'The parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.' Sunday Reflections, The Presentation of the Lord

The Presentation of the Lord, as a Feast of the Lord, takes precedence over the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland) 

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 2:22-20 or 22-32 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons’.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the Temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’

           [And his father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed — and a sword will pierce through your own soul also — so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.’

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the Temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.]

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

The late Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-Hwan, Archbishop of Seoul, with a young friend. The cardinal's paternal grandparents were sentenced to death during the last persecution of Catholics in Korea, in 1869. His grandfather was killed but the persecutors spared his grandmother because she was pregnant. The child in her womb was the Cardinal's father. Cardinal Kim died on 16 February 2009.

Front cover, Misyon, November-December 2007

Renante and Christine Alejo-Uy  with Kiefer Thomas, their first born

About 15 years ago while celebrating Sunday Mass in St Brigid's Parish, Blanchardstown, just north-west of Dublin city, where my brother and his wife live, I saw a young couple coming in at the back of the church a few minutes late. I smiled inwardly when I realised they were Filipinos. But then they came right up to the front pew and I was really touched to see the husband/father carrying their little child.

In the video of the Presentation in the Temple, produced by 'Rosary Priest' Fr Patrick Peyton's Family Theater, it is St Joseph who carries Jesus. St Luke doesn't specify this. But he does tell us that Simeon took him in his arms. The photo of the late Cardinal Kim above evokes this scene for me. What fills me with awe is the fact that his grandmother was spared by the persecutors in 1869 because she was pregnant, while his grandfather wasn't spared.

In Jewish law the man who named a child was considered his legal father. When I was a child I always heard St Joseph spoken of as the foster-father of Jesus. But St Matthew tells us: Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins' (Matt1:19-21). 

You are to name him Jesus means that St Joseph is being called by God to be a true father to the Son of his wife Mary. And the Church honours St Joseph above all as the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And it is through Joseph, son of David being his legal father that Jesus is of the line of David as God had promised.

Pope Francis has spoken a number of times about the faith of one of his grandmothers and how she helped to form him. The God-fearing mother, facing all kinds of adversity as she brings up her children in the faith has become almost a cliché. I don't mean any disrespect whatever to such mothers or to any mothers. But the emphasis on the role of the mother and grandmother in the raising of children in the faith tends, I think, to take away from the equally important role of the father and of the grandfather.

When I was a small child it was my father who brought me to Sunday Mass while my mother would stay at home with my brother, three years younger, when he was an infant. She would go to a later Mass. I saw my father, who spent his working life on construction sites, where he was a highly respected general foreman, get up very early every morning, go to Mass, come home and prepare my mother's breakfast and bring it to her in bed. (For many, breakfast in bed is a treat. I hate the idea!) 

I saw how deeply Dad respected my mother, even when they had disagreements, never raising his voice to her or to anyone else, including us his two sons. I saw the same when I worked with him on a construction site the summer before I was ordained. He never raised his voice there either and he never swore. He led by example and the men had profound respect for him. Some of those told me how great a mentor he was when they were still young and learning their trade. He had been blessed in a similar way when he started as an apprentice carpenter at 15.

My father taught me how to swim and how to ride a bicycle, letting go when he judged that I could go solo. I can still recall the joy in each instance when I realised that I was indeed going solo.

As I said above, St Luke doesn't specify that it was St Joseph who carried Jesus into the Temple. But the director of the video of the Presentation gives us an insight into the role of St Joseph. He was, as her husband, to be the protector of Mary and of her Son and he was, as his legal father, to be the mentor/teacher of Jesus in how to grow into manhood and in how to be a carpenter.

There is one telling scene when Simeon reaches out to take Jesus in his arms. Joseph doesn't hand him over without looking at Mary and getting her approval. As I grew older I could see that my parents made important decisions together such as which school they should send us to.

Simeon and Anna Recognise the Lord in Jesus

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

Simeon and Anna show us the importance of older persons in the lives of young parents and of children. When we are children the most significant older persons are our grandparents. Each Sunday morning my father would bring us to meet our grandfather who was widowed a couple of days after my brother was born. And very often I saw my maternal grandmother, widowed when I was less than two. When I was in secondary school I often dropped into our parish church on my way home in the afternoon. There were always old people, including my grandfather, praying silently in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I sometimes dropped into other churches and would find the same.

