Soul Food for Hungry Adult Communities: Dec. 22nd 2013: 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A.

GOSPEL FOR TODAY: MATTHEW 1:18-24. Find it in your Bible, or Missal, or click here.

‘This is how Jesus Christ came to be born.’ (Matthew 1:18)

Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus is so different from Luke’s, and for a reason. Matthew wrote his Gospel primarily for those new Christians who had been Jews, and were now followers of Jesus, the Christ/ the Messiah. For them, Matthew began his Gospel with a long, stylised, genealogy of Jesus, from Father Abraham right down to Joseph, the husband of Mary. Matthew wants to establish for them, from the very start, that Jesus of Nazareth was rightly called ‘son of David’. This title was his, through the naming by Joseph, who was husband of Mary. Let’s see how this works out, in this Gospel for the final Sunday before Christmas.

Did you ever eavesdrop on parents trying to decide what name to give their new-born child? Maybe you’ve been there yourself, discussing different names, even before the child arrives. “Well, if it’s a boy, we’ll call him _____________or ____________:  and if it’s a girl, we’ll definitely call her ______________”

Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth,  did it first (in Luke’s Gospel Ch.1:59-63). He asked for a writing table and wrote ‘His name is John’ (later the Baptizer).  He named the child.

Joseph, of the line of David, (in Matthew’s Gospel) was told to do the same for the child to be born of Mary: ‘you must name him JESUS/ Yeshua or Joshua,  meaning the One Who Saves His People.’  Mary did the carrying and the birthing: Joseph did the naming.  In Jewish custom and law, the final decision was with the husband and father regarding the naming, and the child took his/her lineage from the father’s line. So, Jesus is known as Son of David, through the naming by Joseph.

Joseph was a young man, probably about the same age as his new wife, in his late teens or early twenties.

Joseph gets the highest praise given to a Jewish man,- ‘ a man of honour’.

Joseph is decisive. ‘He had made up his mind…(to divorce her quietly)’. He knew that she could be stoned to death in that society of the time,  if found to be with child before wedlock. Joseph ‘had made up his mind’ to very quietly and discretely divorce her.

Joseph listens to his dreams.  ‘The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream’. Reminds us of the earlier Joseph, the Dreamer, who was taken off into Egypt, and later cared for God’s people there. We have another dreamer, here,- and he is one who listened to what God was saying, what messages were being given, through his dreams.

Joseph listens to the ‘messenger of the Lord’,-  the Greek word ‘angelos’ means ‘messenger’, in this case ‘messenger of the Lord’.  This ‘messenger of the Lord’ makes clear a few things:  a) the child to be born was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit:  b) Mary will give birth to a son.  c) Joseph must use his privilege and exercise his own Jewish social role, by giving the name to the child. D)  and the name is clear, it is ‘Jeshua’ or ‘Jesus’, meaning the One Who Saves His People from their Sins’.

Joseph, the dreamer, woke up,  and he did what the messenger of the Lord had told him to do,- he took Mary home as his wife.

Joseph names the child: And Jesus is called ‘son of David’, because Joseph, a son of David’s line, named him!

Good listener, this Joseph! Like Mary, totally obedient to whatever God wanted. (Did you know that the word ‘obedience’ comes from two Latin words,- ob and audire, the first indicating a leaning forward or towards, the second meaning to listen… leaning forward and bending to listen really eagerly! Like being eager to hear every word the other person is saying , out of love for that person. )

Both Joseph and Mary leaned forward to hear what God was saying to them and asking of them. You could call it ‘hanging on God’s every word’! And each of the two was prompt in doing what was asked of her or him.

Then Matthew, for his Jewish readers among the early disciples of this Jesus, recalls (as he does very often through his Gospel) a saying from their Scriptures (and now ours), in this case from the Prophet Isaiah, about the maiden conceiving, and giving birth to a son who will be called ‘Immanuel’ – Immanu-El-  God with Us.

So that’s our JOSEPH, the husband of Mary, the often-forgotten one in the whole story, the one often sidelined.  Not today! Not for Matthew! Not for his Jewish listeners and readers!

Joseph, son of David, husband of Mary, has his moment in the sun.

And he has been restored to our Eucharistic Prayers, after the mention of Mary, when we remember ‘Joseph, her husband’.

Fr. Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.  seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com.

SOUL FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY ADULT:     Jesus has a Dream for the world!

