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And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

What compels us to do something?

Most often, it is necessity: the need for the “basics” – like food, shelter, and sleep – that spur us to take some form of action.

In other circumstances, it is desire. Our appetite for rightly (and wrongly) ordered items creates a strong yearning for something and we act.

In today’s Gospel, we are presented with the magi, whose pilgrimage to the newborn King of the Jews is governed not by bodily need or desire but by the will of God.

The Lord desires that we know, love, and serve Him, and the magi respond by travelling an incredible distance to seek Him and give Him the gifts He deserves.

How faithful they were to God’s calling them through His creation, by the light of the star!

Why would they follow? Because they were accustomed to speaking to the Lord in prayer and listening closely for His response.

In the older Douay-Rheims version of Matthew’s Gospel, the final verse from today’s Gospel is translated as: “And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.”

The magi asked God what they should do and they listened attentively for His response and they acted.

Vocation Challenge:
“And having received an answer in sleep…”
Do I take my questions about my vocation to the Lord and listen, night and day, for the answer He wants to give me?

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Your coming was heralded by a bright star and received with joy by those who listened for your calling them. Through the intercession of the magi, grant me the grace to hear Your voice in whichever way You speak to me. Let me unify my will with Yours and act accordingly. Amen.

 from  www.vocations.ca  Canada’s national site for Catholic vocations to religious life.

Nuns at the Holy Trinity Convent in East Hendred in Oxfordshire are currently developing the new software and in so doing, are continuing a remarkable business tradition, despite been one of Europe’s newest Benedictine community of nuns. 

Prioress Sr Catherine explained that nuns at the convent have always been keen to embrace and use new technology to spread the word of God.  She said, “The nuns objective is to make Christian monasticism more accessible and to share the Benedictine tradition beyond the cloister.” 

“We follow the rule of our founder Saint Benedict, who laid out an ethos of manual work, prayer and study.”  Sr Catherine herself has run a printing business from the convent from the past couple of years known as Veil Press. 

She added, “An important part of the influence of the community comes through our websites, podcasts and email prayer line.  We are currently developing an iPhone / iPad app relating to the rule of Saint Benedict.” 

The community is also hoping to launch a series of on- line retreats for anyone who is time poor and cannot get away to spend a few days at a monastery or retreat house, but who wishes to give time to prayer and reflection with some help and guidance from one of the nuns. 

The nuns website can be accessed at www.benedictinenuns.org.uk.

by Sean Ryan

ciNews

Seventy-four-year-old Sr Cyril, who already has a doctorate in Zoology from the University of Lucknow, was honoured by the prestigious Irish university for projects such as the Rainbow Day School for street children which allows up to 200 street children to drop in at any time of the day and be given lessons from specially dedicated teachers at Loreto Sealdah in Kolkata. 

Ordinarily, these children would be unable to obtain any education as their material circumstances force them to spend most of their day begging. Another 200 street children, who have no family, are given a home at the school and cared for by Sr Cyril, whose favourite time of the day is reading them stories such as the Narnia tales or Harry Potter just before bedtime.

 
TCD’s Provost, Dr John Hegarty and the Chancellor of the University presided over the ceremony conferring the honorary degree on Sr Cyril in the Examination Hall on Friday, while Trinity College’s Public Orator, Anna Chahoud said of Sr Cyril, “She is the radical advocate of social change, the resolute believer in equality, the revolutionary inventor of an educational system that has changed thousands of lives.”

 
“Her Rainbow Project is a school within the school, where the privileged support the marginalised; where students, soon becoming teachers, reach out to the local communities; where endless multiplication of literacy freely buys the release from poverty and slavery.”

 
The Bray-native arrived in India in 1956 and when she was appointed principal of Loreto Sealdah in 1979 she introduced a series of reforms aimed at making the school more egalitarian in its outreach.

 
The once exclusively middle-class girls’ school has become a model for social cohesion as currently fifty percent of the school’s 1,400 students are non-fee paying students from underprivileged backgrounds. The structure ensures there is no discrimination or differentiation is made between students.

 
The oration in Latin at the conferring ceremony in Dublin compared Sr Cyril to the foundress of her order, Mary Ward (1585-1645), saying, “Just as the Venerable Mary who inspired her Order four hundred years ago, she has always been a woman ahead of her times.”

 
Another project which the Irish nun established is a ‘multiplier’ system which has trained 10,000 teachers who cater specifically for children in rural villages where there is no educational provision at all.

 
Sr Cyril also runs the Bhalobasha project which provides residential care for the elderly destitute, as well as microcredit schemes and human rights education programmes. 

 
In 2007, the Government of India awarded the Padma Shri, India’s highest civilian honour, to Sr Cyril in recognition of her trojan work for children’s rights and education.

 
TCD’s oration concluded, “This compassionate and resolute woman is truly the model of a modern-day saint: she teaches us that every day of our lives we too can, and must, make a difference.”

by Sarah Mac Donald