February 2025: Points to Ponder
The Presentation of the Lord
2 February 2025 • World Day for Consecrated Life
‘You are never too old.’ I remember this phrase from a good friend (who also was my mother) when I contemplated returning to college at age 42 to earn an associate degree in physical therapy. Could I learn again and read a textbook? Could I understand Physics 101? Are you kidding? After all, cookbooks and light novels were the extent of my reading! I graduated with honors, passed the state exam and began a second career at 45! Like I said, ‘You are never too old. No excuses!’
Anna lived her long life serving God. She allowed the Lord to work in her, and this brought her to the recognition of this infant being brought to the temple for His presentation to the Lord. It had not been an easy life for her, being a widow all those years. Widows in those days did not have the same stature as those with husbands and families. But she lived every day in communion with the Lord, and it allowed her to recognise the infant, Jesus.
Simeon and Anna were persistent in prayer. They showed up faithfully each day. We can learn from them that God is always at work in a quiet way in our lives, even when things seem impossible. So don’t give up and never think you are too old. God will show you things in your life if you stay close to Him with prayer, and you will recognise Him, just as Simeon and Anna recognised the infant, Jesus.
Bonnie Chester
www.ursulinesisterslouisville
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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
9 February 2025
Sometimes we can have a strong sense of our own unworthiness when we are in the presence of the Lord. Several characters in the gospels express this sense of unworthiness before Jesus. John the Baptist expressed his unworthiness to baptise Jesus; the Roman centurion expressed his unworthiness to have Jesus come to his home. In this morning’s gospel reading, Simon Peter expresses his unworthiness just to be in the presence of Jesus.
Each of these characters felt that the gap between themselves and Jesus was so great that they simply weren’t worthy to have him draw close to them. Yet, on each occasion, Jesus brushed aside the objection. He insisted on John baptising him; he insisted on going to the home of the Roman centurion; he insists to Simon Peter that he will not be departing from him. On the contrary, Simon Peter was called by Jesus to share intimately in his work of catching people, gathering people into God’s kingdom.
The Lord does not want our sense of unworthiness to become a block between himself and us. Yes, we are unworthy, but the Lord does not ask us to be worthy. Rather, he asks us to be willing, to be responsive to his will for our lives. His purpose for our lives is always so much more generous than the plans or purposes we might have for ourselves. Like Simon Peter in the gospel reading, we can discover that at the very moment when we are most aware of our unworthiness, the Lord is looking ahead to the person we can become and to the role we can play in his work in the world.
Fr Martin Hogan
Curate in the parishes of Finglas,
Finglas West and Rivermount
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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
16 February 2025
Much of what drives us today is based on image. How we will appear to others can seem more important than reality. We see this with fake Instagram accounts, fake followers, fake articles, and overblown personal stories on social media, with the many filters on our phone cameras and the lengths we go to in order to get more followers. This way of living has seeped into our consciousness. The way of Christ is a different way in which we are asked to be humble and selfless, not in a rose-tinted capacity but in a real way, a way that can hurt us, away that in some capacity mirrors Jesus’s walk to Calvary. Just like with our phone filters, it is very easy to sentimentalise Christianity. There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus was sentimental. His message went to the core of our being, and today in the beatitudes he is asking us for some of the humility that he has shown when he died for our sins.
We have been asked to reappraise where we are in our faith path. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess. But with the Gospels as our signposts we have a wonderful opportunity to grow as disciples of Jesus and live as though within the beatitudes. This may be a difficult thing to attain but it is also possible. Jesus, who is perfectly human as well as perfectly divine, proved this to us with his example.
Mount St Joseph Abbey
msjroscrea.ie
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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
23 February 2025
The ultimate call from Jesus is: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ Today Jesus is calling us to examine ourselves and ask: Do I do unto others as I would like them to do unto me?
Most likely, each one of us has been wounded, betrayed or rejected at differing times in our lives. If this person was a friend, this wounding typically is amplified since we trusted this individual. However, each one of us also has wounded or betrayed individuals in our life. It is all part of our human condition.
When Jesus instructs us to love our enemies, he does not mean that this person should become one of my best friends. Jesus understands that forgiving is first a decision. However, it also is a process. The path to forgiveness may take a long time, and understandably so. However, we have to choose to take the first step. No one can force us to take this step; we are the only ones who can make this decision. And in reality, it may take a long time before we are ready and willing to begin the process of forgiveness.
Jesus doesn’t ask for miracles nor does he want ‘play’ forgiveness. He continually invites us not only to free the individual who wounded us, but also to free ourselves from the pain, anger and hurt that binds us. Jesus is patient and yet persistent. He continually invites us and calls us to forgive. Perhaps today we can take one small step in this direction.
Sister Kristina Anne Harpenau OSB
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