It is amazing to think that the divinity in Jesus did not overwhelm his humanity, and that his humanity did not corrupt his divinity.  “What he was, he remained and what he was not, he assumed.” Roman liturgy.

“O only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal being, you who deigned for our salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who without change became man and were crucified.  O Christ our God, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us.”  St John Chrystosom

We are called to penetrate this mystery ever more deeply, and we have received the grace to do so.   It is a truth that we will spend the rest of our lives seeking to fathom and understand.  Consider that the One who created the universe, the Lord, the Almighty, worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted with a human will and loved with a human heart.

Having been born of the Virgin Mary he has been made truly one of us, like us in every way but one: he never sinned.

Chris

From Bible Alive

John 4:43–54

 

In today’s Gospel passage the child of a Gentile officer in Herod’s court is ill and dying.  But his encounter with Jesus is very brief.

 

“Sir, come down before my child dies.” (v.49)

 

 “Go, your son will live."

 

The fever left the child and he was restored to health.

 

The key to this healing was the official’s faith.  “The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” (v.50).  By this John provides us with a great definition of faith: taking God at his word.

 

It’s like saying simply to God, “If you say it is so, then it is so, and I can put my hope and trust in you.”  Faith, we know, is being sure of what we can hope for and certain of what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

 

Faith is really no more than taking God at his word.  As St Augustine said, “For what is faith unless it is to believe what you do not see?"

 

Take heart and encouragement from our official in today’s Gospel, for he took Jesus at his word and was mightily blessed.  If we take Jesus at his word we too will be mightily blessed.

 

"The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

 

John 4:5–42

 

 

In this encounter with the woman at the well (a Samaritan), Jesus is described in very human terms, sitting at the well, exhausted from his journey.  The woman too is very human.  Her appearance at the well at about noon, long after the other village women would have replenished their water supply, may indicate her isolated position in society.  

 

She was shunned for her many sins.  Yet it is she who becomes a missionary to her people.

 

Jewish/Samaritan relations were historically condition.  About 722 BC the Assyrian army descended on Northern Israel, took its population into exile and colonised its land with foreigners.  These people partially adopted Israel’s religion over the centuries but were always viewed by the Jews as hated, semi-pagan invaders.

 

The woman was therefore very surprised when Jesus spoke to her, and even more astonished when he asked her for a drink, since Jews did not share food or drink with Samaritans for fear of ritual defilement.

 

Water becomes the sign by which both baptism and faith are epxlained to us.  Water is the means, but the Holy Spirit flowing into us is the reality.  There is a vital connection between the flowing of water and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

The “living water” of which Jesus speaks brings not only awareness of her sin to the woman but forgiveness – hope in the presence of Jesus as the Messiah and faith in his words.

 

The water that Jesus offers is not something that human effort can obtain.  It is a pure gift from God, water which, when drunk, becomes within a spring of life.  Jesus is referring in the first place to his own words of salvation, words that are spirit and life, because whoever listens to them and lives by them will continue to share in God’s life.

 

The water has a deeper meaning as a symbol of the Holy Spirit (John 7:38–39).  The Spirit enables us to understand the words of Jesus and to respond to them with a willing heart.

 

The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realise it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.  (CCC 2560)

 

 

Mark 6:1-6

 

"And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’ . . .” (v. 4)

 

The Nazerenes who refused to accept Jesus made the mistake of allowing themselves to be constrained by their reason, as revealed by their questions about him.  Despite witnessing his miracles and hearing his wisdom they wanted to know where that wisdom had come from and how a carpenter’s son could display such gifts and charisms.

 

The Nazarenes had everything they needed to come to faith — miracles, signs, wonders, wisdom — but they sought first to understand before they believed, whereas it is through belief that we come to understand.

 

Many centures later St Bernard of Clairvaux would say, “I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith wht I cannot grasp with the mind."

 

So God guides us with the light of human reason but takes us by the hand to bring us to the joy of faith.

 

Faith means that we are prepared to put all our hope, trust and certainty in God because we are sure of what we hope for and certain of what our senses do not see.

 

 

Chris

(from Bible Alive)

Matthew 1:18-24

 

Although we know that Jesus has only one Father, God the Father, in human terms and on this earth, Joseph was his father.  He was his adopted father, just as today many children do not have as their father their biological father.

 

We can see therefore Joseph as an inspiration and as an example of father love and fidelity.  He is a saint for all who adopt the role of father, whether or not they are fathers by blood of those precious sons and daughters for whom they are now responsible.

 

 

Chris

(from Bible Alive) 

Luke 12:8-12

 

Today, in the here and now, it takes a certain courage to stand up for our faith.  It is easier on one level to stand up for Christian values and ethics.  People often talk about the Catholic or the Christian ethos as if simply speaking in these broad terms says as much as is needed about who we are as believers.  But what if someone asked, “What part does Jesus play in that ethos?”  Would that question be met with embarrassed silence?

 

St Ignatius of Antioch said, “Don’t just be known for being a Christian, but for living as one.”  Pope Paul VI put it like this, “For witness, no matter how excellent, will ultimately prove ineffective unless its meaning is clarified and corroborated.” – what Peter described as accounting for the ‘hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15).  

 

Pope Paul VI went on to say, “The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life.  There is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not proclaimed.” (Evangelii nuntiandi 22)

 

Chris

(from Bible Alive) 

 

Faith in God and acceptance of Jesus is often reached through a process which involves questions, struggles and difficulties.  Indeed, there can be a way in which, as St Augustine said, doubt and unbelief are really no more than fear dressed up: "For I keep my heart from assenting anything, fearing to fall headlong; but hanging in suspense I was worse killed."

Doubt can be the gateway to faith.  In his poem Bishop Blougram's Apology Robert Browning wrote, "The more of doubt, the stronger faith, I say, if faith o'ercomes doubt".

Lord Jesus, when like Thomas I am tempted to doubt, help me to repent and turn away from the darkness and to embrace the light of your truth, saying in my heart, "My Lord and my God".

Chris

(from Bible Alive)