Support for Tonga
NEWS: In the aftermath of the volcanic eruption and tsunami, Act for Peace is working closely with the Tongan National Council of Churches to help respond to people’s immediate needs.
‘Love and release’
HOMILY: As we heard in the liturgy last week, Jesus stands and reads from Isaiah 61, omitting a reference to divine vengeance (Isa. 61:2b) and adding a phrase to do with “release” (from Isa. 58:6; see also Lev. 25:10). Jesus reads deeply/creatively.
‘Going home’
HOMILY: Going back to a formative place can affect how we see ourselves and think about how others see us. Revisiting a place that was familiar to us in childhood allows us to see what has changed and how we have changed …
‘And the Word became flesh’
HOMILY: We hear these words so easily … and hearing them again so soon after Christmas, we drop into the standard association of them with the baby in Bethlehem’s manger – and rightly so. But then, we can dismiss them without being startled …
‘Mature in love and wisdom’
HOMILY: Jesus, Mary and Joseph go to Jerusalem. There is a festival. Afterwards, Jesus, aged 12, stays behind … wants to learn more about the struggles of God’s people. Rebellious or independent, Jesus learns that family is community. He asks and answers questions (the young have something new to say to their elders).
‘A low place’
HOMILY: The prophet Micah directs the people to Bethlehem, a low place, the birthplace of David, as the location from which, God says, the nation will be restored.
‘And what do we mean by success?’
HOMILY: Brothers James and John, committed disciples and privileged witnesses, request/demand places of honour in the kindom. The episode stirs up memories and worries. We see what’s wrong with this ambition. It’s dispiriting, frightening. And very much a part of the competitiveness we know so well.
‘Cosmic consciousness’
HOMILY: Thirteenth-century saints Francis and Clare of Assisi impress us still. There are aspects of their lives we might recall with the help of key words: conversion; rebuilding; haircutting; song-writing and letter-writing; peace-making; founding; touching and healing; preaching; stigmata; Nativity; Stations of the Cross.
‘More than conquerors’
HOMILY: Mountains have not featured in my day-to-day living. I have lived almost my entire life on flat, coastal land. And yet, through a series of experiences in my early adulthood – tourist experiences that I undertook often with little appreciation of the cultures and ecosystems that I was visiting and without comprehending the environmental impacts of long-distance travel – walking hills, passes and mountains has been key to my grasp of limits.
Visio Divina – ‘Silent strength’
MEDITATION: Our meditation elicited various responses. We were drawn to the play of light across the land, and reflections on the lake or pool, and the way it morphed into what looked like flames on banks.
