Christmas

Mass of the Shepherds/Pasterka (C) – December 24, 2015

Frackville, From the Pastor /

If we listen to the Gospel with an open mind, Sunday by Sunday, it frequently gives us a jolt. The values lived and taught by Jesus are a long way from the values of 21st century secular Britain. He was born and grew up with none of our comfort and security. He had no material expectations. While He was still a baby, St. Matthew tells us, He was within a hair’s breadth of being slaughtered by a dissolute and pleasure-crazed king. He and His family became emigrants in Egypt. Life was precarious, and there was no insurance, no health service, no social security. Out of this background emerges the one who will save the world, give it hope again. We look at those small hands and reflect: those hands will one day be pierced by nails. We look at those tiny feet and reflect: those feet will carry the risen Lord out of the tomb. We look at the baby’s face, and reflect: this is the face that one Easter morning will delight Mary Magdalene beyond words, and send her running at top to the city to tell the apostles, “I have seen the Lord!” News of great joy, to be shared by the whole people. A very happy Christmas!

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Lord’s Baptism – “B” – January 11, 2014

From the Pastor /

At the Jordan, Jesus hears the words of His Father affirming and confirming Him is His true identity as beloved Son of God. This powerful affirmation brings to Jesus all the calm confidence of a person who knows who He is. Jesus is able to go out and begin His public life and work. He is fitted for that task by the voice of His Father and the gift of the Spirit. That voice and that Spirit are given to all Christian people. We are baptized people, and gifts have been given to us. As Isaiah’s says, “I have made of you a witness to the peoples, a leader and a master of the nations.” Such is our vocation. We may not remember the day of our baptism, if we were mere babes in arms, but that does not matter: we are baptized and confirmed people, and God has bestowed favor upon us. Today is the day to respond to the favor you have received, God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in you. You are not just a face in the crowd. You are a child of the living God and God’s favor rests on you.

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Holy Family – “B” – January 4, 2014

From the Pastor /

Simeon and Anna only recognized the Holy Family because God was active in the situation. Simeon needed courage to warn Mary that her joy also heralded pain. Joseph would be presented with a responsibility he had never anticipated.

According to tradition, Joseph died before Jesus began His adult ministry, so he was no longer around to support Mary when she was most in need of his quiet strength and fidelity. Family life may not be a bed of roses. Every family will have problems to face. Every family will know troubles and sorrows. Sometimes break apart because the problems become too many, or the challenges of living together become too great. There can be an unbreakable bond, a unique friendship and an unflinching strength that carries a family through good times and bad. Every family has moments of great joy as well as times that are difficult, when it is only the love between them that gives them the courage they need as they face things they had never expected and would never have wanted. Mary and Joseph gave Jesus the foundation that prepared Him for Calvary – and also for Easter Sunday. May their example and their prayers bring our families courage in the bad times, and joy in the good.

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Humble Shepherds – “B” – December 28, 2014

From the Pastor, PNCC /

Among the occupations in the Holy Land in the first century, shepherding had a lowly place. Because their work made them ceremonially unclean, shepherds were considered untrustworthy. The text tells us they were “living” in the fields. Their occupation required them to provide water, food, shelter, medication, aid and protection. Shepherding was strenuous, even dangerous work. It was expected that the shepherd would come between the lion or bear when one would attack the flock.

God reveals himself to the downtrodden and despised. They represent the lowly and humble who receive God’s revelation. The most obvious implication is that the Gospel first came to the social outcasts of Jesus’ Day. The entire drama that surrounds the birth of Jesus takes place with no part given to the secular or religious rulers of the land. No politicians. No celebrities. No paparazzi. No athletes. No religious leaders. He is still doing this today. God seeks the forgotten, those who society rejects or ignores – the downtrodden and dejected.

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Christmas Day – “B” – December 25, 2014

Frackville, From the Pastor, PNCC /

Reading this passage about the Word made flesh takes us to a world that is not apparent even in other Gospel’s Christmas stories. The Word who has become flesh is not just the child of Mary, cared for by angels, witnessed first by shepherds and visited by visitors from the East, nor the one who posed such a threat to king Herod. The Word is God reaching out to humanity from the beginning of all things. Stepping back from the canvas of the Christmas stories, we no longer see and hear a story from the past: we come into contact, into relationship with God who from eternity has been reaching out to come into the lives of each one of us. That’s ultimately what we celebrate on Christmas Day.

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Christmas Eve – “B” – December 24, 2014

From the Pastor /

Journey is an important theme throughout the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Abraham journeyed to an unknown land in response to God’s call. The Israelites journeyed for 40 years in the desert before reaching their destination. Jesus calls His disciples to follow Him on His own journey. Biblical journeys are not just about physical travel: they are always about humans journeying in their understanding of God and God’s ways. Mary journeys to accepting the angel’s explanation that this will be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph’s journeys from his initial instinct to divorce Mary, to his decision to take Mary to his home as his wife. Human journeying – whether physical, as in the trek to Bethlehem, or metaphorical, as in the rethinking done by Joseph and Mary – is only half of the story. The wonder of the Christmas story we reflect on tonight is not human journey but the divine journey. With the birth of Christ, God enters the world of humans in a way that had never happened before. If we remain with the idea of journey, we see that, in the birth of Jesus, God enters the lives of humans precisely where they are. Although Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, it is in reality God who is traveling to them in the gift of this unique child they are given. What is even more remarkable is that shepherds, who were forbidden even to enter the synagogue or Temple because they worked with animals, are visited by God’s agent precisely when they are at work with the animals who made them unclean.

Here is where we find the wonder of Christmas: it is about God who comes to our lives exactly where we are at any given time. It is about the birth of Emmanuel, a name used by Isaiah, meaning “God is with us”. The birth of Jesus is about the God who is never far from us, because God is always living among us. It is about the closeness to us of God who never leaves our side, even when we are not sure of where our own journey is leading. On our own, we could never reach God. In the birth of Jesus, God reaches down to us.

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