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22 Dec 2024 – 4th Sunday in Advent, C
December 22 2024
Thara Benedicta
Key Message Mother Mary's presence brings grace and peace!! Homily: In Sunday school, a teacher asked her class, "Why do you think that God was comfortable in choosing Mother Mary to be the mother of Jesus?" A little girl said, "Because she was the only one not complaining about her household chores". As we celebrate the visitation of our Mamma Mary, let us contemplate on the words of St. Elizabeth: St. Elizabeth exclaimed: "How did I deserve that the Mother of my Lord should come to me, Your servant?" She said this once the Holy Spirit revealed to her about the secret of our Mamma Mary. Our Mamma Mary never shared the secret of her pregnancy either to St. Joseph or to St. Elizabeth on her own. But God revealed this secret to them on behalf of our Mamma Mary, because it is an unbelievable secret. Once St. Elizabeth recognized that the Mother of her Lord had come to help her, her joy knew no bounds. The Holy Angel revealed a huge miraculous message for Zacharias that they are going to become parents in their old age. Though it was a big blessing for him, Zacharias couldn't believe it. Many times, when our waiting time is going to end, we lose our hope and are not able to accept our blessings. Like St. Paul we should be prisoners of hope. Never give up. Testimony of an intercessor: When I was praying for a family, where the father was very sick, I heard the whisper from the Holy Spirit - "Ask them to be hopeful". St. Elizabeth: "You are blessed, for the Salvation You have brought to the house of Jacob!" Mamma Mary was carrying the Son of God, remembering that her child will suffer for the sins of the world. She offered this unique silent suffering for us. St. Elizabeth: You are blessed for the Holiness You have brought to my son, whom I feel leaping with joy, like a happy little kid, in my womb, because he feels free from the burden of guilt. When Mamma Mary comes, Jesus also comes. When Jesus comes, our sin goes. Jesus in the womb of Mamma Mary sanctified John in the womb of Elizabeth. Starting from His days in the womb of His Mother, our Lord Jesus continues His sanctification. Now whoever goes through His Mother Mary, as an obedient Son, He sanctifies. Let us go to Jesus through Mary. It is pretty easy. Practical tips: The first person to reach out for anything is our Mamma Mary. She covers us under her mantle and brings us near to Jesus. So talk and walk with our Mother. The first face the eyes of baby Jesus saw, was our Mamma Mary's face. Just gazing at her kind face brings us grace and peace.
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22 Dec 2024 – 4th Sunday in Advent, C
December 22 2024
Joe O'Leary
Mary Embodies Hope At school we revered Wordsworth and had memorized “Upon Westminster Bridge,” “Daffodils” and “The Solitary Reaper,” but the line we heard most often was from an obscure sonnet: “Our tainted nature’s solitary boast”—taken as an example of a Protestant poet upholding the Immaculate Conception. The proclamation of the Assumption of the BVM in 1950 and the centenary of the Immaculate Conception in the Marian Year of 1954 made Assumpta, Concepta, and Immaculata popular girls’ names. The origin of all this lies in today’s gospel, when Mary is saluted by her cousin who exclaims: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?… Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!” Mary’s reply speaks of promises not only to herself but to Israel. The Prophets had filled their hearers’ minds with joyful expectation of a coming Saviour, and Mary takes up their message, now brought to fulfilment, as she stands forth in sinless radiance: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name….. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” There is a German expression for a pregnant woman: “of good hope.” Mary is the very embodiment of good hope—the hope of herself and Elizabeth, the hope of Israel, the hope of the entire human race, no longer “poor banished children of Eve” but encouraged to “lift up their heads, for their salvation is near at hand” (cf. Lk 21:28). Vatican II integrated Mariology into its theology of the Church, in the last section of Lumen Gentium, altering the perspective of the dogmas of Pius IX and Pius XII, so that Mary now stands with us as we strain forward in joyful hope toward the coming of our Saviour. Everywhere and at all times the birth of a child is a moment of joy, a new beginning, a reinvestment in hope. “Hope does not disappoint us” (Rom 5:5). Many children are swept away in horrible wars or by poverty, a terrible blasphemy against hope. Do the divine promises, and their joyful reception by prophets of hope, hold any weight over against the horrible disappointments of present history, where arrogant violence and greed trample unimpugned on the weakest? Despite all, we are thrilled by Mary’s prophecy still: “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” The downbeat, cynical tone of so much thinking and writing today needs to be checked, and we should not let its toxic influence affect our minds. Just as a baby opens its eyes on the wonder of the world, ready to explore it with joy, guided by its loving parents (as the child Jesus is guided to the Temple by his), so we need to open our eyes of hope with the same innocence and freshness, ready to start again, becoming as little children and entrusting ourselves to the heavenly guidance that the God of Abraham offers us. To be sure we are not immaculately conceived, and carry a burden of sin, but we can be immaculately reconceived when God remembers his mercy and says to us: “Your sins are forgiven” (Mk 2:5). The Creator does not want his creatures to be paralyzed by sterile brooding on the past, but urges us to tune in to his creative force, to be lifted up by his grace, as we strive forward with confidence, putting forth new creative energies, and taking up afresh the battle for the Kingdom of God over against all the negative forces that cannot prevail against it.
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15 Dec 2024 – 3rd Sunday in Advent, C
December 15 2024
Kwangonza Bernard
Thanks for the good homily God bless you
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14 Dec 2024 – Saturday of Advent, Week 2
December 14 2024
Veronica Clerkin
Thank you for all the scripture reflections. They have helped me like crutches to keep walking with and after Jesus through the ups and downs of the years. May all in the Association be Blessed in Jesus. May you continue to be lights on the hill top.
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22 Dec 2024 – 4th Sunday in Advent, C

22 Dec 2024 – 4th Sunday in Advent, C

15 Dec 2024 – 3rd Sunday in Advent, C

14 Dec 2024 – Saturday of Advent, Week 2