Christmas Eve. - 2017 BReading I: 2 Sam. 7:1-5, 8-12, 14,16
Psalm: 89
Romans: 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
In today’s Gospel, we are reminded of the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. With unconditional acceptance, Mary responded to the message that she would become the mother of the Savior: “Be it done unto me according to your word.” Then the angel left her. What trust she exhibited!!! She didn’t ask what it would involve. How would she raise the Son of God? Would she be able to fulfill
her commitment?
On Christmas Eve, we see some of the challenges she is to face. On the night when she is about to give birth, she has to travel by donkey through and difficult paths. Then, there is no place, except a cave for animals, for her to give birth.
How painful this must have been!!!
How difficult for Joseph also! He must have felt so bad to have to take her on this journey and then be unable to find an appropriate place for her to give birth. Nevertheless, Joseph too exhibited strong and unwavering faith in God his Father.
What a wonderful reward they both received as they were privileged to be able to kiss the Face of God on the tiny body of the Infant Jesus. I imagine that they were worried that they would be able to care for Jesus as he needed. No manual came with the birth of the baby. Again, they had to trust that God would guide them along the way.
Mary and Joseph are great examples for us as we go through our journeys in life. Let us trust the Lord in the ups and downs of our lives! Let us look
forward to the time when we will also be rewarded by being able to see the Lord face to face.
Let us pray to the Prince of Peace
for our world this Christmas!
for our world this Christmas!
May you and your loved ones be blessed!!!
Spanish Translation of Reflection Above...
Hacerlo
En el Evangelio de hoy, se nos recuerda la Anunciación del Ángel Gabriel a María. Con aceptación incondicional, María respondió al mensaje de que se convertiría en la madre del Salvador: “Hágase en mí según tu palabra”. Entonces el ángel la dejó. ¡¡¡Qué confianza ella exhibió !!! Ella no preguntó qué implicaría. ¿Cómo ella criaría al Hijo de Dios? ¿Sería capaz de cumplir su compromiso?
En Nochebuena, vemos algunos de los desafíos que enfrentará. La noche en que está a punto de dar a luz, ella tiene que viajar a través de un burro y por caminos difíciles. Entonces, no hay lugar, excepto una cueva para animales, para que ella dé a luz. ¡Qué doloroso debe haber sido esto!
¡Qué difícil para José también! Se debe haber sentido tan mal por tener que llevarla en este viaje y luego no poder encontrar un lugar apropiado para que ella dé a luz. Sin embargo, José también mostró una fe firme e inquebrantable en Dios su Padre.
Qué recompensa tan maravillosa que ambos recibieron cuando tuvieron el privilegio de poder besar el Rostro de Dios en el pequeño cuerpo del Niño Jesús. Imagino que les preocupaba que pudieran cuidar a Jesús como lo necesitara. No vino ningún manual con el nacimiento del bebé. De nuevo, tenían que confiar en que Dios los guiaría en el camino.
María y José son excelentes ejemplos para nosotros a medida que avanzamos en nuestros viajes en la vida. Confiemos en el Señor en los altibajos de nuestras vidas! Avancemos el tiempo en que también seremos recompensados al poder ver al Señor cara a cara.
En Nochebuena, vemos algunos de los desafíos que enfrentará. La noche en que está a punto de dar a luz, ella tiene que viajar a través de un burro y por caminos difíciles. Entonces, no hay lugar, excepto una cueva para animales, para que ella dé a luz. ¡Qué doloroso debe haber sido esto!
¡Qué difícil para José también! Se debe haber sentido tan mal por tener que llevarla en este viaje y luego no poder encontrar un lugar apropiado para que ella dé a luz. Sin embargo, José también mostró una fe firme e inquebrantable en Dios su Padre.
Qué recompensa tan maravillosa que ambos recibieron cuando tuvieron el privilegio de poder besar el Rostro de Dios en el pequeño cuerpo del Niño Jesús. Imagino que les preocupaba que pudieran cuidar a Jesús como lo necesitara. No vino ningún manual con el nacimiento del bebé. De nuevo, tenían que confiar en que Dios los guiaría en el camino.
