The Feast of the Holy Family (27 December 2009)
“Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you.”
This sentence from today’s letter of St. Paul to the Colossians reminds us of the hope we are invited to have in Jesus whom we honour as the Prince of Peace and Emmanuel, which means “God with Us.” In all our relationships, whether within the family, our community or the wider world, the Spirit of Christ is the source of all harmony and completion, all joy and delight. All we need do is allow Christ’s message and promise to shape our lives and relationships in faith, hope and love. Then our lives will be marked by that richness which comes from God’s constant gifts to us.
On this Feast of the Holy Family I would like to thank the family of Hampshire Downs Parish which embraces the people of St. Gregory’s, St Peter’s, St. Thomas More’s and St. Peter’s.
Firstly, on behalf of my brother priests, thanks to everyone for your generosity to us at Christmas. We are all extremely grateful for the very generous Christmas Offering which is your personal gift to us.
More generally I would like to thank everyone for the support and encouragement I have received over the past year. The development and growth of ministry in the parish has been very positive and is absorbing more and more talent from more and more people. Both very young and very old and all those in between are accepting responsibility for the development of ministry groups and the engagement in the life of the community which this always brings. I would like to say a special word of thanks to Deacon Gerard Dailly and his family for accepting the gift of diaconate for the sake of the diocese and this community. My hope is that Gerard’s generosity and example will inspire others from this Parish to consider the possibility of ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. . I would also like to thank everyone for the response to the “Living our Faith” project which has made it possible for us to plan the redevelopment of the Pastoral Centre on the St. Peter’s Site and to repair the banks of the Test tributary at Stockbridge. I look forward to the development of the Stewardship Programme which has spent a good time in prayer reflecting on the way forward. Now everything is ready for the principles of Stewardship to help us build on the development of ministry and engagement in mission which has been happening here over the years.
A challenge for us all is the constant need to look for opportunities to work across boundaries that have been in place for so long. I mean boundaries between different communities, ministries and groupings within the parish. In no sense is this intended to dissolve the identity or the distinctive contribution of a particular group. Rather it is about being attentive to the opportunities the Lord offers us to deepening and widen the effectiveness of our mission as disciples.
Thought for the Week (Sunday 20th December)
Last Thursday evening I met with a group of our young people to do some scriptural reflection or “Lectio Divina”, as it is sometimes known. The Gospel we used was Luke’s description of the Annunciation to Mary. St. Luke describes Mary’s experience of the angel Gabriel’s visit announcing that she would conceive and give birth to the “Son of the Most High”.
I chose the passage for two reasons. The first is that we visited the site of the Annunciation when we visited Nazareth in October. The second is that at this point in Advent we are reminded that Mary is given to us as the perfect model of Christian discipleship and membership of the Church.
In faith, hope and love Mary brought the Word and Son of God into the world so that he could be seen and heard. The Word that she heard in her heart, and which she pondered constantly, became her son and the “Word became flesh.”
In today’s Gospel, also from Luke, Elizabeth greets Mary and says: “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth ends by saying that Mary is blessed because she believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.
Mary believed and the Son of God became her Son. The invisible God became visible so that all human beings could enter a fully human relationship with God and share his divinity. Mary is our model because we are invited to follow her example and make the Good News, which is Jesus himself, visible in our lives for the sake of others.