Christmas, Year C – Midnight Mass

Make room for Jesus in our lives

(Fr. James McTavish) 

Isa 9:1-6            Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13            Titus 2:11-14                        Luke 2:1-14

Today we celebrate Christmas – God entering our world in the form of a little child: Jesus, born in a manger. Do you think this was only 2000 years ago? No way! Jesus wants to enter our world, our lives this Christmas again. How do you feel, knowing that Jesus wants to be born in your life today, this Christmas? Perhaps the best thing we can do is look again at this familiar tale that we hear every year and ask, “Who am I in this story? Who does Jesus want me to be in this story?”

Firstly let us look at Mary and Joseph and see how they were in the face of all that happened to them. Imagine them sitting at home in Nazareth; Mary is very pregnant, preparing herself to give birth to her first child. Surely she is very nervous, trying to prepare everything for the big day and the room and clothes for the new baby. And what about Joseph – he was probably very nervous too, thinking about how to take care of his young wife and the special child she was about to bear. Then what happened? A knock on the door or a proclamation: everyone must return to their home town for a census. What a hassle!! I am sure that for Mary and Joseph the timing could not be much worse. But what do they do? They travel to Bethlehem, to Joseph’s home town, about 80 miles, with no buses or trains in those days. And as they were very poor, it’s quite possible they did not even have a donkey to ride. Perhaps a generous neighbour lent them one. But we see the humble acceptance and obedience of Mary and Joseph, believing that this is the will of God. And when they get to Bethlehem, what happens? No room at the inn!! Once again we see the poverty of the Holy Family because for sure if they had money a room would be available, even if the innkeeper had to throw another family out... Joseph could not even find a place to stay with his own relatives, despite the fact that he had a pregnant wife with him. So they have to make do with a stable. And still we see this gentle acceptance and obedience on the part of Joseph and Mary, believing that somehow God would make things happen the way he wanted to, no matter how inappropriate the circumstances seem to be. What about us? Do we make the best of our circumstances? Do we see obedience as a way of living God’s life? Or do we complain when someone asks us to do something a bit hard or different?

Now let us focus on Jesus – what do we see here? The God of the whole universe, the creator of all things, seen and unseen comes to earth. And how does he choose to make this happen? He is born to poor parents, in a stable, laid in a manger, as the Christmas carol tells us, “No crib for a bed.” This is God – why does he choose to be born here? He could be born anywhere, in a palace, in a big castle, in comfort and security. Why choose such poverty, such difficult circumstances? Perhaps he is showing us what is really important. Perhaps he is showing us that all we really need is love. Perhaps he is showing us that if we want to we can be at home wherever we find ourselves as long as we have the love of God. Maybe all the things that we consider so important, so vital to our happiness – our iPod, our flat screen TV, our new car - are not so important after all. Can we be free enough to be ourselves no matter where we are? Or are we still attached to our image, our things, our home?

And what about the innkeeper – well in fact, he is not specifically mentioned in the story but we can assume that if there was no room at the inn, there must be an innkeeper who is telling Mary and Joseph this! We can make excuses for the innkeeper of course, I am sure he did not recognise who Mary and Joseph were, how important the baby that was to be born that night was. How many times does Jesus come to us and find that there is no room in our schedule, that we are too busy to give him time in prayer? Many times Jesus is knocking at the doors of our lives (Revelation 3:20), wanting to enter and make our lives so much more than they are, but we do not respond, because we are too busy, there is no room. If we do not open the door, Jesus cannot enter, he cannot make our lives all they could be. Jesus is knocking on the door of our life today. It is our choice as to whether we open our lives to him or not. Is there no room in our life for Jesus? Are we willing to remove some things so that he can fit? Or do we see him as someone who is not important enough for us to make changes in our lives?

