Ut Aliis Tradere

Over the past few years battle lines have been drawn by those who have taken a hard look at the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the Beatitudes (the catalogue of blessings at the very beginning of the discourse), and those who dismiss them because they are inconvenient, particularly because they undermine their attempts to gain and to hold onto cultural or political or even emotional power.

...these followers of John the Baptist wanted to know more about this Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. So, Jesus said the next fateful three words, “Come and see.”

As Christian feasts go, our secular culture has no idea what to do with it. While the world around us has taken down their decorations (except for those people who get around to it sometime between Independence and Labour Day), many Christians, to the puzzlement of their neighbours, leave their decorations up to blaze forth in full glory until this day.

[A reflection on the readings of the Second Sunday after Christmas, January 4, 2026, which may be read by following this link: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/christmas-2/ ] Usually, in my weekly musings, I look at the Gospel appointed for the Mass of the Day, read and reflect, and write. We get a choice of no less than THREE passages today, and the one I pick may not be the one you hear...or the one I hear because I see the Sunday bulletin AFTER writing this... So

[A reflection on the Gospel for the First Sunday after Christmas, which may be found at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/christmas-1-a/ along with the other readings for Mass.] Darkness is all about us. Millions suffer around the world, victims of war, oppression, marginalization, or sheer neglect. Wars rage across the earth, random violence pops up in seemingly secure and sedate locales, and crushing poverty drags down whole neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. Po

While we signify this by the expectant nature of Advent, it really is only a symbol, a living, breathing representation, of a larger and more profound period of waiting for a greater and more profound event.

With news like this around us, perhaps even directly affecting us, how can we even begin to rejoice?

My dear ones in Christ, we should not fear judgement, but we should recognize that there will indeed be a judgement, both the judgement of our choice either to embrace eternal life or to persist in death, as well as the examination of our actions.

We tried our level best, but human ability to predict is notoriously wobbly at best and downright deceptive and delusional at worst, just like the predictions we have been hearing lately about the date of the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ.