09/01/2023

The Church has now concluded the festivities of Christmas although in the pre-Vatican 2 calendar they continue until the feast of the Purification. The first  readers of the Letter to the Hebrews were all Jews as were the majority of the first Christians. They accepted what they had seen in Jesus', life, death and resurrection as a continuation of the revelation of God's care for them which was recorded in their scriptures and continued to follow the Law that they had inherited from their fathers.

Jesus' call to Simon Andrew John and James was from one Jew to an other. It always amazes me that it happened in an instant and his call was immediately answered. God's call is to all men but we avoid the simplicity of the positive answer that God, who never forces, has created us to respond. We think that we are too tangled up in cares of the modern world but those first disciples, who were literally tangled up in the tools of their trade, instantly dropped their ropes and their nets and walked after Jesus.

For the first Christians their faith in Jesus was not a novelty but a simple continuation of their worship that was part of their daily lives starting with "Hear O Israel". It is no wonder that there were disputes in Jerusalem about circumcision and other self-definers of God's favour practised by the chosen-people. For the "God-fearers" and pure pagans the Proclamation of the Resurrection and the preaching that became our Gospels was entirely new so it is not surprising that it was in Antioch, a Greek city, that our fore-bearers first referred to themselves with a new name for a new beginning, Christians.

Dear Father in heaven let my faith, hope and love grow as did that of the disciples who knew your Son Jesus on earth and may the Holy Spirit fill your Church with love so that there is no space for the human sin that defaces it. May Mary and all your saints share with all sinners both us and the Holy Souls the grace of the Glory that is theirs out of your bounty, in the never ending joy of Heaven.