Readings for this Sunday: First Letter to Corinthians, Chapter 11, verses 23-26, and Gospel of Luke, Chapter 9, verses 11-17. Click here for Mass Readings.

SOUL FOOD FOR YOUNG ADULT COMMUNITIES,- of 2 or 3 or many!

Dear Sinead, Mark and Friends,

First, greetings and thanks to all the Transition Year Students from St. Gerard’s in Bray, who graced us here in Esker for three days during this past week. You were a joy to be with, lads and girls! Thanks for coming. Best of wishes for the summer and beyond.

Passing on what has been given to us...

Ever play ‘Pass the Parcel’? You try to receive it first, and then pass it along without dropping it. Well, that’s a bit like what Paul, the Apostle, is doing today, when he talks to us (to the Christians of Corinth, then, but to us, now!). He talks about the ‘tradition’ he had received, – and the word ‘tradition’ comes from the Latin for passing along what you have received.

In a famous passage about Eucharist, he

'Take and eat...'

tells us this: ‘This is what I have received from the Lord and in turn passed on to you, that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, thanked God for it, broke it and he said ‘This is my body which is for you; do this as a memorial of me’. “

Here is Paul, the Apostle, carefully ‘passing the parcel’, without dropping any of it. And it has been passed on to us in our generation, in whatever country of the world we find ourselves in,- Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Fiji, anywhere. We in our generation are asked by the Lord Jesus to

Every time we eat...we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.'

‘do this in memorial of me’,- to take the blessed bread, to break it, to share it, and to eat of it together, remembering what Paul also passed on to us that ‘every time you eat the bread…you are proclaiming’ the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus for us.

And that’s why we have this special Feast this weekend,- the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ’, – because this ‘parcel’ passed on to us contains a wonderful gift,- the body and blood, the real presence, of the Lord Jesus among us and in us. And the Greek for a ‘wonderful gift’ is Eu-Charis! And in Greek today, ‘Thank you’ is Ev-Charistó, or Eu-Charistó! It reminds us of our Thank You in the Irish language,- a thousand thanks, or míle buíochais, or go raibh míle maith agat!

At our Eucharist, or our Mass, we sing a thousand thanks! We make a song and dance about the death of the Lord for the world, (including each one of us, personally), and

...at our quietest Mass, he offers himself to us...

about the fact that he is truly alive and present in our midst ‘when you gather in my name’. It is He who gathers us around him, to remember his life, his death and his aliveness with us. Whenever we eat…we proclaim!

Let your feet be dancing with joy in God your Saviour!

Even at the quietest Mass, we truly celebrate and receive the body and blood of the Risen Lord,- we receive the Lord himself into our community, our relationships, our persons. WOW! That’s our Feast, today.

Talk with one friend or more about this. Wrestle with it. And celebrate it, by going together to a Mass somewhere that speaks to your hearts. Enjoy!

Fr. Seamus.            seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.  seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie

Letter to Sinead, Mark, and Friends,-  young adult seekers.

Dear Sinead, Mark and Friends,

Some of the most wonderful things in life are very ordinary. Like a parent’s love, or the love within a family,  or a special time of conversation with your grandmother or granddad. Nothing earth-shaking, very ordinary, and yet very precious to us.

Come to today’s Feast,- we call it the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, a mouthful. I bet, if you asked any of the twelve Apostles about the Trinity, or even asked Mary, Mother of Jesus, about the Trinity, they would look at you, bewildered.  Because the term ‘Trinity’ or ‘Most Holy Trinity’, wasn’t invented until much later. But if you asked them about the reality of God in their lives,- a sense of the Creator of everything, or ‘the heavenly Father’ that Jesus spoke about, -they would say ‘O, yes!’  For the Jewish people (and the Apostles were Jewish, like Jesus, like Mary), the name they had for the One True God was never spoken, but it was ‘I AM’.  As simple as that, as profound as that. The God who looked after them, protected them, rescued them, told them ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I am constant in my affection for you’, -this was the God that Jesus loved as a boy and young man.

Back to that ‘Trinity’ again!  The early Christians knew God, had a personal relationship or bond with ‘God’, with ‘I am’. They also knew Jesus, and eventually came to realize, after his resurrection, that this Jesus was in fact who he said he was, the ‘Son of God’. ‘If you see me, you see the Father’, he told them. ‘I and the Father are one’. And in St John’s

'The Trinity', an icon painted by Rublev.

Gospel, Jesus uses the word ‘sent’ about himself, over 40 times, and refers to his ‘Father’ over 90 times. That’s two out of the three that make up the ‘Trinity’.

