January 1st: Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God

Readings: Numbers 6: 22-27, Psalm 67, Galatians 4: 4-7, Luke 2: 16-21

According to the Old Testament, the blessing of God leads to flourishing: it gives life. In Moses' final exhortation to the people of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy we read: 'I am offering you life or death, blessing or a curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants might live in the love of the The Lord your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him; for in this your life consists' (Deuteronomy 30: 19-20). To choose life, then, is to live in friendship with God. To be fully alive is to live in the presence of God, hence the priestly blessing that Aaron is instructed to use in our first reading includes a prayer that God's face might shine upon his people and bring them peace (Numbers 6: 25-6).

To hide from God's face, to hide from his friendship and presence as Adam and Eve did after the fall (Genesis 3:8), is to flee from our own fulfilment. Yet as we read through the Old Testament we find that the fall of Adam is a recurring pattern. Israel's love for God cools, her fidelity to the law slackens: the consequence is disaster, death, and finally repentance and some form of restoration. In her alienation, Israel rediscovers her longing for God and so in today's psalm we cry: 'May God be gracious and bless us, and may his face shed its light upon us' (Psalm 67: 1). This is echoed by the desperate appeal of psalm 80: 'God of hosts bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be saved' (Psalm 80: 7).

This alienation between God and Man (though perhaps not always the sense that God is remote) is overcome at the Incarnation, which we celebrated just a few days ago at Christmas. Where at one time, as Hebrews puts it: 'God spoke to man through prophets and in varied ways, in our time, the final days, He has spoken to us in the person of His Son' (Hebrews 1: 1-2). There is a sense in our second reading from St. Paul that this coming of the Son of God 'at the fullness of time' (Galatians 4:4) is the birth, the new life, that the whole of Israel's history has been preparing for. Indeed, in Romans Paul tells us that 'the whole creation, until this time, has been groaning in labour pains' (Romans 8:22). All of history has been a kind of pregnancy, a time of development and growth until nature, human flesh, is able to receive the Word of God so that he might dwell among us (John 1:14).

This Word made flesh, Jesus, is the new life that brings life to the world. Mary was chosen to keep this Word, to bare this Word in her womb, hence she is called theotokos, God-bearer or more loosely: Mother of God. John the Baptist leapt in his Mother's womb upon hearing Mary's greeting, recognising this presence of God, prompting his mother Elizabeth to declare Mary to be 'blessed among women' (Luke 1: 42). Mary herself exclaims in her famous Magnificat that 'henceforth all ages will call me blessed' (Luke 1: 48). Mary is blessed because the fruit of her womb, Jesus, is the source of all blessing and all life.

We celebrate the feast of the Mother of God at the end of the Octave of Christmas, then, not to distract our attention from Christ and the Incarnation, but to draw out its implications for us. Mary is blessed because she has been honoured with an unprecedented intimacy with God. Yet as Paul emphasises in the second reading, this intimacy is also open to us. Because Christ became one of us, became like us, we can become like him: adopted sons and daughters of God (Galatians 4: 4). We would do well, like Mary in today's Gospel, to ponder this in our hearts (Luke 2:19). The Incarnation that we celebrated this Christmas is an awesome gift, a gift that is more precious than perhaps we realise.

BLESSING OUR LIVES I

Over the next few days, Godzdogz will be offering a couple of features on blessings. Today's reflection will look at some theological aspects of blessings, and in the days that follow there'll be a couple of concrete examples, blessings celebrated in ways that go beyond what happens in the Church building and reach into our every day lives. The use of blessings can both draw God nearer into our lives, and draw us closer to him who is the source of all blessing.

When we talk of blessings, certain situations may come to mind. One of the most obvious is probably the final blessing at the end of the Mass, just before the dismissal. Or we may have in mind a pilgrimage, whether it is to Walsingham or Lourdes, where enthusiastic pilgrims (or tourists) ask priests or deacons to bless their newly acquired rosary. Or some of us may be familiar with the tradition of house blessings, where the year of the blessing is written in chalk over the door. But if we try to remember other situations where we give or receive blessings, it might become less evident. Blessings are easily something we connect with the life of the Church, but when it comes to our daily life, there often seems to be a gap. How do we let God into our lives? How can blessings be a way of sanctifying our daily life?

The Book of Blessings states that ‘the celebration of a blessing ... prepares us to receive the chief effect of the sacraments and makes holy the various situations of human life’ (General Introduction (GI) 14). If we look into the list of contents of this book, we soon find that there exist a blessing for almost any human situation - not just blessings that are only connected to parishes and churches. There are blessings of persons in all stages of life; for small children, for families, for students (and teachers!), for sick persons and for elderly peoples. But the list doesn’t stop there. We find blessings of animals, of fields and flocks and for seeds at planting time. Or what about blessing of an athletic event, of tools or other equipment for work, or of your fishing gear? It soon becomes clear that blessings can be involved in a vast variety of human activities, and may lead us to better understand God’s presence in our daily life. In this way blessings may strengthen the bonds between Creator and creation, leading us towards our highest goal, or, as the Book of Blessings expresses it: ‘Human sanctification and God’s glorification are the ends toward which all the Church’s other activities are directed’ (GI 9).

