2A17                         Is. 49:3, 5-6.  Israel was first chosen to be God’s people and they alone, as the text says, “You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.”  However, through Isaiah, God later expands the call to other peoples, telling Isaiah, “I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” and not just to the tribes of Jacob.

John 1:29-34.  John presents Jesus as the sacrificial offering who will redeem us from our sins, when he says, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”   John gives testimony that Jesus is the Son of God.   Also he contrasts his baptism as being merely of water but Jesus’ baptism as being infinitely superior because he baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 1:1-3.  Paul addresses “the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”  This is Paul’s way of saying that not just Jews but all people, who recognize Jesus as their Lord, are God’s people.  We who belong to Jesus are made holy in him.  The blessing at the end says that we as God’s people can bring God’s blessing to one another.

 

EpiphA23.    Isaiah 60:1-6.   The Church transferred the original reference of this text which was to Jerusalem being prophesied to be gloriously being rebuilt after its annihilation by the Babylonians to the glory given to Jerusalem much later by the Messiah Jesus being born there to bring it salvation.  “Caravans of camels shall fill you, dromedaries from Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord.”  Isaiah 62:11 says, “See the Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes!”

Matthew 2:1-12.  John 1:3c says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Herod personifies the forces of darkness when he tells the Magi to inform him of the location of the child of whom it is said to be “the newborn king of the Jews” so that he might kill him and not as he in his subterfuge says that he will do him homage.  The Magi or royal astrologers (star readers or interpreters) represent for us the acceptance by the gentile world of the messiahship of Jesus.  The gifts that we bring to Jesus daily are acts, words and thoughts of love inspired in us by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.  By the grace of God it was made known “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  Jesus is a Jew and the Messiah of the Jews but also Savior of all humanity.  The Magi were given the grace of God to recognize the divinity of Jesus and so to be the representatives of the Gentile world in accepting Jesus as the King our lives.  In accepting Jesus as the King of our lives, (Romans  8:28a) “we know that all things work for good for those who love God.”

EpiphC22.    Isaiah 60:1-6.   Upon you, Jerusalem, “the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory.  Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.”  Originally probably written to welcome and attract the Jews to return from captivity, but also to contrast what magnificence God had to offer versus the worthlessness that the pagan world had to offer.  “All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord.”  This prophecy proclaims that those who are in the darkness shall see God’s brilliance and bring gifts to offer him in worship.

Psalm 72: “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” “All kings shall pay him homage, all nations shall serve him.”

Matthew 2:1-12.  Here we meet the stark contrast of the pagan magi who seek the light that gives life and Herod who has given himself over to the death of darkness.  The star is God’s angelic light.  After leaving Herod, the star reappears to lead the Magi.  On seeing “the child with Mary his mother, they prostrated themselves and did him homage.  Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” The treasure we have to offer in adoration is our life, love, our very selves.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.  What was hidden in other generations is now revealed: “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus though the gospel.” The light that shone to the magi was a light to all nations.  When we open ourselves to the light of God’s presence so to enlighten our lives, we can see the love of God for us that is the life that is eternal.  It will not die at the grave. Living in darkness is the worldly belief that what is visible to the human eye is the only reality.  To live in the light that is Christ is to recognize that what is invisible is eternally real while what is visible exists only temporarily.

 

Epiph21.    Isaiah 60:1-6.   Isaiah was encouraging a disheartened remnant of Jews who had relatively recently been released from captivity.  They were a poor people with little resources who had returned to a land that had been ravaged by war and they needed to rebuild.  Isaiah is calling upon the people to have faith in their glorious God who will make them a light to the nations.  Proclaiming the praises of the Lord, the nations will come, bringing gold and frankincense.  Israel will be the light, the shining radiance.