Back again. Remember all the promises of Jesus to his frightened disciples, that he would not leave them orphans, that he would send a Comforter to them, or an ‘advocate’ who would stand by their side always: he would send the ‘Spirit’ to them. ‘Don’t leave Jerusalem’, he told them at the Ascension, ‘until you have received the Promise of the Father’,- namely the Spirit. And the Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit that was and is in Jesus himself, the fire in him, the light and joy and courage and wisdom… and you could go on.

The disciples knew all about Jesus. They knew the Creator God, the ‘heavenly Father’ that Jesus showed them (remember the story of the Father of the Prodigal Son,- a parable about God, the Father, yours and mine!).  They knew all about the Holy Spirit, because on that Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit of God came on them ‘like tongues of fire’ and shook the whole house, and when they went out from that Upper Room, they were ‘on fire’, and spoke to people in all sorts of languages, the mystery of God.

Did they know the word ‘Trinity’? No! Did they know about Father, Son and Holy Spirit? They surely did,- from their experience

So, when we celebrate today the Feast of the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity,- three Persons, but one God,- it’s what the Apostles were all about, in the Good News they brought to all the people they met.

Do you know your heavenly Father? (He ‘knows the number of hairs on your head ‘ (Matthew 10) ).  Do you know Jesus, (do you know him by heart, and not just by head?). He knows you and calls you by name. ‘I know my own and my own know me’- John 10.   Do you know the Holy Spirit?  You are the Spirit’s Address! The Spirit is a Person inside you, setting your heart on fire.  The Spirit is Jesus’ first and greatest gift to us all, to each one and to everyone who asks.  Just welcome Jesus into your life, and then watch out! His Spirit will light up your face and eyes and send you into your world.

‘Trinity’? The word? Maybe not.    The reality? Yes indeed.

‘Sometimes it’s ecstasy, and sometimes porridge!’

‘If any love me, they will keep my commandments and my Father will love them and we will come and make our home in them.’  (John 14:21)

‘Live in me, and let me live in you!’ said Jesus. (John 15:4).

Those chapters in St. John’s Gospel,- Chapters 13 to 17-  are wonderful food for the heart and soul. Dip into them for five minutes a day, over a time. Invite a couple of friends to do it also, even with you. There’s eating and drinking in them! And share what you find with the few friends who are doing the same. But watch out,- you all could catch fire!

Enjoy!

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

Learn more about Andrei Rublev’s icon The Trinity, painted centuries ago in Russia, greatly loved throughout the world. Click here.

A short poem about the Trinity, called ‘In Dwelling’,  that I wrote some time ago,- find it on www.emptifulvessels.com, or click here 

Letter to Sinead and Mark, and Friends.  Sinead and mark are two young adulsts.

Dear Sinead, Mark and Friends, 

His last Tweet! “Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives” –  Pope Benedict’s final Tweet, on Thursday evening, February 28th, to his followers on Tweet:-( See more at: http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-benedict-xvis-final-tweet#sthash.WNkokSim.dpuf )

Well, the Pope has stepped down, as of Thursday evening last. On Wednesday, he addressed over 100,000 people in St. Peter’s Square. Referring to the account in St. Mark, (Chapter 4, v.35)  about Jesus in the boat, fast asleep with his head on a cushion, he said: “There were moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy … there were moments, as there were throughout the history of the Church, when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping.” Reminds me of a song we used this past week with the Leaving Cert students in St. Flannan’s College, Ennis,- ‘With Jesus in the boat, we can smile at the storm.’ And Hi to all you St. Flannan’s students who came for the retreat. You were mighty, and a joy to be with!

Our Soul Food for this weekend is given to us from St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 13, verse 1-9. Not an easy one, so let’s break it down a bit. This story is about conversion of heart and the urgency of it. It is sandwiched between one parable about the Rich Hoarder who said ‘let’s eat, drink and be merry’, not aware that he had only a day left to live, and God called him ‘you fool!’,(this is in Chapter 12:16)  and another parable-story about the Rich Man with poor Lazarus lying outside his door, ravenous (Luke 16:19). Conversion of heart? No way, for this rich man, either, -  he didn’t have time. This week, the Gospel story is about the call to turn for home again. Next week, it will be about the joy, music and celebration when the lost Son did eventually turn and go home.

Read today’s story yourself (Luke 13:1-9): various disasters and tragedies had happened and Jesus was asked about them. But he told the people in reply that the biggest ‘tragedy’ for them, the biggest ‘disaster’ in their lives would be if they did not have a change of heart. Fig trees should produce figs, he told them, after a couple of seasons: if the time goes on and on and there’s no fruit, what’s the use of having the fig tree at all? But Jesus is not interested in teaching us about figs,- he’s talking about ourselves. Season after season, Lent after Lent, goes by,- but is there any change of heart in me? In us? That’s what breaks Jesus’ heart! And that’s our tragedy, if we continue like that. But what gives the Father great joy is when we do have a change of heart, when we  come to our senses, and come back home. (Next week, watch out for the Prodigal Son parable, as seen through the eyes of Cornelius the Pig (who was being minded by the same son), and maybe through the eyes of the Fatted Calf,- a (sadly truncated!) version told in the first person singular by the same calf! These were penned by two 14yr old lads who were studying that parable closely.)

I wrote this  poem below some few years back, in response to a young person saying to me ‘Thank you for talking to us about sin,- we seldom hear about it.”  (J.C. is Jesus Christ). Just imagine a farmer, with a big stump of an oak tree right in the middle of field. For years, he has just ploughed around it. It has annoyed him for along time, and now he decides it’s time to do something about it, to get it out of there.

“JC…….be!”

A stump of a tree

In the field

Of my heart:

A stump

Of sin.

I’ve seen it there

For years,

But still I’ve not had

Tears

Enough

To take it out.

I’ve walked around it,

Wished it were not there;

I’ve told myself

‘some day’ I’ll tackle it,

‘I’ll face it, fair and square’

Some day-

But not

Today.

‘I must’, I say, ‘I will’-

Eventually.

And so the sin,

This stump of sin,

Remains;-

When will I get

the Digger in, for sin?

I would this JC be

With me,- and He would too,

If I but ask Him

In-

His Power is what

Takes such a stump away:

Today,

Come, Lord,

And both of us will

Tackle this in me,-

To clear my heart

So you can freely

Plough in me again.

Come Lord, I won’t delay.

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.

(Written following a word from a student after a day of retreat, saying ‘Thanks for speaking of Sin: We seldom hear of it!’)

Feed back to   seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie 

That Tweet, again: “Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives” 

See Homepage for Mass Readings for this Sunday: the Gospel is Luke 4:1-13

SOUL FOOD FOR YOUNG ADULT COMMUNITIES:

Letter to Sinead and Mark (two young adults):

Dear Sinead, Mark, and friends,

Can I start by saying ‘Have a Happy Lent!’ ?   Enjoy the Journey! It’s our time to come home, to our hearts and to our faith-communities. That’s what the 40 days journey in the desert is about,- coming home again! And that’s what Jesus’ 40 days in the desert was about,-  he was trying to find the right Way, as he started out in his young adult ministry. He was (Luke tells us) ‘filled with the Holy Spirit and led by the Spirit’ into the desert.  He was sent into the world by his heavenly Father, to bring people home again,- home to their true selves at last, home to their Father’s house.  But how?

We could have given him plenty of suggestions; why not try Power, or Wealth, or Wowing People with Wonders?  Why not go the power route, gather a great number, overthrow the Roman army for a start, and then… well, whatever.

And he looks at us, out there in the desert with him: he shakes his head.
Don’t tempt me, he begs. I’ve got to listen to my heavenly Father, and to my own heart. I hear the Holy Spirit leading me!  Leave me alone, awhile.

He didn’t go Power, Wealth or Wow. He wouldn’t do that. He came to serve, to wash feet, to feed the hungry, to give ‘water’ to the thirsty, to give back sight to those who were ‘blind’ in their hearts. He chose the gentle way,- and he stuck to it.

Eventually, three years down the road, he gave us all something to look at,- Power, and Wealth and Wow,-  all as he hung on the Cross. ‘And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself!’ (John Chapter 12).

That was his journey. That’s where the Holy Spirit led him, when he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’.

Lent is our ‘desert time’, when as individuals and in our faith-community we remember that we too (from Baptism and Confirmation) are ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. These are the precious days when we can choose to be also ‘led by the Spirit’.

That’s our Journey, these next 40 days together! Enjoy. Let’s pray for each other along the road.

Ciao!

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.

seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie

.

2^nd SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME, JANUARY 20 2013. Click on Mass Readings on Home Page, for the Readings for this Sunday.

Dear Sinead and Mark,

We’re back to porridge, – back to school, to college, to work, back to ordinary living again, now that the Christmas season is over. Back to the wonderful ordinariness of the everyday ordinary!

