The Joy that Makes Peace
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- Category: Weekly reflections
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- Written by Conor McDonough OP
- Hits: 1576
On the Gospel of Luke 2:1-14
Christmas Day (Midnight Mass)
Jesus is a ridiculous figure – so it seems to popular culture. Comedians in particular, posing as brave, anti-establishment satirists, treat Jesus as a figure of fun. For example, the incongruity of divine power and human limitation was used as a source of comic material by one comedian with a tour derisively entitled ‘Jesus is Magic’. On the one hand, Christians could decry this ridicule as disrespectful (which it is) and derivative (which it is), but there is more to be said about it than that. It seems to me that the entertainers have understood something that Christians have forgotten: the irreducible scandal of God becoming man. The Incarnation should never become something merely domestic and cute, but it should always retain its strangeness for us. We believe that the Creator of the entire universe, the ground of all being, became a weak and needy baby. This event is so strange, so incongruous, that it simply has to raise a smile. And as Fr Robert Barron points out, ‘to make the humour even more pointed, this incarnation of God was first made manifest not in Rome, Athens, or Babylon, not in a great political capital, but in Bethlehem of Judea, a tiny outpost in the corner of the Roman Empire’. The cynical comedians may laugh with spite, but we shouldn’t respond to them po-facedly: we should be smiling too, but with lighter hearts than theirs, when we approach the Infant in the crib and wonder at this great paradox, this divine joke.
The Silent Man of Bethlehem
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- Category: Biblical
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- Written by James Cassidy OP
- Hits: 1882
Question: How often so far this Advent have you paused to think about the story of Christmas? Probably quite frequently. (I know that readers of Dominicans Interactive are very holy people.)
Second Question: How often so far this Advent have you paused to think about St Joseph? Ah yes, we always forget about Joseph....
Ears to Hear - Advent 8
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- Category: Ears to Hear
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- Written by Luuk Jansen OP
- Hits: 1608
Homily of St Bernard (141)
Throughout the twenty centuries of Christianity, writers and preachers have been falling over each other trying to do justice to Mary, the Mother of God. Perhaps the most successful in this regard is St Bernard of Clairvaux. He was a Cistercian monk and he had an enormous impact on the Europe of his day. Here, though, we see his tender side, as he addresses our blessed Mother. Appropriately for this stage of Advent, he turns to the moment when the Word became flesh, when Mary said Yes to what God was asking of her.
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Rejoice and Do Not Be Afraid!
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- Category: Weekly reflections
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- Written by Daragh McNally OP
- Hits: 2206
On the Gospel of Luke 1:26-38
4th Sunday of Advent
Today's Gospel shows us how God entered the life of Mary in Nazareth, but it also shows us how God works in our own lives as well. It is particularly relevant as we are preparing this Advent season for Christ’s coming at Christmastime. What we can notice immediately is how Gabriel tells Mary to "Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you". This is the same phrase we know in the Rosary as “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you”. But the greeting is not a simple hello or “hail”, but God is going further and immediately telling Mary to rejoice. In this moment, God has just entered Mary's life in a powerful way, and the first message He gives to Mary, and to us, is to rejoice. It is the first message of the Gospel. As we prepare for Christ this Advent, we must first and foremost be preparing to rejoice in the Lord.
"Credo" Series - Preview
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- Category: Credo series
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- Written by Monica Rapeanu
- Hits: 2788
We have been very busy for quite some time now recording and editing a series of 13 video episodes. This new and exciting Video Series is aimed at offering an easy to understand explanation of each one of the articles of the Nicene Creed.
We trust you'll enjoy watching this Preview and that you'll help us spread the word about our work and thus bring the Good News to others! Ad majorem Dei gloriam!
Symposium - Friendship, Religion and the Spread of Darwinism
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- Category: Symposium
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- Written by Luuk Jansen OP
- Hits: 1788
In this episode of St. Saviour's Symposium we have Dr Miguel DeArce giving a presentation on 'Friendship, Religion and the Spread of Darwinism'.
Read more: Symposium - Friendship, Religion and the Spread of Darwinism
