-present in all that we do. Familial relationships are potentially salvific, consoling and edifying, but they can also be disordered and destructive. How can we foster authentic maternal and paternal relationships?

In every child there is something mysterious and novel that goes beyond the understanding and expectations of his parents

The Gospel tells of a journey to Jerusalem on the occasion of Passover, and the story refers to a definite rite of passage or transformation in the life of the family. At the age of twelve, a Jewish boy was considered to pass to adulthood and would undergo a ritual called Bar Mitzvah. He was expected to be able to read the scriptures in Hebrew, answer questions and be knowledgeable about his Jewish faith. Jesus goes to Jerusalem at this age along with a caravan of people. But when it is time to return home, Jesus affirms that he has a new home, the true home of his existence. His parents are unaware at first that he is missing, and when they find him they do not understand his response. There is always something in a child that cannot be fully understood by his parents. When a child becomes an adult, we begin to discover that he is a mysterious and surprising creation of God. There is always an aspect of the child that will go beyond the conceptual schemes of his parents. Parents must accept that being a parent involves one day having to face up to this surprise. Your child cannot be fully comprehended by you. There is a side to your child that you will not be able to fully comprehend. Every parenthood, even the spiritual fatherhood of the priest, must one day confront this trauma of incomprehension before the mystery of the other. A parent raises a child and believes that she knows him through and through, but this is simply not true. In every child there is the invisible that God will unveil in them, the substance of their personal relationship with God, something unique and unrepeatable.

Our God is the God of surprises. His work always involves innovation and originality

Jesus has left the caravan and can no longer be found among his relatives and friends. He has gone beyond the parameters by which his parents would normally have understood him. When they eventually find him, he is in the Temple among the elders and he is being questioned by them. He demonstrates wisdom beyond his years. How often we hear children express intuitions that leave us flabbergasted. Children nowadays demonstrate an aptitude for technological matters that far exceeds that of their parents. This is just an example, but every new generation always has something new to contribute that goes beyond what is expected of them. We see this in the story of Jesus in the Temple. God bestows something new upon each of us that surpasses that which has been given to us by our parents. It is incredible to think that the mother of Jesus is the Blessed Virgin Mary, but God has even more to say to his son than this wonderful lady can say to him. We call Mary the “Seat of Wisdom” and rightly so, but even she was perturbed by the words of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Our God is the God of surprises, and the work that he is bringing to fruition in his own son is full of novelty and innovation.

Jesus cannot help but be totally caught up in the things of his Father. And if our relationships are to be authentic, then we must be the same

Mary is at the centre of this passage. When they find Jesus, she asks why he has done this. “Your father and I have been searching for you”, she says. Here we see great refinement. It is not easy for men to communicate their feelings. In this phrase Mary mediates between Joseph and Jesus and helps her husband to communicate with her son. It is easier for mothers to relate their feelings to their sons, and here Mary mentions the sentiments of her husband before she mentions her own. Jesus replies, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must take care of my Father’s business?” Yes, they knew in one sense, but in another sense they did not know at all. The things of the Father are always new and surprising. The words of Jesus do not signify to be occupied by the things of his Father, but to be in the things of the Father. The nature of Christ’s complete being is such that he cannot be anything else but completely caught up in his relationship with the Father. And it is the same for us, even if we do not know it. It is a fact of our existence that our entire being is in relationship with God. We are truly ourselves when we cultivate that relationship with the Lord. Just as Jesus is in the Father, so we too are called to save our relationships by basing them on this marvellous connections with God. It is in and through our relationship with God that our relationships with others settle down and become less anguishes. Life does not depend on horizontal relationships between people. These relationships rather are an echo and a consequence of our primary relationship with our heavenly Father. When we have a proper relationship with God then we are not threatened or obsessed by other relationships; we do not become slaves of such relationships, nor do we descend into violence or abuse. It is God who is the source of life in our relationships. When we seek life from horizontal associations with others, then we end up being immersed in vengefulness or hatred. May the Lord grant us this Christmas to contemplate Christ and to become new creations ourselves, born from the Father. God can bring Christ to life within each one of us.

