16-Jan-2011 Dear Friend,
Sometimes it takes a loss to realize the many gifts we are blessed with, which we take for granted in life. If we injure our feet and can’t walk we suddenly realize what a gift it is to be able to move about on our own feet. If the lights go off and we are plunged into darkness we realize how precious light is, which helps us to see and move about. We might curse the darkness but do we appreciate the gift of light? More than light is the gift of enlightenment, faith, which helps us to see God’s hand in our life. Let’s thank God for being our Light! Have an enlightened weekend! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: ‘Third Sunday of the Year – ‘Called to be and spread the Light’ 23-Jan-2011 Isaiah 8: 23- 9: 3 I Corinthians 1: 10-13, 17 Matthew 4: 12-23 In the first reading the prophet Isaiah addresses the plight of the entire northern tribes of Israel, represented by Zebulun and Napthali. They had been conquered by the powerful Assyrian army and their entire territory was taken over. They gave up all hope. But the prophet gives them hope reminding them that in former times the Lord brought contempt over them, but now He will make glorious the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light..., the yoke on their shoulder has been removed, as on the day of Midian.” Lead Kindly Light….. A young man who later became a Cardinal was returning by sea from Italy to his native England. While the boat was detailed in Sicily, young Newman fell ill and nearly died. During his convalescence, he wrote these words: “Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,” because he believed that the prophecy of Isaiah had come true: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The death of a lifelong spouse, an unexpected rejection by a loved one, a smashed dream of business success or the loss of good health can throw us into a temporary darkness. But at such tragic moments, true believers have in the past seen the light of Christ, a light that illumines the shadows of our hearts with the radiance of his splendour, guiding us to travel safely over the tempestuous sea of this mortal life, steering the vessel of life through rough storms of trials and troubles, until we have made it to the harbour of peace and bliss. Vima Dasan in ‘His Word Lives’ In today’s gospel we read of Jesus withdrawing from Galilee after the arrest of John the Baptist and he goes to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, inaugurating his public ministry in that region and announcing that the kingdom of God is near at hand. No doubt he was affected by the arrest and subsequent murder of his cousin, John the Baptist, but his mission must go on. God’s word and the good news had to be proclaimed in the face of opposition and trial. “The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light.” This is how St. Matthew describes the impact of Jesus’ ministry. Because the northern kingdom of Israel bordered the pagan territory, it would be associated with darkness. Isaiah predicted the liberation of that region and Matthew sees Jesus now fulfilling that prophecy as he begins his ministry inviting the people to repent and believe in the Gospel. He holds out hope and promise to them. Later Jesus would describe his mission in similar terms when he said: “I am the Light of the World.” The teaching of Jesus was a source of light for all those who followed him. In each of us there is the darkness of sin, but each of us can also be a source of light to others. We need the light of Christ to become the light to others. Jesus invited his first disciples as he walked by the Sea of Galilee to come and follow him. “They left everything immediately and then followed him.” Jesus is inviting us today not only to repent and believe the good news but to share in his mission: to receive the light of Christ, to be the light, and to share the light. Are we ready? The Arrival of the Light Some Alpine valleys are so deep that the rays of the sun do not reach them for days or even weeks in the middle of winter. These days can be very depressing ones for the people who live in the valleys. It is almost as if life was one long night. A priest who ministered in one of those valleys tells the following story. One day in the depths of winter he was in the classroom chatting with the children, who hadn’t seen the sun for nine days. Then all of a sudden a ray of sunshine shone into the classroom. On seeing it the children climbed on to their desks and cheered for sheer joy. It shows that even though the sun may not touch the skin it can warm the soul. The little incident shows how light is a source of great joy. For sick people the night is the hardest of all times. How they welcome those first rays of light which signal the end of the night and the dawning of the day. The coming of electricity to rural Ireland transformed life for those living in the country. Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ God’s Living Word “The arrest of an innocent family member must send a chill down the spine of every member of the wider family circle. The anxiety is that innocence may not win out over power. The natural reaction is to retreat to where one feels most secure. This is exactly what Jesus did when he heard that cousin John has been arrested. He knew that the Baptist was an upright man whose only crime was to have denounced the misdeeds of the powerful. But he knew too that the treacherous Herod controlled the security forces, so he retreated to Galilee, the home province. He settled in Capernaum rather than the home village of Nazareth. This change of residence was significant. He had cut the ties with home and had to be about the Father’s business of proclaiming the good news. This meant that he must go where the Spirit led him. As we read in this Sunday’s first reading, it had been foretold that the oppressed people of Zebulon and Naphtali would one day experience a great light when a saviour came among them. This day had arrived with the coming of Jesus to Capernaum. The core of his message, then as now, was amazingly simple. God is very close to us. He is indeed, within us. He is in everybody who touches our lives. An awareness of God’s presence at every hand’s turn is the beginning of holiness. Sin is the stifling of such awareness. Repentance is the willingness to let God into the little details of our daily lives. Sunday’s message is repent, for the kingdom of God is close at hand.” Tom Clancy in ‘Living the Word’ Film: ‘Finding Private Ryan’ –Embracing your mission in life It is June 6, 1944, D-Day. The Allied troops land on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Captain Miller is a squadron leader. After the deadly and horror-filled landing, he is asked to lead his men on a special mission of dubious merit to find a Private James Ryan. Ryan is one of four sons in the U.S. military and when the other three are killed; top military officials in Washington want the surviving son to return home to his mother. Miller and six men take on the mission. In an American occupied town they find the wrong Private Ryan. They continue on and encounter a German guard-post where a sniper kills one of the men. The translator, Corporal Upham, persuades Miller not to kill the sniper, and they let him go. They eventually find the right Ryan in a squad defending a bridge, but he refuses to leave. During an attack, Upham cowers in fear while the sniper they had released shoots one of the team. Miller is also killed, but U.S. planes save the troops and the bridge is held. Upham confronts the sniper and kills him. Private Ryan is saved. Decades later, Ryan and his family visit Miller’s grave in France. Each one of us has a mission. We have to discover our mission and fulfill that mission to find fulfillment in life. Peter Malone in ‘Lights Camera…. Faith! Called by Name A full page of advertisement appears in the Sunday papers. It is headed by pictures of a doctor, a lawyer, a musician and an army officer. Underneath is written in bold: “A vocation. What if you don’t have one?” The test continues: “It was the first time I felt envious about anything,” a young man told us recently. “I looked around the dining hall and realised with some pain that there were two sorts of people here: those who had vocations, and the rest of us who did not. The first group knew exactly where they wanted to go and how to get there. Their lives, I naively imagined, would be unswerving and purposeful, rich with certainty and fulfillment. “By contrast I felt muddled and irresolute. I found myself mentally trying on different jobs but, like second-hand clothes, none seemed to fit.” Denis McBride in ‘Seasons of the Heart’ Repent and Believe the Good News In November of 1984 on one of his PBS Late Night America Shows, Dennis Wholey confessed that he was an alcoholic. He went on to describe a book he had put together entitled The Courage to Change: Personal Conversations about Alcoholism with Dennis Wholey. The book contains frank and revealing conversations with a wide variety of celebrity alcoholics such as rock singer Grace Slick, baseball player Bob Welch, actor Jason Robards, comedian Shecky Greene and catholic priest Vaughan Quinn. Also, there are heartfelt conversations with Rod Steiger and Jerry Falwell, who are children of alcoholics; and Sybil Carter, whose husband Billy is an alcoholic. Four years earlier, Dennis Wholey confronted his own problem with alcohol and now is on a mission with his book to help other victims of what is sometimes called “the most treatable untreated disease in this country.” Dennis Wholey’s message about The courage to change matches our Lord’s message in Mark’s gospel: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the good news.” Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ It would be terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.... Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid 1950s her father, British minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow. Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. "Let me stay in the struggle Lord," he pleaded. "I don't mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead." He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. "I'm only in the kindergarten of suffering," he told people who pitied him. Gradually Sangster's legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, "It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, 'He is risen!'-- but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout." Anonymous May we believe in the light and share that light in our world ! 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.