So what exactly are blessings, and what do they involve?

Blessings are a part of the liturgy of the Church and are described as sacramentals given and received in faith. The Book of Blessings refers to Vatican Council II which emphasises the importance of the full, conscious and active participation of all liturgical celebration. Sacrosanctum Concilium clearly states this:

For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event in their lives; they are given access to the stream of divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God. (SC 61)

Being children of God through our Saviour Jesus Christ, we are filled with holiness by the Holy Spirit. As members of Christ’s Body, we are ‘showered with every blessing’ (GI 4). This constant stream of God’s gifts is to be recognised every time we celebrate a blessing. Blessings also highlight the very creation and its continued existence - we and the whole universe are sustained by God’s gracious goodness. Because we are one body in Christ, it follows that blessings should be celebrated in the fellowship of the faithful. In cases when this is not possible, the one who presides should still keep in mind that he or she represents the Church, and that the celebration is done in unity with all the faithful.

A blessing consists normally of two parts, ‘first, the proclamation of the word of God, and second, the praise of God’s goodness and the petition for his help’ (GI 20). We should note here how the Church underlines the importance of proclaiming the Word as we ask for God’s blessing. A blessing ‘is a genuine sacred sign, deriving its meaning and effectiveness from God’s word that is proclaimed’ (GI 21). In practice, blessings are often being performed without any biblical reference, and in this way a good opportunity of catechesis is lost.

As we have seen, blessings can be aimed not only towards persons, but also to animals, houses, even roads, railways, bridges and airports, boats, objects, technical devices... We should keep in mind that when the Church invokes blessings on places and objects, it is always with a view to the people who use them: ‘Thus the celebration of blessings becomes the means for us to profess that as we make use of what God has created we wish to find him and to love him and serve him with all fidelity’ (GI 12).

We have now seen how blessings reflect the fundamental reality in which we live, as we are sustained by God's creative blessing in every moment of our lives. We see how blessings can lead us towards our Lord, and strengthen the fellowship we share as members of the one and same Body of Christ. We have also become more aware of how the material world can be made holy for us through blessings, and how this may sustain and deepen our faith.

Now it just remains to give some concrete examples of how blessings may be realised in our lives. Over the next few days, Godzdogz will present the text and images of two very practical and material situations where our two Dominican deacons celebrate a blessing.

The Holy Innocents

1 Jn 1:5-2:2, Ps 123:2-5,7-8, Mt 2:13-18
The Feast of the Holy Innocents is a powerful reminder of the great challenge the Incarnation presents to the world. Christ is the light of the world, a source of great hope and joy, but to people like Herod who prefer the powers of darkness, the Incarnation is a source of great fear. We might look back on a character like King Herod and find it hard to believe how anyone could do something of such unspeakable evil. Yet if we look around the world today, there are a number of respected academics, people like Peter Singer and Michael Tooley, who believe that killing infants can be justified. The reason they can get away with holding such views is because of their relevance to the abortion debate. In his book 'The ethics of Abortion,' Christopher Kaczor argues that it is difficult to defend abortion without defending infanticide. Therefore, those who believe that abortion is morally permissible may have more in common with King Herod than they would like to admit.Being totally against abortion doesn't mean that we should be insensitive to the serious difficulties many pregnant women find themselves in. The irony of the 'pro-choice' label is that many women who have abortions feel they have no choice. But because Christ came into the world to save us, the saying 'you're damned if you do and damned if you don't' no longer applies. Through the grace of Christ, we always have the power to choose what is holy and good. The Holy Innocents are witnesses to Christ's power to overcome darkness, a power that filled people like Herod with fear, but for those of us who believe, a power that fills us with hope and joy. Let us therefore pray that through the intercession of the Holy Innocents, all pregnant women may receive the grace to become loving mothers, that the unborn may receive every protection, and that there will be an end to all abortions.

Christmas at Blackfriars 2

Christmas dinner under way:

Christmas Day Vespers:

The cooks complete the last finishing touches:

The dinner itself!

These three kings....

Christmas at Blackfriars

Some pictures from our midnight mass at Blackfriars Oxford:

And some time relaxing together afterwards:

Christmas Day - God became man so that men might become gods

Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 97:1-6, Hebrews 1:1-6, John 1:1-18

God became man so that men might become gods. These words of St Athanasius sum up the mystery of the Incarnation. This is what we celebrate at Christmas and it is the source of our great joy.