INAUGURATION SPEECHES and speeches with a passion for justice, can be up-lifting for the human heart and for entire communities, peoples and nations,- indeed for thw world.. Here we combine two well-known modern ones (one from this past week), with two we find in today’s Sunday Readings. How do you see the similarities? That’s our challenge for this Sunday. What is the voice of the Lord saying to us, what is the Dream for us, – in Ireland, Alaska, Maine, Sydney, Dubai… or wherever we find ourselves at this moment?

1.  Martin Luther King Jr. 1968, on the Mall in Washington DC:  “I have a dream!… When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last”!

(The full version of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. www.metacafe.com/…/martin_luther_king_i_have_a_…

2.    President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013, Inauguration Speech, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, in front of ¾ of a million people gathered, and in front of his nation and the world. He set out his dream, his hope, not for himself but for the nation, for himself as a citizen with all his fellow-citizens.  ‘We the people…’  and ‘You and I, as citizens…’ were repeated over and over again.

“You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

 “You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time…with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

‘Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

‘But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; … collective action… Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as …one people.”

‘We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences peacefully – not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.

‘And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

(You can watch the Second Inaugural Speech of President Obama, January 21, 2013 on Youtube:   www.youtube.com/watch?v=zncqb-n3zMo )

3.   Jesus of Nazareth, in his home town: c. 26 A.D. His ‘Inauguration Speech’, at the beginning of his three years of ministry: (Text from Luke 4:14ff.)

‘‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me…sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, new sight to the blind, to set free the down-trodden, proclaim the Lord’s year of favour .’  And then he added: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’

This was Jesus’ ‘Inaugural Address’ in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 4:14.   Jesus begins his years of ministry in the synagogue of his home town, Nazareth, using a text from the Prophet Isaiah. The Spirit of God had grasped him at this time, he said, and he was calling to people who would hear,  to follow him in his dream for the world, a dream of liberty for captives, freedom for the down-trodden, and sight for a world that is oftentimes blind. He is gathering a people who will share his dream and make the dream a reality wherever they find themselves. 

4.            Ezra, the Scribe: c. 460BC, Inauguration Speech, on the return home to Palestine of the Jewish people, exiled for over two generations: (from Today’s First Reading, Nehemiah 8:2-10) Notice the thirst of their hearing, their AMEN! AMEN!, a  response of YES to the Word of God, their bowing down in reverence, and then their going home filled with JOY, and ready to share their celebration with their neighbours.

“The people all gathered, including ‘the children old enough to understand.  Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up.  Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

 The Levites…instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”

Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.”

In other words, as with any Inauguration Address, the message is:  ‘Do not be sad; the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’. It was a knees-up time! Let the music begin. Here was a new beginning for the people, the inauguration of a new era.

See Text of this Reading, from Nehemiah Chapter 8, on http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah+8&version=NIV

Today is our new day, a new beginning if we are ready to be in the gathering of the Master. “I have a dream!’  Have we got it?

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.           seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com

See HomePage for ‘Mass Readings’ for this Sunday. The Gospel is from MARK 10:46-52.

Three blind mice?… Three blind men- and one who sees!

In just over two chapters, Mark shows us three blind men, and then a blind man who truly SEES. In today’s Gospel, just before Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for his Passion, he meets a blind man who truly SEES Jesus for who he is, and is healed by Jesus.

This healing of Bartimaeus, and the story of Bartimaeus’ faith in Jesus, the Son of David, is told by Mark as a contrast to the blindness of even the closest of the disciples of Jesus. Think back over the past few Sundays, from late Chapter 8 to the end of Chapter 10 of Mark.

1. Peter professes faith in Jesus the Christ,- then tries to dissuade Jesus from his Passion, so that Jesus said to him ‘Get behind me, Satan!’. Peter thought he saw, but in reality he couldn’t see Jesus properly.
2. After the Transfiguration, when Peter, James and John saw Jesus on the mountain, and after Jesus made a second prophecy about his passion, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the Greatest! They just didn’t get what Jesus was about, -they were blind.
3. Then, after the third prophecy of his passion, James and John immediately want to claim the thrones on the right and left of Jesus, when he would come into his ‘kingdom’. They still didn’t see what Jesus was about.

Then, we are told about BARTIMAEUS, the SON OF TIMAEUS, a blind begger. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was passing by, he cried out on the top of his voice “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!’ Twice he called out, even as the whole crowd tried to shut him up. Jesus called him over, asked him what he wanted, and Bartimaeus pointed to his eyes,- he couldn’t see, and he wanted to. ‘Lord, that I may see again!’  And his faith in Jesus made him SEE again.

Peter, James, John were BLIND to who Jesus really was. The blind man could SEE who Jesus was, -the Son of David, the one who was come into the world.