Special greetings to all the Leaving Cert Students from Athenry, who joined us here in Esker during the past week for their retreat. A great group of young adults and a joy to be with, over those two days! Thanks to all of you for coming!

The ‘Soul Food’ put before us today is a Banquet!,- In fact, it’s a wonderful village wedding, to which Jesus and his friends were invited. The readings are about wedding, delight, rejoicing, and wonderful wine,- the very best!

How would you like if someone says this to you: ‘You are a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God: No longer are you to be termed ‘forsaken’ or… ‘abandoned’, but you shall be called  ‘My Delight!’… for the Lord takes delight in you…and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.’ I think the Lord is telling you and me that He is crazy about each of us. Wow

And then that Wedding: a village wedding, where the whole village is invited, and it goes on for a couple of days. An enormous embarrassment if the drink supply runs out. ‘O, how mean the couple’s family are’ is what would be said. The Mother of Jesus spots what’s about to happen, has a word with her Son, doesn’t get much response from him, but she goes and tells the servants to ‘do whatever He tells you!’ She knows this Son of hers.

And he responds with a huge response,-  the equivalent of between 600 and 900 bottles of the very best wine, in six stone water jars! Nothing small about Jesus.

And then John tells us that all of this was a ‘Sign’- John didn’t talk about miracles, but rather about some things that Jesus did or said, that were Signs of Who Jesus is. This event is an ‘event-sign’-  telling all who read about it now that Jesus is ‘flaithiúl’ (as we say in Irish), that is, he is princely in his generosity and kindness. There’s a fullness about Jesus that is over-flowing. And what you get, when you come to Jesus, is the very best,- of wisdom, of

'Draw some out now.'

joy, of light, of forgiveness, of liberation. The Cana event is the first Sign that Jesus worked, and it begins to tell us who Jesus really is.

‘You are hereby invited to the banquet that is Jesus!

Come with a great appetite, ready to be fed, and ready to dance.’

And remember the Mother’s words at the banquet,- ‘do whatever he tells you!’ And if you do, your heart, your life, will be over-flowing. ‘Draw some out now’ said Jesus.

Have a wonder-full week!

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.

seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie

Readings for this Sunday, January 13 2013,  are from the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year C; Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11.  St. Paul’s Letter to Titus, 2:11-14, and 3:4-7. Gospel, St. Luke 3:15-16, 21-22.

Dear Sinead and Mark,

Do you ever feel that your heart is somehow gone ‘dry’, that the fizz has gone out of you? You feel somehow drained, with little heart for life.

And then you think back to someone who once put new heart into you,- maybe a teacher, or a relative, maybe someone in your local community who gave you back a belief in yourself and a zest for life? And when you think about that person, you get new heart and purpose again, you’ve got that ‘Get up and Go’ in you, once more.

Well, I wonder what was going on in the man Jesus, that time when he approached John and asked to be baptized? Was he searching, unsure of the path ahead? Was he a bit ‘out of steam’? Then, that moment of his baptism, that moment when he was submerged in the water of the Jordan, then came up and went off to pray a while,- that was the moment when he powerfully experienced his whole human self as filled with, as steeped in, the very Heart of God, the Holy Spirit of God. He heard those words: ‘YOU ARE MY SON, THE BELOVED: MY FAVOUR RESTS ON YOU.’  He felt it in his very bones, that he was BELOVED,-and that he had a work to do. This was his ‘Get up and Go’ moment!

And maybe, for ourselves, in some moment of quiet, in some place, -any place!- the word breaks through unexpectedly, and we are ‘steeped’ in the presence of the Spirit of God who reminds us who we are,- ‘YOU are my son/my daughter, the Beloved! My favour rests on YOU!’ It all becomes really personal, and we know it in our bones. And if it hasn’t happened to you yet,- no panic. Just make sure that you keep on having little moments of quietness, of quiet still prayer, where you are open to God’s Spirit coming and breaking through,- when you know that, YES!- I am beloved. I am God’s child, God’s loved one. Yes, I am precious,- and God’s favour rests on me as a pure gift.

That’s the ‘Get up and Go’ moment, for you. You’ve work to do, you’ve people to love, a world to change. And gradually, you are more and more ‘steeped’ in the Spirit of Jesus, and you have the fire in your belly that He has.

It’s a moment to pray for, an experience to pray for. And, if you do, it will come, without a doubt.

Blessings of God on you, near and far! Be Loved!

Fr. Seamus.

seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com

'So the shepherds hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in a manger.'

A Christmas Letter to Sinead and Mark, two young adults:

Dear Sinead, Dear Mark,

Here’s wishing you a truly blessed Christmas, filled with wonder.

Today, I simply give you a story written by a man called John Shea, and it’s called

Sharon’s Prayer

She was five, sure of the facts, and recited them with slow solemnity convinced every word was revelation. She said they were so poor they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat and they went a long way from home without getting lost. The lady rode a donkey, the man walked, and the baby was inside the lady. They had to stay in a stable with an ox and an ass (hee-hee) but the Three Rich Men found them because a star lited the roof. Shepherds came and you could pet the sheep but not feed them. Then the baby was borned. And do you know who he was? Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars. The baby was God. And she jumped in the air whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation.

- John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected Allan, Texas: Argus Communications, c1977. 1st edition.

‘Incarnation‘- (from the Latin words in & carne, in & flesh) when ‘The Word was made flesh, and set up his tent among us‘ (John 1:14). God, our Creator, in our human flesh, one of us, and still God. His name? JESUS of Nazareth. ‘ The baby was God. And she jumped in the air whirled round, dove into the sofa and buried her head under the cushion which is the only proper response to the Good News of the Incarnation’.

God’s blessings be on you both and on your families and friends. Drink a toast to such wonder-full love, today!

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

Letter to Sinead and Mark:  (Sinead and Mark are two Young Adults):

Dear Sinead and Mark,

Are you following the Kate and William story? Great joy! A child is expected, early days yet, everyone hoping all will go well. The papers are already full of the good news.

And our own special day, for our own Special Child, the son of Mary, our own brother – it’s getting closer! Sixteen days to Christmas. Plenty of preparation to be done, and not just in the house or in the kitchen, in the shopping for presents.  Maybe the real preparation is in clearing out the rubbish, emptying the bin of the heart, making sure there is a special place made ready when ‘He who is to come’ will come. What better present could we prepare for him than to have a heart and family that is ready and eager to welcome him, the Risen Lord who came among us as a helpless baby for a start.

The readings this weekend are full of joy.

Reading 1 is from a minor Prophet called Baruch: chapter 5, verses 1-9:

‘Take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever…see your sons re-assembled from west and east…jubilant that God has remembered them….God brings them back to you like royal princes carried back in glory.’…and then follows the promise of a great Motorway building programme, levelling the hills, filling the valleys, so that a safe way will be ready for God’s people…’for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory…’  Isn’t it great to hear such words of joy, promise, and glory for every person among us?

And if you can, have a wee look at St. Paul today  (Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 1, verses 3-6, 8-11).  Paul’s  not always easy to read, to say the least, but today he is full of warmth:  ‘’God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you.” His prayer then for us is that “your love for each other may increase more and more, and may it never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best.”..  Paul is oozing with blessings for his dear friends in the new and tiny Christian community in Philippi,- the city left behind when the Roman army moved on. (It’s in Macedonia, – and we’ve played them in football!).

And then, Luke (in Luke Chapter 3: verses 1-6) begins off by giving us day and date practically,- who was in charge where and when, what Government was in place in Palestine when the word of God came to John who then headed off into the desert, preaching and calling people to repentance:  ‘Prepare a way for the Lord!’  And then again, we have the same motorway-building programme,-  making high places level, filling in valleys, straightening all the bad bends, making rough roads smooth… all of this so that the people would eventually see God coming to them.

The motorway is us! It’s you and me, preparing to welcome God with Us, Emmanuel, Jesus the son of Mary from Nazareth in Galilee. He’s on the way! He’ll be here any day soon.

A great way, that Catholics now and over many centuries up to our own have used to prepare for Christmas, is to go and celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation,- to examine our lives and hearts, to confess our sins, and to receive complete absolution with great joy and relief. It’s one special way where we welcome Christ and Christ welcomes us, and we embrace each other with great love and joy.

Try it! You’ll like it!

Sinead, Mark, God bless you both. Can I make my own the words of Paul that I quoted above, -‘’God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you” ?

(And if any or all of this speaks to you, don’t keep the joy to yourself! Tweet a friend or friends!)

Fr. Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.

email:  seamus.devitt@redemptorists.ie

First Sunday of Advent, December 2^nd, 2012. Beginning ‘The Year of Luke’, when the readings on Sundays are mostly from St. Luke’s Gospel.

Sinead and Mark are two young adults.

DEAR SINEAD AND MARK,

Happy New Year to you both! Am I a bit early? Let me explain.

