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Scripture
Psalm 99(100) Mass of the Day - Responsorial Psalm Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Know that he, the Lord, is God. He made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his flock. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Go within his gates, giving thanks. Enter his courts with songs of praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love. He is faithful from age to age. Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Reflection In Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti he invites us not to forget the lessons of history and what we are learning in this time of pandemic. “God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of “them” and “those”, but only “us”. If only this may prove not to be just another tragedy of history from which we learned nothing. If only we might keep in mind all those elderly persons who died for lack of respirators, partly as a result of the dismantling, year after year, of healthcare systems. If only this immense sorrow may not prove useless, but enable us to take a step forward towards a new style of life. If only we might rediscover once for all that we need one another, and that in this way our human family can experience a rebirth, with all its faces, all its hands and all its voices, beyond the walls that we have erected.” (Fratelli Tutti, 35) As we prepare for tomorrow’s great Feast of the Epiphany when we take down the Christmas tree and put away the tinsel, we invite you to reflect on ‘The Work of Christmas’ composed by Howard Thurman an African American theologian. The work of Christmas When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Prayer Pope Francis (Ecumenical Christian Prayer at the end of encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti') O God, Trinity of love, from the profound communion of your divine life, pour out upon us a torrent of fraternal love. Grant us the love reflected in the actions of Jesus, in his family of Nazareth, and in the early Christian community. Grant that we Christians may live the Gospel, discovering Christ in each human being, recognising him crucified in the sufferings of the abandoned and forgotten of our world, and risen in each brother or sister who makes a new start. Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty, reflected in all the peoples of the earth, so that we may discover anew that all are important and all are necessary, different faces of the one humanity that God so loves. Amen. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Music The life of Saint Francis of Assisi inspires the papacy of Pope Francis and the encyclical Fratelli Tutti. Our musical reflection is the Prayer of Saint Francis connecting with the Franciscan Community across the globe. |
