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Fr Lino Moreira OSB

Jesus’ way of starting his public activity was totally unexpected. Even John the Baptist couldn’t understand what was going on and said: “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3:14) This question has remained with every generation of Christians down to the present time, and it is indeed the question we are invited to engage with today. Why was Jesus baptised? Why did he decide to go public in such a way that suggested he was just one more sinner among a crowd of sinners in need of repentance?

Jesus’ own reply to John the Baptist was somewhat cryptic: “Let it be so for now – he said –; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness” (cf. Mt 3:15). What these words actually mean has always been the object of much debate, but there can be no doubt that they present the baptism of Jesus as an act of obedience to God’s plan. In other words, Jesus was baptised by John not to be cleansed of his own sins (for he had none) but to fulfil his Father’s will that he should take down into the waters of the Jordan the burden of all humankind’s guilt.

Therefore, when the Son of God descended into the depths of the river, he revealed himself as the Servant of God, whose mission it was to suffer and lay down his life for the sins of all humanity. It follows then that Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of God – whom he saw
descending from heaven like a dove and alighting on him (cf. Mt 53:16) – to suffer through and recapitulate the whole of human history, from Adam to the end of time, so that every human being can be freed from the power of the Evil One. And this was confirmed by Jesus’ actions in the world, as Peter pointed out in the house of the centurion Cornelius, when he said: “You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:34).

So the act of descending into the waters of the Jordan is an anticipation of Jesus’ death, and of his descent into Hell, in order to bind in chains the strong one (cf. Lk 11:21-22) – the Devil – who wants to hold captive the entire human race. It is indeed in his baptism that Jesus first manifests himself as the true paschal Lamb, who by the power of his sacrifice defeats the prince of this world (cf. Jn 14:30) and saves humanity from utter annihilation. The act of descending, however, is followed by the act of ascending from the waters and the proclamation by the divine voice: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:17) Here it is Jesus’ resurrection that is anticipated. God the Father looks with favour upon the perfect obedience of his Servant, raises him from the depths of the Underworld, and acknowledges him as his beloved Son – fully divine, but also one of our own flesh and blood. And from then on the heavens lie open to all humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Mt 4:16), who is meant to be the first-born among many brothers (cf. Rom 8:29). We can see thus that Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan to give us a baptism in the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. Mt 3:11), whereby we become children of God, destined to live for ever as brothers and sisters of the risen Lord. In fact on the day of our baptism, when we were immersed in the water sanctified by Jesus, we met him at the place where he anticipated his death, in order to anticipate our own resurrection by the power of the same Spirit that raised him from the dead (cf. Rm 8:11). But an anticipation is not yet the full reality, and what we received in our baptism as a pledge and a promise will only come to fruition if we imitate Jesus of Nazareth in doing good and combating evil (cf. Acts 10:34). That is indeed the very mission for which he anointed us with the Holy Spirit.

Abbot Brendan OSB

Everything about the Magi is unusual. They come from strange exotic lands to the east; they were highly educated philosophers or astrologers. They were from the gentile, non-Jewish, world and yet they were fascinated with the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures and they were the most unlikely travellers on those dangerous roads in the ancient world.

It must have been quite a sight when they eventually arrived. They were not just any foreigners. They held positions powerful enough for them to merit an audience with King Herod. If these Magi could create such a stir in Jerusalem, the capital city, imagine what it was like when they arrived in little Bethlehem.

The Magi find their Lord by following the light of a star and this part of the story is the part we find most intriguing today. God chose a gentle light, much as he did when he revealed himself to the Prophet Elijah, not in the great wind, the earthquake or the fire, but in the gentle breeze. Our problem is that we like to imagine ourselves as an earthquake or a powerful sun, the centre of our little solar system. In reality, we are the moon, reflecting the light of the Lord. God’s light doesn’t shine on those who insist on shining their own light. Have you noticed how bright the moon can be on a dark night? That could be you and me.

Today’s Gospel ends by saying that the Magi, after encountering Jesus, “left for their own country by another road.” The road taken by Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. Like the Magi, they left home and became pilgrims, for only those who are willing to leave behind their attachments and undertake the pilgrimage, find the mystery of God. It is not enough to know where Jesus is born, Herod and the scribes knew this much. We have to travel there and encounter him.