December 20^th 2015. FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

GOSPEL                                    Luke 1:39-45

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(Translation of a homily by Don Fabio  Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio)

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel.

GOSPEL                                    Luke 1:39-45

Mary set out
and travelled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah, 
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb, 
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 
cried out in a loud voice and said, 
“Blessed are you among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, 
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

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

Kieran’s summary . . . This Sunday’s Gospel highlights the fact that the Christian life is not an ethical system of following prescriptions! It is about being filled with the Spirit, as Mary was, and going forth to spread the happiness to others. New life has just been generated in Mary, and God generates new life within us too by pardoning us, by touching us with his word, by consoling us. Each one of us has received promises from the Lord, and in the same measure as we open ourselves to these promises, the life of God begins to burn inside each of us. The logic of the eruption (or flowering) of the life of God into our personal existence involves the following steps: a promise is made to us and we are asked to believe it; then the promise is brought to fulfilment by the work of Providence. If we trust in God’s life-giving action within each of us, then we too will be blessed as Mary was! As Elizabeth says, blessed are we if we believe! Blessed are we if we trust in the goodness of God, if we open ourselves to the paternity and fecundity of God! Let us repeat the sentiment again: to the same extent as we open ourselves to the promise and blessing of God, to that extent are we filled with the life of God. Mary is the living proof of that!

The Christian life is not an ethical system of following prescriptions! It is about being filled with the Spirit, as Mary was, and going forth to spread the happiness to others.

The first reading on Sunday speaks of him who will come forth from Bethlehem Ephrata, the one who has remote origins and who will rule over Israel with the power of the Lord. In this last part of Advent 2015, we see that it is God who takes the initiative. He is not motionless but is a dynamic, creative source of life. In the Gospel passage, we hear of Mary’s actions as soon as she has finished speaking with the Angel. She has just become pregnant but despite all the transformation that this entails, she rises “in haste” to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. When God enters into our hearts, we too begin to take the initiative. The Christian life is not an ethical system that is directed towards avoiding doing anything objectionable. If someone says, “I live a good life. I never commit serious sin”, this by itself is not sufficient. If that were sufficient, then the chair I’m sitting on could be considered a good Christian. Our life must involve initiative. The Christian life is not about defence or about avoiding ugly things. It is about doing beautiful things, about having a happy desire to go forth and act, as Pope Francis often reminds us. The Gospel tells us that Mary “arises” – this is the same verb as is used in the resurrection. The word “in haste” is a translation from a Greek word that really means “with zeal”. Mary goes with zeal to her cousin’s side. She wishes to do something positive and beautiful. We see all the happiness of a woman who is pregnant and wishes to share the news with someone. She carries something that she does not wish to keep just for herself.

God generates new life within us by pardoning us, by touching us with his word, by consoling us

The Christian cannot be someone who does things out of obligation or scruples. Instead we must be people who act because we have experienced great joy, great love, great tenderness; people who wish to communicate what they have experienced with others; who wish to say “Look at the beautiful things that have happened to me!” Christianity cannot be promoted by presenting it as a repressive system! It is something that is full of affirmation! Too often we have been overly-concerned with defending ourselves. Sure, the faith must be defended, but the best way to defend it is to present it, announce it, shout it aloud. The beautiful things we have in our Christian memory! The number of times that we have experienced the Lord’s mercy! The number of times that he has generated in us a life that we would not have been able to generate ourselves. The word of the Lord reaches us, surprises us, and generates in us an extraordinary newness, places the Spirit within us, consoles us.