The Incarnation changes everything. It brings together what the world tries to keep separate – God who is pure spirit, and the material world. Because of this, the true meaning of Christmas is a great challenge to our world. Because of sin, there is a great tendency for us to live fractured dualistic lives where the material reality is separated off from the spiritual reality. From the material perspective, human beings are seen as nothing special, just mere collections of fundamental particles of nature. This is the world of cold facts. This perspective is contrasted with the spiritual perspective where human beings are essentially centres of consciousness, and it is from this spiritual perspective that people try to search for meaning and love. This disunity between materiality and spirituality results in all kinds of evils. When people do not base the spiritual perspective on anything objective, there is no firm foundation to morality – things are only valuable or have meaning because an individual say so. If we believe that from the material perspective we are nothing special, there is no need to treat our bodies with any respect – we just treat our bodies in a way that is consistent with our own artificial set of values.

The sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, was that he wanted to live beyond his material-spiritual existence, so as to exist in the same way God exists. But in trying to overreach himself, his material and spiritual unity was undermined – he became an enemy of God. God reminds Adam he is dust and to dust he shall return. Ever since the Fall, there has been a war between the material and spiritual realities. Man is uncomfortable in his own skin. He tries to strive for a spiritual existence and to escape from his mundane materiality, but his materiality drags him down and makes him do things he hates doing.

In the Incarnation, all this changes. God, who is pure spirit entered into our material world. The source of all our values, all our meaning and all our loving became a historical fact, Jesus Christ, a child born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Through Jesus Christ, not only is our integrity restored, but by taking on human flesh and dying on the cross, God freely gives to man, what man tried to take by force at Eden. God becomes man so that men might become gods. The powers of darkness still try to undermine our material and spiritual unity, but we now know that this darkness is impotent in the light of Christ. In the words of St Leo the Great, we hear the true meaning of Christmas:

O Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.

24th December - Zechariah: An Advent Conversion

What is the price of your doubt? When Zechariah doubts God’s plan, he loses the ability to speak. His lack of voice comes at the most inopportune time, as he is serving as priest in the sanctuary. Fortunately, his loss and eventual regaining of speech is part of God’s plan. For when he sees his son, John the Baptist, and finally believes the message of the angel, he sings a song of praise to God that the whole world hears. Zechariah, a man who doubted God’s power and plan, now shouts words that each morning will echo from the mouths of Christians for thousands of years.

The Benedictus, Zechariah’s canticle, unites the history of God’s covenant with the saving work we begin to commemorate this evening. He reminds us of God’s promise throughout the Old Testament, that He would “save us from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us,” and “show mercy to our fathers” (Luke 1:71-2). It is from Zechariah that John the Baptist first hears his mission. His tender infant ears hear his father’s proclamation: he would be Prophet of the Most High, announcing His way.

Zechariah’s praise demonstrates the power and mercy of God, and the capacity of man to change in light of God’s grace. For when he doubted the message of the angel, Zechariah could only see his own limitations – he and Elizabeth were advanced in years and unable to bear a child. He could not open his mind and heart to the angel’s message. Zechariah could not see through his own shortcomings how God could elevate him and his wife as the parents of the Messiah’s great forerunner.

When Zechariah sees his child, he sees in him God’s promise fulfilled. What great faith he demonstrates in his conversion! He does not have to lay eyes on the infant Christ or even hear him preach as an adult. He requires no further evidence. Zechariah takes one look at his son, the Forerunner of the Messiah, and immediately sees the whole of salvation history. He understands how every event in Scripture has led his people to this moment before dawn, when his son will announce the Christ.

At some time in our lives, we all fail to see how God can use us to fulfill His plan. There is no shame in our initial doubt. However, at our moment of conversion, we must follow Zechariah’s example. When we recognize God’s action in our lives, however great or small, we must respond as God commands and sing our praise to God. Others may initially look at us in confusion, just as the crowd did with Zechariah’s naming of John. But, he did not hold back from doing as God commanded, and God granted him the ability to sing words of eternal value.

We have less than a day before we enter the Christmas Season. As you make final preparations, consider how God tries to work in your life. Look for the places where He calls you to act. And sing God’s praises with confidence and joy as a witness to the Good News.

Waiting in Hope: O Emmanuel

Br Oliver Keenan concludes our series with a reflection on the O antiphon for the 23^rd December, O Emmanuel.

Waiting in Hope: O Rex Gentium

Continuing our series of pre-Christmas talks, Br Gregory Pearson offers a reflection on the great O antiphon for today, 22^nd December, O Rex gentium.