There are many things we can reflect on as we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord. But for me it stirs up once again immense gratitude to God for my late father and an appreciation of the great responsibility that the vocation to be a husband/father carries, something, I think, that we as Church need to emphasise more.

The young Filipino husband/father carrying his child right up to the front of the church in Dublin, even though he and his wife were a little late, reminded me of the wonder of that vocation. And when my editorial staff and I were choosing a photo of the Uy Family for the cover of Misyon, of which I was editor from 2002 until 2017, I simply had to go for the one above. (I had decided even before I consulted my staff!)

 

Nunc dimittis (Canticle of Simeon)

Setting by Palestrina, Sung by The Tallis Scholars

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace: Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum: Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel (Luke 2:29-32, Latin Vulgate).

Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

Words of the Communion Antiphon highlighted.

Traditional Latin Mass

Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This is same as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The two readings below are used in the 'New Mass'.

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 02-02-2025 if necessary).

Lesson: Malachi 3:1-4.  Gospel: Luke 2:22-32.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:22; Gospel).

'He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

At that time: Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll, and found the place where it was written,

          ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

And he rolled up the scroll, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, St Luke tells us. Forty-two years ago in the Diocese of Bacolod on the island of Negros, where I spent my last 15 years in the Philippines, the Spirit led nine men to jail, three priests and six laymen, all falsely charged with multiple murder. Fourteen months were to pass before the nine were released.

Two of the priests were Columbans, Fr Brian Gore from Australia and the late Fr Niall O'Brien from Ireland. The third was a diocesan priest, Fr Vicente Dangan, now deceased.

The six laymen, all working for the Church during the very difficult Martial Law years in the Philippines, were Jesus S. Arzaga, Peter Cuales, Lydio J. Mangao, Conrado Muhal (RIP), Geronimo T. Perez (RIP) and Ernesto Tajones. They became known as The Negros Nine. 

While the Negros Nine were in jail in Bacolod City the late Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich appointed the three priests as chaplains there. The vast majority of prisoners were from poor backgrounds and their cases were being constantly put back. The three priests, as well as ministering to the spiritual needs of the prisoners, were able to get lawyer-friends to follow up on the cases of many of those languishing, wondering if they would ever get out.

As a result of this, many of them did. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . .

    

The Negros Nine in prison, 1983-84

L to R: Lydio Mangao,  Peter Cuales, Jesus Arzaga, Fr Vicente Dangan(+), Geronimo Perez(+), Fr Brian Gore, Conrado Muhal(+), Fr Niall O'Brien(+), Ernesto Tajones

Postscript

Not long after his release from jail Lydio 'Boy' Mangao entered the Columban formation programme in Ceby City in 1985. However, after some years he saw that God wasn't calling him to be a Columban priest. But he continued to work with the Columbans in his native Negros Occidental and married. His son, Lydio Mangao Jr, has been a Columban seminarian for some years now and is currently on First Mission Assignment in Chile as part of his formation.

Lydio Mangao Jr, September 2024

[Photo from Lydio's FB account]

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday After the Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-26-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 12:16-21.  Gospel: Matthew 8:1-13.

Jesus Healing a Leper

Italian Mosaic Artist, Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily

[Wikipedia; photo] Matthew 8:1-4

Behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.' And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I will; be clean.' And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8:2-3; Gospel).

 

Interior of Monreale Cathedral

[Wikipedia; photo]

'Be fruitful and multiply.' Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

John 2:1-11 from The Gospel of John

Directed by Philip Saville

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 2:1-11 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)  

At that time: There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding seventy or one hundred litres. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.’ So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.’

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Marriage at Cana

Tintoretto [Web Gallery of Art]

Back in the 1960s when I was in the seminary here in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, now the residence of about 70 retired Columbans, I contacted Molly and Jimmy who lived about ten minutes by car from here. I knew that Molly was related to me through my maternal grandmother and I remembered attending the funeral of her mother, known to my mother as Aunt Jane of Tara, in 1950 when I was seven. As far as I know Jane was a first cousin of my grandmother Annie Dowd, who married William Patrick Collins, my maternal grandfather. When my mother was young she would spend part of the summer with her Aunt Jane and her husband Owen. It was great for a child form the inner city in Dublin to be out in the countryside of County Meath. She often spoke of those days and would always smile when she mentioned her Uncle Owen. Jane was the stricter one and Owen was the 'softie'. But she loved both of them.