Each one of us has received promises from the Lord, and in the same measure as we open ourselves to these promises, the same life of God begins to burn inside each of us

Elizabeth feels the child within her leap with joy. This child of only six months is already capable of that thing that we must search for with perseverance in life – joy. In the last line of the Gospel, we discover the secret of all of this life and joy that is expressed in the reading. Elizabeth says, “Blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Mary had replied to the angel: “Be it done onto me according to your word”. These words express a great desire on Mary’s part that God’s promise come to fulfilment in her. Each one of us has received promises from the Lord, and in the same measure as we open ourselves to these promises, the same life of God begins to burn inside each of us. The logic of the eruption (or flowering) of the life of God into our personal existence involves the following steps: a promise is made and we are asked to believe it; then the promise is brought to fulfilment by the work of Providence. God, after all, is the one who know how to bring such promises into concrete fulfilment. As Elizabeth says, blessed is the one who believes; blessed is the one who trusts in the goodness of God, who opens oneself to the paternity and fecundity of God; blessed is the one who opens herself, who trusts that God can create in her a new life. When we celebrate Christmas, we believe that God can be born in the midst of us, at the heart of our lives, in our epoch, our society. We do not follow Christianity as a philosophical system. Our belief is that our flesh can be the flesh of Christ. In the Eucharist we celebrate the fact that his body can become our body. We are bearers of Jesus in our daily lives. A greater joy than this does not exist.

December 13^th 2015.  Third Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL Luke 3:10-18

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­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 3:10-18

When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do, then?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘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. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading states that we have no reason for despondency. It encourages us to rejoice because the Lord, Our Saviour, is among us. In the Gospel, John the Baptist, we are told, announces the Good News. But all he seems to be doing is telling people to act justly and honestly. Is this the sum total of the Good News? Moral obligations? No! What John is doing is telling people that they do not have to be condemned to living lives of mediocrity and corruption. He is asserting that people have a beautiful nature that is capable of acting justly, of sharing, of giving bread to the hungry. This is not the sum total of the Good News, but it is a necessary beginning. If we wish to evangelize young people, then we must first tell them that they have a beautiful nature that has the potential for great good. And when the Lord Jesus comes, he is the one who can lead us into an authentic existence. John the Baptist states clearly that these moral prescriptions of his are not the complete story. He says that our true spouse is someone else, someone much more powerful than him. Jesus is the one who immerses us in himself, who seeks out union with us, who wants to bring us to the fullness of life. So we have little reason for despondency this Sunday, only joy!

We have no reason for despondency. Our Saviour lives in our midst!

The first reading from the prophet Zephaniah says, “Fear not, Zion, do not let your hands fall limp”. This image of hands hanging limply is commonly used to signify being completely powerless in a given situation. Zephaniah tells us not to let our hands fall limply because the Lord God is in our midst as a powerful saviour. He rejoices over us and will renew us with his love. If our lives depend on our own capacities and abilities then we would really have reason to let our arms fall limply. But from the Lord’s point of view, everything is different!

John tells people to act justly. This also is part of the Good News: the fact that we have the wonderful capacity to respond to the God things that God calls us to.

This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday. The serious nature of Advent is relaxed and we focus even more than usual on the joyous aspect of waiting for the Lord. In a very real sense, the Church is always in a state of celebration of that which we are living through. The Gospel passage ends as follows: “As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them”. John is spreading the Good News by means of the sort of exhortations that we hear in Sunday’s Gospel. “If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.” The tax collectors and soldiers are asked not to cheat and not to maltreat people. Evidently these moral obligations are not the Good News in themselves. The Good News refers to the public manifestation of the incarnation of Jesus in his public ministry. The point is that we have a humanity which has the wonderful capacity to respond to this Good News. If we have two tunics we have the capacity to give one to a person who has none, to give food to the hungry, to behave in a just manner, to be content with our pay. We have the potential to live well but too often we resign ourselves to living in a warped and unworthy way. This also is part of the Good News! The first thing to announce is that life can be very beautiful. It is not true that we are condemned to live in a mediocre and obscure way. God can count on us because we are indeed capable of responding to him.

