Opening Comment We gather to celebrate the first Sunday of 2021, moving with gratitude into a new year of God’s grace. We thank God for the vaccines developed to protect humanity and ask for God’s continuing care and protection until everyone is safe. Confident that God’s mercy has no end, we remember our sins: (pause)…
This Word became flesh to make the Eternal Father known to all of us. He came to let us know the Father. Indeed, he is God’s personal message to us. How can we know the Father? Through Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life.” He is our surest way to the Father.
The question put to John the Baptist, “Who are you, then?” is one of the most challenging of all questions to answer. For people of Christian faith, the answer to this existential question will be influenced by our relationship with Jesus, because that relationship affects us at our very core. Saint Paul is the great example of this immersion in Christ. If asked, “Who are you, then?” he might answer in the words he wrote in Galatians, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” His identity had become a Christ-stamped identity.
Happy New Year! On this first day of the Year of Our Lord 2021, we acclaim Mary as Mother of God and ask her to mind us and those we love during this new year. We pray that the world may be freed from COVID-19 through a global programme of vaccination. And as this is also World Peace Day, we pray for peace.
Today, New Year’s day, is a day when many feel drawn to make good resolutions. What better new year’s resolution could we make today than that of adopting Mary’s stance before the grace of God? Today’s feast invites us to share in Mary’s sense of awe and wonder before God’s merciful love, made known to us in Christ, her son. As we look towards the new year, which begins today, we ask Mary to help us to treasure the gospel as she did, so that Christ might come to others through us as he came to us through Mary.
John’s small Christian community had been badly shaken by recent events. Their membership has dropped, and no doubt bitter words were exchanged about former members who had turned away and left. But..
What distinguishes Anna is her age, eighty four years old, and the fact that she never left the Temple, but remained there, serving God night and day with prayer and fasting…
Simeon, a devout elderly Jew, took the child in his arms and blessed God. If every child is fascinating, how much more was the child Jesus? Having held him and gazed at him, Simeon was ready to leave this world and go to God.
1st Reading: 1 John 1:5-2:2 Those who walk in darkness, and those who walk in the light Beloved: This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we…
On this first Sunday after Christmas Day, we honour the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We entrust our families to their patronage, and pray for all who have been part of our families, those still alive and those whom we hope have joined the great family of God in heaven.
Even though we honour them as the Holy Family, it does not mean they never had problems to face, as every family must. Just as every Christian has a share in the cross of Christ, the Holy Family also experienced life’s crosses…
Stephen died as Jesus died, “filled with the Holy Spirit.” We have received the same Holy Spirit, inspiring us to live like Jesus and die like Jesus…
We celebrate today an amazing mystery — God is born in time. The eternal God shares our nature, he has pitched his tent in the midst of humanity. With joy in our hearts, we contemplate the mystery of the Word made flesh.
We gather with joy in our hearts to celebrate the birthday of our Saviour. The rising sun of this winter morning reminds us that Jesus, who is born for us, rose from death as our undying light, our hope and our salvation.
Let the gloom and darkness, which exemplify the fallen and corrupt nature of the human race, be lifted, ushering in a new age of glory to God and peace on earth. And so an angel of the Lord appeared to some humble shepherds…
Opening Comment In the dark of this winter night, we proclaim the new light that has shone on the world: Jesus Christ is born! With the angels, we worship God who saves us — for through the life, death and resurrection of this child Jesus, salvation is ours. Alternative Opening Prayer (from 1998 ICEL Missal) Good…
Today’s gospel is an attempt, in simple language, to describe what happened on that day, so long ago, when Jesus was born. It was the second of heaven and earth, in the incarnate Word of God …
The naming of a child is an important decision. People will have different ideas about what is most meaningful. But ultimately, it is the choice of the parents. Their relatives and neighbours expected Zechariah and Elizabeth..
22 December. Tuesday of Advent, Week 3 1st Reading: 1 Samuel 1:24-28 Samuel’s mother, Hannah, dedicates her young son to a life of service to God When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to…
Mary and Elizabeth felt the saving grace of God flowing through their lives and were not afraid to encourage each other by saying so. Many of us were raised on the principle that ‘God helps those who help themselves’…