And finally, let us try something different: let us look at the manger. The manger is available to Jesus to enter. It may not look like an appropriate place for Jesus to be. It may be too smelly, too exposed, too messy. But Jesus wants to enter there, he wants to be born there. In the same way, he wants to enter our lives today too. He does not care if our life is messy, smelly, seemingly unworthy, too sinful, for him to be there. He does not want to wait for us to fix our lives up, to make them perfect or “appropriate” for him to enter. He wants to be with us now, as we are, where we are. He wants to take our lives and make them better simply by his presence. Perhaps we can ask ourselves, “Do I see myself or my life as being unworthy of God - too sinful, too messy, not ready to welcome him in? Do I realise that Jesus wants to enter into my life, into all the mess right now, the way it is? Will I make myself available to him?”

Let us celebrate today, rejoice, that we have such a beautiful story of how God wants to be with us. Let us humbly accept that our lives are not perfect but that this is precisely where God wants to enter. Let us recognise his knock and open the door to welcome him joyfully. And may we not doubt that our lives will always be better when he is with us. Amen.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

The Feast of the Epiphany 2010

Fr. James McTavish FMVD

“Hearing is believing”

This morning I put the three magi (or wise men) directly in front of the child Jesus in our nativity scene because today after a long journey following a star they finally arrive. Falling on their knees they offer their symbolic gifts - gold for a King, incense for the High Priest, and myrrh, used in burial for the one who will die to save us. Contemplating the manger scene who did God manifest himself to? The wise men were those who followed a star which can represent faith. All those present had faith. Mary had been told “Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s promises to you would come true”. Joseph had believed what the angel had told him as had the shepherds. All of them had first heard before they had seen and all of them believed what they had heard.

Many witnesses of the epiphany of God first heard of his glory before witnessing it directly. They heard first with their ears, then they saw with their own eyes. Once when St Thomas Aquinas was expressing the manifestation (in Greek = epiphany) of God’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament he said “Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived, the ear alone most safely is believed”. Why do we pray? To listen to what the Lord sees. I recently came back from a retreat-excursion with a group of 10. There were many wonderful experiences, some challenges and some things that could have been better. So one thing is what I see but in a moment of prayer I asked Jesus how I should view the overall experience. I understood loud and clear from the Master himself “Give thanks!”

Often our sight, what we see, is deceived. In many trials they come like the dark night of the soul and we don’t easily see God’s presence. In the bitter taste we have difficulty to believe that God was present. But sight and taste are often deceived, the ear alone is best believed. That is why before the epiphany and glorious manifestation of the infant King, the light of the nations, the Lord first revealed his glory to the chosen witnesses before they saw him in the flesh. Otherwise they may not have fully understood or been convinced that this little baby was truly the Saviour, the Messiah, Wonder-counsellor, mighty God, eternal Father and the Prince of Peace. Only the one who first bends his ear in prayer will be able to bend his knee in front of the Lord’s presence. If we do not recognize his coming in his Word how can we recognize him when he comes in his glory? There is no seeing if there is not first hearing. That is why St Paul writes “the mystery was made known to me by revelation” (See Eph 3, 2-6). God manifests and reveals the mystery of his love in the Sacred Scripture.

This day the Lord will manifest himself in small ways – in a small piece of bread, in a quiet inner voice in the conscience, in the simple loving gesture of a companion. What we see will depend on our faith, on what we believe. As the first reading tell us “See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you the LORD shines, and over you appears his glory.” (See Isaiah 60, 1-6). The one who prays knows the sun is present even when it is cloudy.

Let us be sensitive to the manifestation of God’s love this day. May we rely more and more on what God sees, and may listening to his Word give us a stronger vision of faith. In this way our lives too can be an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s love for his people. Many have not yet discovered the love of God. The feast of today is a reminder that God’s light, life and love are for all people.

Typically the 3 Magis are represented with different colours of skin to show the universality of God’s love. God wants his love to reach to all people. Each one of us can share in this great task and mission. We too are called to be light. Jesus needs you to be an epiphany or a manifestation of his love. Go for it! Don’t let anyone stop you. There are many Herods who will try to get in the way. But keep your eyes fixed on Christ and stay away from Herod. Like the Wise men. They really were wise because they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod so they went home another way. Jesus is telling us in this Feast “Be an epiphany of my love to all!”. We can respond “Jesus, increase my faith. Help me to listen to your Word and believe it so that my life can be a bright and shining epiphany of you love!!!”

