December 2023: Thought for the Day
Thought for the Day
December 2023/ January 2024
First Sunday of Advent
3 December 2023
Because Christians have always recognized the importance of waiting and preparation, they intentionally built periods of waiting into the Christian calendar. This is a way of making room for this important piece of life that the world is so eager to get rid of. It slows us down, reorients us around God and gives us time to reflect, to prepare, to rest.
Advent is one of those seasons of waiting. When we come to Advent we remember the promise that Christ has come and will come again, but we also remember that we are not ready to jump headlong into celebration. First, we must prepare.
Waiting is a gift. Let us be ready for the sweetness that has come and that is coming again.
Pastor Josh
www.unitedchurchofsoro.org
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Second Sunday of Advent
10 December 2023
The difference between the secular and Catholic understandings of Advent can be profound. For the world, it is a time to seemingly celebrate Christmas in advance, run to the finish line of December 25th, and move on. For the Catholic person, we wait in joyful anticipation and inch closer and closer to this great celebration of Christ’s Nativity. Once we’re there, we take time to be enveloped by the mystery of God’s own Son coming to us in the fullness of time. Then we set off anew into the rest of our year: traveling through Judea, walking after the Cross, and eventually celebrating Jesus’ universal kingship again before the cycle repeats.
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Third Sunday of Advent
17 December 2023
The Christmas story is very simple: it tells of the birth of a child to poor parents with an uncertain future. So what is it about the story that holds such appeal, that has allowed so many other stories and traditions to grow up around it? Why does it have such a place in our hearts? Perhaps it has to do with the way it taps into our deepest longings, those things we desire that can help us cope with just about anything: love and trust, that we all have a value and a unique dignity that lifts us up and empowers us to move beyond ourselves and to take the risk of reaching out to others, always trusting that God is present in the simple stuff.
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Fourth Sunday of Advent
24 December 2023
Christmas offers the world, of all faiths and none, in all its diversity, the opportunity to stop, to renew family relationships and to exercise the best of our common humanity. It challenges nations and institutions by its message of peace and goodwill for all.
Christmas certainly keeps alive these values of kindness, care for the poor, and being at peace with the world, in the hope that we might replicate them throughout the year. But the Word was made flesh promises more, being graced with God’s DNA – joy – the joy of being alive, the joy of being loved, the joy of knowing that God is the remedy to the struggle of our human journey.
Fr Brendan Carr CSSp
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
31 December 2023
A Family Prayer for the New Year
Dear God, we thank you for the gift of a new year. We pray that you will guide us and bless us throughout this year. We ask that you help us to grow in faith, hope, and love.
May we be a light to others and share your love with those around us. We pray for peace in our homes, our communities, and our world.
May we be instruments of your peace and work towards justice and reconciliation. We pray for those who are suffering, that they may find comfort and healing. We pray for those who are lost, that they may find their way.
Keep our family in your care today, tonight and always.
Amen.
Editor
The Baptism of the Lord
7 January 2024
The sacrament of Reconciliation, or Confession, for me is a humbling experience. I simply have to recognise that I have faults. I have fault lines that run through me causing things to happen that I’d prefer not to happen. The sacrament is basically me handing all these matters over to God and asking for his grace as I live with my faults. The only good thing about them is that they throw me back on God’s love.
‘The sacraments are all to do with the physical celebrations by which divine life penetrates our human histories.’ ( James Alison, Knowing Jesus)
Alan Hilliard , Dipping Into Life (Messenger Publications)
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
14 January 2024
If you put too much pressure on any one part of your life, there is a risk of collapse. If you put too much pressure on any one part of your being there may be a collapse too. The body, soul, mind and emotions are given to you to spread the load. The same is true of your family and friends and of support services and those things that help you to discover your beliefs and values. When you are in good form, you are aware of all these ‘arches’ in your life. The load is spread quite evenly. When you are in bad form, you put too much pressure on one ‘arch,’ that single arch just can’t carry the load!
Alan Hilliard , Dipping Into Life (Messenger Publications)
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
21 January 2024 • Sunday of the Word of God • Catholic Schools Week begins today
Catholic Schools Week 2024
Christian service puts faith into action. In Catholic schools, as we study and look to Jesus Christ as our role model and Teacher, we come to a greater understanding of the depth of Christian service. Jesus served every person regardless of creed, background, faith, social status or age. He put faith into action by showing all those around him how our Heavenly Father is compassionate, courageous and forgiving. Jesus didn’t just talk about His faith; He lived it.
We are called by faith to go into the world to share the love of God with all those we meet. Each person, at every age, is called to become Christ for another by serving every person with a humble heart and with a generous spirit.
Alan Hynes
catholiceducation.ie