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February 2021
Most people have heard of Lent, which begins on 17th Feb, because of the tradition of ‘giving things up for Lent’ but what is it really about?
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There is a story of an elderly East Anglian man who had lived in his village all his life and had never been to London. He felt he would like to go before he died, so set off on the train. On his return he was asked how he had got on. “Wonderful place,” he said, “it’s all under glass.”
It transpired he had not got any further than Liverpool Street Station! |
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We can be like that man in our journey of life, being content with a stage on the journey, staying at ‘Liverpool Street’ and missing the ‘sights of the city’. It is so easy to think we have arrived when the journey goes on.
To experience God’s great love we need to fulfil in our lives Michel Quoist’s quote about love: “He loves most fully who gives himself most completely.”
To experience God’s great love we need to fulfil in our lives Michel Quoist’s quote about love: “He loves most fully who gives himself most completely.”
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To experience God’s love we have to commit to him and to each other. When I was a single curate I used to receive several Valentine cards and one of them had these words: “Valentine, I would climb the highest mountain for you; I would swim the widest ocean for you…. But inside it said, “I’ll see you tonight if it doesn’t rain!”
How often we treat God like that by saying things that we don’t carry out. It is so easy to let the trivia of life make God an item on the agenda when it suits us, rather than for him to be the agenda for our life. |
We should never neglect our commitment to God. Some years ago I got lost in the Norfolk countryside. There were no signposts and I had no map in the car, so I asked someone who looked ‘local’ the way. He said, “Just you follow that white line!” – and by doing that I arrived home safely.
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The ‘white line’ that we should follow in our Christian life is made up of daily prayer, daily Bible reading (each day’s Mass readings are printed on our weekly bulletin) and being fed with the Bread of Life – the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. These are the means by which God is able to live in us, so we stay close to Him and live and share His love others.
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It is a journey which goes on through life and Lent is a good time for a ‘spring clean’ to renew that journey afresh.
January 2021
The Christmass season in the Church concludes on 10th January with what is called ‘Epiphany’ – the ‘showing’, ‘revealing’ or ‘manifestation’ of Christ – first to the Wise Men. The ‘stable’ of the crib is transformed to look like a house.
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The visit of the wise men was some time after the birth of Jesus; certainly more than 40 days, because when Christ was presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth, Mary and Joseph gave the offering of poor people, which would not have been the case if they had received the gift of gold from the wise men.
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We need also to recall that Herod had all boys killed up to the age of 2 – another indication that Christ’s birth could have been as long ago as two years.
Because the Bible specifically states the wise men went to the house (not a stable), it has become a custom to bless chalk at this time and mark our own homes to help us remember to be God-bearers like Mary, to those around us. The custom is to mark with blessed chalk near the main doorway of your home with the date of the year and the traditional initials of the wise men, whose names were given in the 6th Century:
Because the Bible specifically states the wise men went to the house (not a stable), it has become a custom to bless chalk at this time and mark our own homes to help us remember to be God-bearers like Mary, to those around us. The custom is to mark with blessed chalk near the main doorway of your home with the date of the year and the traditional initials of the wise men, whose names were given in the 6th Century:
- C for Caspar, who brought the gift of incense, a symbol of prayer and priesthood;
- M for Melchior who brought gold, a symbol of kingship and
- B for Balthazar who offered myrrh, a symbol of death. Those letters – CMB are also the first letters of a Latin blessing –
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'CHRISTUS MANSIONEM BENEDICAT'
- "May Christ bless this house" |
Christmass and Epiphany are reminders to us that we are to show Christ to those around us.
Fr Michael Hollings writes in one of his books:
Fr Michael Hollings writes in one of his books:
“When I worked in Southall a few years ago, there was an old lady living some distance from the church at the end of a long straight road. She was quite undistinguished except to her relatives and friends, but she was absolutely regular, winter and summer – even at the age of 80 – on Sunday morning for the 8.00 am Mass. |
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Soon after her death I was visiting another person along her road. As I walked along I heard a loud tapping on the window. I saw an old man beckoning me. I went to the door and asked what he wanted. He said: “That old lady down there – I’ve not seen her! Where is she?” I told him she had died. “Oh dear!” he said, “She was my religion.”
I could not understand, so he explained. Each Sunday he watched her walk past, knowing she was going to Mass, and watched her walk back afterwards. They had never spoken, but as he said a second time, “She was my religion”.
Fr Hollings said he related that story because, although she did not know it, that elderly woman was a Sacrament – i.e. an outward sign of God’s love to that old man and a sign to him o the presence of God.
Christmass means the Mass of Christ; We are all called to be signs of the presence of God. People see us come to Mass and leave again. Do they see God’s love radiate from us? The blessing of our homes is one way we show we belong to Christ; I find several people ask me what the letters mean on my house and it gives an opportunity to explain - and hopefully show his love.