Feliz Navidad! / Merry Christmas!

Vitaminas de Fe os desea Feliz Navidad.  Que Dios os bendiga!

Y gracias por estar cerca de nuestro Blog. Pedimos vuestras oraciones para hacer de este instrumento la via por la cual circule la gracia de Dios a través de su Palabra escrita.

Vitamins of Faith wishes you Merry Christmas. God bless you!

Thank you for being close to our Blog.  We ask your prayers to keep this instrument as a channel of grace through his written Word.

The Feast of the Epiphany

“Be an epiphany of my love to all!” 

(Fr. James McTavish FMVD)

Epiphany comes from the Greek and means ‘manifestation’. This feast is the manifestation of God’s glory to all peoples. How did God manifest himself? Well there were no fireworks, brass bands, no fanfare of earthly trumpets, no interviews, media or TV crews. There was no reporters from Hello magazine, no autographs, no awards. Just a little baby lying there with Mary and Joseph. In fact it was so simple, so humble and so sublime that even the great biblical scholars of King Herod missed it. They knew the scriptures that prophesied the birth of the infant King but in the reality did not recognize his coming. And the same goes for me. I can know that Jesus is born but do I really witness the manifestation of God’s glory? 

We can learn from the Wise men. How did they arrive at the infant King? What guided them? A star. It led the way. The star shone in the darkness and pointed the way. We too have a star to guide us, many stars. The star of our faith. The star of the Word of God which is a light for our path. The star of the teachings of the Church to guide us when the way is not clear. The star of the Community which accompanies us on the journey. The star of many lives who have gone before us, whose lives point clearly to Christ. Which star are we following on our journey?

We are called to follow the guiding star and not just any bright lights. Once scientists were amazed observing the behavior of newborn turtles. Instead of going to the safety of the ocean after their birth they went to the newly built highway where they were crushed under the wheels of cars. After investigation the scientists realized that instead of following the light of the moon, reflected on the ocean surface, they were being drawn to the dangerous highway by the light of the car headlights. Sometimes we too are confused. Instead of following the light of faith we go after many bright lights which put our dignity as children of God in danger. The bright lights of success at all costs, the lure of vices such as excess alcohol or drugs. When we do not follow the true light that has come into the world we can be crushed like the little turtles. The Epiphany is an invite to follow the true light that has come into the world. “Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See darkness covers the earth, but upon you the Lord shines. Nations shall walk by your light” (See Isaiah 60:1-6).

 

The infant King is the glory and splendor of God. He is the one of whom the prophet spoke “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”. The gifts of the three Kings bear witness to the manifestation of God’s glory in a little baby. Gold is for a King, incense is for the High Priest and myrrh for the one who is to die to save us (it was commonly used to embalm the body after death to prepare it for burial). The wise men do not offer these gifts to King Herod but to the infant King, Jesus. Let us not give the gifts of our time, our affections, our energy, our talents to the Kings of this world! What a joy to offer what we have to the true King, Jesus. 

Many have not yet discovered the love of God. The feast of today is a reminder that God’s light, life and love are for all people. Typically the 3 Magis are represented with different colours of skin to show the universality of God’s love. God wants his love to reach to all people. Each one of us can share in this great task and mission. We too are called to be light. Jesus needs you to be an epiphany or a manifestation of his love. Go for it! Don’t let anyone stop you. There are many Herods who will try to get in the way. But keep your eyes fixed on Christ and stay away from Herod. Like the Wise men. They really were wise because they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod so they went home another way. Jesus is telling us in this Feast “Be an epiphany of my love to all!”. We can respond “Jesus, I want to manifest your love. Help my little life to be a bright and shining epiphany of you love!!!”

2009... God is With Us!!

Emmanuel (God is with us)

To be called "simple" is not usually a compliment. Yet one dictionary defines the word as meaning plain, honest and intelligible. So maybe it's not such a bad thing to be. Nevertheless, somehow we feel suspicious when something seems too simple. "Where is the catch?" we ask ourselves. It is almost as though we need some elaborate complexities before we can accept it.

