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 …
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HOMILY: Jesus says to those he calls hypocrites: “You disregard God’s commandments and cling to human traditions.” The examples he gives indicate that divine commandments have to do with showing genuine honour/respect; with cultivating fidelity, kindness, generosity, honesty, humility, wisdom.
HOMILY: John’s Jesus is a teacher of Wisdom. John’s Jesus is also Wisdom personified, Sophia incarnate. The offence, the “stumbling block”, has to do with this.
HOMILY: Sara Miles used to describe herself as a “left-wing, atheist, American lesbian” who loved to feed people. Sara had never been to a church and didn’t think there was a place for her in the church. In fact, she hadn’t even bothered considering if there was a place for her – she didn’t care. On her morning walk one Sunday morning she decided to walk into her local church where she promptly found herself participating in the Eucharistic meal being offered.