So often, we come to God asking for things, looking for things. Today, for a change, we present our gifts. What do I have to bring to the King? Maybe I don’t have gold, frankincense and myrrh, but I have my life, my time, my gifts, my energy, my zeal. Maybe I need to come and acknowledge that I have never come into a relationship with him, and that I need him to be my saviour. Today, for you, could be the day of salvation. Search your life with your mind and bring everything to the Lord in worship; gold, whatever is most precious in your life; frankincense, your prayer and worship; myrrh, the ointment of your good deeds.

Life is not about showing off our abilities, but a journey towards the One who loves us. We are invited to have the same curiosity as the great explorers of past ages, so that we may discover the epiphany of our God in every person and every event, everywhere.

Fr Jaroslaw Kurek OSB

‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will’.

The Saviour has been born for us, the Prince of Peace has come, peace that we all desire so much, peace we think of in a particular way today as we celebrate the World Day of Peace.

But as we learn from the Gloria, peace descends upon people of good will, or, in other words, people well pleasing to God.

What does it mean to be of good will, what might it be to be well pleasing to God?

How can I become such a person? Who can help me find this precious spiritual attitude?

Our beloved Mary, the Mother of the One who brings peace on earth, is I think the ideal example to follow for everyone who desires peace. Mary, who was pleasing to God, is well able to show us this path.

Let us look at her then, perhaps in a slightly different way, so that we may begin to learn this path.

According to our monastic tradition, Mary in her youth kept examining the Scriptures, she never tired of going through the events described in its pages. Unsurprisingly in today’s gospel we read these words in relation to Mary: ‘she treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’.

Mary, following her lifelong practice, treasured all those things that took place around the birth of her son. She kept all those words and things close to her heart. But not only did she treasure these things, but she pondered them, performing a mysterious activity which I will call ‘making a jig-saw’. Let me explain. The Evangelist employs a powerful verb symballo, which indicates bringing things together, joining them, and even uniting them.

Think of the Bible as a big jig-saw. When you open the box, you get a lot of pieces that appear quite obscure, you only get a very general idea of the completed image when you look at the cover of the jig-saw. And so you start to put the pieces together. At the beginning it is not easy, but with patience you start to see more and more of the picture, as clarity emerges.

The same holds true when examining the events in the Bible. Everyone has the general gist. Now let’s assume you make up your mind to be like Mary, you want to be continuously investigating the pages of the scriptures. So first you ponder one paragraph, then another, one book, then another. If you are persistent, if you explore the scriptural texts day in, day out, in due course you will become like Mary, truly pleasing to God.

By our ardent attempts to thoroughly examine the events of Jesus’ life we will become a delight to God. As a result, our approach to reality and perception of it will be different, much deeper and truer, and we will be able to receive the gift of peace which comes from God.

Are we prepared to experience that peace, expressed in these powerful words that we will hear soon during this Mass: ‘Peace I give you, peace I leave you’, words that are somehow Jesus’ response to our petition: ‘Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from evil, graciously grant peace in our days’?

But that’s not all. Before Communion the monks will sing, ‘Agnus Dei, dona nobis pacem, Lamb of God, grant us peace’. When receiving the body of Christ, let us think of the incarnate God as a gift of divine peace for us.

On this World Day of Peace, may our communion begin to make peacemakers of us.

The Bible, ardently studied by Mary, suggests: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’.

Bearing peace to the world around us, you and I will be called children of God, and thus Mary, Mother of God, will truly become our mother.

 

 

Fr Senan Furlong OSB

In her late 40s, the English poet UA Fanthorpe, turned into what she called “a middle-aged drop-out”. She gave up her responsibilities as a much-loved and admired teacher to take a modestly paid job as a hospital clerk. It was this sudden decision to change the entire pattern of her life that gave birth to her new life as a poet. She was one of those late starters who found their way. Each Christmas she composed a poem to include in her Christmas card to her friends. One of these titled, BC—AD, captures that apparently non-descript moment when time BC (before Christ) turned into time after, AD. It was in that seemingly unremarkable moment, however, that the great mystery hidden for ages and generations, was revealed. This is what we
celebrate here today.

This was the moment when Before
Turned into After ….
This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.
And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.

Christmas invites to stop and stand still, and not miss the moment when before turns into after. For Christmas is the moment when God reveals his goodness and love, and consoles his people. It is the moment when the Word is made flesh and lives among us, and God’s promise to be with us is fulfilled. It is the moment when Christ, the true light who gives light to everyone, comes into our broken world, giving us hope that the darkness will not overwhelm us.

