7th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A 2023 (1996)

19FEB2023 7thSUNinORDINARY(1996): A

1. LEV19:1-2, 17-18

Lev 18-20! What are the main preoccupations reflected in these Prescriptions?

What is the affect of appending to an Imperative, ‘I am TheLord/Yahweh!’?

In my Community, what ‘leverage’ is available, to either “Rulers’ or ‘Subjects’, to

ensure that Prescriptions&Stipulations are adhered to or fulfilled?

Which do I find moves me more to undertake a course of action:

Description of it as a ‘Divine Law’ or ‘The Word of the Lord’?

Support of its ‘truth’ by philosophical or quotational arguments?

Threats of ‘eternal’ or ‘temporal’ Loss or Punishment?

Presentation of one or more Exemplars who freely live the imperative?

Whisper of the InnerVoice of Soul, to take &taste&endure alertly?

Unwillingness to confront or embarrass ‘Authority Figures’?

What are the 5principal ingredients/exemplars/drawbacks of ‘Holiness’?

2. 1COR3:16-23

Why is Paul so obsessive about other claims to ‘Wisdom’?

Was he ironic enough to intuit that in time, even his own ‘Divine Wisdom’ might well topple over into ‘Worldly Wisdom’? How might this happen?

What about the mass of ‘Argument’ in the ‘traditional’ Catholic Apologetics?

Ultimately, what did/do people find so compelling about Paul?

Name the 5mostimpressive Writers Preachers Activists Controversialists?

If I am ‘Temple of God’, in whom dwells ‘Breath of God’

What am I doing to Protect Nourish Explore Honour this?

In what ways do I Neglect Avoid Dishonour Squander this?

Who else do I invite into The Temple? Or who do I exclude?

Who forces their way in: by Violence Fraud or Sweet Talk?

To what extent might Paul be devaluing the NittyGritty of experience?

3. MT5:38-48

In what situations can I glimpse myself to be vengeful vindictive reactive?

Where have I learned this behaviour?

What alternatives to ‘Vengeance’ have I discovered or attempted?

Can I se that ‘Eye-for-Eye’ promotes a basic irreducible ‘Justice’?

Why are exhortations to Tolerance Forgiveness Patience Letting Go Compassion & especially ‘LoveOfEnemies’, falling on deaf ears?

What Mindsets&Models are in possession in our PsychicTapestry, that makes it essentially impossible ludicrous dangerous, to be ‘Soft’ & ‘Wimpish’?

How do the initiations of Children into Adulthood, accentuate attitudes of SelfInterest rather than Altruism? &so involve Violence etc!

In what ways is ‘TheHeavenlyFather’ perfect? &How could I emulate this?

To what extent have I found intensive ‘SoulWork’ helpful in all of this?

4. OVERALL QUESTION

Lord! Now & then a stone turns,

&It’s You, smiling! More Conflagration

&Cauldron than before! Like now! O why?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A 2023 (1996)

Sunday 12th.February 2023 (1996) 6th.Sunday in Ordinary A

1. ECCLUS/SIRACH 15: 15-20

Read ECCLUS/SIR 14:20-15:20 Another example of the disarmingly sanguine&optimistic mindset: which imagines that Rhetoric&Knowledge! will give birth without further ado, to appropriately virtuous behaviours, either in oneself or others!

  • What hints do I receive that ‘Unconscious Factors’ are at work in me?
  • What am I currently identifying as ‘TheTrueWisdom’?
  • What Rituals&Methods&Processes am I working, so as to embrace This?
  • What aspects of my total experience, are represented by ‘Fire&Water?’
  • In what sense is one of these dimensions less valuable or desirable than the other?
  • How am I affected by this Fantasy, of Yahweh as a ‘Censorious Watcher?’
  • What about the somewhat hectoring&truculent tone of this extract?
  • &How about the pervasively masculine texture of this English Version?
  • Which phrases of the extract would I want to test against my adult experience?

