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Showing posts from December, 2012

Holy Family

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Sunday Gospel Luke 2:41-52  Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.   Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied ‘Did you not know that I must be b

Home wanted

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First reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16  Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.’   But that very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:   ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed j

Love will come again

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Sunday Gospel - Fourth Sunday of Advent - Luke 1:39-44  Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ There is something about being barren; even if healing eventually comes. Twenty-odd years ago 'barren' was a word that described me for some time until medical intervention and a visit to Fatima brought the miracle of conception.  I hadn't told anyone, friends or family, I hadn't wanted the pit

Magnificat Reflection

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Reflection on the Magnificat My soul proclaims its nearness to the Lord delighted and fulfilled. But my heart aches broken by the accusation of my own people shattered by stones of mistrust and judgment No angel's promise of comfort - rather  Life's pathway set out in shards of flint. A flinty gaze fills my eyes and they widen, seeking the future road staring into dark shadows; welcoming the desert heat that burns away the tears of hesitation before they fall -  They fall, regardless Each breath a tightening  a measured in and out  words said and unsaid considered, found wanting But not 'yes' Never 'yes'. For always - 'yes'. My heart aches with Love. With Love too much to be contained yet unrecognised. With Love that will lie in my arms bloody and helpless more than once. With Love that will live within me  and without me for more than Abraham; Forever. w

Lamentation for the End of the World

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The world will end today It will end in hospital wards in speeding cars in shop doorways in dark alleys It will end in unrequited love rejection and betrayal denial and loss in goodbye It will end in dreams shattered expectations dashed starved ambition regret It will end in abuse and misuse in humiliation random acts of neglect apathy The world will end today and another and another until the weight of the universe presses down on human hearts And a new world will not be born If Pandora's box cannot be made of rough timber and straw if Hope will not fit in an infant's hand   The world will end today   wordinthehand2012

Check your focus

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Gospel Luke 3:10-18  When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ 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 wil

The Call

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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. Last week, Advent began with the words of an adult Jesus; foretelling a world of chaos and bewilderment where only his followers could stand with confidence- if they dared. Now, his

End of Days

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Gospel Luke 21:25-28,34-36  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.   ‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’ Faith is filled with paradox- experiences that talk to many in many different ways - that seem to lead one way only to bri