Christ is Born Today if you Want
Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ
“All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God”Ps. 98
The first Christmas shows us God’s desire to be God-with-us, and that child-man-God will show us how we let him be and live in us and among us:
“The one who does my Father’s will is my brother, my relative, and my mother.”Matthew 12.50
“If anyone loves me to keep my word, my Father will love him, we will come to him and dwell in him.”John 14.23
If you leave Him, if you so decide, He will be born and live in you, and through you, in the world, He will continue to do good, being light and salt, giving color and meaning to the lives of many.
When you choose love over hate, Jesus is born when you decide to master the sinful tendencies of your selfish disorder, when you prefer to be guided by the Spirit than by your personal desires and interests.
Christ is born when you do the right thing, what He asks of you, what He likes, when you go to reconcile with your brother, when you decide to forgive him or apologize.
Christ is born when you pass over your grudge and go out to meet him to give him your friendship and support, when you stop the roughness or hurtful word and exchange it for kind and uplifting words.
Christ is born in every work of mercy you set out to practice, when you go to see the sick, to help the needy, when you give your support, when you give good counsel, when you teach something good to do good,…
Christ is born when you do not let yourself be carried away by your own interest and are willing to deny yourself and sacrifice out of love for God and others, when you are able to do good and provide your support and love even to those who do not sympathize with you, the sinner, the ungrateful, to which you don’t know or cannot correspond.
Christ is born every time I renounce sin, to the wrong step, to temptation, and I opt for the way of Christ, every time I reject the weeds and lies of my ego, of the world or of the enemy and choose the light of Christ and the truth of his Word.
YES, CHRIST IS BORN TODAY IF YOU WANT. YOU CAN’T DECIDE FOR OTHERS, BUT YOU CAN DECIDE FOR YOURSELF, AND CHRIST WANTS TO BE BORN AND LIVE IN YOU.
“I am no longer the one who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the body, I live it by my faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself to death for me.”Galatians 2.20
Readings for the Week
Monday: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 8ab, 16bc, 17; Mt 10:17-22
Tuesday: 1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; Jn 20:1a, 2-8
Wednesday: 1 Jn 1:5 — 2:2; Ps 124:2-5, 7b-8; Mt 2:13-18
Thursday: 1 Jn 2:3-11; Ps 96:1-3, 5b-6; Lk 2:36-40
Friday: Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 or Col 3:12-21 [12-17]; Ps 128:1-5; Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
Saturday: 1 Jn 2:18-21; Ps 96:1-2, 11-13; Jn 1:1-18
Sunday: Nm 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ
Monday: St. Stephen; Kwanzaa begins
Tuesday: St. John
Wednesday: The Holy Innocents
Thursday: St. Thomas Becket; Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord
Friday: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Saturday: St. Sylvester I; New Year’s Eve; Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord