SIXTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

A hallowed day has dawned upon us.
Come, you nations, worship the Lord,
for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.

1 JOHN 2:12-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The disciple who leaned on Your Heart knows Your Heart - it beats with a passionate love for all God's children. These are Your Words inspired by Your Spirit that speak to us through this letter that is addressed to us by John. All who are born of fire and the Holy Spirit are cleansed from all sin each time we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Yes, we are broken, yes, we sin over and over again often it is the same weaknesses that we give in to and that cause us to fall but Your hand is always extended to us in mercy. You wait with longing for us to return to You and when we confess our sins to the priest and You absolve us of all our sins and transgressions we are forgiven, strengthened, and made new. 

Let us pay particular attention to his warning about the world and its transient pleasures. This fallen world has nothing to offer us that can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts. To love the world is to invite sin into our lives. All that God created is good but anything without God leaves nothing but ashes and the taste of gall. When we give You primacy of place in our lives then everything else finds its proper place and we discover that all things work for good for those who love You.

The love of the Father cannot be
in any man who loves the world,
because nothing the world has to offer
– the sensual body,
the lustful eye,
pride in possessions –
could ever come from the Father
but only from the world;
and the world, with all it craves for,
is coming to an end;
but anyone who does the will of God
remains for ever.

PSALM 95(96):7-10 ©

Give the Lord, you families of peoples,

give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.

Bring an offering and enter his courts,

worship the Lord in his temple.
O earth, tremble before him.

Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’

The world he made firm in its place;
he will judge the peoples in fairness.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

LUKE 2:36-40 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The prophetess, Anna was probably still in her twenties when her husband died after seven years of marriage. She is not eighty-four years old and has been widowed for a long time. We get a glimpse of the kind of woman she was from what Luke has to say about her: She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. 

She was a holy woman, a saintly woman, a woman who rested in God and for whom God was everything. The Lord was her hope, her joy, and her consolation - it is not surprising then that she too was given the privilege of coming into the temple on the day of Mary's purification. She was a witness to all that Simeon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesied concerning both You, the divine child, and Your Mother, the Virgin Mary. She believed and she promptly witnessed to all looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and God's deliverance of His people.

St. Luke tells us that when all was done according to the requirements of the Law of the Lord, Mary, You, and Joseph returned to Your hometown of Nazareth. A little town unknown to most was the place where God deigned to dwell. We know nothing about the hidden domestic life of the home of the Holy Family because it seemed so unremarkable and ordinary from the outside. Like the rest of the people in this sleepy town Mary and Joseph lived a quiet life with Mary caring for You and Joseph and Joseph working hard to provide for the daily needs of the daughter of God and the Son of God. Heaven had come down to earth - God lived in obscurity among His people. Except that the Child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.