Here are some things we can all do: kind words, listening to a loved one or someone who needs a listener, praying to the Blessed Mother for her intercession for ourselves or some else, all these lead to holiness.
Choose holiness by your actions.
May God Be Praised.
St. John Berchmans said, “Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be."
Take a little time to reflect on what are in God’s eyes, and this year try to live what we are called to be, a disciple of Jesus Christ and a child of God.
May God Be Praised.
So do they best you can to walk the baby Jesus, the boy Jesus and the Savior of the world Jesus the Christ. Your life will be enriched if you do.
May God Be Praised.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12]
Jesus forever changed the trajectory of history from darkness to light, His Light.
May God Be Praised.
*“Resurrection,” by Engelbert Mveng, S.J., in the Jesuit chapel at Hekima College in Nairobi, Kenya
Isaiah [40] reminds us to “Fear Not.” Our Responsorial Psalm highlights the eternal dimensions of today’s feast, “The Lord will bless his people [you and me] with peace.”
We all long for peace.
Jesus is the fulfillment to the ancient longing for a Messiah, a Savior, a King of cosmic proportions. The King, the Messiah bending His knee in the waters of the Jordan to remind us humility is the path to God.
The Apostles were seeking the Way, the Truth, and the Life - they found their answer in Jesus. Peter teaches the members of Cornelius’ household that God was with Jesus and Jesus wants us to walk with Him on our journey.
Jesus is Baptized to show us we should submit our egos, our wills, and our desires to God’s Will. The GOOD Jesus wants us to seek is not relative to our personal ideas/tastes, BUT it is woven into the fabric of life by God, by God Who is the GOOD. The Holy Spirit guides in the Way, the Truth, & the Life but that does not mean life is a walk in the park “… Christ did not arrive to erase our troubles but to join us in them, to be a quiet light in our darkness….” [Sunday Website, John Foley, SJ 01/03/2021]
Our Christmas Season ends today, but the work of Christmas begins. Dr. Howard Thurman’s beautiful and powerful words give us insight into how Christmas continues:
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken hearted,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers [& sisters],
To make music in the heart.”
[Sick, and You cared for Me, Homilies and Reflections Cycle B]
We like the people in Jesus’ time “… are filled with expectation…” and we believe Jesus that You are the one - You will never abandon us.
This year may we remember:
To Adore You!
To Love You!
& To Follow You!
For a few minutes, in silence, reflect on how you will Adore, Love and Follow Jesus [Lord and Savior]?
May God Be Praised.
*You can find Kelly Latimore’s work at https://kellylatimoreicons.com/
Today the Liturgical Christmas season ends. I pray that this fable, this parable helps us reflect on the awesome gift we celebrate.
Soren Kierkegaard famous “The Story of the King and the Maiden” is a fable about a king who fell in love with a maiden. The King asked his counselors "How shall I declare my love?" They answered, "Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal glory before the maiden's humble dwelling and she will instantly fall at your feet and be yours."
That approach troubled the king. He wanted her glorification, not his. He wanted his love for her returned from her freely. After thinking about it the king realized love's truth, that freedom for the beloved demanded equality with the beloved. Late one night, after all the counselors of the palace had retired, he slipped out a side door and appeared before the maiden's cottage dressed as a servant.
The fable is the Christmas story in the form of a parable. We are called to obey not God's power, but God's love. God wants not submission to his power, but our love in return for His love, He first loved us. The little baby, smelly straw, the silence, the star, the humble shepherds in awe of their King. The baby’s cry is God’s cry in human form calling us to follow Him to true selves.
Could it be? Yes, Joy is born God has come to be with us!
[Adopted by Deacon George Kelly from Sermons.Com - James T. Garrett, God’s Gift, CSS Publishing Company]
May God Be Praised.
