The Good Word

Happy New Year Or is it The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas December 31 has readings from 1 John 2 18-21 and John 1 1-18 the first a little chilling the second very heart-warming nbsp Just like winter in the frozen north when you step into a warm house from the frigid outdoors nbsp

When I was 5 or 6 years old I convinced my mother that I should sleep under the Christmas tree so that I could wait for Santa and greet him when he arrived at our house I don rsquo t recall much of the rest of that night but I have always been a fitful sleeper and I rolled into the tree and crash

Every one of the canonical Gospels insists on starting its story with the identification of Jesus as divine nbsp It is Matthew by linking Isaiah with the child conceived through the Holy Spirit who uses the word Immanuel of him nbsp imm with anu us el God nbsp As Matthew draws the r

This O-antiphon explicitly looks to the universality of Jesus nbsp Thus King of the nations is a title which brings up the subject of the Gentiles within Jewish thinking nbsp A few brief remarks about this are in order First as Acts points out the acceptance of Gentiles into the Christian c

In the midst of this blog s focus on Advent properly I might say and the liturgical year in general which is the focus of the Catholic Church s activities the year round an interesting challenge of sorts comes from the blog nbsp Inhabitatio Dei in the post The Impotence of the Liturgical Year

Because of the tender mercy of our God the Dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in the darkenss and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace Luke 1 78-79 nbsp In his famous Spirit-inspired hymn Zachary praises God first for sending a savior to His P

I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder when he opens no one shall shut when he shuts no one shall open nbsp Isaiah 22 22 nbsp The word of God through Isaiah promised a nbsp king nbsp to replace a nbsp monarch who ruled Israel badly nbsp The nbsp Christian tradition

The blog Messy Jesus Business has a post on Advent and our Christmas habits called the disturbing poor baby Jesus by Sister Julia Walsh FSPA Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Here is an excerpt I am even more disturbed when I read the Christmas story in the bible and let it challenge

Among all the grand titles we ascribe to Jesus perhaps root of Jesse is the least remarkable nbsp This title however serves to underline the humanness of Jesus he is born as one of many descendants in a history of generations of human beings nbsp As such root of Jesse forms part of that