St. Philip Parish and St. Clare Mission

One of my favorite Christmas Christian slogans, along with “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the reason for the season”, is this one: “Wise men still seek Him”. Wise men still seek him. Seek who? Justin Trudeau? Donald Trump? No, no, no, wise men still seek Jesus, to be their Lord, their Savior, their King. It is true wisdom to seek Christ.

It turns out, according to an article I was reading on X (formerly “Twitter”) online, this saying is not just true, as it were, spiritually, but also, literally. According to the writer, many intellectuals, having started out as atheists or agnostics, are now converting to faith in God. Many of these intellectuals are scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, who, hitherto, believed that all the secrets of the universe could be explained by recourse to science and reason. In other words, reason and science have revealed most of the facts behind the making of our universe, and those things that remain unexplained, will be answered in the near future. It turns out, according to the article I was reading, that, not only are there still many more secrets to be explained than first believed, but even the questions  that science thought had been solved, have created many more sub-questions to be investigated 

 Furthermore, these former atheists have discovered that, while science and reason can explain a lot about human existence, there is a whole dimension to human life which they cannot. That dimension embraces the whole realm of the spiritual, this instinctive reaching out on behalf of humanity to that which is beyond the limitation of the human senses, the innate search to “touch the face of God”, as one poet described it, All the mainstream religions of the world, of course, have always understood this, and sought to trace the contours of that search over thousands of years.… Read more...

There was a pop song put out a few years ago, with the title “You say it best when you say nothing at all”. The song is a love song from the man to the woman in his life, describing the different ways she communicates her love to him without needing to say a word. He picks up on all the unspoken signals of her love she is putting out. Myself, I have always thought that this title would make an excellent caption for all the events we are celebrating at this time. God is demonstrating his great love for us without needing to say anything, or hardly anything, at all.

This afternoon, during the 4.30 pm Masses, we had our Christmas pageant. My gosh, we had dozens of shepherds, wise men, sheep, cattle , as well as the familiar figures of Joseph and Mary, with her little baby, Jesus.  Each of the characters did have a few words to say for themselves, but not much. And indeed, the great tradition of the Christmas pageant, stretching back hundreds of years, would not have had any words at all, or any need to. Everybody watching those tableaux knew what was being depicted, without anybody having to explain it. Just looking at the scene as it was displayed was enough to evoke memories and feelings of heavenly joy, love, peace and warmth in the spectators. Many of those watching, way back in history, would not have any education, or not much and would not have been able to read the events of the Christmas event in the Bible. And so, for them, the pageant was a “silent witness” to the wonderful, magical events being celebrated.

 Indeed, whenever I saw the manger scene in the church in the week before Christmas Eve came round, and noticed the empty crib, because the time to celebrate the birth of the Christ-child had not yet come about, I felt the emptiness of the scene.… Read more...

When, in our gospel today, we see Elizabeth, who is old and barren, meeting Mary, who is young and virgin, and both are pregnant, what we are witnessing is the dawn of SALVATION!! God is doing what no one else can do. He is taking that which is barren and hopelessly desolate, and that which is virgin and uncultivated, and making both fertile. Those of us who are older, and think we have lost the chance to do something useful with our lives, and those who are younger and untried, and wonder if they have anything worthwhile to contribute to the world, now find hope for the future, and the possibility of having fruitful lives. 

The key to the realization of our hopes is faith, faith and obedience. What brings the hope for the virgin Mary that she, though young and humble, can indeed, beyond all likelihood, be about to bring forth from her womb, the Son of God, is because, as Elizabeth affirms, “she believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord”. And believing, she obeyed. As Mary says at her annunciation: “Behold the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to his word” (Luke 1:38). What brings hope to the barren Elizabeth that, though old and past child-bearing age, she can indeed, beyond all possibility, bring new life into the world, is again her faith and obedience. Her husband Zechariah doubted and disobeyed when the angel Gabriel told him his wife was going to bear a child and he must name him John, and, as a result, is struck dumb. He remains stuck in his rebellion against God, unable to perform his priestly duties, until he repents of his disbelief and disobedience and submits to the will of God for his new-born son’s life: “His name shall be John”  he writes (Luke 1:63) , and immediately, he regains his speech, and is able to praise the Lord, and prophesy in his name.… Read more...

It is surely impossible not to be thrilled by the ringing tones of joy in our first reading today. Listen again to the words: “Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem … The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love.”  The whole of that first reading is vibrant with hope for salvation and victory. It is all the more remarkable, because the rest of the prophet Zephaniah from which this is taken, is of a very different tone indeed.  Other prophecies in the short book of Zephaniah warn of the coming Day of the Lord, seen as a day of doom and disaster. The difference is that it will be a day of doom and disaster for all those who have persistently defied the Lord God and persecuted his faithful ones. But for those faithful ones of the Lord, that Day will be one of victory and rejoicing instead. 
The prophets of the Old Testament consistently talk about the Lord saving a “remnant “of his people. These are called the anawim, the poor ones of the Lord. They are the ones who have continued to remain faithful worshippers of God, and consistently sought to please Him with the holiness of their lives and obedience to His will. Often, that means they are overlooked, marginalized, and despised by the world, because they refuse to compromise the Lord’s commands in order to get on in the world. Because they stand up to the world in defense of God’s teachings, they are often persecuted, ridiculed and hated by the world’s elites, the rich and the powerful. I subscribe to a Catholic website, Centre for Family and Human Rights, a non-profit NGO, which fights at the level of the United Nations as a lobby group for Catholic teaching on marriage and family.… Read more...