The first step of evangelisation is to tell people that they have good and beautiful natures and are capable of being transformed by the action of Jesus. Then we can tell them of the wonderful things that God intends to do with that nature that we possess

We need to believe this before we can evangelize people. God calls us in the depth of our consciences to follow him and do good. If we can do not believe this then how can we bring salvation to anyone? We do not try to pour a bottle of wine or liquid for someone who does not have a container to receive it. And we possess the container to receive the grace of God, his mercy, his action within us. This is what John the Baptist does. A tax collector and a soldier were not exactly models of humanity in that period. The tax-collectors exploited people and the soldiers exercised violence. John the Baptist tells them that it is possible not to mistreat and extort. It is possible to act justly. When we seek to raise the new generation, it is essential that we help them to be aware of their beauty. We must do like John the Baptist who is not scolding the people but encouraging them towards the good. And this is only the beginning. The people were in a state of expectation at that time in Israel. John is trying to get people to uncover what is good in them so that God can act on them in a extraordinary manner. The Baptist announce that someone is coming, “someone who is more powerful than I am”. John prepares the people but what Jesus will accomplish is something else altogether. He “will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” He will liberate us as the winnowing fan liberates the grain from the chaff. We will be freed from that within us that is useless and burdens us down. God can accomplish great things in us! This is the Good News! The human being is beautiful and God loves him! God can visit him and dwell within him, baptize him and immerse him in the divinity, can fill him with gifts.

John the Baptist tells us that Jesus is our true spouse, the one who wants full communion with us

When John says that he is unworthy to undo the laces of Jesus’ sandals, he is referring to an Old Testament law that dealt with cases where a man had the right to marry a particular woman but renounced that right. If another man wanted to marry that woman then he had to undo the straps of the first man’s sandal and put it on his foot. This symbolized the passage of the legal right from the first spouse to the second. John the Baptist is telling us that Jesus is the spouse. Jesus is the one who will marry us and he (John) is not worthy to usurp his place. Jesus has a beautiful right over us. He wants to become one flesh with us. He wants to immerse us in novelty and act within us. So we have little reason to let our hands fall limp! We have wonderful things to do and to expect from the Lord.

December 6^th 2014.  Second Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL Luke 3:1-6

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

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

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrach of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low,
winding ways will be straightened
and rough roads made smooth.
And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading for Sunday says that we must be clothed with the garment of the justice of God. Where do we get that garment from? From our own just acts? No! It is something bestowed freely by God upon us! And this is the key to Advent. Advent is about God’s action in our lives, not our own actions. The Gospel lists all the powers that held sway at the time of Jesus. Then it switches to the desert, to the place where humanity has no power. In this place, the word of the Lord comes to John the Baptist who preaches the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is something no earthly authority can bestow, only God. God is coming to me this Advent and always. He comes through the events of my life. I think I am doing things for God, seeking him out, but it is God who is seeking me! When we try to interpret the events of our lives, even the negative ones, then we must try to see how God is using that event to come closer to me. In the disasters and problems of life, in the people we have difficulty getting on with, God is trying to get closer to me. The Lord is searching for me in the events of my life, even the events that bewilder me. I must allow him to find me in these events. I must be open to his action. Through all these events he is sculpting me, correcting me, leading me.

In Advent we must be clothed with the garment of the justice of God. Where do we get that garment from? From our own just acts? No! It is something bestowed by God! Advent is about God’s action in our lives, not our own actions.

The first reading invites us to rid ourselves of our garments of mourning and to enter into the feast of joy. It is an unusual kind of joy, however. The prophet Baruch speaks of the mantle of the justice of God as the garment that will be worn at the feast, and the guest will wear the diadem of the glory of the eternal one. Normally, when we are invited to a feast, we try to emphasize our own beauty, our own attributes. But in this feast to which God invites us we are to be clothed with the justice of God, with his glory - not our own. The point is this: Advent is about the coming of the Lord. In our anguish and fear, we have the tendency to be always preoccupied by what we think we need to do. But Advent is all about what God is bringing about in the world.

The Gospel lists all the powers that held sway at the time of Jesus. Then it switches to the desert, to the place where humanity has no power. In this place, the word of the Lord comes to John the Baptist who preaches the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is something no earthly power can do, only God.

