Epiphany of the Lord (Year A) Jan. 5 (Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12)

Epiphany has always been associated with light and hope. Since each year we celebrate this feast with the same readings, we might ask how the past year has been different from any other year and what 2014 might hold for us.

The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2,000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good. Beyond spawning every kind of legend imaginable, the story of Christmas has, in the Christian imagination, too often taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the Gospels themselves. This is not surprising, given its richness.

Holy Family (Year A) Dec. 29 (Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalm 128; Colossians 3:12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23)

The term “family values” is tossed around rather indiscriminately, especially in the political sphere. It can mean many things, but often it is little more than a code word for extreme conservative social values or a mask for hypocrisy.

In a report on the eve of the 2012 Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., gave a brief but stinging assessment of the impact of secularism in our time. He noted a dramatic reduction in the practise of faith among the baptized from so called First-World countries. In addition, he said entire generations have become disconnected from such “foundational concepts” as marriage, family, common good and right and wrong. Secularism, he said, has created Catholics who are unable to recite the Church’s foundational prayers, who see no value in Mass attendance and who ignore the sacrament of Penance.

Faith is not something you achieve. If you try to nail it down, it gets up and walks away with the nail. Faith works this way: Some days you walk on water, other days you sink like a stone. You live with a deep secret, the poet Rumi says, that sometimes you know, and then not, and then know again. Sometimes you feel the real presence, sometimes you feel the real absence. Why?

Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A) Dec. 22 (Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24)

King Ahaz was close to despair. It was 734 BC, and Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged by her enemies the Syrians. They were trying to force Ahaz to join in rebellion against the Assyrian Empire, to whom Ahaz had submitted as a vassal. Defeat seemed unavoidable, and Ahaz was considering an attempt to make military alliances with other powers to alleviate the situation.

Third Sunday of Advent (Year A) Dec. 15 (Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; Psalm 146; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)

Modern theology usually mimics philosophical or scientific modes of writing. As useful or necessary as this may sometimes be it seldom inspires the sacred imagination or touches the heart. Old Testament theology, on the other hand, was theology by means of vivid images, symbols and stories. Many of the prophetic passages verge on poetry as they weave together images that in a rational sense may be incomprehensible.

Many of us, I suspect, know about the work of the renowned anthropologist Rene Girard and the dissemination of his insights through the work of his student Gil Bailie. With gratitude to them, I pass along one of their insights, an invaluable look at how we try to handle resentment in our lives.

Do you ever get that empty feeling? For me, it often happens in grocery stores — nowadays so big you could easily get your day’s exercise there — crammed with foods, tastes, colours.

Faith is not something you achieve. If you try to nail it down, it gets up and walks away with the nail.