by Fr Mark James OP

God will dance with shouts of joy for you 

Weddings are joyful occasions. It is no wonder that Jesus used the image of the wedding banquet as a sign for the coming reign of God. Weddings are occasions for joy and dancing. The wedding feast summed up for Jesus the God we worship. In his life and ministry, Jesus is the bringer of that joy, happiness and peace. He embodied good news. In the Gospel today, we see John the Baptist announcing the good news of the coming Messiah. John’s whole life was dedicated to preparing people for new life. John preached that it wasn’t enough just to belong to the people of Israel through the circumcision of the flesh but what was needed was circumcision of the heart too. People needed to undergo a personal change of heart and mind and a change in the way that they relate to other people if they were to experience the coming Messiah. For this reason, he emphasised repentance and conversion. Continue reading “Reflection for the third Sunday of Advent” →

by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI 

Samuel the Prophet of God
The story of the calling of Samuel by God is contrasted with the account of the sons of Eli who did not know God, who did not care about God. Eli’s sons are said to have been corrupt and greedy for they helped themselves to meat whilst it was cooking in the pot. (Corruption did not start in South Africa. It has a long history). Samuel on the other hand was called by God and he grew up in the presence of the Lord (2.22). God “let none of his words fall to the ground”. Every word he uttered became effective; every prophecy he made was fulfilled. This enhanced the status of Samuel as a prophet of God, as a man of God. Continue reading “Priests are chosen from among men” →

by Fr Chris Chatteris SJ

Pope’s Intention, December 2018

In the Service of the Transmission of Faith.

That people, who are involved in the service and transmission of faith, may find, in their dialogue with culture, a language suited to the conditions of the present time.

‘In the beginning was the Word’. John the theologian has left us with a vision of God who is both love and logos, a God who is loving and intelligible and who desires to communicate with us. This is God’s nature – a loving, communicating Trinity of persons. That is why we human beings can make some sense of God. Because we are creatures of a loving self-communicating God, and we therefore reflect our Creator (though in an extremely limited fashion), God makes sense to us both on the emotional (loving) and intellectual (thinking) level. Continue reading “December 2018: In the Service of the Transmission of Faith” →