Sunday 26th Jan 2014 ~ Mt.4

Galilee was situated at the extremes of the Holy Land and Matthew stresses Jesus’ decision to start there, almost at the ends of the earth. Jesus is entering into God’s work and we might recall at some time having the sense that we are part of a greater movement, that we are God’s instruments. Matthew sums up Jesus’ message here as “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. He is calling people to a change of heart, to a new way of seeing and doing things. The Kingdom of Heaven is a vision of what the world would look like if God were in charge instead of human beings.

The story which follows is that of the calling of the fishermen. They responded to Jesus immediately, leaving their boats and nets. Not everyone can drop everything and walk away like they did for a greater cause, but we can certainly learn from their actions. St. Francis of Assisi said: “Preach the Gospel always. If necessary use words”. We might focus on the fishermen’s actions today, stepping out of their boats and following Jesus.

“If we could only see each other as we really are all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other… the gate of heaven is everywhere.” Thomas Merton.

World Day for Migrants and Refugees 19th January 2014

John the Baptist is inviting us to look at Jesus, to look closely. He calls Jesus the ‘lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. We say these words often at mass and today we are invited to meditate on them more closely. What does it mean? The lamb is one who is sacrificed….the sins of the world are many, broken relationships with one another at every turn. Today we are asked to think especially of Refugees and Migrants and the sins committed against them. The treatment of these groups who are marginalised, exiled from their homes due to war, famine, drought, unemployment is often unjust and is part of what Pope Francis refers to as a culture of ‘slave labour’. These outcast groups are frequently treated with disrespect, racism, condemnation and resentment. How can we reconcile these situations?

Pope Francis’ message for today may guide us closer to understanding the message of John the Baptist in the Gospel: “Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity…A change of attitude towards migrants and refugees is needed on the part of everyone, moving away from attitudes of defensiveness and fear, indifference and marginalisation - all typical of a throwaway culture - towards attitudes based on a culture of encounter, the only culture capable of building a better, more just and fraternal world”. In the marginalised can we see Jesus coming towards us and say: “Look, there is the lamb of God”?

The Baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:13-17)

John the Baptist was driven by one mission: to point people to Jesus, to prepare the way for Jesus. Yet John is uneasy in this account of Jesus’ baptism. The moment has arrived but he is standing before someone much greater than himself and is being asked to minister. John feels unqualified, unworthy of such a task. After some persuasion ‘John gave into him’ and accepted his responsibility. This is a lesson to all of us, not to let feelings of inadequacy stop us from carrying out our various missions and vocations in our lives. Jesus explains to John that this is necessary as a sign for the beginning of his ministry, a public statement of identity.

Pope Francis recently set us some homework: to find out the date of our baptism. He added: “We are all part of the Church. If you say you believe in God, and if you say you believe in God but not in the Church, you're saying you don't believe in yourself, and that's a contradiction. We all are the Church, all of us. From that little child recently Baptised to the bishops and Pope, all of us”. He is reminding us to think deeply about what our baptism means for us, that moment when we were sent out to be part of God’s mission in this world, in our local communities and sent out to minister to those around us, even if we feel unworthy of such a task. Take example from John the Baptist today and don’t forget your homework!

Feast of the Epiphany

We don’t know a lot about the Wise Men. Just to say, we don’t even know how many there were (read the text again). The Greek word Magoi (where we get ‘magician’) signified many things in biblical times including priests from Persia, magicians, philosophers or in this case astrologers. They were ‘seekers’, looking to the skies for signs and guidance and had their hearts and minds set on finding God. They were also ‘outsiders’, coming from a faraway land. Their presence in Bethlehem makes a clear statement: God is for everyone, and not just a select few. Through this account Matthew is stressing the universality of Jesus’ message. They created quite a stir in Jerusalem and Herod saw their arrival as a warning and threat to his power, he was not open to new ideas, caught up in his own position of privilege.

Today, perhaps we can think about our own journeys to moments of epiphany. What guidance had brought us there? What gifts did we leave there? What gifts were we given there?

"Lord, there comes a point in our lives when we finally discover what we want to give our whole lives to…we look back on the long journey that brought us to this point… like the wise men seeing a star as it rose and deciding to follow it… The last part of the journey went quickly, suddenly we knew that we had found what we had been looking for, and it was like coming home, so that we went into the house, fell on our knees and opened our treasures” (Michel de Verteuil)

Jn 1:1-18 The Word

Jesus is the Word, the Logos, the One coming from the Father to pitch His tent amongst us. John’s Gospel opens with this meditation on the incarnation rather than an account of the birth of Jesus. The Word is that divine energy, Creator of the universe, Being, God, Father and Mother of all things. In Eastern traditions, the word OM is used to denote the same concept and is recited over and over to awaken in people the closeness of God. OM denotes the whole range and possibility of all the sounds that can be made; its meaning is infinite. Today perhaps stay with that Word, inviting Jesus more deeply into your life: Jesus – OM. Íosa – OM. Yeshua – OM.

“He who comes, comes to us now in the silence, in the darkness, in the confusion, in the loneliness as Word and as Light; as Truth and as Love. Emmanuel God-with-us now” (H. Wiggett).