And once he SAW who Jesus was, we are told that ‘he followed him along the way’,-  a key word here, because the early disciples were known as ‘the followers of the Way’, meaning Jesus.

And where did the road/ the Way lead Jesus, and possibly Bartimaeus?

The old road from Jericho up to Jerusalem,- 3,300 of a climb, over 37km.

Straight up the hill, for 20 miles, and for over 3,300feet of a climb, from Jericho (850 feet below sea-level), to Jerusalem (2,500 feet above sea-level), to where Jesus immediately began his time of passion which even the closest disciples just could not understand.

Where did Bartimaeus finish up? He became a disciple as soon as his eyes were opened.  What roads did his following of Jesus lead him on? Was he himself martyred later, for ‘following the Way’? We don’t know.

But the disciples of Jesus, for whom Mark wrote down this around 67AD, – they too were being invited to ‘follow Jesus along the Way’, or ‘follow Jesus, the Way’,- even as they knew that this Way was leading them very possibly towards having to give their lives, shed their blood, in order to stay faithful to Jesus, the Risen Crucified Lord. Mark wanted their eyes to be opened, their blindness to who Jesus truly was, removed.

‘Change the name, and the story is about you’ and me,- today. (Horace: ‘Quid rides? Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.’)

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.

email: seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie

 Footnote:

Jericho (Ariha in Arabic) is the oldest inhabited town in the world, dating back more than 10,000 years. It lies 260 meters (853 feet) below sea level, making it the lowest city on earth.

Jerusalem is approximately 750 metres above sea level, or nearly 2,500 feet.

From Jericho to Jerusalem is uphill for 3,300 feet, or just over 1000 metres. It is located 36 km east of Jerusalem, Known as the “City of Palms”, Jericho contains some of the world’s most important historic sites and is frequently mentioned in the Bible.  Go down another 140 metres to reach the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the surface of the earth.

For miles around, arid hills eroded by wind form a silent moonscape that is at once eerie and beautiful.

Here we find two cities of great contrast. It seems that Bartimaeus took the road from one towards the other, with Jesus.

What happens if you deliberately put two stories back to back? You presume there is a strong connection between them. So, if St. Mark put two stories right beside each other, one following the other, what was his thinking? As well, he put two cities side by side, and why did he do this?

In the Gospel given for our reflection this weekend, we have Jesus entering and leaving the city of Jericho, and meeting blind Bartimaeus whom he heals. This is at the very end of Chapter 10, verses 46 to 52.

Then immediately after this, (in Mark 11, verse 1) Jesus and Bartimaeus and others walk all the way uphill to Jerusalem, where Jesus begins the week of his Passion. Bartimaeus ‘followed him along the road’, or the Way to his Passion.

Jericho is the lowest city on this planet, at 853 feet below sea-level (or 250 metres).  It is very close to the Dead Sea which is 400 metres below sea-level,- the lowest place on our planet.

On the other hand, Jerusalem is 2,500 feet, or 750 metres ABOVE sea-level.  Jesus and his disciples climbed up over 3300 feet in a stretch of just 20 miles (37 km.)  Immediately, we find Jesus on a donkey, about to enter Jerusalem and begin his Passion.

Three blind mice… three blind men!- and one who sees!  In just over two chapters, Mark shows us three blind men, and then a blind man who truly SEES. In today’s Gospel, just before Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for his Passion, he meets a blind man who truly SEES Jesus for who he is, and is healed by Jesus.

This healing of Bartimaeus, and the story of Bartimaeus’ faith in Jesus, the Son of David, is told by Mark as a contrast to the blindness of even the closest of the disciples of Jesus. Think back over the past few Sundays, from late Chapter 8 to the end of Chapter 10 of Mark.

1. Peter professes faith in Jesus the Christ,- then tries to dissuade Jesus from his Passion, so that Jesus said to him ‘Get behind me, Satan!’. Peter thought he saw, but in reality he couldn’t see Jesus properly.
2. After the Transfiguration, when Peter, James and John saw Jesus on the mountain, and after Jesus made a second prophecy about his passion, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the Greatest! They just didn’t get what Jesus was about, -they were blind.
3. Then, after the third prophecy of his passion, James and John immediately want to claim the thrones on the right and left of Jesus, when he would come into his ‘kingdom’. They still didn’t see what Jesus was about.

Then, we are told about BARTIMAEUS, the SON OF TIMAEUS, a blind begger. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was passing by, he cried out on the top of his voice “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!’ Twice he called out, even as the whole crowd tried to shut him up. Jesus called him over, asked him what he wanted, and Bartimaeus pointed to his eyes,- he couldn’t see, and he wanted to. And his faith in Jesus made him SEE again.

