Sunday 1 January
Mary, the Holy Mother of God Gospel - Luke 2:16-21 “As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart”. Treasuring and pondering…which the heart of Mary, the Holy Mother of God does! How she does that? She does that by saying “fiat” to the will of God and the Word of God always. A constant “yes” to the Word of God can be only the result of treasuring and pondering of the effect of the same Word of God in her life. Not just any treasuring and pondering but doing it in her heart. Doing it in the depth of the soul, in her heart. The Word of God becomes the only treasure and all the thoughts come from it. Only if we really think about the context of the Gospel, we will understand what it means “treasuring and pondering”! They did not get place in inn, the child is born in manger, some shepherds passed by to greet the child… so what is she treasuring and pondering…? It’s the faith in the Word of God that she is treasuring and pondering despite all the contrary situations in which she is living and experiencing. Let’s reflect: are we ready to continue treasuring and pondering the Word of God despite the contradictories which we live?
Saturday 31 December
7th day within the octave of Christmas Saint Silvester I, Pope Gospel - John 1:1-18 “The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth”. The Word continues to live among us in different ways. We can see His glory in different occasions. His glory filled with grace. The truth of incarnation is a reality of everyday life. The presence of God amongst us is a fact of daily life. When we acknowledge that presence in our life, in our day today experiences, we will start to see His glory also present in our life. From recognizing the presence of God to seeing the Glory of God, filling with grace in our life. Being in the last day of this year, it’s a moment to see all these grace-filled moments of 2022. Let’s fill our hearts with gratitude and love. This is very important to underline again the loving presence of God assured for 2023, so that we can see the glory of God present by His grace in each moment of our life.Christmas in Świnoujście
"Come into the world to settle accounts of losses, to take an empty seat among us at the table. Once again, let us enjoy the child in us... (from "Carols for the Absent by Z. Preisner) One of the customs of the Christmas Eve supper is to set an extra plate for an unexpected guest or a lonely person. In our community in Świnoujście, this symbolic empty place was occupied by three people this year: Mrs. Barbara - a lonely elderly parishioner, and little Viktoria with her grandmother from Ukraine. The girl and her grandmother experienced Christmas Eve for the first time according to the Catholic tradition, i.e. with reading a fragment from the Holy Bible, sharing the wafer and singing carols. Viktoria experienced this meeting all week, asking every morning "when will Saturday be". Grandma was happy and touched and willingly talked about the Ukrainian supper and tried every prepared Christmas Eve dish with reverence. Mrs. Barbara also could not control her tears and repeated how happy she was that she was not alone that evening and was celebrating in such a solemn way. After dinner, there was the moment Viktoria had been waiting for the most – the presents. All the sisters and ladies received gifts, but Viktoria received the most gifts (we know from the post-Christmas report that after coming home she spread everything on the floor and said: "Oh, I don't know where to start"). It was a joyful and friendly Christmas Eve. We thank God that this year the "empty seat at the table" was not just a tradition, but became a reality for us; that Jesus was born through love in our hearts. Sisters from Świnoujście