Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

While the world may seem to be very indifferent to Christianity most of the time, it can be very critical of Christians who do not seem to be following the most basic tenet of their faith – to be  a people of “good deeds”, as Jesus teaches in today’s portion of the Sermon on the Mount. While we may sometimes feel indignant about the world’s criticism of our faults, we have to remember that we are in a vital relationship with “the word” – we are to be its light. This means that we should welcome the world’s gaze and scrutiny of our actions and beliefs and we should, in a sense, be accountable to the world for the way we live. We should never be salt that loses its taste. This openness to the gaze of all is not for our own glory, however: it is so that others may find what we have found – their way to the Faith

First Reading: Isaiah 58:7-10

Res: The good man is a light in the darkness for the upright

Second Reading: 1Cor.2: 1-5

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16

Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas are the three blessed beacons of the Christmas season. Each one in turn flashes God’s brightness to a world in darkness. Each one in turn is greater in intensity and spreads its comforting ray further and further. Each one proclaims that God, Light of true Light, has come to live in our midst first to Jew, then to Gentile, and then to the universal Church. Now we no longer live in darkness of spirit.

First Reading: Malachi 3: 1-4

Res: Who is the king of glory?  It is the Lord

Second Reading Hebrews 2:14-18

Gospel Reading: Luke 2:22-40

We will spend most of the Sundays of the coming year in the company of Saint Matthew. His Gospel (like the others has its own characteristics. He is writing for a Jewish audience, and so is always at pains to stress one thing: that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. He does this by reference to Jesus’ teaching and miracles, and very often by quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament to show that Jesus was their fulfilment. Today is a perfect example. “Zebulun and Naphthali” was an old name for the area round Capernaum by the side of the Lake of Galilee, a busy fishing and trading area, with many Gentile towns and settlements: it is here, rather than in the dangerous town of Nazareth, that Jesus “settles” and begins his ministry. This is where the proclamation of the Kingdom of God begins, as was foretold, and the first followers are invited to join Jesus.

First Reading Isaiah 8:23-9:3

Res: the Lord is my light and my help

Second Reading 1 Cor 1:10-13,17

Gospel Reading: Matthew 4: 12-23

There is no break between Christmas and Ordinary Time – one flows almost seamlessly into the other through the Baptism of Jesus. We ended our Christmas Season thinking about the “revelation” of the Son of God – people realising who this “Jesus of Nazareth” actually was – and this continues today, as we interject a passage from Saint John before we begin our weekly reading through Saint Matthew’s Gospel. New Year is about beginnings, and as we return to the beginning of Our Lord’s public ministry there is a sense of something exciting about to happen – even though we know the story, we dive into it once more, like returning to a favourite novel or film. So it is with joy that we stand in the country of the river Jordan, and recognise Jesus of Nazareth as the Chosen One of God, who offers himself to do God’s work.

First Reading: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6

Res: Here I am Lord!  I come to do your will

Second Reading: 1 Cor 1: 1-3

Gospel Reading: John 1: 29-34

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

It may seem strange, but this is a Christmas Feast. Not if we think of Christmas only in terms of the Baby in Bethlehem, but if we have followed the ideas of the Feasts of Holy Family and especially Epiphany, and have seen the Season in terms of the growing manifestation or appearing of the Son of God: first to the shepherds and then to the wise men from the East. Now in the River Jordan, Jesus, Son of Mary, is revealed to all as the fullness of all God’s promises: “This is my Son, the Beloved”. On this day we stand before the revelation of God’s love for us, such that he would send his only Son into the world. Christmas without the Baptism of the Lord, and the words that are spoken from heaven, would be incomplete, since it is only in them that we fully see the wonder of what happened in Bethlehem, that we fully understand the reason for the joy with which we celebrated Christmas Day. As we come to the end of Christmas today, and look forward to hearing the Gospel in Ordinary Time, we do so having been shown who it is we listen to: the only Son of God, the Beloved.

First Reading Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7

Res: The Lord will bless his people with peace

Second Reading: Acts 10: 34-38

Gospel: Matthew 3: 13-17

In the East, this Season of Christmas is called the “Time of Manifestation”, or Showing. Today is the ‘Feast of the Manifestation’, or the Showing of the Saviour to the whole world, to all nations. In the wise men who travel from the East, we see all the nations other than the people of Israel being welcomed at the New Temple of the New Covenant – the new born child in the manger. A look at the Psalm response shows this: “All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.” The same is true of the key word in the second reading: “Revelation”. Remember that for the people of Israel this was to be their Messiah, come to restore their fortunes. By this feast, we proclaim God’s plan was to extend his salvation to men and women of every nation, of every time and every place – including us. In many ways this is our Christmas Feast, when we celebrate the Good News of the Saviour’s birth revealed at last to us.

First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6

Res: All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

Second Reading: Ephesians 3: 2-3, 5-6

Gospel Reading: Matthew 2: 1-12

Mass Times

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Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday 4th
Our Lady’s – 12noon -12.30pm
St David’s – 3.45pm -4.15pm

A Happy and a Holy Christmas

With best wishes for the New Year

Canon John

Mass Times

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N.B. There will be no exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Fri 27^th Dec or Confessions on Sat 28^th

A Happy and a Holy Christmas

With best wishes for the New Year

Canon John

Are you the one who is to come,
or have we got to wait for someone else?

In many ways the readings this Sunday are simply a continuation of last week – Isaiah gives us more details about the work of the Messiah, and Paul invites us to continue to be patient until the Lord’s Coming. What is slightly different is the voice of John the Baptist this week: last week in Matthew 3 he was proclaiming with utter confidence that “someone is coming”. Now, in Matthew 11, he asks Jesus from prison: “Is it you?”  For us, as we listen to these scriptures, we are being offered something very particular – the prophecies of Isaiah (and indeed the prophet John the Baptist) are pinned down firmly and securely in the person of Jesus, Son of Mary – in fact, Jesus himself, in his reply to John says as much: “I am the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied.” Again we are invited to hold the images of the prophecies in our minds until Christmas, when we can look on the child in the manger and say “We know who this is: it is the promised Messiah – God who comes to save us!”

First Reading: Isaiah 35: 1-6, 10

Res: Come, Lord, and save us.           

Second Reading: James 5: 7-10

Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:2-11

Mass Times

Christmas Eve:   St David’s 6pm
Our Lady’s 9pm

Christmas Day:  Our Lady’s 9am
St David’s 10.30am

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand

Throughout the first three weeks of Advent our focus is very clearly on the End of Time, and the Second Coming of the Lord – not on the run up to Christmas (that only comes in the last week). If we view Advent as a Season preparing for Christmas these readings will make little sense – and neither will the figure of John the Baptist who appears today: if it was about the preparation for Christmas, then John the Baptist, preaching after Jesus was born, becomes a confusing figure: his role is to preach to us, as he did of old, and to prepare us for the (second) coming of the Lord. Everything gets more specific today: what is being preached is not an event, but a person: Isaiah promises him, John welcomes him, Paul invites us to imitate him. We have here a thumbnail portrait of the Messiah – useful to refer to when we get to Christmas and he is revealed as a child in a manger!

First Reading: Isaiah11:1-10

Res: In his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails

Second Reading: Romans 15: 4-9

Gospel Reading: Matthew 3:1-12