Today’s liturgy unites in one celebration two close friends, the Cappadocians (both from the region of Cappadocia in Turkey), both monks before becoming bishops. Basil reorganised monastic life. As bishop of Caesarea, he asserted the Church’s independence from civil power, vigorously fought the Arian heresy, and did much to aid the poor; a great theologian, […]
1. Mary, Mother of God Greeting (See Second Reading) God sent his Son, born of a woman, to enable us to become God’s children. Through the Spirit of the Son we can cry out to God: “Father, my Father!” May Jesus, this Son, be always with you. R/ And also with you. Introduction It is
Today the liturgy fits in very well with the celebration of New Year’s Eve: it both looks forward to the end of time (1st Reading) and back to the beginning: to the Word that created all and came among people as the living Word, Jesus, to make a new beginning with us. And that’s life: the
To thank God for the liberation he brings us in and through his Son, Jesus, is the core of every Eucharistic celebration. There we say: “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.” With the prophetess Anna, let us express our thanks for our liberation to the Lord, our God, and praise him wholeheartedly.
God comes to his temple today as if incognito, as a child carried in the arms of its mother. Simeon, the old man in the Temple, took Jesus in his arms and recognized this child as the Savior expected by the Jews in the Old Testament but also as the salvation of all people. In
Pleasing the Lord When Jesus Was A Child Greeting The Lord loves you. In our families and communities may the Lord unite you in his love and may you do everything in his name. His peace be always with you. R/ And also with you. Introduction by the Celebrant Pleasing the Lord Every family has
Close to our Lord, obsessed by love. These may will be the marks of John, the Evangelist. He had experienced in his person what it means to be loved by Jesus and to love in return. And Jesus was the Lord, God’s Son! In later life, he was driven by this love, as his Gospel
From the very beginning of its existence, the Church suffered persecution like its founder Jesus. St. Stephen was of Greek pagan origin and highly respected in the young Church of Jerusalem. Like Jesus, he died praying for his persecutors and entrusted himself, even as he died, into the hands of God. He had been one
God In His Humanity The Human Face Of God A God With Whom We Can Identify Greeting (See First Reading) You are no longer forsaken nor your land abandoned, but you shall be called “My Delight.” As the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you. The bridegroom coming to us
Greeting (See Second Reading) In our own time God has spoken to us through his own Son, the radiant light of God’s glory through whom he made everything. May this Son, Jesus the Lord, be with you. R/ And also with you. 1. The Word Became Flesh Today God tells us something very important about
