The Gospel calls us to contact and collaborate with people who differ from us, both within and beyond the Christian community, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. This generally involves risk and personal discomfit. It means venturing into engagement with people who seem strange to us, putting aside our fears and prejudices, with the openness of genuine fisherfolk. We must search for common ground with them as promoters of peace and justice. After all, acceptance, peace and justice were the foundation of Jesus’ mission.

It’s just possible that today’s gospel reading also contains an invitation for us all to reflect on how we handle ourselves when our very worthwhile contributions to people in need are not recognised and acknowledged, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. Living the values of the Kingdom of God can be a thankless task. Jesus experienced that as his life unfolded, and all he had to console himself was his faith in God. Whenever God’s Spirit lands on us, and it really does from time to time, our consolation will be found in our faith in the God whom Jesus came to know and trust.

We have to realise that, in baptism, we have been planted in God’s love. As a consequence we have to reflect that love to everyone we encounter. In doing so, we become tightly linked to one another, forming Christian community, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald.

It’s just possible that today’s gospel is challenging us to stop and look at the Herod that is potentially within each of us, writes Christian Brother Julian McDonald. “Do we think that we have to be always in control of ourselves and our lives and those with whom we live and work? Are we afraid of the child within us, of accepting our weaknesses and vulnerabilities? Have we hardened ourselves to block out gentleness and tears? The magi in today’s gospel reading are symbols of those, who have the noble aspiration of going in search of truth and wisdom. Paradoxically, they found it in a child ushered into the world in the humblest of circumstances. They bypassed the one who craved attention, and that infuriated him to murder children indiscriminately.”

At Christmas, there are four different gospel readings. At the vigil Mass, we hear from Matthew, at the midnight and dawn Masses, from Luke, while the daytime Mass gives us a reading from John. Together, they give us a kaleidoscope view of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and their significance for us and our world. They are an invitation to us to do as Mary did, namely to ponder the implications of God’s becoming one with us in the person of Jesus. I suggest that we respond most effectively to this invitation not through theological exploration but rather through reflecting on what happens in our life and in the lives of others when we encounter God in the events and experiences of everyday life.