Jesus understood this human weakness very well. Throughout his life he used simple illustrations to reveal God's plans. He used the corn, a relaxed meal with friends, fishing and wine-making, so vividly and effectively. Yet the Scribes and Pharisees constantly asked, "What's the catch?" each time they encountered him.

Simplicity is at the heart of Christ's message, "Your heavenly Father loves you as you are", no strings, no catch. Even if we turn away or do not believe this, he still loves us.

During the weeks of Advent, we listen to many rousing prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. At the end of this season we are presented with a little baby. The baby Jesus might appear too simple a solution to the problems of God's people. "What's the catch?" we may ask.

Christ's birth is the celebration of the great Emmanuel (God is with us) mystery. And God is with us so that we may know that we are infinitely loveable. To come as a baby was his first and greatest lesson to us, for it teaches us the most important lessons of all about God's attitude towards us.

A child is full of freshness and trusting love. Its eyes are to the future - to growing up. Unspoilt by prejudice or bitterness, each child is a new beginning. A child's loving confidence can make the greatest villain think again, and it can bring new life to the old and weary.

But the greatest lesson is one which we have all experienced when we have stretched out a tentative finger to a new baby - he or she grasps it with an uncanny strength. Stretch out just one finger to the Lord this Christmas and he will take strong hold of you for as long as you let him.

28th December 2008 - Feast of the Holy Family

(Fr. James McTavish FMVD)

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. The Scriptural readings present to us a childless couple, Abram and his wife Sarah. God gives him a new name Abraham – the Father of a host of nations. “No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you”. Abraham believed the promises of God. His wife conceived because she too “believed that he who made the promise would be faithful”. 

The second reading of today is taken from the letter to the Hebrews . The author of this letter praises the faith of Abraham and Sarah. What we have is a family that is listening to God and believing in his promises. The family starts to walk towards becoming a holier family. Many families today give importance to the Word of God. Listening to it, meditating it and trying to apply it to their lives. One title of the family is the “Domestic church”. In the church the Word of God is listened to and meditated. So too in the Domestic Church. St John Chrysostom commented that if not all the family are able to go to Church then the one who goes must go home and share the Word he has listened to with all the family and all the people of the house. In this way the faith of the whole family is strengthened.

The gospel of today focuses on the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple. In the Mosaic Law it was proscribed that for 40 days after the birth of the child the mother could not enter the temple for reasons of impurity. Quite harsh really as Mother Mary was the Immaculate one. But Mary in her simplicity and obedience to the Law obliges. When she and Joseph are in the temple they present their offering – either a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. What a small offering! Seemingly so insignificant. Probably not many would have noticed them. It would need eyes of faith to see the significance of this such a small sacrifice. But God had prepared everything. There was a man called Simeon there, who was led to the temple that day by the holy Spirit. Simeon took the child in his arms and blessed God saying that now God’s word to him was fulfilled and that his eyes had seen the salvation. 

When we listen to God’s Word everything changes. What is apparently an ordinary event becomes extraordinary. Simeon sees a family offering their first born to the Lord and recognizes this grace filled moment of salvation history. Mary and Joseph were amazed at what was said about their son Jesus. It makes me wonder too. Is their space in my life to be amazed at God? Can the ‘simple’ things still inspire me? Can I see God’s presence in small details? Or am I only moved by the ‘big’ things?

Lord in this Octave of Christmas, we have been given a privileged time to contemplate what we have received. Teach us how to contemplate and to have faith. If not, we look at the world of today, we see the challenges to the family and we become prophets of gloom and doom. Yet you are working. The Saviour has already been born. Will we recognize his coming? Will we recognize his powerful yet often hidden presence? Open our eyes teach us how to see the “reality” as you see it. As St Paul reminds us “The reality is Christ”. As the Spanish song goes “I can’t give you a new world, but I can give you new eyes”. Grant us new eyes to see you power and your glory, to see you working in the family. Grant us more faith in your promises. Teach us how to listen to your Word. And we pray for all families that amidst all the challenges they can still strive to be holy. Amen.