María y José son excelentes ejemplos para nosotros a medida que avanzamos en nuestros viajes en la vida. Confiemos en el Señor en los altibajos de nuestras vidas! Avancemos el tiempo en que también seremos recompensados al poder ver al Señor cara a cara.
¡Oremos al Príncipe de la Paz
por nuestro mundo esta Navidad!
por nuestro mundo esta Navidad!
¡Que tú y tus seres queridos sean bendecidos!
While perusing the gift shop at San Alfonso Retreat House, I came across a book entitled, “Lift up your Hearts,” which contains commentaries on gospels throughout the liturgical year. I would like to share with your readers some reflections on the birth of Christ written by James A. Wallace, CSsR. Wallace speaks of the English mystic, Caryll Houselander, who wrote a book about Mary called, “The Reed of God.” Houselander notes that we know very little about Mary, “but we do know the one essential thing we need to know, which is the very thing we all are called to do: bear Christ in our bodies and give him to the world.”
ReplyDelete“We are invited to think about God as an infant. The Christmas story is not for our entertainment, but for our salvation. Each Christmas we are called to affirm our acceptance of the One born long ago and laid in a manger who came to be our Savior. In accepting him this day, we can find joy for ourselves and for all people.”
Being saved is not a once-and-for-all event.
We continue needing to be saved:
from despair that drags us into believing all is meaningless,
from hatreds that become all consuming,
from a misplaced faith in things and their power to satisfy,
from a desire for vengeance that destroys peoples as well as individuals,
and from yielding to the seductive invitations of death, beckoning us again and again, whispering into our ears that hope is an illusion and running its cold finger across our hearts.
And it is not just that we are saved from terror, fear, despair, and inner darkness.
We are saved for something.
The God of creation sends the Spirit upon us again and again, so we might be instruments of salvation in the world, vehicles for the will of God:
we are saved to bring life to others;
to work to save this world from self-destruction;
to reach out to the thirty million Americans living in poverty;
to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of Africans afflicted with AIDS;
to help build a new world of peace and justice and love, wherever that is most needed.
“Even more urgent this year is to hear the words of the angel that came out of the dark, we need to hear their message to move us from fear to joy. We need a Savior now more than ever. We need someone who helps us move again from fear to joy.”
Most of us have probably received or given a wish list this gift-giving season. My little granddaughter presented me with such a list and she referred to it as her dream list because she has been dreaming about how much fun she will have playing with the toys. In one of his musings, Wallace speaks of God’s wish list to us:
“Dream along with me,” God asks.
“Will you bear the child in your body and bring him into the world?”
“Will you bring the holiness of God into the world?”
“Will you bring the peace of God into the world?”
“Will you bring the mercy of God into the world?”
“Will you will what I will?”
God waits for our answer.
And this Christmas, what will we answer?
May this Christmas season be a time of new birth for each of us, for our loved ones, our country, and our world.
Merry Christmas, Pat C., ASBS
Yes. How grateful we are that Mary's acceptance of the angel's message was totally unconditional, and that the holy mother of God now continues to exercise her maternal role for all of us!
ReplyDeleteHer loving care is sincerely appreciated. Thank you, Sister, for the helpful observations, etc. about our preparations for the coming of the precious Prince of Peace.
Regarding the renewal of the Christmas story, so dear to all of us, Rev. Archbishop Sheen recommended the following selections from our Catholic Catechism:
"Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven's glory was made manifest."
"To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom.(Cf.Mt. 18:3-4) For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become 'children of God' we must be 'born from above' or 'born of God.' (Jn 3:7,
1:13,1;12). Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this 'marvelous exchange'.
O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born
of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of
Christ, who humbled himself to share our humanity. (Antiphon
of Evening prayer for Jan. 1)
C C C: 525, 526