2. 1COR2: 6-10

  • The wisdom that weaves in my adult experience: how describe It?
  • How do I represent the relatedness between this Wisdom & myself?
  • How does It stand vis-a-vis what Paul means as ‘Wisdom?’
  • What counts as ‘Maturity’ in my Church/Community? What are the ‘Criteria?’
  • Who declares&applies the Criteria for ‘Wisdom’ in my Community?
  • In Paul’s Community, how will people actually reach ‘Maturity,’ without ‘Wisdom?’
  • If Paul were here now, would he still say TheMasters had come to their End?
  • Who are TheMasters, whose Thinking Example Imperatives dominate this Age?
  • How can the modes of Initiation of AdultEducation be more affective?
  • Crucify the Lord of Glory’: why does he choose such emotive&tendentious terms?
  • As One-who-loves-God, what do I imagine is being ‘prepared for me?’
  • What opportunities exist in my Community, for the Spirit to Reveal the Depths?

3 MT5: 17-37

  • Read aloud&slowly TheDecalogue (EXOD 20)! Keeping in mind that these were part of the Covenant-with-Yahweh, and all its dimly-glimpsed implications for the life in the world for a ‘ServantOfYahweh’ (Jos 11:24)! &How truly dismaying to hear Him say that ‘embodying Yahweh’ demands more struggle than being a Pharisee! These Jews being, not Freaks&Frauds, but the best exemplars of JewishBiblicalPiety!
  • What, if&when I glimpse that ‘Yahweh’ was the InnerEssence of ‘Law&Prophets?’
  • Why have CatholicChristians so little esteem for ‘TheOldTestament?’
  • What if Paul’s dismissive attitude to ‘TheLaw’ has rubbed onto Catholics: who in another sense have even less esteem than Paul!
  • Jesus’ impossibly demanding understandings of Discipleship! What can I do but Ignore or Spiritualise or Analyse or Ridicule His unmistakable thought! Unless…
  • How compatible is this extract with current Ecclesial&Social conventions?

4. OVERALL QUESTION:

Lord! Let me get my breath back!

‘Which of us is in the real world!’ That’s what’ll be said!

Can I settle for TheSacredHeart?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A 2023 (’02)

5th.Sunday in Ordinary A Sunday 5th.Feb 2023 (’02)

  1. IS58 7-10
  • Read 58 1-14! True&false religious practice! & Why embody one, not the other?
  • Why are readings like this consistently offered-out, consistently ignored?
  • Which of these ‘works of mercy’ do I pursue, even in a modest fashion?
  • Apart from SVdP, how is my local church organised to succour our own needy?
  • Why is Food&Shelter&Clothing&Non-Violence reckoned to be so fundamental? Yet, Worship&Devotion&Obedience is sanctioned with reward&punishment as the ideal?

2. THE PSALM: 111 4-9

  • Read 111(112). 1-10 The rewards promised for Righteousness& Fear-of-Yahweh!
  • Who in their right mind wouldn’t inconvenience themselves for them! & Yet.
  • Is there a tacit wink in institutional religion that TheYahwisticStuff is optional?
  • Good/Just/Man,’ Does the yahwehistic golden-handshake apply also to women?
  • Read Job 23-24. Job’s Bone-to-Pick with ‘God’ & the traditional ‘theodicy’!
  • In what ways are AdultChristians ‘Light-in-the-Darkness for IrishSociety?

3. 1COR2, 1-5

  • How is Paul (or anyone) able to declare ‘what God has guaranteed’?
  • Jesus-as-CrucifiedMessiah!’ What is the impact now, of this Biblical language?
  • Nowadays, from what do preachers&missionaries derive their ‘power’?
  • Fear&Trembling.’ Is not this an unusual side of Paul? How is it compatible with his assertion that his speaking demonstrated ‘ThePower-of-TheHolyBreath’?
  • TheHolySpirit!’ What was dynamic in Paul, how might it awaken in me?

4. MT5.13-16

  • In what circumstances does the earth require salt? Or is it that the disciples of Jesus
  • will be a preservative a flavouring for the people of the earth?
  • Are disciples who have become insipid&irrelevant, threatened with being trampled?
  • Light.’ Apart from ‘Mass-attendance,’ how ‘visible’ are Christians in Ireland?
  • What 7Sorts-of-‘ChristianPresence’ are urgently needed in the contemporary situation?
  • But aren’t Christians currently encouraged to be ‘low-profile dummies?

5. The presence & action of TheBlessedOne, is it like this?

Is it possible, sir, & I say it with due regard to the proprieties, that some of your most challenging words to disciples have been watered-down & spiritualised? And what was once flame is no longer even ash? ‘Friend, it is true, & where truth is being hidden, what are proprieties but pious fraud? ‘It grieves me, sir. To find all that solicitude to quote you & refer to you, that it is yet little more than lip-service.’ Let me mention one particular word?’ ‘Friend, please do!’ When you encouraged disciples to be salt-of-the-earth, & if salt-of-the-earth lost its aliveness, it would be thrown out & trampled?’ ‘Yes…’ ‘I remember, it was near TheSea-of-salt! & some felt offended by being associated with the inhabitants of Sodom, while others were displeased with the hint that useless salt, that is disciples, would be thrown out & trampled!’ ‘Was it on that occasion that many left your company & walked no more with you?’ ‘That occasion, friend, was but one of many!’ ‘& What did you reply to the complainers?’ ‘Very little, friend! I said, if you find it difficult to carry the full burden of my words, how will you fare when the burden of others’ hatred for me, falls fully on you?’

RIDDLE What to do? Struggle for the corporal works of mercy?

Depend not on eloquence but on TheHolyBreath?

Seek to be a visibly-dynamic presence of society?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A 2023 (’02)

SUN 29th JAN 2023 (’02): 4th SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. ZEPH 2:3; 3:12-13

  • Read 1:2-3:20! A most enraged&violent outpouring of ‘Yahwistic Vitriol’ against Jew&Gentile! Barely mitigated by one or two phrases, &the end-song!
  • In light of such ‘prophecies’, it must be asked if ‘Yahweh’ is at all ‘balanced’? Or how we in the ‘modern world’ can comprehend these dramatic mood-swings?
  • To what extent is TheWrath-of-God still legal tender among ‘Christians’. Is it sometimes a projection of ‘authority figures’’, or a means of keeping ‘order’?
  • Can I discern any ambivalence in the call to people to be ‘humble&lowly’?
  • Unless it is supported&deeply-rooted by the most excellent ‘adult-education’?

2. THE PSALM 145:7-10 (Note again the subversive vv3-4!)

  • Read 145(146) 1-10 Whatever about ‘princes’, can ‘YahwehHimself’ be trusted?
  • As Job would ask ironically, how much of this excerpt is actually happening?
  • Unless to the extent that contemporary ‘Embodiers-of-Yahweh’ are doing it!
  • How is my local church enabling me to actualise any of this ‘wishful thinking’?
  • OppressedHungryPrisonersBlindBowedDown StrangerWidowOrphan!’ Is this list a mere rhetorical flourish? Or ‘spiritual chores’? Or serious reality still being avoided?

4. MT 5:1-12

How could God be actively-salvific in those with one foot in the grave?

How could the non-violent ever come to own this earth?

All the loss&death, when has God actually comforted a mourner?

Those who longed for justice like for food&drink, when have they found it?

When were the tolerant&compassonate folk not just taken advantage of?

Sure, many are single-minded & utterly-focussed, but is it God they gaze on?

Maybe loyalty-to-religion & wholeness-for-all are incompatible?

Persecuted for justice? Who can say is it truly virtuous, or something else?

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

Confidential memorandum to TheMost ExcellentHighPriest Caiaphas!

Dispatched by trusted messenger from ‘BarShemayâ’, Stalker of TheNazerene!

Greetings ‘May Heaven’sBlessings adorn YourExcellency’

Unworthy though I am, by any standards, I continue the work you entrusted to me, as Stalker-of-TheNazerene! I regret to say that the crowds are still flocking after him, in spite of the feeble efforts of certain parties (no names, Excellency) to discredit him! &in spite of the strangeness of his own words&behaviour! Much of the time, he merely offers riddles, no attempt to clarify anything, sometimes I wonder if these are coded messages to followers planted among the crowds! Yesterday for example, the first day of the week, TheNazerene climbed a low hill & sat there (rather pompously&mawkishly, I thought) teaching the hungry sheep, he calls it! Riddle after riddle, I just lost count! Here’s a few I recall (too dangerous to be seen writing on the spot)! ‘Why does Heaven favour only the wretched&resourceless’? TheBlessedOne will bestow all authority only on the meek of the land! If you hunger&thirst for justice, how could Heaven reject your cause? Why is TheBlessedOne more interested in those who mourn than those who laff? As he spoke these nonsenses, I could see people nodding, &at the end of the rigmarole they all cheered & threw their cloaks in the air! I fear he was speaking subversion&revolution, in coded language! I urge you once again, Excellency, let us be ready to slaughter him, &soon!’

6. RIDDLE

Who can I say are truly called? TheLowly&Oppressed? TheFoolish?

