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Scripture Reflections

Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and, with it, conclude the Christmas season.

We are beginning a New Year! Always a reason for hope and goodwill! 

One wonders if the neighbours of Joseph and Mary thought of the two of them plus Jesus, and any other siblings he might have had, as a “holy family”.  They certainly would have been seen as a devout Jewish family.

 

The “Visitation” story told in today’s gospel has become one of my favourite passages – thanks to two school girls.

To borrow a story from Nil Guillemette, Pope Benedict XIV, before being pope was a lawyer and his predecessor Pope Clement XI asked him to be in charge of canonisations for about 20 years.

As we have moved into the second Sunday of Advent, we are invited to spend some time examining ourselves and preparing our hearts for the upcoming celebrations of our Saviour’s birth.

“Religious extremism is on the rise!”, “Massive earthquake in Indonesia!”, “Severe droughts in Australia!”, “Russia is on a warpath with Ukraine!”, whenever we hear these headlines, it brings chills down our spines, and with it we could be forgiven for thinking that the end of the world as we know it is coming.

Back in the 1950s, when I was still in the Seminary, the Feast of Christ the King was celebrated in Grand Fashion.

The end of the world!!! Various people have anticipated it, various people have tried to predict when it will happen and so far we’re still around to tell the story.

She has put in everything… all she had to live on.She has put in everything… all she had to live on.

The Great Commandment:"One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?"

This Sunday’s Gospel text always stirs up for me an imaginary charming “family” scene.  Bartimaeus (one of the few people cured by Jesus whose name we know) is having dinner with some of the other disciples of Jesus (we know that after his sight was restored he followed Jesus).

Muhammad Ali once used to say whenever he knocks down an opponent, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!”

following jesus 150Who can be saved? We have a rich young person today coming to Jesus to ask what he must do to ‘inherit eternal life.’ as it turns out, he has been a faithful observer of the Law and was a good person.

Marriage is a sacrament, a work of God, and a work of a man and a woman. It gives a couple the grace to live out in their lives the forgiving, understanding, committed, redeeming and transforming love God has for all of us.

 

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