A song at the heart of the Gospel

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Friar Musings

Today’s gospel is the continuation of the narrative of Mary as we have followed from her encounter with an Angel announcing that she is to be the mother of the Messiah into the hill country of Judea and her encounter with Elizabeth. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth proclaims:

“Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:43-45)

Elizabeth confirms and praises the promises of God coming into the world. And upon that confirmation, Mary exults in the extraordinary canticle we know as the Magnificat: my soul magnifies the Lord. Continue reading →

Carrying Christ to the World

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Friar Musings

If today’s gospel sounds not only familiar but brings about the thought, “didn’t I just hear that gospel….?” – you are correct. It is a scene from Luke’s gospel called the Visitation when Mary goes in haste to the hill country to see her relative Elizabeth, mother-to-be of John the Baptist. It was proclaimed as the gospel in the Sunday just past, and is the traditional reading for the 4th Tuesday in Advent. Continue reading →

The Annunciation

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Friar Musings

Today’s gospel is a familiar part of the Christmas story – the Angel Gabriel inviting Mary into the plans of God for redemption and salvation of the world. Given its proximity to Christmas, I suspect we quickly want to jump the 9 months and have our thoughts move quickly to the Nativity of Jesus. But let us put things on “pause” for a moment and savor the scene on its own – as have Da Vinci, Rembrandt, El Greco and countless iconographers over the ages.

My friend, Fr. Bill McConville OFM, notes that part of the church’s art tradition is that the scene of the Annunciation often portrays Mary, not empty-handed, but holding a book or a scroll, her reading and reflecting on Scripture being interrupted by the angel’s pronouncement. The tradition is that she is meditating on Isaiah 7 (today’s first reading) in which there is the promise that a virgin will bear a child. Perhaps. Continue reading →

Striving for Righteousness

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Friar Musings

Today, our “O Antiphon,” our expression of desire and longing is this:

O Adonai, O Lord of the House of Israel
Giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai
Come to rescue us with your mighty power

In its own way, if Sunday December 26 2021 is Holy Family Sunday, then perhaps this weekend is “Holy Couples Weekend.” Our gospel for tomorrow is about Mary, a mother’s story, as we see her set out to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Today our gospel is the Father’s story – the narrative of the angel’s message to Joseph as he ponders what to do now that he knows Mary “was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph…since he was a righteous man, [was] unwilling to expose her to shame, [and so] decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” (Mt 1:18-20) It was not the way he hoped to start their life together. Continue reading →

O Antiphons

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Friar Musings

Not only do the readings for the daily Masses just before Christmas include the beginnings of the Gospel infancy narratives (Matthew 1 on Dec. 17-18; Luke 1 on Dec. 19-24), but we again get to hear the traditional “O Antiphons,” at Mass. Most of us were introduced to the antiphons via the popular hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Yet the “O Antiphons” are more than a thousand years old. Curiously, the first verse of the familiar hymn is actually the last of the traditional “O Antiphons” while the other verses of the hymn (in the order printed in most hymnals) correspond to the Antiphons for Dec. 17 to 22: Continue reading →

What did you expect…

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Friar Musings

In today’s gospel, we are again in the desert with John the Baptist – at least as far as Jesus asking the people (who apparently went out to see John the Baptist in the desert): “What did you go out to the desert to see…” In other words, what were you expecting? I would suggest Jesus is simply asking them to remember what motivated them to take the trip out into the dessert, to the Jordon River. If you have ever been to the Holy Land you know that Jerusalem to the Jordan River is not a walk in the park. Continue reading →

A week of questions

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Friar Musings

There is always continuity in the readings for daily Mass, especially the gospels. Often there is continuity in the story itself. The readings for the previous two days came from the gospel of St. Matthew. They described questioning of Jesus by the chief priest and elders of the Temple, wanting to know by whose authority Jesus was teaching in the Temple precincts. But Jesus turns the tables on them (having already overturned the tables in the Temple courtyard) and asks them questions about what was religiously playing out before their eyes, beginning with the ministry of John the Baptist. Lots of questions. A good week in which to ponder such things. Continue reading →

Our questions

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Friar Musings

Today is the Memorial of St. John of the Cross, the youngest child of a poor family from Toledo, Spain during the mid-16th century. He entered the Carmelite monastery in 1563, went on to study theology at the famous University of Salamanca in 1564, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1567. Dissatisfied with the laxity of his order, he considered becoming a hermit but was persuaded by St. Teresa of Avila to remain a Carmelite and work for the reform of the order.

Continue reading →

Blindness

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Friar Musings

In today’s gospel the chief priest and elders confront Jesus with a question concerning the authority by which Jesus is teaching in the Temple precincts, the content of his teaching, and more. This is a different moment than during the Galilean ministry when people, already amazing and curious, wondered about the source of Jesus’ teaching, miracles, and the authority by which he did all these things. It is different from the moments when Jesus encounters the queries from the scribes and pharisees. Now, in the midst of what we refer to as “Holy Week,” Jesus faces the leaders who already have plans to end Jesus’ life – they are just looking for immediate cause and opportunity. Continue reading →

An open seat at our tables

Posted on December 11, 2021 by Friar Musings

This Saturday morning, our readings highlight the Prophets Elijah and John the Baptist, two of the greatest prophets from the times before Jesus. In the first reading from Sirach, we hear

“In those days, like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah whose words were as a flaming furnace. Their staff of bread he shattered, in his zeal he reduced them to straits; By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens and three times brought down fire. How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is equal to yours? You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD.”