Peter, James, John were BLIND to who Jesus really was. The blind man could SEE who Jesus was, -the Son of David, the one who was come into the world.

And once he SAW who Jesus was, we are told that ‘he followed him along the way’,-  a key word here, because the early disciples were known as ‘the followers of the Way’, meaning Jesus.

And where did the road/ the Way lead him? Straight up the hill, for 20 miles, and for over 3,300feet of a climb, from Jericho (850 feet below sea-level, to 2,500 feet above sea-level), to where Jesus began his time of passion which the disciples just could not understand.

Where did Bartimaeus finish up? He became a disciple as soon as his eyes were opened.  What roads did his following of Jesus lead him on? Was he himself martyred later, for ‘following the Way’? We don’t know.

Change the name, and the story is about you and me. (Horace: ‘Quid rides? Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur.’)

Jericho (Ariha in Arabic) is the oldest inhabited town in the world, dating back more than 10,000 years. It lies 260 meters (853 feet) below sea level, making it the lowest city on earth.

Jerusalem is approximately 750 metres above sea level, or nearly 2,500 feet.

From Jericho to Jerusalem is uphill for 3,300 feet, or just over 1000 metres. It is located 36 km east of Jerusalem, Known as the “City of Palms”, Jericho contains some of the world’s most important historic sites and is frequently mentioned in the Bible.  Go down another 140 metres to reach the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the surface of the earth.

For miles around, arid hills eroded by wind form a silent moonscape that is at once eerie and beautiful.

Here we find two cities of great contrast.

Reflection:

Sunday September 16, 2012. Gospel: St.Mark, 8:27-35. (Click on Mass Readings on Menu for the text of the readings)

Dear Sinead and Mark,

Back again with you!  Can I take you this time on a journey, in your imagination? Come, travel with me a little while.

I’m a Hibernian traveler, a curious on-looker, walking the roads of Galilee with this strange Rabbi and his friends. They call him ‘Jehoshua’ or Jesus. This morning, we left the sea of Galilee early, as we have a long walk ahead of us. We’re heading north and east, towards Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in all this region, over 9000 feet high. Can’t miss it!  We’ve about 40k to go. As we leave the Galilee behind us, we see in the distance a great temple city in the foothills of Mount Hermon. The city is on top of a high cliff, 100ft. high, and 500ft wide, and it looks very Roman in style,- and why wouldn’t it, since they are the Occupier Force in all this region. The city is named after the Emperor of Rome, Caesar, and his henchman King Philip (one of the Herod family!),- it’s called CAESAREA PHILIPPI, as Philip wants to impress his boss in Rome.

Can I tell another thing? The people in this region , not only do they worship the Emperor Caesar as a god, but they also worship the god PAN, -he’s the one who plays the pipes! He’s half goat and half man, and he’s the god of Fertility! No wonder he’s popular!

Anyway, here we are now walking behind the Rabbi Jesus, chatting away to each other. We can clearly see the temple city ahead on the mighty rock-face, shining in the glinting sun. While we’re gazing in awe,  Jesus suddenly stops and turns to us. Something is bothering him, as if he is unsure about us. He asks us: ‘Who do people say that I am?’  Some of my friends in the group give different answers.. ‘you’re John the Baptist!’, ‘you’re the prophet Elijah!’ , ’You’re some ancient prophet!’, and so on.  I’m watching his face as the answers come. Now he cuts to the chase and puts this to our group- ‘Who do YOU say that I am?’  Oh, that hurts.  We have been following him for a couple of years or more, but he wants to know who do we think he is! Imagine! He’s serious. And, while we’re all stuck for words and embarrassed,  good ol’ Simon Peter,- he’s always the first to jump in with the answers,- he blurts out to Jesus ‘’You’re the Christ’ (that means the Messiah in Hebrew, or God’s Anointed One, God’s Sent One’).

And you can see that Jesus is relieved! At least someone can see who he is. But he is telling us firmly to say nothing to anyone about it.

We’re still thinking about all this when he starts to tell us that yes, he is the Messiah, but he’s going to suffer really badly, he’s going to made a laughing stock for people, and then he’s going to be killed by the people. He tells us, at the end of that, that he will rise from the dead after three days! Whatever all that means, I haven’t a clue.

And he’s no sooner finished saying all this to us, when my friend Peter takes him by the elbow and walks him away from the crowd of us, a little bit.

This kind of leader ?