Today is the moment when before turns into after. Let us not let Christmas pass us by. Today is the moment when Christ is born. Let us not hinder his birth in us. Today is the moment when we share God’s own nature. Let us not forget our dignity. Stop, turn aside and see. Look at the One who is born this day in Bethlehem. He will change the
entire pattern of our lives. Do not fear to be a late starter. Seek and you will find him who is Way, the Truth and the Life. Today let us drop out. Today let us start afresh. Let us begin to love this God who became one like us in the flesh, and setting out once again from there let us love one another. Who knows we may walk haphazard by starlight straight into the kingdom of heaven?

Abbot Brendan OSB

The angels sing of peace this night, but we have no peace. Our world is sick with war and everywhere we turn, we see its ugly face. If we don’t find goodwill in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own power. Everyone who takes up the sword will perish by the sword. Without hope we would have nothing.

So where did we find hope? Not in Athens, the intellectual centre of the world; not in illustrious Rome, the political centre of the world; but in Bethlehem, called by some ‘a weed patch ignored by world travellers’. Hope came first to the shepherds, poor honest people, not leaders of armies, not expounders of philosophies, not advocates of political theories, just throwers of stones to keep the wolves away. Watchers of their flocks.

When Jesus came, it was night in Egypt, night in Rome, night in Athens, night in Syria, night in Palestine, night everywhere. As Milton says O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse. Without all hope of day! The birth of Christ brought us light and hope and this hope reappears in the darkest moments of history like the star of Bethlehem in the darkened sky.

In December 1942, during the Battle for Stalingrad, (the deadliest conflict of history with almost two million casualties) a pastor and doctor with the German army, Lieutenant Kurt Reuber, drew a charcoal picture of Mary and the infant Jesus. The Stalingrad Madonna is a barefoot woman wrapped in a large shawl, holding the infant Jesus close to her cheek. On the right border are the words Light, Life, Love, from the Gospel of St John. On the left, “Christmas in the Cauldron 1942”. This is the true image for our 2022 Christmas Card. The charcoal Madonna was flown out of Stalingrad on the last transport plane to leave the encircled German 6th Army and has become a global symbol of peace. It hangs today in a Berlin church with copies in Stalingrad and Coventry Cathedral. Many have found peace by contemplating this image. Reuber himself died in a Soviet prisoner of war camp in 1944.

The angels still sing of peace and the shepherds still rejoice at this news. Not everyone, however, embraces this message. There are many like Herod who prefer the way of violence. The question of St Peter Chrysologus haunts us tonight, ‘Why then, are you so worthless in your own eyes and yet so precious to God?’

God points us to humility on entering our world, because this is the answer to our human dilemma. In Bethlehem, humility and glory in their extremes were joined. Born in a stable. Cradled in a cattle trough. Wrapped in swaddling clothes of poverty. No room for him who made all rooms! No place for him who made all places! His descent became the dawn of mercy. Because we cannot ascend to him, he descends to us.

If we really want to change the world, make it a better place, bring peace, justice, knowledge and love of God, then we have to change human hearts. This can never happen by force, but by example. The Gospel of the Nativity and the Madonna of Stalingrad witnesses to this and reveal “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Changes to the liturgy timetable during the Christmas period:

On Christmas Day, Solemn Lauds will be celebrated at 8am and Solemn Vespers II will be celebrated at 5pm. Masses take place at 10am and 12 noon. There will be no public celebration of Compline.

On New Years Eve, there will be a Vigil celebrated at 8.10pm instead of Compline.

Between Monday 26th December to Monday 2nd January, Matins and Lauds will be celebrated at the later time of 7am.

All other liturgies will be at the usual time, and the normal timetable resumes on Tuesday 3rd January.

Fr Patrick Hederman OSB

That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees,
—Those dying generations—at their song . . .

Kevin de Bruyne, captain of team Belgium and star of Manchester City,
says the reason why Belgium is not playing today in the final of the World Cup is because their team is too old. They were the golden wonders, tipped to win the last World Cup in 2018, and yet, to date, Belgium is the only national team in the world, that has topped the FIFA rankings without ever having won a World Cup or a continental trophy. Kevin himself is 31 – and Belgium’s oldest players, two of them are all of 35. Just to put this in context, let me tell you that in the community here at Glenstal Abbey we have only one member who is
under 35. The rest, therefore, are losers on this reckoning.

