Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! We've been gone most of the day and night - lots of good quality family time, celebrating the birth of our Savior! Thanks to all who posted on the last thread! It meant a lot to me. Praying for you all and may the Spirit of Christmas be with you all year long!

Remember that God always does what He promises. Lord, where others

bargain, You freely give, when others are too busy, You listen and when

others let me down, You never fail me. Thank You for all of my blessings.

Scripture for the day:

"Through Christ you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the

dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God."

~1 Peter 1:21

Meditation for the day:

God's miracle-working power is as manifest today as it was in the past.

It still works miracles of change in lives and miracles of healing in

troubled minds. When a person trusts wholly in God and leaves to God the

choosing of the day and hour, there is God's miracle-working power becoming

manifest in that person's life. We can trust in God and have boundless

faith in

God's power to make us whole again.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may feel sure that there is nothing that God cannot

accomplish in changing my life. I pray that I may have faith in God's

miracle-working power.

December 25, 2013

The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

Vigil: Is 62: 1-5 / Ps 89: 4-5. 16-17. 27. 29 (2a) / Acts 13: 16-17. 22-25 /

Mt 1: 1-25. Midnight: Is 9: 1-6 / Ps 96: 1-2. 2-3. 11-12. 13 / Ti 2: 11-14 /

Lk 2: 1-14. Dawn: Is 62: 11-12 / Ps 97: 1. 6. 11-12 / Ti 3: 4-7 / Lk 2:

15-20.

Day: Is 52: 7-10 / Ps 98: 1. 2-3. 3-4. 5-6 (3c) / Heb 1: 1-6 / Jn 1: 1-18

Isaiah 52: 7-10

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,

who herald peace and happiness, who proclaim salvation and announce to Zion:

“Your God is king!” Together your watchmen raise their voices in praise and

song; they see Yahweh face to face returning to Zion. Break into shouts of

joy, O ruins of Jerusalem, for Yahweh consoles his people and redeems

Jerusalem. Yahweh has bared his holy arm in the eyes of the nations; all the

ends of the earth, in alarm, will witness God’s salvation.

Hebrews 1: 1-6

God has spoken in the past to our ancestors through the prophets, in many

different ways, although never completely; but in our times he has spoken

definitively to us through his Son. He is the one God appointed heir of all

things, since through him he unfolded the stages of the world. He is the

radiance of God’s Glory and bears the stamp of God’s hidden being, so that

his powerful word upholds the universe. And after taking away sin, he took

his place at the right hand of the divine Majesty in heaven. So he is now

far superior to angels just as the name he received sets him apart from

them. 5 To what angel did God say: You are my son, I have begotten you

today? and to what angel did he promise: I shall be a father to him and he

will be a son to me? On sending his Firstborn to the world, God says: Let

all the angels adore him.

John 1: 1-18

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was

God; he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and

without him nothing came to be. Whatever has come to be, 4 found life in

him; life, which for human beings, was also light, light that shines in

darkness, light that darkness could not overcome. A man came, sent by God;

his name was John. He came to bear witness, as a witness to introduce the

Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but a

witness to introduce the Light; for the Light was coming into the world, the

true Light that enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and through him

the world was made, the very world that did not know him. He came to his

own, yet his own people did not receive him; but to all who received him he

empowers to become children of God, for they believe in his Name. These are

born, but not by seed, nor carnal desire, nor by the will of man: they are

born of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have

seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father: fullness of truth

and loving-kindness. John bore witness to him openly, saying, “This is the

one who comes after me, but he is already ahead of me, for he was before

me.” From his fullness we have all received, favor upon favor. For God had

given us the Law through Moses, but Truth and Loving-kindness came through

Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God-the-only-Son made him known:

the one, who is in and with the Father.

Reflection

Today we celebrate what we have been waiting for in ‘joyful hope’ for so

many weeks now! Today we celebrate that day when the eternal Word of God

became one of us and one with us, finding a home in our homes and in our

hearts. There is no greater Christmas gift than the gift we celebrate today.

There is no greater Christmas gift giving than the gift giving we celebrate

today.

The gospel accounts of what happened on the first Christmas are accounts of

marvelous greatness. There is a heavenly choir of angels praising God and

announcing wonderfully good news to the needy and the waiting world. The

message of the angels is passed on to men working in the night fields of

Bethlehem, inviting them to see for themselves that the long-awaited Messiah

has been born in the royal city of King David. The night sky is illuminated

with the brightness of Divine Glory. Such signs of greatness are signs that

this Gift of God is so very special and extraordinary. It is not surprising

that the angels have to give an assurance that there is nothing to fear and

that these signs are signs of really good news.

There are, however, other signs of the greatness of this night, the humble

and simple events that simply give way to reverent wonder. The birthplace is

an animal’s loft, not a well-equipped room in a traveler’s inn. The crib is

a manger, not a fancy cradle. The new- born infant is not clothed in richly

crafted garments but is wrapped in swaddling clothes. Attending visitors are

shepherds rushing in from their fields, not courtiers ready to provide

comfortable assistance.

Today’s Christmas story is, therefore, a story of true greatness that is at

one and the same time divinely magnificent and humanly simple. It is a story

that is at one and the same time superbly heavenly and yet humbly earthly.

It is a story of what is divine showing itself in what is human. It is the

story of the birth of God made Man.

But what we read in this Christmas story is not just an account of an event

that took place more than twenty centuries ago. It presents us today with

the challenge to find true greatness not in worldly glory but in humble

simplicity. Of course we will mark this day with all of our traditional

expressions of reverent and joyful celebration. And rightly so! This is a

day of great rejoicing! But let us always keep in our minds and in our

hearts the lesson that the Christmas Infant will teach us by the life he

begins to live today, that real greatness is found in humble simplicity and

that the lowly are the ones who are really exalted in God’s eyes.