Christmas Services at Blackfriars, Oxford

For those wishing to join the community in Oxford for our liturgical celebration of Christmas, below are the times of services at Blackfriars:

24^th December - Christmas Eve
12 noon - Mass of the Weekday of Advent with Sext and Absolution from Faults against the Rule
6pm - Solemn First Vespers of Christmas
11:30pm - Vigil and Midnight Mass

25^th December - Christmas Day
8am Mass
9:30am Family Mass
6pm Solemn Second Vespers of Christmas

Please note there will be no Mass at 6:15pm on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Waiting in Hope - O Oriens

As we prepare for Christmas, Br Matthew Jarvis offers a reflection on today's great O antiphon, O Oriens, in this video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

Provincial Assembly 2011

On the 14th-16th December Blackfriars, Oxford, hosted the Provincial Assembly of the English Dominican friars. This gathering is an opportunity for as many friars as possible from all round the Province to get together and discuss the Province’s life and mission, and happens every four years in preparation for the Provincial Chapter, the meeting of superiors and elected delegates of the brethren which makes decisions about such things, and which will happen in April next year.

It is also an opportunity for brothers to share their experience, telling each other about approaches, events, or resources which they might have found particularly useful or effective in their ministry.

The work of the New Evangelization being promoted by the Holy Father was one of the central topics of discussion, and our involvement in Internet projects such as Torch and, of course, Godzdogz itself, was recognised as important for that.

Besides the official business, the Assembly was also an occasion for brothers from different parts of the Province to pray together the Liturgy of the Hours, which lies at the centre of the religious life we share, as well as catching up with brothers from other houses over a cup of tea between sessions, or at recreation in the evenings.

Very useful discussions were had, which will feed into the work of the commissions of friars preparing reports on various subjects for the Chapter, and it was also a good opportunity to prepare for Christmas together in a spirit of fraternal charity.

One of the secretaries of the assembly at work

Listening to a presentation

Enjoying the occasion

20th December - 'Thy Will Be Done'

Today’s gospel passage from Luke is deceptively familiar. So familiar that it can be easily lost on us. When we hear these words spoken, do we really listen to them? Do we fail to appreciate that what we hear is the greatest ‘Yes’ ever uttered in history; the beginning of the greatest story ever told?

If we fail to hear, it’s probably because our own stories, our own lives, with all their clamour and noise, with all their drama – both good and bad – deafen us. Listening is a virtue, which requires much practice. It is the virtue of obedience. Obedience, from the Latin, oboediens, means to listen, harken and obey. When religious take a vow of obedience, it is a vow of listening to God’s word, often mediated by superiors. Few of us are naturally great listeners, but we have to persevere because when moments of change and trial are upon us – that is when we need to listen most.

Our lives, as Blessed Mary’s, have their life changing moments. The kind of moments, after which, nothing is ever the same again. Sometimes we may not immediately recognise them, but on looking back we can see them. We may fall in love; get married; change career; first come to faith; find our vocation; lose a loved one. Nothing is ever the same again. Depending on circumstance, change can be easy for us or very hard, and we can respond to such change in two ways; we can face up to it or we can run away and pretend that nothing has happened. We can ignore our responsibilities to each other; to our families; to God and the Church. Or we can we face them as Christians, listening in faith to God, that he will walk with us and guide us, regardless of what we may face. We have to make our choice. We have to listen.

For Blessed Mary, that day of the Annunciation was perhaps the most alarming imaginable. We read that, ‘she was greatly troubled’, by Gabriel’s words. She had every right to be so; this was no ordinary day. She must have felt that all was to change and that though such change would bring with it great joy, there would follow an inevitable suffering. The Angel seeks to reassure her; ‘do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favour with God’. On being told that she will bear Jesus Christ, ‘the Son of the Most High', she responds will a simple question; ‘how can this be since I have no husband?’ Her words are few; she is attentive. She has long listened in her heart to the word of God and seeks only clarification. In the stillness of her heart she is prepared to face the momentous change to come; she is happy to face such change, in spite of all hardship, in order to serve the God she has always pondered in her heart. Ultimately she is reassured that, ‘with God nothing will be impossible’.

Now Mary, though sinless, was otherwise like us. She was a human being, with all the hopes and fears common to our state. She had free will; she, just like us, had the power to choose. In faith, with a listening ear, she placed her trust in God. She said yes. She uttered the Fiat – let it be done - that would forever change her life and the life of all humanity. Such courage, such trust and humility, can only come through taking time to listen. It comes through taking time to be with God in the stillness of our hearts.

The Incarnation; that great moment in salvation history – when the Word was made Flesh - was made possible by a humble woman’s faith and trust in God. Our Lady knew that her true happiness and fulfilment lay not in running away from this great responsibility but in facing it in faith. She had learned to listen to the Word of God and to trust, to let go and allow God to be God. She had learned to say; ‘thy will be done’. I wonder, amid the clamour and noise of Christmastide, can we do the same?

Advent – 19th December: Elijah, John, Jesus and the Coming of the Lord.