The SingleMinded? Or those who just say their prayers?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Cycle A 2023 (’02)

Sunday 22nd JAN 2023 (’02): 3rd SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. IS 8:23-9:3

  • Read 8:1-9:7! Prophetic weaving of personal&communal&national destinies
  • How do we hear now, ‘Yahweh’s Pronouncements’ about various Tribes&Peoples?
  • Do isolated extracts like this tend to make me uncritical of the widespread ‘darkness’ &’shadow’&’humbleness, sociological& psychological, that oppress our society?
  • Darkness&Shadow!’ : How will I describe this aspect of our contemporary experience?
  • How is it affected by our fulsome celebration, religious&secular, of ‘Christmas’?
  • On balance, am I more, or less, ‘oppressed&enslaved’, than before ‘VaticanTwo’?

2. THE PSALM. 26:1,4,13-14 (what of the crucial omitted verses?)

  • Read 26(27):1-14! Will Yahweh protect me in fear&anger&dereliction&illness?
  • What 10Personal&CommunalResources are empowering me to deal with ‘fear’?
  • In 60words, my best expression of my unfolding adult ‘worldview’?
  • What ‘viruses’ may be hidden there, that ‘dispose’ me to fear&selfrejection &defeatism
  • TheHouse-of-Yahweh!’ TheTemple? Arguably TheWilderness? Or TheFreeSpirit?
  • But what if ‘TheReality-of-Yahweh is only gradually nowadays-being-unfolded?

3. 1Cor1:10-13,17

  • Read 1:4-2:6. ‘The Goodnews’ What is it? Who is it for? Are there varieties of it?
  • What are The10Principal’Differences’, acknowledged or hidden, in my local church
  • What is being done to enable adultChristians to value&explore&benefit from them?
  • What are ‘TheSevenActivePowerFactions’? &How do these affect ‘TheBody’?
  • How do I distinguish Philosophy&Theology? Faith&Reason? Authority&Conscience?
  • How did Paul reckon the Corinthians would move from ‘disagreement’ to ‘unity’?
  • What if ‘TheChurches-in-NorthernIreland’ is ‘TheCorinthianCommunity’ writ-large?

4. MT 4:12-23

  • Why did He ‘call’ fishermen, rather than shepherds or carpenters? &Why does He appear, in the narratives, not to have ‘called’ women, on a par with men?
  • What is the role of the cited ‘prophecies’, which are especially prevalent in MT?
  • In ‘composing a gospel’, what ‘resources’ would an early community draw on
  • The image of ‘casting a net to catch people’.

In my world, what are the attractive, &the off-putting, aspects of it?

In what ways are ‘people’ &’fish’ comparable

For a ‘fish’, how would being in the ‘boat’ excel being in the ‘water’

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

SONG OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES
He appeared in Zabulon&Naphthah, to us who waited!
He walked along the shore & looked in our eyes!
He opened our eyes to the wonder close at hand!
He touched our lives with words that kindled our soul!
He shouted, Abandon boat&bed&hearth!
He netted Simon&Andrew, James&John!
He promised a life&death fishing on land!
He taught us the breath that quickens, the touch that heals!
He called us from our darkness into His light!

6. RIDDLE

Which ‘GoodNews’? Light-in-Darkness? Protection-from-Fear?

Unity-in-Difference? Gatheredness-in-Lostness

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Cycle A 2023 (’02)

SUN 15th JAN 2023 (’02) : 2nd SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. IS 49:3,5-6 (Shreds of TheSecondServantSong)

  • Read 49:1-6. ‘The training of TheServant for an unheard-of mission’
  • What insights are offered here, into the nitty-gritty of ‘Friendship-with-Yahweh’?
  • TheNations/TheEnds-of-the-Earth!’ Apart from the experience of Exile-in-Babylon, what other factors may have broadened&deepened the prophetic imagination?
  • In what ways is ‘the conventional Christian worldview’ over-narrow&over cautious?
  • Express in 60 words the content of this ‘worldview’? &Whence its ‘authority’?
  • What if ‘TheOtherGods’ claim to have ‘formed me in the womb as their slaves’?