Peter starts to give out yards to Jesus, that this was the wrong way to go.. He needed to have a bit of backbone, to be a leader, a warrior to lead the people against these Roman occupiers. Great stuff, Peter! I’m with you on that!

But what do you think Jesus does, -he is looking around at us, somehow with great love and sadness in his eyes, and he is saying to Peter, the hero of a few minutes ago (oops! this bit hurts!) ‘Get behind me SATAN!’ Wow, that’s some come-down for Peter. From hero to villain in minutes. Jesus then adds ‘the way you think is not God’s way’.

or this kind of leader ?

I’m wondering what will happen to Jesus! If he doesn’t go the way of chariots and swords, will he not end up with the Romans torturing him and killing him in their special cruel Roman way,- crucifixion! Nailed up to beams, and hanging there for hours, sometimes days, until you can’t breathe any more. Can’t bear to think of it.

So that’s where I am on the road today. I can see the great and beautiful city;  I can see CAESAR, I can see PAN and all his goings on, and I can see JESUS.  Who is CAESAR? Who is PAN? Who is JESUS?

As they say in my own language, back home in Hibernia, ‘Sin Ceist!’ ‘That’s the Question!’

My choice. My life. My head on the block? When it comes to it, which will I choose?

God help me!

Oops, too much thinking! There’s Jesus and the others heading back down the road for home, back to Capernaum. Will I run after them and catch up, – or stay where I am?

Thanks, Sinead and Mark, for sharing my journey with me. Check with me where I end up eventually.  And good journeying for you both. God bliss and bless us all.

Your friend on the road,

Seamus.

(Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R., Esker).

Gospel: Mark 8:27-35  (click on ‘Mass Readings’, for the texts.)

You couldn’t miss seeing Caesarea Philippi. Jesus and his disciples had walked the 40k or more towards it, directly northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Even from a great distance, it looked mightily impressive. You couldn’t miss seeing this temple city.

Caesarea Philippi is in the foothills of Mount Hermon which is in Syria.  Mount Hermon is the largest mountain in the whole area towering 2,814 meters (close to 10,000 feet) above sea level.

At Caesarea Philippi there is a massive wall of rock that is well over 100 feet straight up and about 500 feet wide.   The city of Caesarea Philippi was built on top of this enormous rock.  It was enlarged and rededicated by King Philip to honor the Caesar in Rome.  Caesar considered himself a god and King Philip was eager to please him. Hence the name ‘Caesarea Philippi’. It was for the worship of gods.

As well as worshiping the Emperor Caesar, the Greeks and Romans had many other gods. One that was especially honored here in Caesarea Philippi was the Pagan god of Pan,- half goat, half man, god of shepherds and of fertility, and god of fright!  (The word ‘panic’ comes from his name.) He was often depicted playing the flute.

This kind of Messiah?

or this kind of Messiah?

So, what was JESUS doing travelling up into the region of the great Roman-built city of CAESAREA PHILIPPI?  CAESAR considered himself a God, and wanted people to worship him.  Pan was worshipped at the waterfalls and in the caves, in this area.  Why would Jesus face down the two ‘gods’, Caesar and Pan? In plain view of this enormous rock on which the pagan temple was built, Jesus turned to his own disciples and asked them that now famous question ‘Who do people say I am?’ And when Mark put this down in written form around 65AD, the disciples in Rome were faced with the god Caesar, the Emperor, and the Roman PANTHEON of all their false gods. And the question was put to disciples, then and now: ‘Who do you say that I am?’  Simon Peter, in today’s Gospel Reading,  was the one disciple who spoke up bravely and said ‘You are the CHRIST’ (or The Messiah, the Anointed One sent by God).  The only problem, as he found out very shortly after, was that his idea of ‘Messiah’ was very different from Jesus’ idea. Peter thought of chariots and war-hero, Jesus thought of the cross! And Jesus rebuked him with those sharp words ‘Get behind me, Satan!’

Move on 35 or 40 years, and you’re now in Rome. Imagine hearing that story of Mark’s Gospel read for you in your hiding place in Rome, where you gathered for the Breaking of Bread, constantly in fear of the banging on the door as they came for you. This was decision time. Who is Jesus, for you? Is he to be preferred to the Emperor? Whom will you worship? Will you choose Pan,the god of shepherds and fertility, -or will you chose the Good Shepherd himself, Jesus the Christ, who will give life to the full?

Will I cave in, when the soldiers come for me and my fellow disciples, and worship the Emperor to save my life, my skin? Or will I let go my very life, my skin, and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God? Will I put my head on the block for Jesus, if it comes to it?

Tough choice. Today.

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.