December 28 - Feast of Holy Family

ZOOMING IN ON JOSEPH

In the afterglow of Christmas, the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. This weekend we are invited to reflect on the gift and mystery of life and the blessing of family life in particular. Today I would like to borrow from the television production and zoom in on Joseph. 

To “zoom” in on the foster father of the Lord gives us some profound insights into the family background of our Savior. 

Joseph is often overshadowed by the glory of Christ and the purity of Mary. But he, too, waited for God to speak to him and then responded with obedience. Luke and Matthew both mark Joseph’s descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). 

- Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge about him: he was "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:18). 

Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been engaged, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He planned to divorce Mary according to the law but he was concerned for her suffering and safety. 

- Joseph was also a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary as his wife. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23). 



- We are told that Joseph was a carpenter, (more likely a builder), a man who worked to provide for his family. Joseph wasn't a wealthy man, for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb. 

Joseph revealed in his humanity the unique role of fathers to proclaim God's truth by word and deed. 

- His paradoxical situation of "foster father to Jesus" draws attention to the truth about fatherhood, which is more than a mere fact of biological generation. A man is a father most when he invests himself in the spiritual and moral formation of his children. He was keenly aware, as every father should be, that he served as the representative of God the Father. 

Joseph protected and provided for Jesus and Mary. He named Jesus, taught him how to pray, how to work, how to be a man. 

- While no words or texts are attributed to him, we can be sure that Joseph pronounced two of the most important words that could ever be spoken when he named his son "Jesus" and called him "Emmanuel." 

- When the child stayed behind in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). 

Joseph’s life reminds us that a home or community is not built on power and possessions but goodness; not on riches and wealth, but on faith, fidelity, purity and mutual love.



The present challenges to fatherhood and masculinity cannot be understood in isolation from the culture in which we live. The effect of fatherlessness on children is deeply alarming. How many young people today have been affected by the crisis of fatherhood and paternity! How many have been deprived of a father or grandfather in their life? 

It is not for naught that St. Joseph is patron of the Universal Church. If there was ever a time when we needed a strong, saintly male role model who is a father, it is our time. And the feast of the Holy Family is a very significant day to go to Joseph and beg him to send us good fathers who will head families. 



Joseph and Mary, more than anyone else, were the first to behold the glory of their One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). May St. Joseph make of us good priests, religious and laymen who will imitate the humble worker from Nazareth, who listened to the Lord, treasured a gift that was not his, all the while modeling to Jesus how the Word becomes flesh and lives among us. 

(Father Thomas Rosica)

December 25 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

God chose a new way. He became a child.

The medieval theologian William of Saint Thierry once said that God -- from the time of Adam -- saw that his grandeur provoked resistance in man, that we felt limited in our own being and threatened in our freedom. Therefore God chose a new way. He became a child. He made himself dependent and weak, in need of our love. Now, this God who has become a child says to us: you can no longer fear me, you can only love me.

With these thoughts, we draw near this night to the child of Bethlehem -- to the God who for our sake chose to become a child. In every child we see something of the Child of Bethlehem. Every child asks for our love. This night, then, let us think especially of those children who are denied the love of their parents. Let us think of those street children who do not have the blessing of a family home, of those children who are brutally exploited as soldiers and made instruments of violence, instead of messengers of reconciliation and peace. Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse, and thus are traumatized in the depths of their soul. 

The Child of Bethlehem summons us once again to do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children; to do everything possible to make the light of Bethlehem touch the heart of every man and woman. Only through the conversion of hearts, only through a change in the depths of our hearts can the cause of all this evil be overcome, only thus can the power of the evil one be defeated. Only if people change will the world change; and in order to change, people need the light that comes from God, the light which so unexpectedly entered into our night.

And speaking of the Child of Bethlehem, let us think also of the place named Bethlehem, of the land in which Jesus lived, and which he loved so deeply. And let us pray that peace will be established there, that hatred and violence will cease. Let us pray for mutual understanding, that hearts will be opened, so that borders can be opened. Let us pray that peace will descend there, the peace of which the angels sang that night.