Sunday Reflections, 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A, 21 December 2025

 

The Dream of St Joseph

Georges de La Tour [Web Gallery of Art]

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife’ (Matthew 1:24).

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

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 1:18-24 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
    and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife [into his home].

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Christ Carrying the Cross

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7; Second Reading).

Many years ago a young friend of mine in Mindanao on his first day in school was asked by his teacher who his father was. The boy answered, Ang Dios nga Amahan - 'God the Father'. The youngster was correct. Our deepest identity is that through baptism we are sons and daughters of God the Father, brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, as St Paul states in today's Second Reading. 

Not only is that our identity, it is also our mission because through Jesus we have received grace and apostleship . . . among all the nations. In his First Letter to the Corinthians St Paul spells out what this may mean: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Being a son or daughter of God the Father, a brother or sister of Jesus and of one another demands that we help carry the Cross of Jesus and that we make him known to others.

St John of the Cross writes: When he [God the Father] gave us, as he did, his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say.

I highlight some of those words: he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say.

Christ in Agony on the Cross

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

El Greco's two paintings here show very clearly that we preach Christ crucified. The background of the city of Toledo, Spain, where the artist lived for many years, highlights the truth of the words of St John read at the Mass During the Day on Christmas Day: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The Risen Lord lived in Toledo in El Greco's time, as he lives there now, as he lives wherever we are.

Advent prepares us to meet Jesus Christ, recalling the moment of his birth at Christmas; prepares us to meet him when he comes again in glory at the end of time, while preparing us to meet him at the moment of our death. And it prepares us to meet him in our daily lives, often in surprising and unexpected ways. All of this is the way of Jesus to draw us into a more intimate relationship with him, to draw us more deeply into our understanding of him as the Father's one Word.

Pope Benedict XVI in his General Audience on 3 September 2008 spoke on what had happened to St Paul on the road to Damascus. He finished with the  following words [emphases added]. 

Turning now to ourselves, let us ask what this means for us. It means that for us too Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality. We are only Christians if we encounter Christ. Of course, he does not show himself to us in this overwhelming, luminous way, as he did to Paul to make him the Apostle to all peoples. But we too can encounter Christ in reading Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we truly become Christians. And in this way our reason opens, all Christ's wisdom opens as do all the riches of truth.

Therefore let us pray the Lord to illumine us, to grant us an encounter with his presence in our world, and thus to grant us a lively faith, an open heart and great love for all, which is capable of renewing the world.

May the coming week be a time when we meet the loving Heart of Christ intimately and feel him touching ours.

Gabriel's Message

A traditional Basque carol sung by Voces8 

TEXT The angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame; "All hail," said he, "thou lowly maiden, Mary, most highly favored lady," Gloria! "For know a blessed Mother thou shalt be, all generations laud and honour thee, thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold, "most highly favoured lady," Gloria! Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head, "To me be as it pleaseth God," she said. "My soul shall laud and magnify His holy Name." "Most highly favoured lady," Gloria! Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ was born in Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn, and Christian folk throughout the world will ever say, "most highly favoured lady." Gloria!

The Annunciation

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

Traditional Latin Mass

Fourth Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-21-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Gospel: Luke 3:1-6.

Every Valley from Messiah by Handel

Tenor: Jon Vickers; conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, and ev’ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain (Isaiah 40:4) quoted in today’s Gospel (Luke 3:5).

                                             

Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 14 December 2025

 

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”'(Matthew 11:2-3; Gospel).

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

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

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

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

      

Fr Joseph Coyle 

(28 February 1937 - 18 December 1991)

I have used this material before but it fits in with one of the themes in today's readings: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35:5; First Reading), It is the Lord . . . who raises up those who are bowed down (Responsorial Psalm), Go and tell John . . . the deaf hear (Matthew 11:5; Gospel). 

Fr Joseph Coyle was a Columban priest from Derry city, Northern Ireland. He died in the Philippines on 18 December 1991, aged 54, and is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Bacolod City. Father Joe and I weren't related - my Coyle ancestors moved centuries ago from the north-west of Ireland, where the surname originated, to Rush, a fishing village north of Dublin city - but we felt a sense of kinship. He was ordained on 21 December 1961 during my first year in the Columban seminary in Ireland.

Father Joe spent most of his life as a priest in the island of Negros. He gradually became aware of persons with disabilities and of how their needs weren't being met. He was able to obtain artificial limbs for some. But he noticed that there was one group in every community that was almost totally isolated because they didn't share a common language with those around them, not even with their own families. These were persons who were profoundly deaf.

More and more Father Joe became involved with deaf people, celebrating Mass in Sign Language in a number of places. In the late 1980s he established Welcome Home in Bacolod City as a residence for out-of-town deaf students so that they could attend special schools in the city. Special Education has spread now to many towns and that particular need is no longer urgent. But Welcome Home Foundation, Inc. continues with a school for young children, deaf and hearing, catechetical programmes in public schools with both deaf and hearing catechists, and other activities.

Father Joe's death was devastating initially to the young deaf people with whom he had worked. But his vision was continued and developed by others, most noticeably by Mrs Salvacion V. Tinsay who died in 2008. Her daughter Mrs Agnes T. Jalandoni, President and CEO, along with her board and staff have enabled the work begun by Father Joe to grow and adapt to current needs.

Fr Mike Depcik preaching in American Sign Language on today's readings 

Fr Mike Depcik OSFS is an Oblate of St Francis de Sales and one of very few profoundly deaf priests in the world. He has his own vlog, Fr. MD's KitchenTable, where, among other things, he posts videos of homilies for Sunday Masses in American Sign Language, such as that above for this Sunday's Mass.

John the Baptist sends his followers to ask Jesus,  Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Jesus replies, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them. 