2. THE PSALM 39:2-4:7-10

  • Read 39(40):1-17 ‘DeliveranceSong of a faithful Follower-of-Yahweh’!
  • Which Friend or Parent or Teacher is ‘stooping down’ to ‘make my steps secure’?
  • Is a ‘listening presence’ better than ‘sacrifice&offering &holocaust&victim’?
  • What is ‘TheWill-of-Yahweh’ for my local church
  • How would I know if ‘TheOtherGods’ were ‘imposing their will on me’? &Which-one?
  • SealedLips’!: In myChurch, is this a non-speaking of ‘praise’ or ‘critique’ or ‘debate’

3. 1COR 1:1-3

  • In 60words, compose a relevant&incisive introduction of myself to my local church?
  • Appointed-by-God!’ For any ministry, how is such a claim understood&verified?
  • In what ways is my local church similar or dissimilar to that of ‘Corinth’?
  • What is the ‘Vocation/Call’ directed to my local church, as a whole?
  • Judging by this ‘introduction’, what ‘power-structure’, if any, obtained in Corinth?

4. JOHN 1: 29-34

  • As TheBaptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he spoke a series of riddles!

How would even God’sPaschalRam free TheWorld from its ownEnslavements?

One I never met nor know, Him I reveal-to-all through death-by-water!

The one after me is also before me! The one under me is also over me!

What I didn’t know, TheVoice knew! What I couldn’t, TheBreath would!

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

What I can’t understand is this’ ‘ThePractisingSceptic was characteristically pro-active’!’ Yes.? ‘TheOfficialBeliever’s dry intervention carried a tone of authoritative cheveux-de-frise!’ ‘how the narrator of TheFourthGospel’ ‘JohnTheMysticEagle!’ could say that JohnTheBaptiser saw Jesus coming towards him’. Yes, TheLamb-of-God!’ ‘&called him ‘TheLamb-of-God’ ‘So, what’s your problem?’ ‘&then?’ ‘&then, on the heels of this declaration..’ ‘Public act of faith in the..’ ‘..twice admitted he didn’t know him.’ ‘According to the flesh, perhaps! but in the realms of TheHolySpirit, everything including sin is serenely&beautifully transfigured by the action of.. ‘Hold it, Lacordaire’ ‘Mind if I utter one full sentence uninterrupted?’ ‘Not at all! Just that you spend so long plodding to the dénouement, I’ve forgotten how the weary string of clichés started out.’ ‘Is the fact that JohnTheBaptist is made to contradict himself.’ ‘How dare you, tête-de-choux’ Oh, you sneezed, milord?’ say in that barefaced way.’ ‘..that TheBible’s inspiration needs to be carefully scrutinised?’ ‘No! That TheHolySpirit could be party to such an’ ‘But look at it, it’s there in your own Douay, even .’ After a long long silence, TheOfficial Believer spoke, ‘The Tradition says, When you think you’ve found an error, take it that you are mistaken, not the sacred author…..’

6. RIDDLE

Which God is now-for-me?

Friend, Whisperer, Appointer, Chooser, Teacher?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

The Baptism of the Lord A 2023 (’02)

Sunday 8 January 2023 (’02) . THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD : A

  1. 1S42.1-4, 6-7 (Not ignoring v5, surely?)
    • Read 42.1-25! The manyMoods&Turnings-of-Yahweh! Who would be HisSlave?
    • ‘Servant” Name 5People in my local church whose deportment is like this?
    • What criteria indicate that someone or something in my local church has been pointed to, either with approval or disapproval, by ‘TheHeavenlyVoice’?
    • What sorts of rituals&disciplines&asceticisms would be called for, so as to bring about in a ‘Servant-of-Yahweh’ this combination of gentleness&f1dehty&healing?
    • ‘OpenEyes, FreeCaptives”· For-whom, by-whom, is this happening in my local church?

2 THE PSALM • 28.1-4, 9-10

  • Read 28(29)•1-11! Yahweh imagined or disguised as Semitic StormGod! But what is going on here, that Ba’al or Hadad wouldn’t be doing anyway?
  • Are some of God’s, Yahweh’s or Jesus’ Titles&Rituals borrowed from TheOtherGods?
  • Can I imagine a TempleRitual (dance etc) that may have accompanied this psalm?

