New Year's Eve

We spend the day reviewing the year and praying for the New Year to come. It is important to see what the Lord may be asking of each of us as we begin a New Year. Take some time for reflection today.
It is good when reviewing the year to take time to thank the Lord for all that has happened. Sometimes, we forget to thank at the moment of the event, or letter, or encounter, etc. and now we can remember to be grateful!

Praying in front of the crib

We have a beautiful Infant Jesus with arms held out so you just want to pick up this smiling baby and hold him. I think I am just doing that during my afternoon hour of prayer in the Chapel. I do not actually dare to pick up the image of the Infant Jesus, but, in my imagination I am holding the baby and loving this helpless, vulnerable child.
I am also thinking how God speaks to us in silence.

Feast of the Holy Family

On the first Sunday after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were united in their love for one another. Jesus was an ordinary boy; no one in the small village of Nazareth thought him any different from the other children. Mary and Joseph wanted it that way as they still did not know what God planned for their Son who was divine, yet fully human. I can see Jesus learning to talk, to walk, then to run and play. I can also see him learning the prayers a good Jewish family would say each morning and evening. I can imagine how the other Persons in the Blessed Trinity watched as Jesus grew in age and in grace.

I think of my own family and how our parents wanted us to be happy and grow up safely. They watched over our health, taught us to pray, fed us, clothed us, counseled us and tried to give us a happy childhood. I am sure that Mary and Joseph did the same for Jesus.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

According to the story told of the coming of the Three Wise Men, King Herod was concerned about the possibility of a newborn King; he sent soldiers to kill all the young boy babies. An angel of the Lord warned Joseph in a dream and he obeyed, taking Mary and the Infant Jesus into Egypt.

This story is especially meaningful today when so many are fleeing their homes, their countries, to save their lives. Are we helping the thousands of refugees that come begging for our help? Our country is vast and yet we are not allowing many to come. Instead, we are even putting them in cages, separating children from parents, wives from husbands, and keeping many in concentration camp conditions. We need to pray much for the way we are treating these people. America is great because of the many immigrants welcomed before and we cannot close our borders but need to welcome the stranger as the Gospel tells us.

The mystery of the Incarnation

I am continuing to share from Admirabile signum on the meaning and importance of the nativity scene.
"Life was made manifest"(1 Jn 1:2) Pope Francis tells us:
"In these words, the Apostle John sums up the mystery of the Incarnation. The creche allow us to see and touch this unique and unparalleled evet that changed the course of history, so that time would thereafter be reckoned either before or after the birth of Christ."
"God's ways are astonishing, for it seems impossible that he should forsake his glory to become a man like us. To our astonishment, we see God acting exactly as we do: he sleeps, takes milk from his mother, cries and plays like every other child. As always, God baffles us. He is unpredictable, constantly doing what we least expect. The nativity scene shows God as he came into our world, but it also makes us reflect on how our life is part of God's own life. It invites us to become his disciples if we want to attain ultimate meaning in life."

The Day after Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas here beginning with our "Midnight Mass" at 4:15 on Christmas Eve after Carols. Then we had on Christmas, another Mass and our Christmas dinner. In the afternoon, one group came caroling with hot chocolate with marshmallows.

To continue to give you a few quotes from Admirabkie signum, the Pope's Apostolic Letter on the meaning and the importance of the nativity scene:

"The birth of a child awakens joy and wonder; it sets before us the great mystery of life. Seeing the bright eyes of a young couple gazing at their newborn child, we can understand the feeling of Mary and Joseph who, as they looked at the Infant Jesus, sensed God's presence in their lives."

Am I sensing God's presence in my life? He came that we might have life!  

Christmas Day

"When, at Christmas, we place the statue of the Infant Jesus in the manger, the nativity scene comes alive. God appears as a child, for us to take into our arms. Beneath weakness and frailty, he conceals his power that creates and transforms all things. It seems impossible, yet it is true: in Jesus, God was a child, and in this way he wished to reveal the greatness of his love: by smiling and opening his arms to all." Admirabile signum by Pope Francis.

The pope continues to tell us that the birth of a child "awakens joy and wonder; it sets before us the great mystery of life."

Christmas Eve

I have been praying over the Pope's Apostolic Letter, Admirabile signum on the meaning and importance of the nativity scene. In#7 he tells us that "in the cave we find the figures of Mary and Joseph. Mary is a mother who contemplates her child and shows him to every visitor.The figure of Mary makes us reflect on the great mystery that surrounded this young woman when God knocked on the door of her immaculate heart. Mary responded in complete obedience to the message of the angel who asked her to become the Mother of God."
Then the Pope tells us that "at Mary's side, shown protecting the Child and His Mother, stands St. Joseph....He is the guardian who tirelessly protects his family.... 

Christ is coming!

"A child shall be born for us, and he will be called God, the Almighty; every tribe of the earth shall be blest in him."

That is the antiphon for the Mass today and here is the Collect:
"Almighty ever-living God, as we see how the Nativity of your Son according to the flesh draws near, we pray that to us, your unworthy servants, mercy may flow from your Word, who chose to become flesh of the Virgin Mary and establish among us his dwelling."

 Today is the eve of Christmas eve! Christ is coming. Our hearts are ready, Lord, for You to come. "Come, Lord Jesus, and do not delay!"                               

Fourth Sunday of Advent

At last all the candles are lit and we have only two days until Christmas Eve. This year, Advent is shorter so we continue to say "Come, Lord Jesus, come, and do not delay." We want Jesus to come into our hearts and into our world in such need of Him.

  Today's Gospel tells us that when "Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly." But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary into his home "for it is through the Holy

Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." And Joseph did as the angel commanded.

It sounds so simple, but what faith Joseph had to believe a dream. I think we do not realize what it was like for both Mary and Joseph to be called by God. Both are open to hearing and obeying, Let us learn from them.

The time for preparation is almost over

This is the last day of the Third Week of Advent. Let us review our preparation for the coming of the Lord. Have I succeeded in removing clutter from my heart?

In his letter, Admirabile Signum, Pope Francis speaks of how "from the time of its Franciscan origins, the nativity scene has invited us to 'feel' and 'touch' the poverty that God's Son took upon himself in the Incarnation. Implicitly, it summons us to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross. It asks us to meet him and serve him by showing mercy to those of our brothers and sisters in greatest need." 
I cannot help but think of all the refugees, especially those at our own borders who are being detained, refused, and separated from other family members. We are not treating these people with love as Christ would have us do.