Happy Epiphany!

It's the twelfth day of Christmas (although with all the media hype leading up to Christmas it seems to feel like it's lasted an awful lot longer and Christmastide doesn't actually finish until January 13th) and the day we celebrate the three wise men coming to worship the Christ child, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I learned something new about this feast earlier this week (and I do so love learning new things); the word Epiphany means appearance. You may well have already known that but I'd never come across it before. It brought home the significance of the light appearing in the sky and the magi travelling hundreds of miles to follow it, of the light mentioned in Isaiah in the first reading having come and God's glory shining on us and the importance of our witnessing to our faith in everyday life. Today in Rome Pope Benedict spoke in his homily of how bishops (he consecrated four new archbishops today) need to be courageous "How can we not think, in this context, of the task of a Bishop in our own time? The humility of faith, of sharing the faith of the Church of every age, will constantly be in conflict with the prevailing wisdom of those who cling to what seems certain. Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the Church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking, even in our own day. Today’s regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs. Therefore the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset is particularly urgent for a Bishop today. He must be courageous. And this courage or forcefulness does not consist in striking out or in acting aggressively, but rather in allowing oneself to be struck and to be steadfast before the principles of the prevalent way of thinking. The courage to stand firm in the truth is unavoidably demanded of those whom the Lord sends like sheep among wolves. “Those who fear the Lord will not be timid”, says the Book of Sirach (34:16). The fear of God frees us from the fear of men. It liberates." Christ has appeared to us in his incarnation, he comes to us daily in the Eucharist, he is our light which we cannot keep hidden. No matter how hard it may be, no matter how much to world does not want to hear it we need to spread the Good News, to attest to what God has done for us in our lives. Just as much as the bishops need to be courageous, so do we. The magi took a huge risk in travelling so far, they risked so much for something that many would've considered utterly foolish. We are more lucky than they, we have a grounding in faith and don't have to go out on a whim, we have the Church to back us up, to sustain and support us.

Corpus Christi

Today, as you will all know by now, was the feast of Corpus Christi and whilst all feasts are joyful celebrations of the goodness of God this one is something extra special. Two weeks ago Eastertide came to a triumphant close with the solemnity of Pentecost and the birthday of the Church and we (after much celebration, of course) were plunged back into the so-called Ordinary Time. As I was reminded recently during a homily there is nothing "ordinary" about this time at all and this feast certainly tells us of that. After forty days of fasting followed by six weeks of feasting and celebrating the Lord's resurrection from the dead it could be easy to become...too relaxed...perhaps a tad complacent...to fall back into old habits and just go through the motions as always. But today we are not allowed to rest on our laurels, instead we are shown the beauty, the magnificence, the almighty power and love of God for his people, how he cares for and nourishes his Church each and every day. Today we celebrate, we adore and worship, the presence of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Under the guise of bread and wine he humbles himself again, brings his divinity and majesty down to earth and gives his very flesh and blood for us to eat and drink. During the Mass our offerings are united to Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, we immerse ourselves into his passion and, by the grace of God, are invited to share the fruits of his resurrection and ascension. And this is not a one off thing, this is what happens at every single Mass, every single day, all over the world. Our Lord loves us so much that he offers himself, the whole of himself, his very life, to us on a daily basis. He stretches out his arms towards us and all we have to do is turn back towards him (in particular through the sacrament of reconciliation) and humbly accept.

Today at St. John's we made a big point of rejoicing in the love our God has for us and that we have for him in return. We had a Eucharistic Procession (a practise Pope Benedict has been commending at St. Peter's today) around the church building, heralded with songs such as O Salutaris Hostia, Sweet Sacrament Divine, Tantum Ergo. It was fantabulous to walk as one Body, one Church in faith following behind the one who saved us from our sins. And it didn't rain! (Hooray!) Here's a few pics (and a poorly shot video...please excuse the singing from our end of the pew) taken from my iPhone.

Fr. Richard exposes the Blessed Sacrament

The procession entering the...car park...

As you can see, lots of people came out, singing praise to God
(and there were waaay more than pictured here)

Happy feast day everyone!

Praying with the Pope

Couldn't resist this recent pic of Papa
Bene in a sombrero on his visit to Mexico

As Lent draws rapidly towards its climax and the start of Easter many if us may be pondering how we can keep some of the special atmosphere of prayer going after Good Friday has come and gone. Equally I'm sure many of us set ourselves extremely hard challenges that were too difficult to keep and might like the idea of adopting a less rigorous devotion or schedule for the upcoming months.

Each month the Pope releases his prayer intentions. They range from missionary endeavours to help for the sick but no matter what the topic hey are an encouragement for all of us to pray as one body, one voice, one community, one Church for a specific intention. Prayer is the single most powerful tool at our disposal and all of us praying together is a force to be reckoned with indeed. So why not join Papa Bene this April in praying that many young people may hear the call of Christ and follow Him in the priesthood and religious life and that the risen Christ may be a sign of certain hope for the men and women of the African continent.