3 AAlO 34-38

  • Read 10:1-48!Surely an archetypal ‘example-story’ for all ‘missionaries’!
  • ‘FearGod&DoWhatIsRight” Even outside ‘church structures’?
  • ‘Cornelius!’ The ‘conversion’ of this pagan offtcer ‘certainly a good propaganda’
  • How can he assert to TheEmperor’sMan, that ‘JesusChrist is Lord of all men’?
  • If each child is ‘anointed with TheHolyBreath&Power’, why the religious crisis?
  • Do we spend too much time talking-about-Jesus, but not doing-now what He did-then?
  1. MT3 13-17
    • Read 3·1-25! TheBeginnings ofTheGreatWork! Jesus takes TheBaton from John!
    • What are The10Disputes (hidden or overt) in my local church? Who are involved?
    • What are the mam problematics around the contemporary practice of ‘Baptism’?
    • ‘TheHeavensTheBreathTheDoveTheVoice” How did all this take place for me?
    • Why is a general conferring of ‘AdultBaptism’being resisted in TheChurch?
    • How fitting would it be, that ChristianParents baptise their own child?
  2. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

‘Gertie, listen!A’m nearly breathless wi’ this one’ This bates th’ whole bangjang I ever…’ ‘God, Cissie, has lover-boy poppt a.. ‘ ‘Wait til y’ hear! He really had us out on stalks this mornin’ ”Oh ” John th’ Baptist wouldn’t let OmDivineLord inta th’ water.”. th’ Sheridan, wasn’t it?’ ‘ t’ get baptised” ‘H’l on, now..’ ‘He pushed him back onta th’ bank, “Y’re too holy t’ be comm’ in here wi’ them other sinners’ What’d God be doin’, down here confessin’ wi’ prostitutes an’ godknows..”…’ ‘Oh..’ ‘So what did OurDivineLord do?’ ‘Well, I guess he coulda baptised hisself…’ ‘As my fella says when he. ‘ ‘Or he coulda assed someone else.. ‘ Th’ sinners?’ ‘Or one a’ them, what d’ ya call them?’ ‘Anyway, they fixed it up .’ ‘What?’ ‘..A’m not sure, someone’s child started. ‘ ‘Aw th’ usual here’s-me-granny” ‘I think they agreed, “You baptise me, then I’ll baptise you'” ‘ ‘As th’ fella in th’ soap ‘ ‘Th’ main thing is, he got baptised! I don’t care who did it, th’ butcher th’ baker! ‘Cos otherwise, what use ‘d our own baptisms be?’ ‘I don’t know, now ‘ ‘No, they were right to agree, for all our sakes’ Yes, that’s what he said, “If he hadn’t, would I a’ been up here, talkin’ t’ yous?” .’ ‘Well now, that’s definitely another kettla fish”‘

  1. RIDDLE ChristianBaptism! PiusFormality? InitatoryOrdeal? Imitation-of-Jesus?

    Opportunity-for-a-Day’sCrack?

    Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

    The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God 2023 (’02)

    Sunday 1 JAN 2023 (’02) • SOLEMNITY OF MARY MOTHER OF GOD

    1 NUM6·22-27

    • Read 6 1-27!A strange relic from the past? Or a clue to some of our obsessions?
    • ‘Yahweh&Moses&Aaron&Sons-of-Israel!’. What is this channel-of-power?
    • Is it arguable that ‘true-blessing’ must ultimately derive from the mother?
    • Can I create an appropriate ‘MaryMotherBlessing’ for contemporary children?
    • Why is ‘Yahweh’ imagined as a ‘ShiningFace’? Again, is this actually ‘TheMother’?
    • Especially, the claim that faces of Brides&Mothers-in-Birth shine-with-light!
    • How is Yahweh ‘UncoveringHisFace’&’BringingPeace’ into my local church?

