There are a myriad of biblical threads which could be traced in today’s Liturgy of the Word: blessing, promise, mutual obedience in family life, faithfulness to the Law, joy and sorrow. Add to that the opening Collect and the other prayers of the Mass and the picture which emerges is something a little more complicated …
Monthly Archives: December 2023
Advent Alphabet (Z)
We have journeyed throughout Advent with the people of Israel. We have followed their joys and sorrows. With them we have held fast to the promise that out of desolation God will bring hope and joy. We have attuned our ears to God’s word. We have listened to words of comfort and of challenge. In …
Advent Alphabet (Y)
YOUNG MEN This Scripture verse always takes me back to my early 20s and memories of the combinations of things that I just took in my stride. Suddenly falling exhausted was quite a rarity. It’s an entirely different matter now. The context for Isaiah’s words is the promised return from Exile in Babylon, a theme …
Advent Alphabet (X)
CHRISTΧρίστος ‘This is how Jesus CHRIST came to be born.’ Matthew begins his gospel with a lengthy genealogy which requires great concentration, whether you are listening to it or reading it aloud. It’s not unlike having a complicated story plot explained or trying to work out how you are related to a distant relative. The …
Advent Alphabet (W)
WILDERNESS Let the WILDERNESS and the dry-lands exult,let the wasteland rejoice and bloom,let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil,let it rejoice and sing for joy. Over the years I have had a number of friends from missionary Religious Orders. One of them in particular brought this passage of Isaiah alive by talking about the …
Advent Alphabet (V)
VALLEY Let every VALLEY be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low… In Chapter 40 Isaiah announces with great urgency Judah’s triumphal return from exile in Babylon. What was once a valley will now be filled in. There will be no need to scale a mountain either as these will be laid low. …
Advent Alphabet (U)
That day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city;to guard us he has set wall and rampart about us. Open the gates! Let the UPRIGHT nation come in, she, the faithful one whose mind is steadfast, who keeps the peace, because she trusts you. The people of …
Advent Alphabet (T)
Widen the space of your TENT,stretch out your hangings freely,lengthen your ropes, make your pegs firm… I have always loved this text. The hope and possibility in the image of strengthening and expanding a tent have sustained me in some times of wilderness. In Isaiah Ch 54 these verses are preceded by a lament for …
Advent Alphabet (R)
REJOICES I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul REJOICES in my God,for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation,he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath,like a bride adorned in her jewels. In the three books which make up the writings ascribed to Isaiah …
Advent Alphabet (Q)
QUICKLY I have always loved the urgency in Luke’s story of the Visitation; ‘Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country’. By all accounts Mary’s journey to Elizabeth won’t have been easy. That Mary loses no time in making her journey speaks of the power of …