When I wrote to Molly and Jimmy I got an immediate response and they invited me to their home for Sunday dinner. Over the next few years I enjoyed many Sunday dinners with them. Molly's unmarried sister Maggie lived with them in a cottage near Tara, where the High Kings of Ireland once lived and which can be seen from the front of St Columban's.

Molly had been in very poor health since the birth of her second child Mary, known as Mae. Her first was William, known as Billy. He died in December 2017. Molly had spent three years on her back from some time after the birth of Mae. She never enjoyed robust health and in her latter days, when she lived in a nursing home, she had become blind.

What I remember most from visiting Molly and Jimmy was the warmth of their welcome and Molly's radiant smile. Jimmy worked for the Irish Land Commission, as I recall, and his salary was a modest, though adequate one. I remember him saying to me one time that he was happier in his cottage than Lord Dunsany was in his home, the nearby Dunsany Castle. The family name of the Lords Dunsany is Plunkett and they are related by ancestry to St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, executed at Tyburn, London, in 1681, the last Catholic to be martyred in England.

For most of their married life Jimmy and Molly lived  the sickness part of their vow in sickness and in health. As I get older more and more do I see couples living that vow to the full. Such couples to me are radiating God's love for us. The Sacrament of Matrimony is a reflection of the love of Christ as the Bridegroom for his Bride, the Church. The First Reading of the Mass, from Isaiah, tells us, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. 

The response to the Responsorial Psalm is, Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples. That is what Jimmy and Molly were doing for me, without being aware of it. That is the vocation of every couple who have bestowed the Sacrament of Matrimony on each other. It is the bride and groom who do that, not the priest. He, as an official witness of the Church, does indeed bless the couple during the ceremony with the Nuptial Blessing but it is they who give Jesus Christ to each other as the foundation of their marriage, till death do us part.

The Marriage at Cana (detail)

Paolo Veronese [Web Gallery of Art]

In recent decades in the formerly predominantly Christian Western world both marriage and family have been undermined and even ridiculed. Marriage is the foundation of the family. Marriage is between man and woman. In the first chapter of the Bible we read, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ (Genesis 1: 27-28). The next chapter tells us, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). Jesus repeats this teaching in Matthew 19:5 and Mark 10:8 as does St Paul in Ephesians 5:31.

The science of biology tells us that each of us is either male or female and that it is impossible for anyone to change their sex.

It is only a man and a woman who can be fruitful and multiply. In recent decades many countries have rejected the truth of this reality, lived since we humans first emerged, and proclaimed as a 'right' that two persons of the same sex can marry. Such a relationship is intrinsically sterile and, objectively, is an affront to God the Creator who made us male and female. But our consciences have been dulled and corrupted by the powerful international lobby that promotes and celebrates this dangerous nonsense.

The profoundly intimate act of love that enables a couple to express their commitment to be one till death do us part and that enables them to be fruitful and multiply belongs only within marriage. In God's plan a couple marry before they have children. In God's plan if they are still of fertile age they pledge, at least in Catholic weddings, to be open to new life.

It has to be acknowledged that in most of the Western world it has become more and more difficult for a couple to welcome and raise children because of the prohibitive cost of housing. Decisions about house-building by national and local authorities are a moral issue, not a utilitarian one. And in many places dues to poverty and/or war living conditions are dire, making it impossible for families to live decently.

Jesus' miracle of changing the water into wine is a sign of God's unbounded generosity. The six stone water jars each held a large amount of water, as the video above correctly shows. The good wine that Jesus produced amounted to the equivalent of more than 400 bottles of wine according to Scripture scholars.

The gospel passage ends with, This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. St John uses the word 'sign' for miracle'.

Jesus did this to manifest his glory, that is, to enable people to see who he really was so that they would believe in him as God who became Man and so that each of us would have eternal life. Every married couple is called to manifest the glory of Jesus by the way they live their marriage, founded on the love of Jesus Christ whom they gave to each other on their wedding day. The Lord delights in such a couple and rejoices over them, as Isaiah tells us today. I know that God delights in couples like Jimmy and Molly because I saw in them their delight in one another as husband and wife. That grace remains with me to this day.

For Me and My Gal

Gene Kelly and Judy Garland

This song, written in 1917, was used in the 1942 movie with the same title. For me it reflects how most Western people a hundred years ago saw weddings and marriage. A wedding normally took place in a church: The parson's waiting for me and my gal. A couple was open to having children: We're gonna' build a little home for two or three or more. It involved the community: For weeks they've been sewing, every Susie and Sal.

These were the aspirations and hopes of most people then. They no longer are. We are all the poorer because of that. But the Alleluia verse gives us a clear direction: God called us through the gospel, so that we may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Santo Niño de Cebú

[Wikipedia; photo]

Feast of the Santo Niño, Philippines

On the third Sunday of January the Church in the Philippines celebrates the Feast of the Santo Niño, the Holy Child. You will find Sunday Reflections for that Feast here. 

Traditional Latin Mass

Second Sunday After the Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-19-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 12:6-16. Gospel: John 2:1-11.

This Sunday the Mass in both forms uses the same Gospel.

    

In

'Above all I invite you to remember your own Baptism' (BXVI). Sunday Reflections, Baptism of the Lord, Year C

 

The Baptism of Christ

Francesco Mochi [Web Gallery of Art] 

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,)

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)  

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)  

At that time: As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’

Now when all the people were baptised by John the Baptist and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Comfort ye, my people

From Handel's Messiah

Tenor: Jon Vickers; Conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

This is the beginning of the First Reading of today's Mass (Isaiah 40:1-3). The translation is that of the Authorized (King James) Version, used by Handel.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Baptism of Christ

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 13 January 2013

[Emphases added.]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

With this Sunday following the Epiphany the Christmas Season draws to a close: the time of light, the light of Christ who appears, like the new sun on the horizon of humanity, dispelling the shadows of evil and ignorance. We celebrate today the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus: that Child, Son of the Virgin, whom we contemplated in the mystery of his Birth. We behold him today as an adult immersing himself in the waters of the River Jordan and thereby sanctifying all water and the whole world, as the Eastern Tradition stresses. But why did Jesus, in whom there is no shadow of sin, go to be baptized by John? Why did he perform that gesture of penitence and conversion, beside all those people who in this way were trying to prepare for the coming of the Messiah? 

That gesture — which marks the start of Christ’s public life — comes in continuity with the Incarnation, the descent of God from the highest heaven into the abyss of hell. The meaning of this movement of divine lowering is expressed in a single word: love, the very name of God. The Apostle John writes: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him”, and he sent him “to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:9-10). That is why the first public act of Jesus was to receive baptism from John, who, seeing him approaching, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

Luke the Evangelist recounts that while Jesus, having received baptism, “was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (3:21-22). This Jesus is the Son of God who is totally immersed in the will of the Father’s love. This Jesus is the One who will die on the cross and rise again through the power of the same Spirit who now descends upon him and consecrates him. This Jesus is the new man who wills to live as the son of God, that is, in love; the man who in the face of the evil of the world, by choosing the path of humility and responsibility he chooses not to save himself but to offer his own life for truth and justice. 

Being Christian means living like this, but this kind of life involves a rebirth: to be reborn from on high, from God, from Grace. This rebirth is the Baptism, which Christ gives to the Church in order to regenerate men and women to new life. An ancient text attributed to St Hippolytus states: “Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude, and is raised to filial status” Discourse on the Epiphany, 10: PG 10, 862).

Following tradition, this morning I had the joy of baptizing a large group of infants who were born in the past three or four months. At this moment, I would like to extend my prayers and my blessing to all newborn babes; but above all I would like to invite you all to remember your own Baptism, the spiritual rebirth that opened the way to eternal life to us. May every Christian, in this Year of Faith, rediscover the beauty of being reborn from on high, from the love of God, and live as a child of God.

Sistine Chapel, 13 January 2013

Traditional Latin Mass

The Epiphany of the Lord

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-12-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Colossian 3:12-17. Gospel: Luke 2:42-52.

Christ Among the Doctors

Leonaert Bramer [Web Gallery of Art]

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? (Luke 2:49; Gospel)