Matthew 2:1-12.     Magi from the ancient faith of Persia were astrologers who attempted to read the stars as a way to read messages from the supernatural to the people of earth.  As Catholics we traditionally believe that God used a special star to lead the magi to the newborn king or Christ or messiah of the Jews.  The magi accepted the star as a guiding light from God.  They, who were Gentiles, came to do homage to the king of the Jews whereas Herod, representing the Jewish establishment, sought to kill the Christ.  John 1:5 reads, Jesus is the light that “shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  The way to Jesus is fraught with difficulties.  We seek to bring to him anything and everything that we have that is of value; after all, he gives us the most valuable thing we can ever have, eternity in heaven.

Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6.   Paul speaks of the mystery that was made known or revealed to him that he, in turn, makes known to the Gentiles.  It was a mystery because it had not been revealed to people in other ages.  The revelation is Jesus, God who became human to bring humans to God.  John 1:11-12 reads, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.  But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.”  How magnificent it is to be children of the almighty Creator of the universe!   God has invited us to belong to him.  However only by living daily in the power of the Holy Spirit can we make our divine adoption a genuine reality.

Jan1A23.   Numbers 6:22-27.    This was God’s blessing upon his People, the Israelites.  God is the ultimate and only true source of anything and everything that is good.  To be blessed by God is to have the dam gates of God’s goodness open to flow upon us.  We begin the New Year as a year once again filled with God’s loving goodness and kindness.

Luke 2:16-21.  The Almighty Glorious God is born into abysmally impoverished circumstances to suffer horribly as an adult in a wretched death in order to offer himself up out of immeasurable love for us.  He, who, as an infant, was laid in an animal’s feeding trough or manger, was to later be nailed to an executioner’s cross.  Everything about his coming into this world as human, yet remaining divine but letting go of all the wonders of his divinity, proclaims the unfathomable depths of his love for us.  Only the most humble, like the shepherds, can recognize him for whom he truly is.  Mary, even though she was his mother, had to keep record in her memory (taking notes, so to speak) of the events and circumstances surrounding her son that helped her to understand who he was and what he was all about.  As good Jews, his earthly parents had him circumcised, as a part of raising him as a good Jew.  He was Jesus, God become man to save us from our sins.

Galatians 4:4-7.   “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  God gave the law or the Torah to the Hebrew People to enable them to grow up or mature in holiness.  The time came in the mind of God for his People to have matured enough under the Law so to finally receive the fullness of his presence in his Son Jesus and so dispose of any further need of the Old Testament Law.  With the arrival of his Son and through the saving work of his Son, we ourselves have been called to be his very sons and daughters.

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Numbers 6:22-27.  We are blessed by God!  God speaks well of us and, when God speaks well of us, all is well, for what God says is, is.  God’s blessing brings down goodness on us.

Luke 2:16-21.  God sends down his message through an angel to the shepherds of the night watch, “a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  “All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds.  And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  “He was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”  Galatians 4:4-7.  “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  “So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”  The mother who brought divinity into humanity through the will of God brings humanity to share in divinity.  God, through God’s will, became a human son of a human mother, enabling us to become sons and daughters of God.

XmasA22.  Isaiah readings.   The Hebrew people were threatened and battered by powerful armies.  His People had all too often not been faithful to their Lord.  Isaiah tells God’s People that God is with them.  He is the Almighty God who will use his might for them.

Matthew 1 & Luke 2.  Divinity enters into humanity by becoming one of us.  Mary, representing all of humanity, agrees to act as the portal through which the divine takes on humanness.  Divinity, without forsaking divinity, embraces the fullness of humanity by becoming a helpless baby.  In his profound acceptance of the lowliness of infancy, Jesus is pointing to the far greater subjection of his suffering and death on the cross, offering up himself to redeem us from our sins.  This world glories in its earthly power but Jesus shows his glory by the depths of his love.

