December 18

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Saint: Saint Flannan, Bishop (7th century)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 63:1-9 Community Rank

Mass: Jer 23:5-8; Resp Ps 72; Mt 1:18-25

Justice shall flourish in His time, and fullness of peace for ever.

O Adonai and Leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flames of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai; come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

We have at least a couple of gifts today. First, after learning Jesus' family tree yesterday, today we learn from our Gospel "how the birth of Jesus came about" (Mt 1:18). Yes, "God is with us" (Mt 1:23), and He is coming. 

Second, we have the image of the burning bush in our "O" Antiphon. It is worth it to spend some time with Exodus 3, especially the beginning where Moses looks at the "remarkable sight" of the bush on fire but not consumed (Mt 1:2). In his recent release, Journey into Light: The Challenge and Enchantment of Catholic Christianity (Hodder & Stoughton, 2021), Roderick Strange has this to say about the image: "For me ... God is mystery and God is loving. God has created all that exists and has created everything out of love. I would not attempt to define God. I gaze and contemplate. Some years ago, while praying one morning I was suddenly arrested, as I had never been before, by the account of Moses seeing the bush burning at Mount Horeb, that bush that was afire, but not consumed (Ex 3:2). I am not implying that I had any kind of mystical experience, but what an image for God, the bush afire but unconsumed. The power of the image stayed with me and nourished my praying for some weeks, and I can return to it again and again to be refreshed" (p. 9). Yes, what an image. We too can be refreshed by it. Something that comes to me is the enduring love and mercy of God. It is there, unconsumed, always available, afire, ready for me, ready for you. O Adonai and Leader of the house of Israel ... come and redeem us with outstretched arm. 

SAINT FLANNAN,

SAINT JOSEPH,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Yesterday afternoon, around 3 pm.

© Gertrude Feick 2021