    2 THE PSALM:66 2-3, 5, 6, 8 (Why those ‘scraps’ thrown-away?)

    • A modest&decorous song to ‘God’, TheTempleDivinity, ‘Praise&Blessing’!
    • What about ‘TheCult-of-TheFace’ in modern secular&religious iconography?
    • Especially church leaders&saints&gurus! &market&political&media icons1
    • How is TheShining of God’s or Yahweh’s Face relevant to this festival?
    • Why is ‘God’ generally portrayed Without BrotherSisterDaughterFatherMotherUncle?
    • What is TheGreatBlessing yearned-for in my local church?
    1. GAL4·4-7
      • Read 3:1 – 5.1!The tangled relations of Law&Promise&Redemption!
      • The insistence on ‘Sons’ in this excerpt, how is it affected by the solitary ‘Woman’?
      • Is there a hint that ‘Adoption/Redemption’ is deeply connected with ‘Woman’?
      • In what ways are contemporary women called to the ‘healing of men’?
      • Is ‘biblical revelation’ as a whole, truly capable of valuing ‘woman-as-healer’?
      • &Has TheChurch managed to combine ‘Honour-of-Mary’ & ‘Disvaluation-of-Women’?
      • But are ‘christians’ increasingly prone to ‘enslavement’ by ‘the modern world’?
    2. LK2·16-21
    • In which other biblical stories do ‘angels’ speak to ‘shepherds’? (Say, GEN18)
    • What in the shepherds’ words would have ‘astonished’ people?
    • ‘Treasure&Ponder” Is this a reference to a mother’s-wisdom? Or, for-all?
    • What did the shepherds think or do, about the ‘baby lying in the manger’?
    • ‘Circumcision!’: Read GEN17! Men, sure! but how were women included?
    • How is the naming of children different from naming pets or boats or storms?
    • ‘PraisingGod!’· How is this ‘God’ connected With Mary as ‘Mother-of-God’?

    5 The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

    WE SING THE MOTHER OF ALL
    Lady' You set your throne in the pillar of cloud!
    Lady' You smile in sun&moon&stars!
    Lady' You brighten every soul you touch! 
    Lady' You breathe into our eyes at birth! 
    Lady! You gladden families, flocks, &fields!
    Lady' You shepherd all who stumble or stray! 
    Lady' You handsel artist, player, &poet!
    Lady! You gather us into the realm at death! 
    Lady! Your heart&breasts&womb, the-all!

    6. RIDDLE

    Mary Mother of God! A 15000year-old dogma, now passe?

    A strong declaration of the dignity of all women? A statement

    of the importance of woman for Jesus, &a fortiori, for TheChurch?

    The Nativity of Our Lord Cycle A 2022 (’01)

    Sunday 25th DECEMBER 2022 (’01) : THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD

    1. ISAIAH 52:7-10

    • Read 51:1-52:12. ‘TheMovement&Restoration &Healing of ThePeople’
    • Apart from tinges of chauvinism&triumphalism in this extract,

    Who is announcing&consolidating ‘goodness for-now’

    What ‘ruins’ of my local church are looking for attention?

    If I met Yahweh ‘face-to-face, would each know the other

    2. THE PSALM 97:1-16

    • Read 97(98)1-9! Celebration of Yahweh’s ‘Victory’ &’JusticeMaking’
    • How important in my local church is the entitling of Yahweh&Jesus as ‘king’?
    • RightHand&HolyArm!’. Hints to a militant ‘HolyWar’mentality
    • What if ‘salvation’ in this psalm, &in christian imagining, are totally different?
    • &Jesus, ‘TheSaviour’, what was He ‘saving’ His contemporaries for, or from?
    • How important is song&music&dance in ‘christian ritual’ nowadays?

    3. HEB 1:1-6

    • Read 1:1-2:18! The web of relations between ‘TheSon’ & ‘TheAngels’!
    • Where does this exalted language enter into my contemporary experience?
    • In what ways is it relevant (or not) to the celebration of ‘Christmas’?
    • Father&Son!’. The benefit&cost of the prevalence of this relationship in TheBible?

    4. JOHN 1:1-8

    • Why was this (TheLastGospel) often read over the sick, for healing?
    • This cultic song (with some interpolations, say, about TheBaptist),

    What is its central&irreducible affirmation?

    ‘TheWord’? TheExodusSymbol? TheSpeakingBreath? TheFeminineWisdom

    The WordEmbodied, what palpable power has It in my life&times

    How is ‘Christ’ actually making ‘God’ part of my adult experience?

    5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

    Sir’ A question that’s long waited patiently for the asking! How did you perceived&take-to-yourself Heaven’s breathing&speaking?! Always, perhaps, I was cradled in Heaven’s paternal embrace! But it was when I was twelve, &took on the burdensome blessing of covenant, then it was friend, that I began to be nourished by the breasts of angels’ ‘Sir, your words inspire me greatly’ &Make me bold to ask you about TheWord! What is that, &what is your relation to it?’ ‘Friend, this truth-of-Heaven has been trampled by hooves-of-bulls, as it became gossiped-about by ever-new people in ever-new languages!’ ‘Sir, I fear we will not comprehend each other about this!’ ‘TheWord, friend, flows between us in our deepening friendship! It is the deepest darkest fire-of-Heaven! Every other depth &deepness is born from that well-of-narrative, &that heart of action, &that tree-of-yearning!’ ‘Why, sir, do some assert that in your living&dying TheWord has truly come amongst us?’ ‘Friend! What came upon me before&during&after! What entered with breath&light&blood! Nazareth Bethlehem Jerusalem! That rich fullness of love’s myriad extravagance is barely hinted by stammering ‘TheWord’! But may this friendship touch you, so that you too may suffer the unfathomable grace of Heaven’sKiss!’ ‘Sir, my thanks! &May our friendship ever be soul’s bearing-up in the storm!’

