Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 9 December 2018

Dec 8th, 2018

Second Sunday in Advent 2

Baruch 5:9
For God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with the mercy and justice that are his.

Have you ever felt like a lonely voice, maybe that voice in the wilderness that Luke describes in the words of the Prophet Isaiah as '"A voice of one crying out in the desert:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths". (Lk 3:4)

I certainly have, and perhaps feel it none more keenly as when I am involved in issues of what I consider justice and truth.

I have to be quite candid here; I have never been a mediator that is not one of my charisms! Friends who know me well have described this aspect of my temperament as part Don Quixote, tilting at windmills and part defence barrister fighting the cause of the underdog! That's a bit of a pastiche but I do recognise myself in it and it has frequently gotten me into trouble and of course upsets when the causes I have championed have been shot down!

I used to wonder if this wasn't a grave fault in my nature, but more recently I begin to discern that it actually is a gift that I must treasure and use well. How? You might ask. The answer, for me at any rate, lies in that cry of Isaiah that Luke applies to John. The solitary voice here is not about oneself; it is about the way of the Lord who is coming amongst us! At times we are called out by God to be a herald, a dissonant voice sounding a discordant note!

Lets unpick that a bit. Do you actually believe that the Lord is really coming amongst us? We accept as Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans as well as other Christians that Christ is present with us in several ways, his Word, when we gather together in His name, in each other and for some in a very focussed piety in the Eucharistic celebration and the elements given to us in communion: that great mystery which we cannot really ever fully define, a conundrum which asks us to be questioners of the worlds viewpoints.

The Anglo-Catholic poet John Betjeman put this conundrum so well in his poem Christmas, asking us do we believe the story of Christ:

"And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue.
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?"

Well is it? Do we believe in it? And if we do why are we not turning the world upside down? Sometimes, just sometimes we are called to stick our necks out when all about us say don't. Occasionally we have to demonstrate that we are God's faithful people, loyal not to mammon or political power or human constructs but to God. That is what I am finding this second Sunday of Advent, a reminder that John speaks to me: "You there! Get on with preparing the way of the Lord, NOW! But also that Luke calls me to be like John as well. No matter what, I must not let go of Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life'.

We have new helpers on our journey in the 19 beatified martyrs of Algeria, men and women of the 20th century who are signposts of that gift to be a lonely voice, for it is really not our voice, but the Spirit who speaks mercy and justice through us!

"And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ" (Phil 9,10)

Lectio Divina

Sister YVONNE GERA Franciscan sister who knew some of the martyrs of Algeria

"We are missionaries. Whatever happens, we are missionaries. We know that that is our vocation and I say one thing, "you will receive more than you give". It is sometimes difficult, yes but the Lord has called us. If the people suffer, we suffer with them. It is our vocation and the Lord is always there to help us. Even in suffering or in martyrdom. These 19 martyrs knew that they were targeted but they remained. Don't be afraid, the Lord is there to help you."
DECEMBER 07, 2018

From John Betjeman's Christmas

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.