Judges 13:2-7 & 14-25a; Ps 71; Luke 1:5-25.

It was a common belief among the Jews at the time of Jesus that the prophet Elijah would reappear and prepare the people for a visitation of the Lord in holiness. Elijah was thought to have been caught up into heaven at the end of his life (2 Kings 2:1-14). Since he had not died, he would be able to reappear before the Day of the Lord (See Malachi 3:23-24.) When he came, he would preach conversion, holiness, and reconciliation among the people.

In the gospel accounts of the public ministry it is clear that some people speculated that John might be this return of Elijah (John 1:21) and some thought Jesus was fulfilling this role (see Lk 9:19; Mk 8: 28; Mt 16:14). Jesus made clear in Matthew (17:9-13), Mark (9:9-13) and less directly in Luke (7:24-27) that he considered John had fulfilled this role. In today’s gospel, the annunciation of the angel to Zechariah about the future role of his son also makes this clear: ‘with the sprit and power Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to the children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord, a people fit for him (Lk 1:17). It seems that John did not take this identity upon himself but simply saw himself (Jn 1:21) as articulating the words of Isaiah 40: ‘prepare the way of the Lord’ (Jn 1:22-23; Lk 3:3-6 and also the Benedictus, Lk 1:76-79). However, it is highly significant that Jesus and the early church following him, ascribe the role of Elijah to John. It makes him a very great prophet, bringing their line of looking forward and witness to its climax and end. At the same time he heralds a new age and so stands on the threshold of two ages, or phases of God’s providence for his people (see Luke 7:24-30; & 16:16).

Giving this significance to John as Elijah, points to a still greater significance for Jesus. If John, not Jesus, is Elijah, then Jesus is connected far more closely with the actual visitation of God to save his people. He is the Lord come in person to save his people. Jesus is also called the Christ as well but this was understood to mean he was a divine Christ, one caught up into the heavenly realm and more closely associated with God than a very earthly Christ who many expected (Lk 20:41-44). ‘Elijah’ then, prepared for this heavenly Christ, who is the Lord. John was right in saying he was unfit to undo his sandal strap. And neither are we!

The God who comes at Christmas is a God of immense holiness and for whom only God can prepare us by grace but this can only happen with our co-operation. It is for these reasons that each Advent the Church represents John as Elijah, calling ‘prepare the way for the Lord’. Jesus made it clear that the people of his day in general did not heed the message to prepare for the Lord and they would thus reject Jesus too (Mk 9:11-13; Mt 17:9-13; Lk 7:29-30). Will we do any better? Are we responding to the message of John as we prepare for Christmas? Let us not be distracted or misled by cute cribs and beautiful babies! The conception of John points to the mercy of God and to God’s power to change hopeless human situations. Given hope by this, are we preparing for Christmas by a focus on the Lord, and, in the light of this, by moral conversion, by being reconciled to those around us, by acting justly, by humility of heart (Lk 3:7-18)? Or will we in effect ignore or reject Elijah, John and Jesus this year, however much religion, carols and festivity we get caught up in? Each of us must choose, and each of us must face the consequences of that choice. They may be a lot worse than losing our voice for several months …

Fourth Sunday of Advent - The Awesome Gift of Holiness

Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5.8-12. 14.16, Psalm 88(89), Romans 16:25-27. Luke 1: 26-38

Holiness, according to the Old Testament, is not primarily a kind of moral goodness, but a characteristic of God, and a terrifying characteristic at that. Holiness for the ancient Hebrews is like a fire, it needs to be treated with respect and caution lest it burns up and destroys what is profane. This is why the levitical law has such strict purity laws, it is dangerous to approach God when unclean. Only those people and things that have been given a share in the holiness of God can survive His presence. Israel, unlike the gentile nations, is able to endure the presence of God because she has been set apart, because she has been consecrated: Israel, as the chosen people, participates in the holiness of God.

It is important to note that Israel did not earn her holiness, she was chosen: her intimacy with God is a grace, a gift. This explains why in our first reading the well meaning King David is unable to build a dwelling for God. No human construction, no matter how glorious, can be fit to recieve God; we cannot achieve holiness by our own strength, consecration is a gift. Instead God promises that one of David's offspring will 'build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever' (2 Samuel 7: 13).

This promise, both of a temple and an everlasting Kingdom, was of course preeminently fulfilled in Christ - Son of David and Son of God. John's Gospel tells us that when challenged to explain why he had expelled the money changers from the temple, Jesus declared: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' (John 2: 19). Where in the desert Israel met God at the Tent of Meeting, and after Solomon in the temple in Jerusalem, now Israel meets God in human flesh and blood - in Christ Jesus himself. God's love for Israel gives her a fertility that enables her to bring forth a divine life, the one who will give new life to the world.

