The first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke are more than history, as we now understand the term. The narrative captures core truths of the events which took place upon the birth of Jesus. They serve as a mirror in which we discover the meaning of the birth of Jesus and recognize that Jesus came to fulfil the promise of the Old Testament. They reflect the longing of the human heart as we find out about Jesus. To the Christians of Luke’s time, the infancy narrative of Luke’s Gospel offered a lesson in how to persevere in adversity as the Old Law gave way to the New. The attitude of Mary is a model to us all, as we welcome Jesus into our own lives. We marvel just as Joseph and Mary marvelled. Mary’s obedience teaches the way [ … ]

Today’s Bible reading celebrates two complementary affirmations of Jesus’ true identity, of Jesus’ divinity. The first is of John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way toward Jesus, teaching people an initial baptism of repentance, with water, such that they might be initially prepared to receive the Lord. The second is of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the divine affirmation, that of heaven, the Father’s voice visiting Earth and the Spirit descending, as heaven bows to Earth, the Father to acknowledge His beloved Son as His Own [ … ]

In order to find Jesus, the leper in these Gospel verses has had to transgress the law of the time, which was that he must live away from others, because whoever touched him would be impure. The leper has broken the religious laws so as to be with Jesus [ … ]

On the Sabbath, the day of rest and prayer, the Jews would gather in synagogues to recite the Shema and the eighteen blessings, which would be followed by readings from the Book of the Law, the Pentateuch, and from the Prophets. In today’s Gospel verses, Jesus has returned home to Nazareth, where, in the synagogue, he volunteers to read [ … ]

We discover in these verses of the Bible two distinct and complementary impulses which are at work in our relationship with God, exemplified by the shepherds and by Mary [ … ]

For the first Christian communities, almost all of them Jewish, the Benedictus would have been a song of joy, thanking God for His fulfilment of the promise of ages: God has visited his people and redeemed them. The faith of those early Christians is strong as they look back along the road they have travelled since Abraham, and forward to a time of peace, light, salvation [ … ]

John the Baptist is born into a small and close-knit community, in which all Elizabeth’s neighbours and family relations rejoice with her at the gift of new life the Lord has bestowed on her. This is clearly a good and healthy community environment, and this will be important to John’s formation, howbeit the people are, as small communities can often be, quite conservative in their ways, such that when Elizabeth tells them the child will be called John, she causes something of a fuss, because this is an unusual thing to do: ‘There is none of thy kindred called by this name,’ her friends complain to her [ … ]

Elizabeth – Mary’s cousin – and Zechariah are of noble ancestry. They have spiritual nobility also, following in all of the commandments and ordinances of the old Law in such a way that they are righteous before God. Zechariah is a priest, moreover. He serves God in the Temple, at the centre of Jewish society and faith. His son John the Baptist will go out to the wilderness to preach, but his journey starts here [ … ]

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading we are reminded particularly of the devotion we offer to Mary and of the saving grace the Mother of God brings to our relationship with Jesus. We are reminded once again to think of Mary as the greatest intercessor to whom we may pray. We think as well of how through our relationship with Mary we help enable our knowledge of God within our hearts: it is as if through our love of the Mother of God, Christ may be continually born within us; we seek to become akin to Mary, to emulate her example, so that through the Mother we may the better know the Son [ … ]

Jesus pays tribute to John the Baptist is a way which is enormously encouraging to the crowds. He teaches them that they have already begun to respond to God’s call. They have searched for God, and they have travelled on pilgrimage to see John the Baptist, who was not something flimsy and delicate but a prophet, and the greatest of the prophets at that, because he is nearest to Christ, especially called to prepare the way and to point Christ out to his followers [ … ]

The infancy narratives of Jesus are more than mere history. Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ infancy constitute a theological and Christological prologue to his Gospel. Many great truths of the Gospels are here prefigured. We may think of the Jesus’ infancy narratives given to us in Luke as a beautiful gateway, through which we enter to encounter the Gospels as a whole. This would certainly be appropriate to the spirit of our celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice that God has answered our calls to be with us, as we celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation [ … ]

Jesus is born into what must have been, for Mary and Joseph, the most trying, indeed tedious, of circumstances. Who of us likes filling in a tax return? And we don’t usually have to travel to a different city to do so, let alone know that our taxes are dictated by a foreign and conquering power [ … ]

In this, the Magnificat, Mary’s soul overflows with joy as she contemplates the wonderful blessing God has bestowed on her, surpassing indeed the gifts to any other person in history. Through her obedience and humility, Mary has been magnified herself by the Lord, such that we now recognize her greatness and call her blessed – each day, indeed, as we recite or sing the canticle as part of evening prayer [ … ]