Good News Reflection
Christmas Day - The Nativity of the Lord
December 25, 2009
Pray for family holiness:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/holyfamily.htm
Readings for Mass at Midnight
Isaiah 9:1-6
Ps 96:1-3, 11-13
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509a.shtml
Readings for Mass at Dawn
Isaiah 62:11-12
Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:15-20
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509b.shtml
Readings for Mass During the Day
Isaiah 52:7-10
Ps 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122509c.shtml
Merry Christmas! Joy to the world!
Joy to the world! This is our song. This is what we should always be proclaiming as Christians. Let the joy of "THE LORD HAS COME!" burst forth from you. You are called by God to be his herald of joy.
Don't focus on what destroys your joy, for nothing can destroy the coming of the Lord. The absence of joy is merely a blank area in your view of what God is doing.
Look at the love that Jesus has for you! Jesus was born not only to save you from the darkness of sin; he was born because he loves you – he loves YOU! Even if you had never sinned, he would have come into the world so that he could love YOU on your level, human-to-human.
Sometimes, great things come in surprising packages that do not seem to be great at all. The Eucharist – in the form of a little wafer of bread – does not look like it contains the full presence of Jesus with all of his humanity and his divinity. The baby Jesus – a tiny, helpless child – does not look like the conqueror of evil. But he is! And so is Jesus in the Eucharist; he is here for you.
And you! You might not seem to be a great person, but you contain Jesus. You contain greatness beyond imagining! This greatness does not dwell only in you; it comes out from you in the form of love.
We can know for sure that we have Jesus within us because of the love that we give to others. We know for sure that we can be victorious over evil when Christ's love extends outward to others from within us. It is Christ's love in the world – through us – that defeats the evils of hardships and troubles.
Jesus comes to us, not to be served, but to serve our needs. He even laid down his life for you!
To be a follower of Jesus means we learn to imitate him. Christians are not here to be served by those who treat us poorly. We are here to serve THEM, and in this goodness evil is defeated. In this goodness, the greatness of Jesus extends outward from us. In this goodness, there is cause for great joy.
Each time we give love to others, whether they deserve it or not, we give them the gift of Jesus. Each time we give love to others, we are like Mary, giving birth to love himself. Each time we give love to others, we give the gift of joy. Every day is therefore a Christmas day.
And when the giving gets tiring, we need to return to the Eucharist to be nourished and healed and restored by Jesus himself, for this is our Christmas gift from God.
Have a Very Blessed Christmas
in the joy that the Lord
has given you!
© 2009 by Terry A. Modica
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