In some sense, then, we have in today's Gospel, very fittingly for the last Sunday before Christmas, the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The Angel Gabriel tells Mary: "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God" (Luke 1: 34). In Mary, then, the vocation of a nation is actualized. Just as Israel had been made holy, able to bear the terrifying and destructive holiness of God in the desert, Mary - immaculately conceived and protected from sin - was holy, able to bear the holiness of God in her womb. Mary was made able to 'tabernacle' the Incarnate God, and as such becomes an image of the church - the new Israel. Through our baptism we are made a limb of Christ: we are made part of his body, sharing in his holiness, sharing in the eternal and infinite love and life of the Trinity. This is an awesome gift, one that we ought not to take for granted. Through our union with Christ we stand in a holy fire of divine love. As we approach Christmas, let us make sure we are properly prepared, lest we get burnt.

Waiting in Hope - Preparing for Christmas with the Dominican Students in Oxford

In the lead-up to Christmas, the Dominican students brothers in Oxford will be giving reflections on the coming feast on the three days before Christmas Eve (21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd December), taking their inspiration from the great O antiphons that fall on those days. For those of you in Oxford, the details are on the poster below: for our readers from further afield the talks will also be specially pre-recorded and put up on the blog.

17th December - "Son of David, Son of Abraham - Wisdom of God"

Readings: Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Psalm 72; Matthew 1: 1-17

As we enter this final stage of Advent, when the Church expresses her yearning for the coming of the Saviour in the great ‘O’ antiphons, the contrast between the text of today’s antiphon, O Sapientia, and the day’s Gospel is striking. In the antiphon, we refer to Jesus as the wisdom coming forth from the mouth of the Most High that powerfully and sweetly orders all things. We contemplate him as the one who was with the Father from all eternity, sharing in his act of creating and sustaining all things: we apply to him the many and exalted things the Old Testament has to say about the Wisdom of God.

Then we turn to the Gospel: here, we find ‘the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham’ (Mt 1: 1). What clearer way could there be of emphasising his humanity? He is born in a human family, with a human history: he is a human being like us.

Of course, it is precisely this contrast which lies at the heart of the mystery of Christmas: the one of whom we prepare to celebrate the coming as a helpless infant, born in a stable to a human mother, is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son begotten of the Father before all ages.

Christmas can sometimes become an overly familiar celebration: every year we hear the same readings, sing the same carols, and we all feel like we know the story. In this final week building up to Christmas, then, the Church in her liturgy presents us with this striking juxtaposition of Jesus the son of Mary and Jesus the pre-existent Wisdom of God: to prepare us to celebrate the feast, we are to be shaken out of our complacent familiarity by this amazing truth of the Incarnation.

O Wisdom, who came forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, powerfully and sweetly ordering all things: come to teach us the way of prudence.

The 'O' Antiphons, December 17-23

For the text and music of the O Antiphons, sung at Vespers from today until December 23rd, see the posts gathered here.

A cosmic 'O', the work of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Third Week of Advent – Friday – Living the faith that we preach

Readings: Isaiah 56:1-3a.6-8; Psalm 67 (66):2-3.5.7-8; John 5:33-36

Today’s Gospel enlightens us on two major points: all our efforts in preaching God’s message should lead to Christ and the best way of conveying that message is by example.

It is a common thing today - as it was in the past - that some people are highly gifted in preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Through different gifts and talents, they become famous preachers and illustrious public speakers. John the Baptist was a good preacher. Jesus himself talks of him as “a burning and shining light [and people] were willing for a reason to rejoice in his light.” (Jn 5:35).

Today's gospel reminds us that it is always good to look beyond the shining stars and recognize the work of God in them. Otherwise we focus on those stars and we are blinded by their light. It is like looking at the finger that is trying to show us great mysteries.

The second point is that as much as we might be brilliant, unrivalled preachers, if that is not translated in our lives, it is empty. John the Baptist himself knew that. He wanted people's conversion to be translated into actions. God's words are sweet. And we might even pretend to make them sweeter to people’s ears when we use more sophisticated and highly intellectual terms. But they need to be accompanied by deeds that prove that we live what we preach. How could we convince people of things we do not live out? Jesus said: "The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me." (Jn 5:36). We know that most of the disciples who followed Christ did not grasp fully his message but were amazed by his deeds: his compassion towards the excluded and those who were rejected by his religion, his compassion towards the hungry and the sinners. Most of the time his message appeared clearly to contradict his religion's laws. But his deeds were obviously divine to his followers that they could not see them otherwise.

Concluding I would say that today's gospel also invites us to recognise the work of God in those other people we seldom consider as messengers of God: those who do not share our way of thinking, those who do not share our religious beliefs and those who do sometimes even oppose our faith. God's ways being mysterious, God can use anyone, any time, anywhere to make the Good news reach our hearts. We only need to open our eyes and our hearts.

May this Advent help us to focus more on our Lord and Saviour and less on ourselves and our successes. May it help us to recognise God's hand in other people's words and deeds.

By Br Gustave Ineza OP

Third Week of Advent - Thursday - Accept the Fullness of God's Plan

Readings: Isaiah 54: 1-10; Psalm 30; Luke 7: 24-30

John the Baptist holds a distinct honor in the Gospels in that he inaugurates Jesus’ public ministry. He foresees Jesus’ coming long before anyone else recognizes him. John’s prophetic witness is unmatched. His convictions are more genuine and faith more steadfast than anyone else in the Gospel aside from Christ himself. “Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Lk 7:28).

Jesus’ statement about John does not reveal a low opinion of the Messiah’s forerunner. Quite the opposite is true. Jesus’ declaration raises God’s expectations of how we understand and accept our own Christian vocations.

Those who approached John in faith knew his baptism made them whole again. His baptism removed their sins. Their hope was to restore their relationship with God. They wanted to be as God created them and originally intended them to be: His holy and faithful people. Jesus takes their expectations and elevates them to a divine level.

Herein lies the great scandal of the Pharisees’ rejection of John’s baptism. Not only have they rejected God’s pardon (if they even recognize a need for pardon). They also fail to receive the ultimate gift of Christ: deification. These faithful people, however great their sins, come seeking reconciliation. They find God’s saving power in John’s baptism. And beyond that monumental conversion, God also makes them like Him.
He restores them and elevates them to a share in His life.

As we move closer to the Christmas Season, let us spend this remaining time contemplating what it means for Christ to take on our flesh. In doing so, he takes away our sins. Yet, Jesus’ act of removing sin from our human nature is only a footnote compared to what he adds to it: God’s very self.

14th December – St John of the Cross

Readings: Isaiah 45: 6c-8, 18, 21c-25; Ps 85; Luke 7: 18b-23

It is fitting that we celebrate St John of the Cross during Advent, as we hear anew the call of John the Baptiser. For these two Johns have much in common. John the Baptiser inaugurated a great religious awakening, but was thwarted and imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and later executed. His disciples wondered, would God fulfil his promises and save them yet?

St John of the Cross, Carmelite friar and priest, religious founder and reformer, mystic and Doctor of the Church, was similarly at the heart of great religious upheavals, this time in the sixteenth century. This John was also incarcerated, after he founded, along with St Teresa of Avila, the ‘Discalced’ (shoeless) Carmelites, to the chagrin of his lax superiors. First he was persecuted by his superiors, then later by the opposite ‘extremist’ camp of his own Discalced order. Reform is a thankless task.

But his reforms did last, thanks to his wisdom and sanctity. He called his brothers and sisters in religion to a simpler lifestyle, to prepare their hearts to receive the poor and humble Jesus. Like the Baptiser, John of the Cross was a fearless preacher of God’s word, and a mystic whose writings show an affinity with the desert mentality, especially his poems written from his prison cell: for God causes the whole earth to bud forth, ‘not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in’ (Is. 45:8, 18).

'Justice shall look down from heaven'
(Christ of St John of the Cross, by Salvador Dali)

Both Johns understood that the path to God is through self-emptying love, because God himself is self-emptying love. In his kenotic sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus uttered the Psalmist’s cry of abandonment (Ps. 22:2-3). We too must seek no support but the Cross, as we enter the ‘dark night of the soul’, and abandon ourselves to God’s mercy and will, trusting that he will fulfil his promises.

‘There is no just and saving God but me.’ (Is. 45:21) And what does the justice and salvation of God look like on earth? We only have to look at Jesus, who cures all our ills. ‘The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.’ (Lk. 7:21-2)

Jesus is Lord! ‘In the Lord shall be the vindication and the glory of all the descendants of Israel.’ (Is. 45:25) We know that Jesus Christ is our vindication and glory, through his Cross and glorious Resurrection (cf. Acts 2:24). So, trusting that God will vindicate us too, let us join Jesus on the Cross, give ourselves up lovingly in the service of God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven. Let truth spring out of the earth, and justice look down from heaven!

Rorate caeli desuper et nubes pluant iustum! (Is. 45:8)

13th December - St Lucy

Readings: Zep 3:1-2, 9-13; Ps 34:2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19 And 23; Mt 21:28-32

The Church has a long tradition of absorbing what start as pagan traditions, but by being Christianised become Christian traditions after a while. We see this today as we celebrate the feast of Saint Lucy. She was a young girl who suffered martyrdom under the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the year 303. The date of her death, the 13th of December, was considered the longest night of winter according to the old calendar. This night was not only the longest, but also the night when Lucifer and all his evil demons went about, threatening both man and beast. If we look even further back in history, we see how this belief is connected to the pagan traditions, where mid-winter sacrifice was performed to appease the gods. The name ‘Lucy,’ which is etymologically connected to the Latin word for light, and so is also connected to the name ‘Lucifer’, thus reminds us of the forces of good and evil that we face in our lives.

If we turn to Saint Lucy, the tradition tells us that she was given the grace of great lucidity and clarity of vision, which made her a powerful instrument in God’s hands. Her first miracle was performed as she went on a pilgrimage to Catania in Sicily, to the grave of Saint Agnes, to pray for her mother who was seriously ill. On her way there, Saint Agnes appeared to her and said: 'Sister, why come to me to ask for something that you yourself easily can give your mother? Your faith has healed her!'

This was the beginning of the cult of Saint Lucy, and soon many miraculous stories came about. One of them talks of a young man who fell in love with her because of her exceptionally beautiful eyes. Without further ado, Saint Lucy, it is said, tore out her eyes and sent them to him on a plate. This led to an immediate conversion of the young man, and Lucy herself was blessed with a new and even more beautiful pair of eyes, and this is why saint Lucy is also the patron saint of eye sight and of blindness. I think we should add here that this kind of manoeuvre requires exceptional blessings and divine intervention, so don't try this at home!

But what we may try at home is to let our sight be purified and filled with light. Jesus says that 'Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.' (Luke 11: 34-35)

Through an inner transformation we may be able to better discern between good and evil, and to choose the will of God in our lives. As we proceed in this period of Advent, let us then strive to change our vision, so that our self-centred 'No' may be transformed to a deepened and whole-hearted 'Yes' to Christ our Lord.

Third Week of Advent - Monday - Discernment

Readings: Numbers 24:2-7,15-17; Matthew 21:23-27.

Balaam, whom we encounter in today’s first reading from the Book of Numbers, is a curious character: on one hand, he’s reviled as a “wicked man” who tries (and fails) to curse the nation of Israel (2 Peter 2:15), and on the other hand he’s revered as a gentile prophet, being given in the Midrashic interpretations of early Rabinnic Jews an exalted status amongst the gentiles equivalent to the status of Moses amongst the Jews. In today’s excerpt, he prophetically recognises Israel’s exalted calling in God’s plan of salvation (24:3-9) and foresees the coming of a Messianic Davidic King who will conquer and liberate (24:14-19). Baalam, it seems, was a man not born of the chosen people, who lived amongst Pagan idolators and worked as a sorcerer, yet whose eyes and ears God opened to realise the truth (24:4).

In a world saturated with competing truth claims, it is often difficult to discern what comes from God and what comes from man, and many people seem – like Balaam – to be deeply ambivalent, capable of spreading both profound truth and weaving confusion. It is this question of discerning the veracity of the claims implied by the actions of Christ that vexes the chief priests and elders in today’s gospel, who treat the Lord with deep suspicion, asking Him under whose authority He acts. Although we often associated ‘authority’ with ‘power’, ‘jurisdiction’, and ‘control’, the Latin auctoris closely associated with ‘authorship’ and ‘origination’. The task of discerning under what authority somebody acts is not merely about determining the mandate for their action, but also about determining which ‘story’ they are part of: are they part of the narrative written by God, or are they trying to write their own story, dissenting from God’s plan of salvation?

In our Dominican tradition, study serves an integral role in this task of discernment, helping us to seek truth amidst falsehood. As Christians, we find the fullness of truth about ourselves and our world in the Scriptures, and in the Tradition of the Church, but we can claim no 'monopoly' over truths, and so, looking at the world around us through the eyes of faith, we hope our study will enable us to find reflections of truth there: in the sciences, in the arts, and in our friendships with other people. Our study, however, is necessarily animated by our lives of prayer, through which we encounter Truth Himself - the incarnate Word of God -  who will open our eyes and our ears, like the prophet Balaam’s, to receive His saving message. 

Carmelite First Professions

Congratulations to Brother Ian Elias Ward of the Trinity and Father Stephen Michael Quinn of Jesus, two of our fellow students in the Blackfriars Studium, who yesterday made their First Profession in the Order of the Discalced Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel!

fr. Augustine and fr. Matthew attended the Mass and lunch at the Carmelite Priory on Boars Hill, just outside Oxford, a peaceful place with great views over the city. The Mass readings of the day aptly spoke of the miracles and prophecies of Elijah, whom the Carmelites consider their traditional founder.

We pray for God's blessings on Br Ian and Fr Stephen, that they may follow Christ more closely as they embark on their new life of joyful service in the Carmelite family.

L-R: fr. Augustine DeArmond OP, fr. Ian Ward ODC, fr. Stephen Quinn ODC, fr. Matthew Jarvis OP

The colour of the cappas (cloaks) gives us our distinctive nicknames: Whitefriars and Blackfriars!

fr. Padraic Cassidy ODC (right) is also studying at the Blackfriars Studium