Wishing all who have visited this blog over that last few months God's blessings this Christmas. I will remember you all at Mass in the coming days.
This is a frantic time of the year for all. For those of us in ministry there are many extra pressures. From school plays to, confessions, to sick calls; it is important to cover all bases. It is also a time of the year when we try to put the best foot forward when it comes to the preaching. At Christmas many people who rarely hear the preached Word come to Church. It is a time to preach Christ to a fresh audience almost. The Christmas story is so vivid, so powerful, so holy that it captures the imagination of young and old. If it were to remain in the realm of the fairly tale, however, it could lose some of its awesome power. I think the most important message to convey at Christmas is the fact that what we talk about is real. Matthew begins his account of the Nativity "This is how Jesus Christ came to be born". He is recounting something that happened; an event in time. In the Holy Mass we come face to face with the exact same Jesus that was born in Bethlehem. We adore the exact same Jesus who was to die and the Cross. We worship and love He who sits at the right hand of the Father in Glory - God with us - here and now.
The power of the Christian message is that we preach what we have seen with our own eyes and have experienced ourselves. This Christmas there is an opportunity to proclaim the greatness of God all over again. Our witness is the same as Christian witness has been since the beginning: Hodie Christus natus est pro nobis! Today Christ is born for us! We have seen His glory.
Hope you had a good Christmas and Happy New Year.
ReplyDelete[lionel johnson]
The golden stars give warmthless fire,
As weary Mary goes through night :
Her feet are torn by stone and briar ;
She hath no rest, no strength, no light :
O Mary, weary in the snow,
Remember Ireland’s woe !
O Joseph, sad for Mary’s sake !
Look on our earthly Mother too :
Let not the heart of Ireland break
With agony, the ages through :
For Mary’s love, love also thou
Ireland, and save her now !
Harsh were the folk, and bitter stern,
At Bethlehem, that night of nights.
For you no cheering hearth shall burn :
We have no room here, you no rights.
O Mary and Joseph ! hath not she,
Ireland, been even as ye ?
The ancient David’s royal house
Was thine, Saint Joseph ! wherefore she,
Mary, thine Ever Virgin Spouse,
To thine own city went with thee.
Behold ! thy citizens disown
The heir of David’s throne !
Nay, more ! The Very King of kings
Was with you, coming to his own :
They thrust Him forth to lowliest things ;
The poor meek beasts of toil alone
Stood by, when came to piteous birth
The God of all the earth.
And she, our Mother Ireland, knows
Insult, and infamies of wrong :
Her innocent children clad with woes,
Her weakness trampled by the strong :
And still upon her Holy Land
Her pitiless foeman stand.
From Manger unto Cross and Crown
Went Christ: and Mother Mary passed
Through Seven Sorrows, and sat down
Upon the Angel Throne at last.
Thence, Mary ! to thine own Child pray,
For Ireland’s hope this day !
She wanders amid winter still.
The dew of tears is on her face :
Her wounded heart takes yet its fill
Of desolation and disgrace.
God still is God ! And through God she
Foreknows her joy to be.
The snows shall perish at the spring,
The flowers pour fragrance round her feet :
Ah, Jesus ! Mary ! Joseph ! bring
This mercy from the Mercy Seat !
Send it, sweet King of Glory, born
Humbly on Christmas Morn !