Gospel Mystery of the Day             Saturday, December 31, 2022
 
Good Morning!      
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
 
1 John 1:5-2:2 & John 1:1-18
Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me walk in the light, as you are in the light…
 
“The Word was the source of life and this life brought light to people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.” So the Christmas Gospel reading points us to the Light of Life in the darkest – and this year the stormiest – time of year.  As we walk ahead into the New Year, with some sure, and perhaps some hesitant, steps, it is this Light of Christ Jesus that is our hope and our solace, our guide and our goal. No matter what joys or sorrows, creations or challenges lie ahead of us, we can walk with sure step along the path of Light set out for us by the Word of God incarnate in Jesus, the Son of Mary and Joseph.  As we head into the 2023rd year of Grace, in-formed by the life of Christ Jesus within us, despite the darkness in the world, let us walk in the Light, as He is in the Light! Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me walk in the light as you are in the light. 
  
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.  Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.   (Psalm 124:7)
 
He became what we are that He might make us what He is.
St. Athanasius
 
Leo Tolstoy’s short story, “The Candle” is an extraordinary tale of walking in the light. Set in a pre-revolution Russian context, it is particularly poignant for us. As we live through these days, will we, too, live the Light of Life? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHm37TDjcqY
 

Joyful and Blessed  Christmas season
to you and your family
as we celebrate the opening of
a New Year of Grace
and Gifts from God our Father…
walking in the Light,
as He is in the light.

 
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Isaiah 45:6b-25 Luke 7:24-30

 
The critical element of having a ‘good Christmas’ or not, is whether I accept the purpose of God for my life. Mary and Joseph were presented with the purpose of God for their lives and accepted it. Mary’s fiat to the Holy Spirit overshadowing her as a young, unmarried, Jewish woman with the Son of God in her womb was not an easy choice. From the outset this purpose of God for her was difficult – being pregnant and unwedded in a society where stoning of unwed mothers was common, having to take a long journey by donkey to the city of Joseph’s birth in her ninth month, and being without ‘decent’ lodgings in Bethlehem. But Mary’s embracing of God’s purpose made the ‘Joy of the season’ possible for millennia to come. Joseph likewise accepted the purpose of God for his life –a purpose that was no less unusual and challenging, and eventually sorrowful, as was Mary’s vocation. As an upright Jewish man he was called to marry Mary when she was clearly already ‘with child’.  In addition, living into God’s assignment for his life meant that Joseph had to leave his successful carpentry business in Nazareth, and become a refugee seeking shelter in far-off and ‘godless’ Egypt. But it was Joseph’s obedience to God’s purpose for his life that allowed Jesus to reach manhood and fulfill his purpose in life – the sealing of the ‘New covenant’ that was and is the redemption of humanity. God’s purpose for each one of us is that we will receive the baptism of becoming one with his Holy Spirit bringing about the Father’s kingdom on earth. Will I, like Mary and Joseph, accept God’s purpose for my life with dedication no matter what challenges it holds? Holy Spirit of God help me accept your purpose for my being.
 
Happy are those … whose delight is in the law of the Lord…they are like streams planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season.  (Psalm 1:1,2)
 
He became what we are that he might make us what he is.
St. Athanasius
 
Listen to O Come, O Come Emmanual a verse at a time during this last week before Christmas. Each verse reflects on of the  “O Antiphons”, each highlighting a different element of God’s purpose in being born into humanity 2100 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xtpJ4Q_Q-4
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Isaiah 45:5-25

 
God’s righteousness is all about mercy.  As it’s Creator’s default plan for the world God’s mercy, or the goodness and rightness of God’s ways, comes in both sweet and severe forms. Make no mistake! Righteousness is not a syrupy coating for lives based on human ideals. Rather, righteousness rooted in mercy is a penetrating precipitation of God’s love and truth that comes to us more often during cloudy times, than during sunnier times of peace and joy – sometimes with rolling thunder and flashes of lightening that shake out complacency and false hope, shake down the realities of sacrificial love and shake into us the need for a loving relationship with Christ Jesus. When I am thus purified by God’s mercy, then righteousness has good soil on earth within my life in which to sprout and grow the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, generosity, gentleness and self-control. What better ‘Christmas gifts’ can there be? Will I recognize the plan and purpose (for me) in both the sweet and severe mercy of God to let righteousness sprout up? Holy Spirit of God, let righteousness rain down and sprout up from the earth.
 
Happy are those … whose delight is in the law of the Lord…they are like streams planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season.  (Psalm 1:1,2)
 
The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light.
St John of the Cross
 
Such a beautiful hymn for Advent: You Are Mine – by David Haas
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14pPevY5sd8&list=RD14pPevY5sd8&index=1
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Isaiah 40: 25-31

 
Society tempts us to think that there are limitless ways to renew our strength. Diet, exercise, cardio workouts, supplements and medications, programs and projects all promise ‘renewal’ of youthful strength and unlimited energy. It can become exhausting, just planning our days to maximize health, comfort and securities. God calls us to a different kind of renewal. During Advent especially, specifically during the December doldrums born of half-light and freezing temperatures, God incarnate in the person of a child waiting to be born encourages us to wait… on the Lord … and so to renew our strength. Even the best diets and most robust exercise programs do not claim to help one ‘rise up on wings, like eagles’. Only peaceful waiting for the strong up-drafts of Grace can do that. Supplements and medications would be facing endless lawsuits if they were to claim that their ‘patients’ would be able to run, and dance and sing without weariness – yet those who spend time in the early hours of a day waiting on the Lord can navigate and persevere through any kinds of storms and troubles that a day can bring. Programs and projects, though they drive us to walk in marathon demonstrations or to write wordy tomes on a computer, cannot guarantee that we will not faint from sheer exhaustion – but when we wait with patient hearts and listening ears to the Lord, then we can ‘walk’ through any kind of journey with Christ Jesus.  Will I continually try new ways to develop my own strength or will I lean on the Holy Spirit of God depending on his boundless power to renew our strength? Holy Spirit of God, help me to wait on you to renew my strength. 
 
Happy are those … whose delight is in the law of the Lord…they are like streams planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season.  (Psalm 1:1,2)
 
Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful and loving infusion of God which, if admitted will set the soul on fire with the spirit of love.
St John of the Cross.
 
Watch “You Are Mine” , David Haas.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14pPevY5sd8
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Luke 1:38 – 47 & Matthew 21: 28 - 32

 
Elisabeth, Mary, Joseph and Zechariah – all of these believing and faithful individuals have these things in common: - They were purely open and obedient to the will of God;  each one was habitually contemplative and meditated on God’s word any time, in any place; Each was graced to be given a task that was out of the ordinary, that birthed the Word of God into the world; Each one waited long years for the fulfillment of God’s promises, plans, and purposes through their part in his special work of salvation of human kind.  Today, as then, God long to bring to birth is plans and presence, that is, his mercy, within our own lives, and through us to the world at large.  Will I, like these two holy couples align my being with God’s will? Holy Spirit of God, help me be open and obedient to your plans and purposes.
 
Happy are those … whose delight is in the law of the Lord…they are like streams planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season.  (Psalm 1:1,2)
 
Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful and loving infusion of God which, if admitted will set the soul on fire with the spirit of love.
St John of the Cross.
 
Watch “You Are Mine” , David Haas.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14pPevY5sd8
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca