St. Augustine's Advent & Christmas Calendar 2025

  Byzantine mosaic of the Wise Men Is 60:1-6   Ps 72:1-7, 10-14   Eph 3:1-12   Mt 2:1-12 We have reached Epiphany.  We have spent Advent pondering Jesus’s arrival on Earth as God’s gift to our world. We have given each other gifts in memory of that great gift. And now, ancient astronomers from the East travel a vast distance to give this gift some gifts of his own: gold, frankincense, myrrh. The Bible does not speak much about the Wise Men. They appear only in a single chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Yet many traditions have surrounded them through centuries of Christian worship. One tradition links each gift to one of Jesus’s roles: gold, for the splendour of a king; frankincense, used by priests to lift their offerings and prayers to God; and myrrh, an embalming oil,  for one who is to die. Matthew tells us that, when the Wise Men brought these gifts to Jesus, they stopped at Jerusalem on their way. They asked Herod where they could find this new king. Herod...

  Come and see where I’m staying 1 Jn 3:11-18  Ps 100  Jn 1:43-51 John 1: 38 Rabbi, where are you staying ? The whole Christmas story can be seen as an answer to this question. It is an answer that takes us all across SE Mediterranean lands, and occupies many chapters of Matthew’s and Luke’s narrative. These describe the physical, human, geographical circumstances of the incarnate Son — where he lived, why he lived there — from the last days of Mary’s pregnancy to the move to Nazareth.  John also sets the story in a context, a cosmic one, that begins with the eternal origin of the Word, the identification of Jesus not only as God but also as the author of all creation. In the end John’s prologue does tell us that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. But John leaves it to the other evangelists to fill us in on Jesus’ childhood beginnings. John simply has Andrew ask Jesus directly:   Rabbi, where are you staying ?Where is your dwelling?  The ...

  Is 60:1-6  Ps 72:1-7, 10-14  Eph 3:1-12  Mt 2:1-12   I was recently prompted to think on what the gospel is and my immediate response was: People sinned, Jesus died for our sins, and we have salvation through him. But I realized these words sparked nothing in me. Growing up in the church, they have became dull to me with repetition so I tried to really understand what they actually meant. My reflections are as follows: The Gospel is that God saw messy, gross us, and thought we were worth saving. So he sent his pure, perfect Son among us as a human to love us and to die for us. That even those that put nails through his hand and spat upon his face, he loved. But that he rose from the dead, conquering death for us. That if we repent and believe, we are saved. It is that God sees you, in your messy grossness - the you that falls into your bad habits again, that was cruel to someone who needed your help, the you that thinks awful things. That he sees that you, say...

  Checkerboard Hill- South Saskatchewan River (Sylvia/Facebook) 1 Jn 3:1-6; Ps 98:1-2, 4-7; Jn 1:29-34   All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.   Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned . Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking...

  Drummers Drumming   1 Jn 2:22-29; Ps 98:1-5; Jn 1:19-28  The Ninth Day of Christmas -  January 2     On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, nine drummers drumming  . . .  At last my favourite gift for the popular Christmas song for a well-wishing suitor to provide many gifts to his (her) intended to please the receiver of true love. This gift is certainly my favourite in that I can think of nothing better than drummers and a series of drums to add to the noise of a busy and hectic season.     The Gospel reading for this day, while not addressing drums and noise makers directly, does tell us that whatever the son does, he can only do what he sees the Father do:     Jesus gave them this answer: Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does....

  Num 6:22-27  Ps 8; Gal 4:4-7 or Phil 2:5-11  Lk 2:15-21 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us .    So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.    But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Luke 2:15-21 — The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,  Thus you shall bless the Israelites : You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and giv...