Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of all praise,
for the sun of justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
MICAH 5:1-4
My Soul's Beloved,
Nothing is more pleasing to God than humility. When we see ourselves as we are, sinners in need of redemption, prone to sin, and filled with concupiscence, we recognize how desperately we need a Savior. If God had not reached down to help us, we would have died in our sins and been lost forever. Humility is the hallmark of love, and the hallmark of God is love. God is love, and because You, O Lord, are love, you are constantly stooping low over us, the beloved weak as we are, unworthy though we surely are, You never cease looking on us lovingly. You are moved to compassion by our suffering brought on mostly by our own stupidity, arrogance, and pride.
Time and time again, we spurn Your love, yet you are not impatient or angry. You do not turn away from us. If you did, Beloved, we would surely die. You know this. You know that without You, we would be annihilated. But because we are so ignorant, we do not comprehend how greatly we need You who are our salvation. You continue to woo us, lead us, and teach us to recognize our need for You. Thank you for never tiring of our stupidity and turning away from us, loathsome though we may be in our sins. Teach us to recognize our need for You and to remain in You, for without You, Lord, we will surely be lost forever. In You is our peace and our rest.
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
PSALM 12(13):6-7
I exult for joy in the Lord.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
PSALM 12(13):6-7
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Lord, I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me,
singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
MATTHEW 1:1-16,18-23
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
It is right and good, fitting and worthy to recall every now and then in our Liturgy at Holy Mass that what we believe and in whom we believe is not a myth, nor is it a legend, nor is it an epic story imagined and written by poets and writers. Rather, what we believe is this - that at some point in human history, God made Himself known to His creatures. Choosing and calling a man out of his nation to a place that God would lead him to and from him make a great nation, and whose descendants would be as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the shore.
This is Your genealogy, my Beloved. You are the Christ, the eternal and only Son of the Living God. Today, as the Church celebrates Your Virgin Mother's birthday, she who was conceived immaculately in the womb of her mother, we recall that she was also chosen, as were Abraham, David, Joseph, Moses, and John the Baptist yet hers was the most sublime call of them all. The poet was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit when he wrote of her,
"Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied.
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast."
Today, the Church celebrates the birth of the Mother of God and our Mother. We sing her praises and glorify God for this sublime crown of all His creation.
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
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