A Thomistic Look at the Incarnation by Sr Mary Magdalene Eitenmiller

“Whatever is pleasing to you, O merciful God, may I ardently desire, wisely pursue, truly recognize, and bring to perfect completion, to the praise and glory of your name. Amen.” 

            St. John begins his Gospel with the mysterious sentence, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” After telling us that all things were made through this Word, and that this Word was Light and Life, he proclaims in verse 14 the good news that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and “we have seen His glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.” It is from the fullness of His grace that we have received “grace upon grace.” “No one has ever seen God;” says John, “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him” to us.

by Sr Tamsin Geach o.p.

As it says in the section of the letter of St Paul to the Romans that we read on the 2nd Sunday of Advent,  'Everything that was written long ago in the scriptures was meant to teach us something about hope from the examples scripture gives of how people who did not give up were helped by God.'  This second Sunday of Advent we are given the figure of John the Baptist in the Gospel.  John 'wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey'  Matthew adds that John is to be identified as the one spoken of in Isaiah who will 'Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’ 

Traditionally, based on this and other Gospel accounts John the Baptist is seen in a prophetic role, so I thought tonight we would explore the concept of prophecy -  particularly as on most Sundays of the year we hear a reading from one or other of the Old Testament prophets, but also to open up what is meant when John is seen as the last of them. 

In the Old Testament the first five books are called the books of the law, the Jewish Torah.  They are followed by books which are broadly speaking historical, from Judges to Maccabees, then the wisdom literature, including the psalms, and then the prophets.  There are 18 prophetical books from Isaiah to Malachi. 

by Sr Jadwiga Swiatecka

4th. Sunday of Advent: Yr. A: In today’s readings, we are reminded three times that He who is to be born is to be called Emmanuel, which means, God-with-us, so perhaps it’s a good idea to remind ourselves how God IS with us and not only, of course, at Christmas.

By Sr Ann Swailes o.p.

‘We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves, let each of us please his neighbour for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’ (Romans 15.1-3)

If you want to make God laugh, as they say, tell him your plans. Sometime before the beginning of the academic year, I decided that it might be nice to have sermon series at Vespers, much as some college chapels do at Evensong.