I feel squeamish when I see those paintings of Jesus, with Mary and Joseph, which depict this trio as the ideal family! In reality, no one in the Middle East, either now or 2000 years ago, would consider a mother+father+child as a family unit.
“Blessed are you who are poor…blessed are you who are hungry…blessed are you who are weeping…blessed are you when people hate you…Familiar words that we might have heard several times already.
The first reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, speaks about a vision that Isaiah had of the incredible presence and power of God. He felt totally incapable of expressing this reality of God.
The first words of God in the book of Genesis were [Then God said:] Let there be LIGHT, and there was light. For me as I reflect on the theme of our 150th founding anniversary, as the biblical apostolate coordinator of the province, the Light is very powerful, writes Fr Elmer Ibarra.
While we believe that the task of becoming a missionary is a call for everyone, I believe that as Divine Word Missionaries priests and brothers, we are specially called to testify to the light in the best way we know how by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Most of us would want to imagine what our child would be when he or she grows up. For some of us, we may imagine that our child would become a doctor one day, or a teacher, or that they could become a footy player.
When you hear the words “Good News”, what first comes to your mind? Maybe for some, good news is winning the lotto. Maybe for others good news is your girlfriend accepting your proposal to get married.
I’m unashamed to say that I’m a “Mama’s Boy”. Whenever I needed something and I couldn’t get it from my dad, I always turned to my mum and without a doubt my dad would give in.
The Baptism of the Lord is not only about Jesus’ baptism, it is also about our baptism and the need for baptism in general and about Jesus being truly human even though He is truly God.
At a Christmas Mass for children one year, I passed the statue of the baby Jesus among the children asking them to touch and feel it, then tell me their feeling about the newly born baby Jesus.
This Christmas will not only open a Jubilee Year for the Universal Church, declared by Pope Francis, but also comes as the Society of the Divine Word celebrates its 150th Jubilee Year.
The theme of the SVD Jubilee is ‘Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone’ and that theme makes a great Christmas meditation, because it was on that first Christmas, more than 2000 years ago, that the Light of Christ came into our world. And we, as followers of Christ and missionaries, are witnesses to that Light.
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