Weekly Bulletin - January 2006
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- 01 - Mary, Mother of God
Shakespeare, in his play Romeo and Juliet, writes, "What's in a name?" Today's scriptures
remind us that there is a lot in a name. The names that are mentioned in these readings
symbolize significant relationships in our faith: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Abba.
When we first meet Mary in Luke's Gospel, the Evangelist writes simply, "and the virgin's name was Mary." Mary--a young, faithful Jewish girl, whose very name is synonymous with the "Yes!" with which she responded to God's plan.
As a society, during these days we can be in something of a "postpartum" depression. Our celebrations of Christmas and the New Year are over, and after today many of us will put away the decorations and the last visible remnants of the celebrations of the past weeks. The apostle Paul today uses the expression "partners in the promise." This is an uplifting phrase for us to reflect upon, and to think of as our own calling in these days following the birth of the Lord. What is this promise? We can find it in the gifts the magi bring: it is a promise of being a royal priesthood (gold), a holy nation (frankincense), a people set apart for self-giving (myrrh). We find more of the promise in Isaiah--a light shines upon us! In the psalm we know a promise of a world of flowering justice, profound peace, the poor rescued, pity for the lowly and the poor. This is the promise; and one of the best ways for us to lift ourselves out of any possible low spirits we may be suffering is to live out our partnership in this promise each and every day.
15 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Gospel story of John and his disciples seeing and following Jesus sounds so simple and casual, it's easy to miss the significant acts of faith that are made. John points to Jesus: "Look," he says, "there is the Lamb of God." John's faith in Jesus is evident, so evident that John's disciples immediately leave his side to follow this Jesus.