The Passage at Newgrange, - Sunrise on December 21st.

The ‘turn of the year’ is almost with us. We are only 20 days from the shortest day of the year, December 21^st, the day of the longest darkness: then nature rejoices with the turn of the year, when the days get longer and there’s more light in the world. My own heart gives a leap of joy when we reach that lowest point, and I am  filled with hope and joy again.

And Christians, for many centuries, have linked the birth of the Saviour in Bethlehem with that ‘turn of the year’, with the coming of hope and of light into the world. For centuries long before Christ was born, civilisations in the Northern Hemisphere celebrated in late December after the Winter Solstice of December 21^st had come and gone. We have our own Newgrange as one of the great examples of this, thousands of years ago.

ready and waiting....

And in the Christian Churches, Advent (meaning the Coming) has been the start of the new cycle of the Church’s year, when we start to prepare for the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World. We have four weeks to prepare our hearts and homes, to make a space in ourselves when Jesus can be born again into our lives and society, where we will pull back the curtains and let his light come in, once more. Advent is the time when we prepare, as it were, an empty vessel to receive him.

Our prayer in Advent is simple:  ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’;  they are the last words of the Bible, and the first words on our lips.

So, Happy New Year, as you begin to welcome the Master, once again, this First Sunday of Advent in 2012. Enjoy the journey!

Fr. Seamus Devitt,  C.Ss.R.

e-mail: seamus.devitcssr@gmail.com

Dear Sinead and Mark,

Did you watch any of the London Olympics, this year? Did you by any chance watch any of the opening ceremony, and the spectacle that it was, the story it told. Did you see the Queen with James Bond? Hilarious and a great surprise to all. (Find it on Youtube).

Weeks later, I stumbled one night on the final

Stephen Hawking at Opening Ceremony of Paralympic Games

hour of the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games,- with Stephen Hawking and a wonderful celebration of the human mind, of human capacities to overcome all sorts of obstacles in life, of the openness to discovery and wonder, led by the gentle figure of Miranda. It was awe-inspiring and uplifting for the human spirit, to see men and women with so many physical challenges rising to great achievements.

What’s that got to do with the sayings of Jesus that are put before us in this Sunday’s readings (Mark 13:24-32)? The setting is the Tuesday of the last week of his life, just before he begins his Passion. He takes leave of Jerusalem, goes across the valley, and sits there with Peter, James, John and Andrew, looking across at the beauty of the city of Jerusalem. In his farewell words, he warns the disciples of very tough times ahead for them. And Mark wrote all this down about 30 years later, when in fact the disciples were being hunted down, brought to trial, and executed for their faith. Like today, in different places and ways.

Then Jesus tells them that in a future time, unknown to everyone, he himself will be revealed as who he truly is,- the Son of Man, the Son of God among us in all his humanity and ours. It will be pretty awesome when he is revealed in his glory.

And that happens on a personal level as well. People meet Jesus in many ways. In the Gospel, the shepherds met him in a tiny manger: the blind man (Bartimaeus, whom we met a couple of weeks ago) met him when he cried out ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!’: Peter, James and John met him up on the mountain when Jesus was ‘transfigured’ and his clothes were whiter than white, and the dark cloud was over their heads, and they heard ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him’.  Thomas, the one we call Doubting Thomas, met him when Jesus asked him to put his finger into his wounds, and his hand into his side, and feel the wounds of the Passion,- and Thomas burst out ‘My Lord and my God!’. Saul, who hated every disciple with a passion, met Jesus on the road to Damascus, when he was blinded by a vision of Jesus. Two disciples met Jesus after a long walk with him on Easter Sunday afternoon,

Emmaus Table

when they sat across the table at Emmaus and Jesus broke bread for them. So you see, sometimes it’s an awesome moment, and sometimes it’s very simple and quiet, but profound all the same.

A friend of mine, a few years ago, was on retreat for a weekend with about 60 others, and it was profound for many of us. When she arrived home on Sunday evening, she was radiant with joy. Her nine-year old son looked at her, and said to her ‘Mommy, I know what happened to you. You met Jesus!’ And it was true.

Meeting Jesus, coming face to face with him, is awesome, whether it be on my bike, in my room, in the bus or car, whether my eyes are opened at the manger, or on the road, at the cross, or in the Eucharist.  Meeting him is earth-shaking.

When Jesus is revealed in his humanity and glory, to the world or to any one person, nothing is the same afterwards. He’ll be someone to die for!

Have a great week, Mark, Sinead.

Thanks!

Fr. Seamus.

You can contact me at seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com