Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John. It is a feast which I love because most of our spirituality comes from John’s Gospel, a Gospel which is powerfully symbolic and mystical. The symbolic is very close to the mystical, which goes beyond the everyday part of life and finds the presence of God everywhere and responds to it. In the transmission of our charism, our Founder Blessed James Alberione has presented us with various biblical icons as beacons which enlighten and guide us on our journey of discipleship. On our Congregational emblem, we have engraved the verse from John 14:6: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. Our whole itinerary of holiness is based on John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat dies, it remains a single grain”.  The figure of Jesus Master Way Truth and Life is the foundational icon of our Rule of life. He is the one who has chosen us first.  We allow ourselves to be seized by him in order to contemplate him and to follow him in ...

The fourth week of Advent functions as a Grand Pause and allows us to return to the early days of Mary’s pregnancy. The altered time sequence moves us back, in the closing days of this season, to a more contemplative way of being, to roots, to silence, to mystery–all of which have a way of getting sidetracked in the frenzy of preparations for the celebration. The fourth Sunday says again and more emphatically: “Be still. Let what is about to happen sink in.” Last Sunday, as Church, we celebrated what is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of Joy. We were invited to rejoice for the Lord is in our midst. In today’s liturgy, we see in concrete terms the manifestation of that joy which comes from the presence of the Lord. It is a joy which is first prophesied by Micah in the First Reading. In the Gospel, we see how Mary accepts the message of joy and hurries with haste to her cousin Elizabeth. As I reflect, I think of Mary’s urgency which was the fruit of God’s plan and co...