For Catholics who are profoundly deaf, priests such as Fr Mike Depcik, deaf from birth, and Fr Joe Coyle, who became aware of the isolation of the profoundly deaf, especially within their own families, are included in the response of Jesus to his cousin St John the Baptist: the deaf hear. The deaf aren't isolated to the same degree as before, though I have known of priests and people who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'. 

And the ministry of priests such as Fr Depcik and Fr Coyle isn't limited to the deaf. Indeed, part of their ministry, and of those who work with them, whether deaf or hearing, is to bring about the change of heart that is central to Advent, not only a turning away from sin but a recognition of the needs of others that we weren't aware of before. It was through having friends who were deaf in varying degrees from birth and through knowing Father Joe that I became aware of the isolation of the deaf within the Church and in society at large. The same can be said to some extent of persons with other disabilities. But profound deafness is the only physical disability that of its nature can totally isolate a person from the community.

There will always be some, for whatever reason, on the margins. The gradual inclusion of those who are profoundly deaf in all activities of the Church and of wider society shown, for example, in the use of signing interpreters at public functions and on television, is one of the signs that Jesus spoke about to assure St John the Baptist that he, Jesus, truly is the one who is to come.

Maria durch ein Dornwald ging

Mary walked through a wood of thorn

Traditional German Advent carol

Arranged by Stefan Claas and sung by Voces 8

Mary walked through a wood of thorn
Kyrie eleison.
Mary walked through a wood of thorn,
Which seven long years no leaf had borne;
Jesus and Mary.

What bore Mary beneath her heart?
Kyrie eleison.
A little child without any smart
Mary bore beneath her heart,
Jesus and Mary.

Then roses sprang from out the thorn;
Kyrie eleison.
As the Christ child through the wood was born,
Roses sprang from out the thorn;
Jesus and Mary.

These are the first three stanzas of seven but have acquired a life of their own. Their context is the Visitation. Wikipedia notes: The dead thorn wood, a symbol of infertility and death, begins to bloom when Mary walks through it with the divine child.

Traditional Latin Mass

Third Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-14-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7. Gospel: John 1:19-28.

A Pair of Shoes

Vincent van Gogh [Web Gallery of Art]

John answered them, 'I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie' {John 1:26-27; Gospel).

                                   

 

Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 7 December 2025

 

St John the Baptist Preaching

Rembrandt [Web Gallery of Art]

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1; today's Gospel).

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

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

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 3:1-12 (English Standard Version, Anglicised)

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father”, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

                                               

The Naming of St John the Baptist

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

A major theme in the texts for this Sunday's Mass is the call to repentance. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . You brood of vipers! . . . Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he [the Messiah] will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

St John the Baptist is echoing the words of Isaiah in the First Reading about the Messiah who is to come: with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Sin has been with us since the time of Adam and Eve. That is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). No human being except Jesus and Mary has been sinless. Sin is ultimately the rejection of God's love.

In our time, within the last few decades, Western society in particular has accepted as 'good' and as 'rights' practices that have always been seen by Christians and by others as sinful. It has largely rejected what we read in Genesis  1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Linked to that is the rejection of Genesis 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. A powerful international lobby has persuaded many Western countries to deny both of these statements, to legalise a parody of marriage and to undermine the family, all in the false name of 'equality'. 

In some Western jurisdictions it is lawful to genitally mutilate perfectly healthy bodies of adolescents who may be going through the 'turbulence' that hits everyone of that age to one degree or another.

Another new phenomenon is surrogacy, hiring women who almost always are struggling financially and living in another country, to bear a child conceived artificially outside of the way nature itself teaches us. Alongside that we have the widespread destruction of children in their mothers' wombs. This is not something new in itself but it was never presented before as a 'good' or as a 'right' promoted and paid for in many instances by the state on an industrial scale.

All of these things are a grave affront to God our loving Creator who made us to be with him for ever in heaven.

We are preparing in Advent to celebrate the arrival of the Christ-Child, God who became Man, 2,000 years ago. More importantly, perhaps, we are also preparing to welcome him, now the Risen Lord Jesus coming in glory, when he returns at the end of time. At the same time we are preparing to face the Lord Jesus at the end of our individual lives.

Jesus died so that each and every one of us would seek his forgiveness and be with him for ever in glory in heaven. His coming into the world in a stable in Bethlehem was a personal act of love by God for each of us individually and for all of us as the only creatures made in his own image.

St John the Baptist says to the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism in language that would be considered 'offensive' by many today and perhaps labelled as 'hate language' by some politicians, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The great saint was reminding them - and us - never to take God's mercy for granted, never to forget that God's mercy is shown above all in the death of Jesus on the Cross.

But the Entrance Antiphon - far too often omitted at Mass - expresses God's desire for all of us with the note of joy that is central to Advent: O People of Sion, behold the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.

The Communion Antiphon expresses something similar: Jerusalem, arise and stand upon the heights, and behold the joy which comes to you from God.

May each of us judge wisely the things of earth and hold firmly to the things of heaven. Through Christ our Lord (Prayer after Communion).

Conditor Alme Siderum - Creator of the Starry Height

Translation from Latin by Monsignor Ronald A. Knox

Musical setting by Flor Peeters

Columban Fr John Colgan RIP

13 September 1938 - 22 November 2025

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr John Colgan who died here in Ireland after a long illness on the eve of St Columban's Day, which this year was the Solemnity of Christ the King.

You may read his obituary here.

Traditional Latin Mass

Second Sunday of Advent

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 12-o7-2025 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 15:4-13. Gospel: Matthew 11:2-10.

St John the Baptist in Prison

Juan Fernández de Navarrete [Web Gallery of Art]

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or is to come, or shall we look for another? (Matthew 12:2-3; today's Gospel).