In the Gospel we hear a list of the powers that be in this world. The Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod Tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip, and even the religious leaders, Annas and Caiaphas. In the midst of all of these rulers, the word of the Lord comes to John in the desert. In the desert there are no kingdoms or worldly interests. It is a place where there are no human achievements. The human being is weak and powerless here. And the prophet who inhabits this place preaches nothing less than baptism of conversion for the forgiveness of sins! The forgiveness of sins requires being oriented to the work of God, because it is something that only God can do. It was one of the essential parts of the liturgy of the Temple. All the acts of purification and rituals were directed towards this work which could only be accomplished in the end by God. John the Baptist cries out: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight his paths!” He is not talking about our paths, but the paths of the Lord. The issue is to cease being fixated by what we are doing and to begin being captivated by the Lord’s action in our lives. It is a radically different way of looking at life.

God is coming to me this Advent and always. He comes through the events of my life. I think I am doing things for God, seeking him, but it is God who is seeking me. In the disasters and problems of this life, in the people we have difficulty getting on with, God is seeking me.

Let us consider this a bit more closely. We are fundamentally ill at ease with our own insufficiency and limitations. We have a profound difficulty in understanding events that happen in our lives when we seek to comprehend them using our own criteria. Advent is about looking at the events of our lives and discerning the way that the Lord seeks to encounter me, seeks me out, by means of these events. Even through events that are dramatic, violent and devastating, the Lord is trying to encounter people. It is a mystery, but the Lord can also use events that derive solely from human sinfulness, events that did not arise from the will of God, and he can still find a way to come to us through those events. What does the Lord wish to do in this encounter? Nothing less that save us. We have the tendency to think that it is our initiative and our action that has overriding importance. It is true that our action has importance, but it is the Lord in the first place who wishes to come to us. We tend to think in horizontal terms, fretting about things from the point of view of this world. We need to be open to the vertical, to the fact that the Lord wants to encounter me and teach me how to love in and through these difficult events. Sometimes it is the defects of those around us that serve to challenge us, to lead us to the light, to help us to grow and deepen our humanity.

The Lord is searching for me in the events of my life, even the events that bewilder me. I must allow him to find me in these events. I must be open to his action. Through all these events he is sculpting me, correcting me, leading me.

The Lord is searching for us in every event. Therefore we must seek to simplify his paths, to “straighten them”, to make the encounter with him more direct. We must allow God to search us out and to make us his through the things that happen to us on a daily basis. Salvation comes from God! The last line in this Gospel passage says: “Every person will see the salvation of our God”. Sometimes we treat our faith as if it were something just to comfort us in times of distress. When we are in a difficult moment, we go to the Lord and he caresses us and puts us back on our feet. It is true that the faith can comfort us, and this is important, but the faith is not something inert. In the same Gospel of Luke, the virgin Mary recites the Magnificat, and here we learn that the mercy of the Lord involves casting people down from their thrones, exalting the humble, filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away with empty hands. It is the mercy of God that accomplishes all this! The action of God corrects us and makes us grow, it topples us from the ridiculous thrones where we lodge ourselves, thinking that they give us security. Sometimes it is in moments of instability that the action of God is felt. Often, by contrast, the work of God involves forgiving our sins and raising us up in moments of desperation or despair. John the Baptist says that “every valley will be filled in and every mountain laid low”. This is not the work that God asks of us: it is he himself who does it! Our lives are a constant development of being filled in and laid low by the action of God who seeks to encounter us in the process. Advent is not just about preparing for God at Christmas; it is allowing God to encounter us in all the events of our lives. Let us not be content with a banal relationship with God whose parameters are the actions that we do with regard to the Lord; instead, let us allow him to relate to us in every aspect of our lives. God does not will sin. He does not wish people to do wrong to me, but he knows how to bring good from that wrong behaviour. He is capable of making himself present through that wrong because he is omnipotent. So let us allow ourselves to be operated on by God! Let us allow him to examine us, mould us, sculpt us, that he will correct us when we have need of correction, that he will console us when we need consolation. Advent is not just a particular period of the year. God is always, constantly, coming in search of deeper encounter with us.