John 1:1-18

 
The gift is timely, the message is timeless: Christ Jesus, Son of God, incarnate as the Son of humankind, came into the world to redeem us from darkness and the power of evil. The poetic prologue to John’s Gospel echoes down through the 20 centuries of the Christian era stating the Good News of Father God connecting with us mere mortals and infusing us with the same life, light and being that set the universe in motion and the stars singing:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God… the glory as of the Father’s only begotten Son, full of Grace and Truth. Will I embrace the Love of the Father for humanity?  Will I cherish the Life that came into being through Jesus, Emmanuel God With Us?  Will I seek the Light that the darkness has never extinguished? Will I open my heart, mind, soul and strength to the Grace and Truth – and Mercy – of God, gifted to us – to me - through Christ Jesus, each of the 365 days of this new year, the 2025th Year of Grace? Holy Spirit of God, help me recognize and receive the Grace and Truth of Christ Jesus.
 
O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.  (Psalm 96:1)
 
This is the moment of beginning again.  It is the threshold between the old and the new.  God gives us another year; it is a beautiful gift. It is the gift of life, which we must render back to Him.
Catherine Doherty, in donkey Bells
 
…O Come, Let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!...
May the Lord Bless you, and Keep you and your Family in his Peace and Joy, Grace and Truth,
throughout the coming year!
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 

 
Luke 1: 5-80 & Luke 2:1-22

 
The Advent of the Christ Child whose feast day we celebrate at Christmas is all about holy and steadfast love. Zechariah’s devotion to his priestly duties and his faith in God made him and his wife, Elizabeth available to receive the new Elijah, the forerunner of God’s Messiah, that is John the Baptist. John the Baptizer, even in the absence of his elderly parents, nurtured his own love for Father God, and went around Judea preaching the unwelcome message of repentance to prepare The Way. Mary’s love for God made it possible for the Holy Spirit of God to plant within her his only, beloved Son, so that, indeed, she was ‘full of Grace’ in person. The grounded and gentle love of Joseph covered Mary and the Baby Jesus within her before and after birth with a mantle of protection and strength. The angels, who constantly behold the face of God, unleashed the harmonies of the universe, that is of Love Incarnate, in proclaiming the Glory of God in the Highest at the birth of the Son of Man who was the Son of God, and the Redeemer of the world. And the shepherds of Bethlehem and the wise men of all ages followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit of God to find Love Incarnate, come as a child, born in the humility of a cave into the peasant family of Mary and Joseph. In all of these manifestations of love, there was no selfishness, no power-grabbing, no bitterness or resentment, and no sign of failure or giving up.  Advent and the Incarnation & Nativity of Christ proclaims loudly and clearly the gentleness and strength of God’s holy love.  Will I, like Zechariah and Elizabeth be obedient to this love? Will I, like Mary and Joseph, allow myself to be so filled with Grace that the Word of God can be borne in my actions and words? Like the angels, will I proclaim this magnificent Love of the Father with my voice? And like the shepherds of old, will I follow the star, that is the Holy Spirit of God, to behold Christ Jesus face to face, wrapped in swaddling cloths as a baby and crowned with thorns as an adult? Holy Spirit of God, nurture within me the gentleness and strength of your Holy Love.   
 
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
 
May your Christmas be full of love for one another.  Then it will be merry!
Catherine Doherty, in donkey Bells
 
…O Come, Let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!...
May the Lord Bless you and Keep you and your Family in his Peace and Joy throughout this Holy Season of Christmas!
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 

