Readings at Mass Today
21/12/2025
Fourth Sunday of Advent
What child is this?
‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ we heard sung with great enthusiasm at the Carol Service for St Anne’s Catholic High School. This took place in Our Lady and St George last Wednesday evening. It was a lovely celebration.
This simple message, that without the unspeakable gift of the Christ Child there would be no Christmas, is worth reflecting upon and sharing with others, I feel. All the familiarities of the festive season, ’the sweet and silly Christmas things’ as the poet John Betjeman puts it, can sometimes blind us to what lies behind all the celebrations, as familiar as they are to all of us.
Every Christmastide we celebrate a birthday, the birthday of the Saviour of the world. The readings we hear at the Masses we attend, including this Sunday with the emphasis on the loving devotion of St Joseph, help us to remember, and to be thankful for, the gracious and loving action of God in the incarnation.
This child, Jesus, the Light of the World, comes to save us from our sins and to lead us home to heaven. From his manger bed in Bethlehem he smiles upon us all, encouraging us to love one another more completely and sacrificially in the manner of his own divine love, which is beyond all telling.
In the beautiful Christmas Card produced for the parish by Fr Patrick van der Vorst we see an image of the Nativity of the Lord by Philippe de Champaigne. Please do take these cards (there are plenty of them) and display them in your homes and pass them to your neighbours and your families, perhaps especially those who, for whatever reason, will not be at Mass this Christmas.
In the striking picture there is much to observe. I like the dog in the right foreground (is he a lurcher or a greyhound?). He is barging his way into the scene to find out what’s going on. He is richly blessed by a vision of the smiling Holy Babe.
Below his nose is a lamb, and when we look closely we notice that he is tied up, ready to be slaughtered. What is this about? He is surely a foreshadowing, an intimation, of the cross. This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He is born for us and he will die and rise again for us.
Thank you for your kindness and support.
Wishing you a blessed and peaceful Christmas,
Father Daniel
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