Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word

Reflections

• Vigil: It’s not an easy thing to change one’s mind. Once we make a decision, especially once we’ve thought it out, we stick with it. Joseph had made a well-considered decision. Faced with the news that his betrothed was expecting a child who was not his own, he decided to break off the marriage. Out of mercy, he would divorce her quietly so that she wouldn’t suffer any additional shame. This was his decision. This was his plan . . . until the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream. Like Mary, he accepted the word of the angel, even though it was quite unlike anything he’d ever heard. He trusted in God, bringing his pregnant wife into his home. Because he was open to changing his mind, Joseph became the foster father of our Lord.


• Night: Have we made a worthy home in our hearts for our Lord? Do we feel that despite our good intentions, our hearts remain filled with unchristian feelings and attitudes? Tonight we remember that Jesus was not born in a palace or mansion, or even a simple, respectable home. He was born in a dirty, smelly stable, a home unworthy of any infant, let alone the Son of God. Our dirty, smelly hearts may seem just as unworthy a home for Jesus, but Jesus was not born into the world as a reward for humanity’s goodness. It is out of God’s mercy on our imperfectness that we have been blessed with such a wonderful gift.

• Dawn: It had been nine months since Mary was visited by the angel who announced that she would bear the Son of God. So when the shepherds told her that angels had come to them in their fields, directing them to her infant son, she must have been especially pleased to hear that the angel of the Lord had returned. “A savior has been born,” they would have repeated. “[He] is Christ and Lord” (Luke 2:11). Luke tells us that Mary took in their words and reflected on them in her heart. We are called to bear Christ to the world through our words and actions. May the good that we do reflect God’s goodness, even as we reflect on how we too pass on God’s good news of great joy.

• Day: “In the beginning,” John began, as did the author of Genesis centuries before (1:1). The first humans were God’s creation, made in God’s own image, as is every human born into the world since. But not until Jesus was born, when the Word became flesh, when God’s own Son took on our human nature, did we truly become brothers and sisters of Jesus and children of God. Then, when Jesus, fully divine and fully human, suffered and died and was raised, a measure of God’s own immortality was bestowed upon us. As the fourth-century bishop Saint Athanasius said, God was made human so that we may become divine. From the beginning, the seeds of our divinity have been present. Through the Word made flesh, they have been sown.

Question of the Week

• Vigil: When was the last time I changed my mind about something
   important? Can I see myself trusting in God even if it means changing
   my mind?
• Night: Can I accept Jesus into my heart despite the darkness that
  already dwells there? How can I show that I have accepted Jesus into
  my heart?
• Dawn: How can I reflect God’s good news of great joy in the way that I
  treat others?
• Day: How can the seeds of divinity sown in me bloom for all to realize?
  Do I recognize the seeds of divinity in me? In others?

-from Pastoral Patterns

LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, December 25, 2022

SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, December 25, 2022

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