Reading 1: ACTS 15:1-2, 22-29

Responsorial Psalm: PS 67:2-3,5,6,8

Reading 2: REV 21:10-14, 22-23

Gospel: JN 14:23-29

Liturgical colour: White.

The saying of the peace been spoken in congregations such as in our church masses for thousands of years. The giving of the peace has become a ritual part of our sunday service. Before the Holy Eucharist, the priest blesses the faithful with the peace of the Lord. In many church congregations, the people shake hands at that time of the service and say, “Peace be with you.”

This is an important action, which is much more than merely the giving of a routine or friendly gesture. The giving of a sign of peace has its roots in the words of Jesus on the night before his death, and on the day of his resurrection. He wanted each to know that he was going into death and coming out again to bring us peace, and that all who share the belief in Jesus also share the common peace that our Lord gives.

The ritual of the giving of the peace of the Lord goes back to the very first Easter. Jesus appeared to His Apostles in a locked room and twice said, “Peace be with you.” He then sent them to bring peace to the world by granting the forgiveness of sin in his name. To each of us who know our sins, this greeting is a refreshing shower of the Lord’s grace.

In the early days of the Christian Church the peace was given not as a handshake, but was given as a kiss. This kiss of peace is spoken of at the end of several of the letters of the New Testament. In the early Church all who received and gave the kiss of peace then received the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In the congregation, after those who were still learning the faith were dismissed, the kiss began at the altar and was passed all the way around the church. Only those who received and gave the kiss were welcomed to the Lord’s table.

In a document called the Didascalia from the early third century A.D. it is told of a scene where the kiss of peace suddenly comes to a halt as two people refuse to kiss each other. There was a disagreement. We don’t know what the disagreement was about, but it was probably much like the kind of disagreements we have between people in our own church congregations today. The service then immediately stopped and the presiding minister left the altar and went to where the kiss was blocked. Only after reconciliation of the disagreement did the peace continue on its way around, and only then did the liturgy proceed.

This tells much about how early Christians lived in a congregation. To them the peace of God was a indeed truly a real thing, it was expected to be received by everyone, and to be shared by everyone. There was to be no withholding of forgiveness between the gathered flock. If two people would not share the peace, no one could until those two were brought together.

Does this situation bear any resemblance to our congregations today? It is well known that we have times when we are not always at peace with each other. Within our congregation there have been persons who do not even speak with one another, let alone share the peace. How many of our families have been at odds with one another? And yet week after week we come to the Lord’s table together. Do we know what we are doing? If we want the Lord’s forgiveness and peace but will not forgive our brother or sister in Christ, what can we expect to receive in return from the Lord our God? First we must be at peace with our brothers and our sisters, we need to seek their forgiveness and also to forgive them, and then we may come to the Lord to receive his pardon.

We clearly see this reflected in the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer. We ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus taught that we are to forgive our brother or sister not only seven times, but seven times seven times. We are always to forgive those who ask for our forgiveness. To withhold forgiveness is to decline the Lord’s forgiveness for ourselves.

During the Easter season especially, the Christian Church is filled with the peace of the Lord. His sacrificial death for our sins brings peace where there once was only guilt. The news of his resurrection spread among his friends and followers and  is remembered in the preaching of the Words of Life that ring in our ears, “He is risen!” The sight of his body, wounded but now healed and filled with glory, points to the future clothing that God will drape upon every person who is truly part of his faithful flock. It is a body that will be raised without any illness, disease, and age. Yes, the time of Easter is one of great joy and peace.

That peace must be shared among us and between us all. Wherever there is any type of division and bad feelings the peace of the Lord must replace that. We cannot truly celebrate the peace of Easter and still be holding a grudge against a fellow brother or sister. If we do, we are only imagining the peace of the Lord rather than truly receiving and giving it. We can shake a hand, we can mumble the words of peace, we can even kiss othere on the cheek, but if there is not full forgiveness in our heart, we do not have the peace that the Lord is giving.

The peace of the Lord is forever. Knowing that we have been completely forgiven by God and that he will never forsake us is powerful knowledge.

It gives strength to everything we do. It doesn’t matter if we are working, studying, raising a family, or lying in bed in a nursing home with no hope of recovery. Knowing that Jesus died and rose to give us eternal life is the most peaceful of all experiences. It gives us the strength to cope with any hardship. It calms the restless soul. It lifts the lowest spirit. It is the only true peace we can ever know in this earthly life.

So when we say the Peace at mass and give each other the sign of the peace of the Lord, are we truly doing it from the depths of our hearts and forgiving each other as Our Lord forgives us,  or are we merely doing it out of habit, or routine? Let us look deeply within ourselves to ensure we are doing it with the whole purpose with which the Lord intended.

The peace of the Lord to you all!

Reading 1 ACTS 6:8-10; 7:54-59

Responsorial Psalm PS 31:3CD-4, 6 AND 8AB, 16BC AND 17

Gospel MT 10:17-22

Liturgical colour: Red.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!  We have just celebrated both Christmas eve, and only yesterday, we celebrated Christmas day itself, the Wonderful feast of the birth of Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour. We have reflected upon the little newborn babe in the crib,  we have sung “silent night” and “Hark the Herald Angel’s Sing”, amongst other hymns, Carol’s, and no doubt festive non religious tunes of all varieties as well, and we have heard the tidings of peace, joy and salvation to all the world. And suddenly today, in stark contrast, we are clothed in blood-red vestments, we hear of the bloody death of Stephen, and of Jesus’ warnings of persecution, death, and hatred for his name’s sake. So, Is there a connection between Christmas and the first Holy martyr Stephen? How are we to make sense of this dramatic sudden contrast? Does it mean we shouldn’t take the beauty and the peace of Christmas too seriously? Does it mean that Christmas is merely a wonderful story, but that the reality is indeed extremely different…?

Not at all!! The long tradition of the Church in celebrating the memorial of St. Stephen the day after Christmas does not serve to demote Christmas in any way whatsoever, but to continue it, to strengthen it, and to manifest more clearly in our hearts the important meaning of the Christmas celebration. Jesus became mankind, he became born as an earthly child, so to in in his adult earthly years, to sacrifice himself for us and for our salvation.  He wanted as he wants today and always, for us to give him his rightful place within our hearts.  So after Christmas, the birth of the small Jesus, we contemplate also the birth of the Church,  because Our Lord was and is the Church, he was the church as a child.

Now when Jesus comes to dwell in our hearts, that cannot remain without effect upon us.  When Our Lord  and Saviour, who can do all things dwells within us, he transforms our hearts, and thus makes a difference in our attitudes towards one another and toward life.  St. Stephen’s life is an excellent example of this. As one of the first deacons he had a double task. He was assigned to the service of the tables, to the “service of love” to the poor, so that the Apostles would have more time for their preaching. But Stephen also had the gift of preaching, and so he would also perform the ministry of truth. Stephen, trusting in Jesus, devoted himself whole-heartedly to the tasks entrusted into him. He was stoned to death because his preaching of Jesus as the Son of God was considered blasphemy. Now, we might think that if Stephen, had been far more considerate of the understanding and passion of his Jewish brothers for the oneness of God, and had spoken more carefully about Jesus, that he would not have been stoned, that maybe he could have continued to preach about Jesus, and that by doing this,he could have done more good….

But St. Stephen make no compromises concerning the truth. He proclaims the Jesus who revealed himself and the one truth whom he had come to know. But he does not proclaim this truth by way of any violence or hatred, but in instead in the acts of love and self-giving. Until the last moment he forgives the men who kill him. As Jesus prayed for those who killed him, so St. Stephen prayed, “Lord, do not count this sin against them!” And his witness, his death was fruitful for us as members of the Church. The remembrance of this witness, for example, probably helped Saul later to accept Christ’s message as the truth, and to later become the great Apostle Paul.

St. Stephen is an excellent example to us of true and unwavering faithfulness to Jesus, an example of holding fast to the truth in love. This is an example of the way we all should and want to go within our lives. This path of truth and salvation is not always easy. It is not always easy to avoid deviating from the correct path in one way or another. Sometimes one hears that faithful Christians, in order to be tolerant of others, must abandon the claim to truth, that they must not proclaim or hold the faith as truth or even as true, for that to some, may lead to intolerance and to hatred. But the example of St. Stephen shows us clearly that the world needs the witness of the truth, and that it is possible to preach this truth with steadfast conviction and yet without  any violence or hate, but in the acts of love and self-giving.

Let us pray to Jesus, who came into this world as a child for our sakes, that we have the courage and the wisdom to profess our faith in our family life, in our workplaces, in our society, wherever we are, in a convinced and convincing loving manner, as St. Stephen did. Amen.

Blessings and peace to you my brothers and sisters on this most auspicious solemnity of the nativity of our Lord!  It is amazing how swiftly the seasons have flown; last Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Pentecost, Kingdom Tide, then Advent and now we once again rejoice in the birth of our Savior.  As I sit and reflect on God’s message given us through these seasons, I am drawn to the promise of each Sunday in Advent: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.  I am especially inspired by the Sunday set right at the cusp of Christmas tide, the promise of Peace (I would like to mention in some traditions the 4^th Sunday in Advent is Love; though seemingly different, Peace and Love are sides of the same coin, for how can you have Love without Peace, and without Peace how can Love exist?)

Isaiah (9:6) promises the Messiah would come as a Son of Man, God’s son, given to us and all authority in heaven and earth will rest upon His shoulders and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.  How wonderful a gift to have a Lord who brings to the world not extravagance and glitz, but the simple gift of Peace.  As I reflect on this gift, I consider the biblical concept of Peace (in Hebrew salom) and its four equally glorious aspects.  Peace reflects wholeness in body and health, harmony in relationship with each other and with the Creator, prosperity and fulfillment in spiritual and worldly life and the absence of conflict, war and strife.  When greet one another or extend our farewells and extend our wish for Peace in their lives, what better blessing can there be?  What better way to show agape love than through extending our wish for Peace!  And from where does all Peace emanate but from our Heavenly Father and Creator, who so loves us His children as to send down the ultimate emissary and vessel of everlasting Peace, His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Peace came down from heaven in the form of this precious child, the world was seemingly devoid of Peace.  It was a  nation occupied by foreign forces, civil rulers fighting over power, spiritual leaders fighting for control, and all three suppressing the people so as to procure and maintain wealth and power. Turmoil predominated, the people (especially the poor and weak) were just expendable pawns in the political, social and religious power plays.  The tree of Jesse was seemingly extirpated by evil, and yet out of this darkness, it brought forth a shoot, a Son was given, a child who’s light would bring about change, validate all people, disburse the wicked and topple corrupt governments through acts of Love and the gift of heavenly Peace.  Rejoice, Alleluia!

Brothers and Sisters, today I look around and hang my head.  For even as the church bells chime commemorating the Savior’s birth and its ancient promise of Peace and good will, just as in the old familiar carol, I say “There is no peace on earth… for hate is strong and mocks the song of Peace on earth”.  We too live in trouble times, reminiscent of a time when a small child was born two millennia ago.  The weak are persecuted, people are marginalized, civic and religious leaders fight for money, power and control.  Lies are the new truth, animosity is norm and self-righteousness is the new Gospel.  Just the other day I saw a post where a christian religious leader bought an expensive car and lavish gifts for his wife (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars) and people defended this extravagant display of wealth born from the hard labor of his parishioners even though members of the community go hungry or homeless.   Similarly, a bishop publicly posted on social media animosity towards gay priests, even though his fellow priests who have been supportive of him through the years happened to be gay.  How disheartening it is to see such things cloud the light, the good work, the Good News of God’s church.

Life is dynamic, yet the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Today, just in times past, children of God are wandering through life like sheep lost in desert looking for their shepherd to bring them home to peace and safety.  We as the Church, must stand up and be this shepherd for Christ, gathering up these lost sheep, feeding and caring for them both body and soul.  Like St. Peter, we are called to be the rocks on which Christ’s Church is built, a church which is strong, resilient and steadfast against the temporal tempests which blow through life.  Our lives and corporal acts of worship must be steadfast beacons of Peace, Love, Hope and Joy which guide the lost sheep to the verdant pastures of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  Let us rejoice in the rituals and traditions handed down to us from our church fathers and mothers.  It is time to once again live the solemnities, feasts, celebrations and religious ceremonies which are the life blood of His church throughout the year. We must eschew the trappings of populous spirituality rich in its entertainment value and poor in substance, instead focusing worship being the promises of the advent season upon which the word of God is inscribed and from which the Light of Christ shines forth: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.

Brothers and Sisters, the world needs the promise of our Lord’s nativity  now more than ever; not just on December 25^th, but each and every day throughout the year.  We must carry the Peace and Love which comes from the Christ child in our hearts and offer salom to every person we meet and to all whom we bid farewell. We must remember, WE are the Church, we are the bearers of Peace and Love in the world, shepherds to God’s lost sheep and each time we open our salom to those we meet, especially the poor, the weak, the ostracized and those different from us, we pay homage to the Christ Child Himself, born of Mary, swaddled and laid in a manger.

 

 

Reading 1: BAR 5:1-9

R Psalm: PS 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6.

Reading 2:  PHIL 1:4-6, 8-11

Gospel: LK 3:1-6

Liturgical colour: Purple/violet

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ:

Baruch, was a Hebrew prophet who isn’t very well known as such, and whom we heard in today’s First Reading. He had a strong sense that things in the world would be different.

The people suffered because their leaders were so painfully inadequate – and sadly, this still happens in our own world today.  Both priests and kings, religious and secular leaders, totally    unwilling to trust God and God’s ways, were leading the nation into unnecessary suffering and to eventual destruction.

Baruch connected peace with integrity, honour with devotedness.

Along with Isaiah, whom Luke quoted in the Gospel reading, Baruch was saturated with God’s vision for his world. They both had a sense of what life could be like if genuine concern for the common-good of all replaced the self-interest and national interest of the powerful and the rich; and if a sense of the inviolable dignity of every person replaced violence and the culture of death.

For that to happen, people’s eyes needed to be opened – to see that many familiar and unquestioned ways of doing things were not necessarily the only ways, or the best ways. People needed to be educated, their consciences formed, and their sense of mutual responsibility sharpened and activated.

The need is universal, as important now as then.

Six centuries after Baruch and Isaiah, John the Baptist appeared on the scene. Luke summed up his striking entry onto the stage in today’s Gospel:

The Word of God came to John, son of Zachariah, in the wilderness… and he went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John believed that the power of sin could be broken, not in some distant long=term to come, but immediately, by one who would follow in his footsteps.  But people first needed to share his pain, and his distress at the way things were. Then they needed to become aware of their own often unconscious sharing in the destructive networks, relationships and customary ways of doing things that destroyed their own human dignity as they undermined the dignity of others. And thirdly, they needed to find the motivating power and the energy to do things differently: they needed to share John’s hope for change and his confident sense of God.  John sensed that God was moving… God – the source of being, the creator of the universe, the life-force of all that lives – was moving. Indeed, unknown to John, God had stepped into the flow of human history in order to engage with it from within. God had taken human flesh and blood, and become incarnate in Jesus.

It is so sad in today’s world, that the true meaning of Christmas is often forgotten, and for many has replaced the awe-inspiring mystery of incarnation of Our Lord and saviour, with commercialisation, with Santa Claus, and with songs such and ideas like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.  We need to Prepare a way for the Lord, we need to make his paths straight. This is a call to active commitment in the true reason of Christmas…

God’s Kingdom is possible. But we do not get captured by that realisation as we ought in the midst of noise, frantic movement or distractions of the world.  During the coming days of the remainder of the advent season, it is important that we try our hardest to construct some quiet time in the midst of all the noise; and to find some stillness in the midst of the frantic distractions of the world, and to focus on the coming of Christ amongst us.

 

Liturgical colour: Red.

The Procession with Psalms=Gospel: MK 11.1=10

Reading 1: IS 50:4=7

R Psalm: PS 22: 8=9,17=18,19=20,23=24

Gospel: MK 14: 1=15:47

As most people who probably know me well are aware, I am a person who likes to travel on journeys, whether for ministry or to visit sacred or beautiful places of the Lord’s creation. But the journey undertaken on Palm Sunday, which we celebrate today, was a journey of both joy and celebration, but also of suffering.

As Jesus rode into a Jerusalem on a donkey to attend passover,many crowds gathered. The crowds rejoiced, waving palms, laying them in the Lord’s path, and many also laid down their cloaks to the King of Kings.

However, amongst the rejoicing crowds shouting ‘Hosanna!’ were also the Pharisees and Jesus knew that this journey would also lead to his death for our salivation, only five days later. This was certainly an extremely important journey and was filled by both the rejoicing and waving of palm with the shouting of ‘Hosanna!’, and the suffering of our dear Lord Jesus knowing that these very people who today rejoiced as he entered Jerusalem would also be the people who would condemn him to physical death on the cross. Jesus knew this was the will and plan of his Heavenly Father for our salvation from sin and death, he knew what had to happen and our Lord accepted this.

Today’s we rejoice with the Lord at his arrival in Jerusalem to attend the Passover, and we also share in his sorrow and suffering as his brothers and sisters, for what the Lord was to suffer for our sake. Yet, we also rejoice at the fact the Lord Jesus loves us so much that he was willing and prepared to undertake this journey on our behalf.

Of course, there are many types of journeys that we can undertake in our lives, but no journey of ours can ever compare to this journey of our dear Lord and Saviour.

Taking a journey may not always mean travelling, a kind of journey can also be something unexpected which we deal with in our lives and situations in which we may find ourselves. Faith and trust in the Lord is also a kind of journey.

Today, I myself shall be undertaking a type of journey, for today, I have surgery. What a fantastic day today is to put myself in the Lord’s loving care. I would love to think that spiritually, even if not physically, that I am walking alongside our Lord as he enters Jerusalem today, and to remain walking by his side all the way to the cross. Undertaking the journey of rejoicing and of suffering together. How wonderful that is to my heart, how this thought uplifts my spirit! And just as the people of Jerusalem rejoiced today with shouts of ‘Hosanna!’, I shall whilst on my journey today, will also be doing the same within my heart and soul today!

‘Hosanna in the highest to the King of Kings!’.

 

Let us pray:

Thank you for sending your Son and paving the way for our lives to be set free through Jesus’ death on the cross. Thank you for what this day of Palm Sunday stands for=The beginning of Holy Week, the start of the journey towards the power of the Cross, the victory of the Resurrection, and the rich truth that Our Lord Jesus truly is our King of Kings. We praise you, we bless you Lord! Thank you that you reign supreme and that we are conquerors through the gift of Christ.

In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

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Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer having been answered in 1242, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought fitting for royalty.

Margaret was not content with simply living in the house of God; she demanded the religious habit–and received it–at the age of four. Furthermore, she took upon herself the austerities practiced by the other sisters–fasting, hairshirts, the discipline (scourge), and night vigils. She soon learned the Divine Office by heart and chanted it happily to herself as she went about her play. She chose the least attractive duties of the nuns for herself. She would starve herself to keep her spirit humble. No one but Margaret seemed to take seriously the idea that she would one day make profession and remain as a sister, for it would be of great advantage to her father if she were to make a wise marriage.

This question arose seriously when Margaret was 12. She responded in surprise. She said that she had been dedicated to God, even before her birth, and that she intended to remain faithful to that promise. Some years later her father built for her a convent on the island in the Danube between Buda and Pest. To settle the matter of her vocation, here she pronounced her vows to the master general of the order, Blessed Humbert of the Romans, in 1255, and took the veil in 1261.

Again, when Margaret was 18, her father made an attempt to sway her from her purpose, because King Ottokar of Bohemia, hearing of her beauty, had come seeking her hand. He even obtained a dispensation from the pope and approached Margaret with the permission. Margaret replied as she had previously, “I esteem infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia.” Having established that she was not interested in any throne but a heavenly one, she proceeded with great joy to live an even more fervent religious life than she had before.

Margaret’s royal parentage was, of course, a matter of discussion in the convent. But the princess managed to turn such conversation away from herself to the holy lives of the saints who were related to her by blood–King Saint Stephen, Saint Hedwig, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and several others. She did not glory in her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their holiness. She took her turn in the kitchen and laundry, seeking by choice much heavy work that her rank might have excused her from doing. She was especially welcome in the infirmary, which proves that she was not a sad-faced saint, and she made it her special duty to care for those who were too disagreeable for anyone else to tend.

Margaret’s austerities seem excessive to us of a weaker age. The mysteries of the Passion were very real to her and gave reason for her long fasts, severe scourgings, and other mortifications detailed in the depositions of witnesses taken seven years after her death (of which records are still in existence). Throughout Lent she scarcely ate or slept. She not only imitated the poverty- stricken in their manual labor and hunger, but also in their lack of cleanliness–a form of penance at that time. Some of her acts of self-immolation have been described as “horrifying” and verging on fanaticism, and there seems to have been an element of willfulness in her mortifications.

She had a tender devotion to Our Lady, and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a thousand Hail Marys. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to Rome, or to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed a plan by which she could go in spirit: she counted the miles that lay between herself and the desired shrine, and then said an Ave Maria for every mile there and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our Lord’s Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy, and very embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.

A number of miracles were performed during Margaret’s lifetime and many more after her death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and efficacy of prayer. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Most of the particulars of her life are recorded in existing depositions of witnesses taken in 1277. Her friends and acquaintances petitioned for her to be acclaimed a saint almost immediately after her death. Among them was her own servant, Agnes, who rightly observed that this daughter of a monarch showed far more humility than any of the monastery’s maids. Although their testimony expressed Margaret’s overpowering desire to allow nothing to stand between her and God, the process of canonization was not complete until 1943. The island where her convent stood, called first the “Blessed Virgin’s Isle,” was called “Isle of Margaret” after the saint.   She died 18 January 1271 at Budapest, Hungary.  Her remains were given to the Poor Clares at Pozsony when the Dominican Order was dissolved, and most of her relics were destroyed in 1789, but portions are still preserved at Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma.

 

She was beatified on 28 July 1789 by Pope Pius XII.