So, what do we do when we reach a certain age and are out of the
running? Well, we could take a leaf out of Cristiano Ronaldo’s book. Having reached the ripe old age of 37, he is tearing up his contract with Manchester United, where he earns only £28.6 Million pounds a year, to negotiate a new contract with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia which could be worth £172.9 million-a-year. What do you do with such a salary? Well, for a start, Ronaldo has a fleet of 20 limousines including one Lamborghini, two Rolls-Royces and a few Mercedes Benz. I suppose you take three of them for a drive each day for exercise, and keep your two favourites for a spin on Sundays.

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Advent. It has been the longest possible Advent, four full weeks, because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year. Our Advent started a week before the World Cup. Anticipating this exciting clash between Advent and the World Cup, I asked a
member of our staff, who in his day played on the Limerick Hurling team: ‘seeing as Ireland has no team in this competition, I said, would you be inclined to support England, for instance, as our nearest neighbours and who have one or two Irish players on board?’ ‘Only if they were playing Tipperary,’ he replied. The World Cup, you have to say, unites people marvellously. It seems as if the world, which now, as of this year, makes up 8 billion people, morphs into two camps: no longer Moses or Methuselah but Messi or Mbappe. Every world
religion might envy the congregation which will gather this afternoon at three O’Clock to await the advent of our new world champions. Around three and a half billion watched the event in 2018. There may be more today.

But we are here this morning to celebrate an even greater excitement. Our Christian calendar asks us to hold onto our hats for another week because the final day of our Advent season is next Sunday, not this one. We have a week to prepare ourselves for one of the greatest events of the Christian calendar. Christmas celebrates the arrival on earth of Jesus Christ who, at the age of 33, won the only world cup really worth winning, whereby every member of Team Humanity, of Team World, if you like, is invited to share in his divinity. This means that whoever you are, wherever you are, no matter what age, colour, race or gender you happen to be, you can live, not simply until you are thirty-five or
thirty-seven, but forever and ever, in the company of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created the universe and who hunger for your company until the end of time.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.
Amen.

Abbot Brendan

When I was growing up my family used to visit our relations in the lead up to Christmas every year. We would all pile into the car and head off together. My abiding memory of those journeys are road works. Clare County Council seemed to specialise in December road works. I remember thinking to myself, when this road is finally finished it will be just great. However, it was never finished. Once they repaired one section, another section needed attention. I mention this because John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way. Not a physical road, but a way nonetheless. Today is Gaudete Sunday, meaning rejoice and John the Baptist is the saint of joy – for even in his mother’s womb he leapt for joy. This joyous servant is the one who prepares the way; how does he do this?

John is a most unusual character. I’m not talking about his funny clothes, or the fact that he lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey, or that he was a spiritual road mender. He is unusual, even remarkable, for another reason. John didn’t mind taking second place. He had no problem giving up the limelight. He didn’t have a jealous bone in his body and that is so very unusual.

If we’re honest most of us do not appreciate competition, but John actually encouraged his disciples to leave him for Jesus. When people came, ready to honour John as the messiah, he set them straight. He insisted that he was not the star of the show, only a supporting actor. To use John’s own example, he was like the best man at a wedding. “My joy is now full (he said). He must increase and I must decrease.”

The Baptist was joyful because he was content to be who he was created to be – one who prepares the way. He calls us to conversion, to become who God created us to be. Most of us, at one time or another, battle a nagging sense inadequacy. We feel we are just not measuring up, mostly to expectations other people have set for us. We become preoccupied with ourselves, seeing others as competitors. Human history is full of tragic examples of this and in our own day we do not have to look very far before we find striking examples of this foolish pride. Even the ancient Greeks knew that hubris or pride was the root of tragedy. John the Baptist chose a different way and it is of him that it was said – a greater has not been seen!

Trying to measure up to the expectations of others is an exhausting enterprise. Freed from the blinding compulsion to dominate allows us to become the person God created, a masterpiece. Even in his prison cell John the Baptist was more interested in hearing about Jesus and what he was doing, than dwelling on his own situation, desperate as it was. What would happen if there were more people like John the Baptist in the world? What would become of the war in Ukraine if the desire to dominate evaporated? What would become of the housing crisis, poverty, global inequality? What would happen if I became more like this? What would happen if I were simply content to say, “He must increase and I must decrease”. What indeed! This is how to prepare the way for a better world. This is how to build a spiritual road, which will not need constant patching year on year because it is established on something, which is true. This is how to prepare the way for a real encounter with the Lord in the mystery of the Nativity. This is the invitation, what is your answer?