    6. RIDDLE

    WhichJesus must be Born-for-our-Darkness?

    TheOne who ensures our victory over others?

    TheOne who empowers our struggle for truth?

    TheOne who deepens our awareness into love?

    Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

    4th Sunday of Advent Cycle A 2022 (’01)

    Sunday 18th December 2022 (’01) : 4th Sunday of Advent Cycle A

    1. ISAIAH 7: 10-14
    • Read 7:1-8:22! Is ‘National Disaster’ inevitable? Or ‘Yahweh’s Retribution’?

    Or the play of ‘PoliticalSelfInterest’?

    Or ‘TheAssertionOfTranscendentFactors’?

    • How do I discern TheWill-Of-Yahweh’ for my local church? Or for myself?
    • In what situations does the leadership of TheIrishChristian Churches ask Yahweh for a sign, in the immanent ‘crisis’? Or, is this part of the ‘strategy’ at all?
    • Test/TemptYahweh!’ Why (&whence) was it prohibited to ‘testYahweh’?
    • Son!’ TheQueen giving-birth to a male heir symbolises Yahweh’s gracious favour towards the dynasty! Has my local church any comparable ‘sign-of-favour’?

    2. THE PSALM 23:1-6

    • Read 23(24): 1-10 ‘Yahweh-the-King’ Creator-of-All! Who-are-his-chohorts?

    How will He Enter-His-Temple? & Where is all this in IrishSociety?

    • Who are the favoured ‘OutRiders-of-Yahweh’ in my local church?

    Is this excerpt’s fantasy, that they must all be men, still the norm in spite of everything?

    • The self-reassured ’TempleAuthority’ in this excerpt, to what extent has it been recapitulated in TheChurches’ management of Difference&Dissent?
    • Must the claim that ‘Yahweh-Owns-All be stringently contested?

    3. ROM1:1-7

    • Can I express the marrow of this excerpt in 30words of current English?
    • Apostle/SentOut!’. Is he ‘One-of-the-Twelve’? Or a sort of ‘Bishop’? Or just ‘Awake’?
    • What is inhibiting me from expressing ‘MyTrueFaith’ by speeches&letters

    Or did Paul have to get special permission to ‘minister’? (Read GAL1:1-2:21!)

    • Have I discovered that ‘Belonging-to-JesusChrist is ‘goodnews’ in any way?
    • Could ‘TheRomanChurch’ learn from us, as it presumably learned from Paul?

    4. MT1:18-24 (And v25?)

    • Read1:1-25! What if TheGeneology is as significant as TheBirthStory?
    • ThroughTheHolySpirit!’. In what aspects of Jesus’Unfolding, in its complexity, was ‘TheHolyBreath’ active? Which OTNaratives&Psalms give a clue to this?
    • What if ‘TheHolyBreath’is significantly involved in TheEmergence of each child?
    • Did Joseph know of ‘TheBreath’ both before&during&after that dream

    &Was he more concerned about ThePregnancy, or ThePresence of ‘TheHolyBreath’?

    • What are The7Ways in which the storyteller explores Jesus’ complex origins?

    5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

    THE CHILD HIS SHOUTS-OF-REALISATION!

    Yes, TheMother! Attended with love TheWhisperer!

    Yes, TheAngel!’ Weaver sweet&bitter

    Yes,TheFather! Gathered the threads-of knowing!

    Yes, TheFriendship! Mix&melt&mould!

    Yes, TheDreamer! Arrowing beyong the moment

    Yes, TheFamily! Dance of many&one

    Yes, TheEagle! Carried us there&back!

    Yes, TheBreath! Before&during&always

    6. RIDDLE Jesus, whoseSon-for-Now?

    TheQueen’s?Yahweh’s?

    God’s? Joseph’s? TheHolyBreath’s?

    Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie