Reflection – 21 December The End of Advent? Christmas is almost upon us! Despite all that has happened this year, despite all that is currently going on and even in spite of the Government virtually ‘cancelling Christmas’ at a social level, there is still a huge amount to rejoice over! Even if there are COVID-19-induced food shortages, rising rates of infection and increased levels of depression brought on by social isolation and loneliness, Christmas is a time for both hope and joy. The secular world around us wants and expects that hope and joy, but it has largely forgotten the reason, the only real reason why there is hope and joy. The world parties but, at the end of the day, it has no true cause for its parties. Just as the world parties desperately at New Year, so too does it at Christmas, almost as if the party itself is the cause of any joy that may be felt. Of course, there is the determination that we must all party at Christmas because the money we spend is needed in the retail sector and many businesses make most of the year’s profits at Christmas and, if truth be told, we all feel like we need something to cheer us up in the midst of the dark, cold, and gloomy nights - although they still party in Australia, where my brother lives, even without that excuse! For Christians, the true and only real reason for all our celebrations lies not in Santa Claus, presents, rich food or anything else that the world can offer. Rather, it lies in the single FACT that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus in a cave-stable in Bethlehem, two thousand years ago and that is precisely because that little child is none other than God himself, who has taken our humanity upon him, not so that ‘he can show us how to live’ (though, of course, that is a subordinate part of the principal matter), but that he enables us to receive forgiveness for our sins, no matter how black they may be, for there are no limits to the mercy of God – and enables us to becomes sharers in the Divine nature and inheritors of eternal life. It is that which gives us cause for true joy, for real celebration! Even death itself cannot offer us a barrier to this joy, for in spite of all appearances, death has been conquered by Jesus and is now, whilst still remaining a real cause of existential fear, for it cannot be avoided and its threshold must be crossed alone, but the doorway to eternal life. Christmas is the joyful, ecstatic event which brings our Advent journey to an end in the anticipation of the joyous feast in God’s Kingdom. Yet Advent, in a very real sense, does not end at Christmas but continues on through the year and through all the years of our lives. Jesus repeatedly reminded us that this world is not the true world and that God’s Kingdom lies before us – if we want it, for God forces nobody. His constant refrain is, “Be prepared!”, for we do not know when he will return to bring this world to its close. Yet to focus on the actual ending of this world is an error, for it can too easily lead us into complacency. After all, we do not know if we shall be alive to see it and, realistically, we probably won’t be! Yet that is to forget that we all have a judgement to face at the end of our lives. It does not really matter if Christ has not returned by then, for our own short lives are brought to an end by the natural event of death and, nothing surer, we will face God at that moment. “Be prepared!” is a cry we need to heed at all times, for we wish to be sharers in God’s Kingdom and therefore we need to be ready. Advent, then is a ‘time’ of preparation which lasts our entire lives. We need to look forward joyously, for it is the true cause of our joy. We need to be prepared by frequenting the Sacraments God has provided for us – particularly the Eucharist and Confession. We need to be charitable, both in our giving in so far as we may and in giving of our time and talents for the benefit of others. We should seek to obey God’s commandments and we must be ready to forgive others, for the forgiveness we offer will be the forgiveness granted to us. And we should have a particular care to pray for the dead as they continue their journey to God, just as, one day, we will wish others to pray for us in our turn. Christianity is the true ‘religion of life’, for it is in Jesus Christ alone that we find the real joy associated with Christmas. The Advent journey of our lives finds its completion in the love of God which has no limit and no end, and which will bring us to the feast which has no end and no limits to its joy. May God grant you peace and joy as we prepare for the Lord’s Birthday celebrations at this and every other Christmas.Fr David
Reflection: Feast of the Immaculate Conception The Glory of Mary is Our Glory Today's feast, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is greatly misunderstood, even by many devout Christians of the Catholic Tradition. It is widely assumed that this relates to the conception of Jesus by Mary. It does not! That wonderous event is celebrated on the Feast of the Annunciation, 25<sup>th</sup> March, exactly nine months before Christmas Day. Today’s feast commemorates the conception of Mary herself by her parents Saints Joachim and Anna. In itself, viewed merely as an historical fact, there was seemingly nothing miraculous about this event – Mary was conceived by her parents in the usual fashion. The story associated with them, which is of ancient origin, is that Joachim, a Jewish priest, and his wife Anna, had been unable to have a child. Jewish society at the time saw this as a mark of shame and divine disfavour, or even punishment for sin, so they naturally prayed hard to God for this burden to be removed from them. God heard their prayer and answered it through the conception of a girl – who was to become the Mother of God! God, having chosen Mary as the Mother of Jesus, exercised a singular grace. We all have the stain of original sin, the sinful nature which is bequeathed to us by virtue of our fallen human nature, removed by Baptism – which is a very great gift. However, in Mary’s case (and in hers alone), God went further. Mary was created without sin – it was never part of her make-up and therefore never had to be removed! When, some years later, the Archangel Gabriel greeted her at Nazareth, he addressed her as being ‘full of grace’. If something is ‘full’, there is no room for anything else. Thus, in Mary there was no room for sin of any sort – neither original nor actual! Mary had, from the very moment of its creation and infusion into her body, the unfallen, sinless sate that Eve had prior to her sinning. This was fitting for in Mary the Church sees ‘the Second Eve’, through whose ‘Yes’ to God salvation comes into the world! Mary was ‘saved’ by the infinite merits of her Son, as we all are. It is just that Mary was granted the singular privilege of being saved in advance, by anticipation. Unlike the rest of us, she never knew sin. As such, her place is singular and unrepeatable, for Christ has only one Mother. Nevertheless, Mary serves to remind us that her sinlessness, her unfallen human nature, like that of her Son, is something that we should ‘aspire’ to. It is not that we can earn it, or gain it through our own merits. It is entirely a gift of God. The Scripture tells us ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’ (Isaiah 1:18). God’s forgiveness makes us this way, truly and in reality. It is not that God then counts us as righteous (though we are not). Rather, we are righteous – not through our own merits, but through God’s free gift to us. To gain this inestimable gift, wherein our original nature is restored to us, it is merely necessary for us to freely cooperate with him, through living the sacramental life and through obedience to his commandments! God forces no-one – the choice remains at all times our own. However, as in this world, choices have consequences and these consequences are eternal, for God respects our free will, though he may mourn what we do with it! Looking at Mary, we see not just someone whose status as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven we can never attain, but rather the one person who fully gave herself to God. Her sinlessness is a gift of God, to whom she owes everything. We see in Mary someone whose life is truly a pattern for us to emulate. WE may not be able to ever attain her status – but we can cooperate with God, as she did, in our salvation. God’s grace, his gift of himself, was not confined to Mary but is available for each of us at every moment of our lives so that we may speedily attain life with him in the Kingdom. Let us look to Mary, let us constantly implore her intercession, so that, in God’s good time, we may rejoice with her in the presence of her Son, whose reign and kingdom shall have no end. May Our Lady, with all the saints, pray for you and those whom you love, now and through all the days of your life. Father David