Luke 1:39-47

 
Mary of Nazareth is blessed among women because the fruit of her womb, Jesus, the child she bore, brought up and still presents to the world is Christ Jesus, God’s Messiah.  Her child wasn’t just a prophet or a preacher, a healer or a holy man.  Jesus was God, incarnate in human form to redeem us from our sins and show us the way to Father God.  How can we, like Mary, be filled with the Word made flesh? We can, like Mary, nurture the Christ Child within our hearts, minds, souls and bodies; like any pregnant mother, Mary served and submitted to her baby’s growing with in her, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it was.  When Jesus’ foot pushed up into her ribs, like the challenges that of life that slow us down and make us take pause to consider Christ within, Mary stopped and pondered what was happening, gently beholding the discomfort and taking time to wait for the ‘Word’ to shift.  When Jesus’ in utero gymnastics woke her up from sleep, she welcomed his movements in her inner being, as we/I can, when Our Lord jolts us awake with a phrase from scripture or a prickly feeling or phrase in our conscience. And when Mary was dragged down from the fatigue of the last few weeks of carrying Him inside her womb, she took time to rest and nourish herself, in body mind and spirit – just as I sometimes need to rest with/ in Christ Jesus, without frantically ‘getting things done’.  Will I, like Mary have the patience and endurance, the appetite and the gentle faithfulness, to nurture the nature of Christ within me, no matter what kind of service and submission is needed?  Holy Spirit of God, nurture within me the nature/ character of Christ to serve, and to submit to You.
 
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; … Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.  (Psalm 16:5,9)
 
Be faithful in small things
because it is them that your strength lies.
Saint Mother Teresa of Kalcutta
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Isaiah 40:1-11 & Psalm 96 & Luke 3:1-6

 
In this Second week of Advent, the relationship between repentance and joy is clearly drawn. The curious figure of John the Baptist dressed in the clothing of animals and subsisting desert-style on locusts, is not only unique but noteworthy.  What on earth was he proclaiming !? John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as God’s way of preparing straight paths and rough ways made smooth, in preparation for the coming of “Emmanuel” – God with us- who is Christ Jesus – God saves. How can human response to the coming of Jesus Emmanuel be anything but Joy? How can we as Christians anticipate the feast of the Nativity, merely focused on the presents and plans of the Christmas season? When we do so, we rob ourselves of hearing again the song of the angels that erupted when the Redeemer of the world was born of Mary, cared for by Joseph and started on his journey to the Cross and the Resurrection. Perhaps the only task of this season of Advent is to repent of our sins (that is, clean out the garbage from our souls) to be open to the Joy of the angles and the Glory of God. Will I enter into this season burdened by too many tasks in too short time, or will I live into this Advent time of waiting, cleaning up my heart, mind and soul to be open to a refreshment of the Joy in of all creation in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer of humanity?  Holy Spirit of God, refresh my Joy in the Lord.
 
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; … Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.  (Psalm 16:5,9)
 
O Come! O Come! Emmanuel…
… Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you…
12th Century Latin Advent hymn
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 

 
Revelation 14:1-5 & Luke 21 5 - 36

 
Strange that in the Gospel (Good News) Reading for the First Sunday of the Church Year Christ Jesus describes the doom and gloom to come. But, positioned as it is, at the entrance to this season of Advent, it gives us opportunity to realize just why we need Christ Jesus to save us, not only spiritually, but in heart, mind and body as well. In this passage from Luke, Jesus counsels all believers down through the ages how to deal with portents in the heavens (now being seen through the Webb telescope), distress among the nations (Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Sudan)  and the roaring of the seas (climate change). Jesus tells us to not be terrorized; to endure all things, to be on our guard so our hearts are not weighed down, to be alert, and to pray for strength to escape. This is what it means to raise our heads, because these signs of the times mean that our salvation is nearer than ever. The Mercy of God is always available for the asking, and the looking. We miss it when we focus on the ‘world, the flesh and the devil’, but we find it when we look for it – perhaps more than ever in stressful times - when we raise our hearts and minds to recognize the Mercy of God as it is to be found in each act of Love, each ray of Light and each breath of Life. Will I choose to bow under the yoke of dark oppression, or stand up and seek my salvation in the face of God and Christ Jesus his Son?  Holy Spirit of God, in these times, help me stand up, raise my gaze and look for your saving Grace. 
 
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; … Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.  (Psalm 16:5,9)
 
Be faithful in small things
because it is them that your strength lies.
Saint Mother Teresa of Kalcutta
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca