13-Dec-2016 Dear Friend, Whether we like to admit it or not we are constantly striving to make things easy, comfortable and manageable for ourselves in our day-to-day existence. While we accept that things are constantly changing we still want to have a hold on things and have things go our way. Perhaps as we prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord, we even have a plan of how He should come into our lives; what He should be doing for us and to us. Can we let Him have His way? Can we let Him come the way He wants to, into our life? Have an exciting weekend! –Fr. Jude Sun Ref. 4th Sun. of Advent: ‘Co-operate with divine interventions in our life!’ 18-Dec-2016Isaiah. 7: 10-14; Romans 1: 1-7; Matt. 1: 18-24;
This Sunday’s reading bring us closer to Christmas and fills us with hope and all we have to do is cooperate with God’s plans for us. In the first reading, King Ahaz, alarmed at the impending assault, is asked to trust in God. He rather trusted in military might. He makes his own plans and relies on himself rather than God. The ‘sign given to Ahaz is that a virgin will bear a child whose name, Emmanuel, meaning God-is-with-us, will not only indicate divine favour but also imply that God will work things out in ways quite bewildering to human reason. Can we believe and let go of our plans? Doing it my way or His way!I once came across a story about King Henry III of Bavaria, who lived in the eleventh century. Apparently he became tired of his earthly duties and responsibilities and felt the call to a simpler more spiritual life. He made an application to Prior Richard to enter his monastery as a contemplative, finally free from worldly distractions to foster his spiritual life. Prior Richard responded, “Your majesty do you understand that one of the vows here is that of obedience? That will be hard for you since you have been a king and are used to giving not receiving orders.” “I understand,” Henry said, “For the rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you.” “Then I will tell you what to do.” Prior Richard responded. “Go back to your throne and serve faithfully and generously in the place where God has put you.”Corbin Eddy in ‘Who Knows the Shape of God?’ >From today’s gospel story we know that Joseph was planning to turn away from >his wife-to-be by quietly divorcing her. What a mess Joseph and Mary were in! >A virgin bearing a child! All the circumstances surrounding the birth of the >Son of God were certainly messy. According to the story, Mary had to leave >home and travel on a donkey while pregnant, with a husband who not long >before, wanted to break off their engagement. There was no place in the inn >and they were turned away more than once in their search for lodging. >Ultimately the baby was born in a cow’s stable. Strangers kept coming in to >gawk and wonder. An all-round messy situation –but still the angels sang >“Gloria.’ Life is messy, and we all have messes in our lives and we have to >conclude it is meant to be that way, Sometimes the mess is of our own making. >Other times we are thrust into the mess by actions of others. Either way we >find ourselves faced with the messiness of life. This Sunday’s readings give >us many lessons on accepting the messiness of life as a source of joy. The >good news is that the messiness of our lives does not disqualify us from being >spiritual. Life is not about perfection but about connection. Letting God into our homeHenry built a beautiful mansion for himself and his large family. Being a man of faith, Henry prayed every day that God might come and dwell in his house. A few days later Henry had a dream and in his dream he was visited by Jesus himself. Henry warmly welcomed Jesus and escorted him to the best room in his mansion. He asked Jesus to stay and then left the room closing the door behind him. That night when Henry went to bed he was delighted that Jesus was his guest of honour. He felt sure he was blessed. Late that night, Henry heard a loud knocking at the door. He went down and opened the door and found the devil wanting to come into his mansion. He tried to close the door and Henry had to struggle and fight before he managed to bang the door shut. Exhausted Henry wondered why Jesus had not come out to help him. Pondering these questions Henry fell into a fitful sleep. The next night there was a loud banging at the door and the door was almost torn open. This time there were three devils who tried to enter and Henry had a massive battle. They attacked him and he struggled and after a long battle was able to drive them out of his mansion. Henry kept wondering why Jesus had not come to his aid. He went to the room that Jesus was occupying and knocked at the door and entered in. Jesus was almost expecting him and welcomed him. Without much ado Henry said, “Jesus, did you not hear all the noise and the commotion that took place last night as well as tonight?” “Yes, I did.” said Jesus. “Why did you leave me to fight the devil by myself? I was almost killed by them and yet you just remained in your room doing nothing!” he complained. Looking into his eyes Jesus said, “Henry, you welcomed me into your house, you led me to this room and locked me in. I wanted very much to be with you but while you struggled you preferred to battle alone.” Ashamed of the way he had treated Jesus, Henry apologized, “Sorry to have confined you, this whole house is yours, do what you will.” That night when Henry went to bed there was that loud knocking but it quickly subsided as Jesus answered the door.Author Unknown “You did what you were asked to do”A father whose wife had died lived with his son and daughter in a southern town in America. An upright man and an excellent lawyer, he was strict but good to them and they loved him. However he made himself very unpopular in town by defending a black man, who was accused of murder -the town was rife with discrimination against black people. At the end of the street lived an elderly woman who spent her afternoons sitting in the front garden. She gave out to the lawyer’s two children as they passed to and from their school. The kids were very hurt by the names she called their father. One evening the son jumped over her garden wall and destroyed some of her flowers. Later his father said, “Son, you shouldn’t have done that. She is a very sick woman. Now go down and apologize to her.” Reluctantly the son did so. The woman asked him if he would read to her for an hour each evening. He was horrified at the thought but when his father insisted that he say ‘Yes’ to the old lady, he agreed to do so. Each evening the boy accompanied by his little sister, went and read for the old lady. After about an hour she would get a violent fit of trembling. The children would leave and a nurse took over. However as the weeks went by the fits became less frequent. Then one evening their father told them that the old lady had just died. Then the father told them that several years previously a doctor had prescribed pain-killing drugs and she had become addicted to them. When she was told she hadn’t long to live, she decided that she would try and kick the habit before she died. The fits they saw were her withdrawal symptoms. “Just before she died she told me that she would never have succeeded if you hadn’t read to her. She wanted me to thank you.” The kids were moved, and said, “If only we had known what she was going through, we would have been nicer.” “It doesn’t matter,” the father said. “The main thing is that you did what you were asked to do. You are good children. I’m proud of you.”Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ My mother is my homeMother Teresa relates this incident about a boy. “Once I picked up a child and took him to our Children’s Home; we gave him a bath, clean clothes, and everything. After a day, the child ran away. Somebody else found him, but again he ran away. Then I said to the Sisters: ‘Please follow the child and see where he goes when he runs away’. And the child ran away the third time. There under the tree was the mother. She had put a small earthenware vessel on two stones and was cooking something she had picked out of the dustbin. The Sisters asked the child: ‘Why did you run away from the Home?’ And the child said, “This is my home because this is where my mother is’.” True! Wherever our mothers are, there our home is.John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’ May we rejoice in being chosen to be the dwelling place of God! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