John 1:14.  “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

 

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Since there are so many readings for a typical Christmas I will cherry pick thoughts and texts going from Christmas Vigil to the ‘Mass During the Day”.   Isaiah 62 declares that Zion’s victory will be “like a burning torch.”   For us that can be taken to be a reference to the King to be born who will be the Messiah.  The Acts of the  Apostles 13 declares that from the line of King David, according to God’s promise, a savior, Jesus, has been brought to Israel.  Matthew 1 begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David,  the son of Abraham.  God’s work was rooted in the past, grow into the future through the power of God working in his people.  Emmanuel, God is always with us.  Joseph took Mary, pregnant with the Messiah, into his home.  The people of God are to take Jesus into our earthly home.

Mass At Night:  “The people who walked in darkness (of sin) have seen a great light”.  “For a child is born to us, a son is given us.” “They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!”  Luke 2 declares, “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”  God sends his angels to the poorest of the poor, the shepherds, to make of them earthly angels, that is messengers of this awesome news, that God has come to dwell among his people, who have no room for him so that he has to be housed in a stable and lie in a manger (an animals’ feeding trough).  “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  His favor rests on those who are open to receive him and not filled with themselves and their own preconceptions.  Paul’s letter to Titus declares that those who are ready to receive him have first accepted the grace of God that saves and trains us “to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly.”

In the “Mass at Dawn” the shepherds announce the message they had heard from the angels.  “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  Paul writes to Titus that God our savior “saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” “so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope to eternal life.”

In ‘the Mass during the Day’ in John 1 Jesus is referred to as the ‘Word’, which I take to mean God the Father’s redeeming expression of love.  Then in another poetic way he is referred to as the light that shines in the darkness where the darkness is set in opposition to the light (evil against goodness).  “But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.”  Christmas only has its true meaning to those who choose to live with Jesus as their God.  From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God.  The only Son, God who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.”  In Jesus we see God.  In Hebrews 1, God says, “Let all the angels of God worship him” (Jesus).

Adv4A22.   Isaiah 7:10-14.   God is offering hope to his threatened people by promising them a sign that he is actively with them in their struggles.  Judah’s king Ahaz had not learned to live in a state of dependence upon the Lord and so he rejects the Lord’s offer of a sign of his active presence with his people.  Despite Ahaz’s negativity, the Prophet Isaiah responses, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Matthew 1:18-24.   Joseph was chosen by God to be the earthly fatherly caretaker of Jesus, begotten of Mary by the Holy Spirit.  Matthew’s Gospel proclaims: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means “God is with us.”  The angel or messenger of the Lord delivered the Lord’s command that Joseph take Mary into his home as his wife.  Joseph obeyed.  Jesus, God made man, is the fulfillment of “God is with us.”

Romans 1:1-7.  Paul enslaves himself to Jesus, which is to say, he gives himself over to belong totally to Jesus and Jesus’ will for him. Paul recognizes that Jesus called him to bring the Gentiles to “the obedience of faith” in Jesus.  Paul sees Jesus as an earthly descendant of David and also, as a person of heaven sent to call the people of this earth to heaven.  Through Jesus we are enabled or graced to belong to Jesus as was Paul.

Adv4A19.   Isaiah 7:10-14.  Through Isaiah God tells Ahaz to ask for a miraculous sign from the heavens but Ahaz refuses to obey God’s Will.  This upsets Isaiah who nonetheless promises a future sign from God.  “The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”

Matthew 1:18-24.  God chooses to become a creature of this earth without losing his divinity to one day redeem us from our sins.  The Creator creates the Redeemer to give us sinners a path to heaven.  In the Incarnation and Nativity God begins his act of salvation of humanity despite the great cost to him but because of his great love for us.  This is the plan of God the Father to whom Jesus is obedient.

Romans 1:1-7.   At the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul identifies himself by his relationship to Jesus.  Once again obedience to God’s love for us is central to the person Paul has chosen to be.  He passes on that same call to the gentiles who likewise “are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”  Salvation belongs to all who belong to and are obedient to the Will of God.