Merry Christmas!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas! The spirit of the celebration is in recognizing, as Mary did in her Magnificat, that God remembered His promise of mercy and sent His only-begotten Son to redeem the fallen human nature, drawing all people to Himself, to share in the life of the Trinity, which is essentially love. The birth of Jesus also gives us a special hope for our own redemption, that, by the grace of God, we might live our lives seeking to know Him, love Him, and serve Him more and better in order to join Him forever in heaven when our lives come to an end.

Mary participated in the effects of Christ's Passion in a mysterious way, even before He was born. Her redemption was preservative, rather than curative—she was preserved from the stain of original sin by the graces Her son-to-be would merit on the Cross, from the moment of her own conception, that beautiful feast we celebrate the 8th of December each year. We who benefit from Christ's saving grace after the fact do inherit the original sin of our first parents, and are in need of that renewal and rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit, the Sacrament of Baptism, and we are further called to spread this good news to the ends of the earth with the strength of our Confirmation in the Spirit. It is also essential that we partake frequently of the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation—without the Eucharist, it is only with great difficulty that one may be saved. And in the many trials and temptations that enter our lives, due to the sin of our first parents, we are beckoned by the church to receive her Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which, by our acknowledgement of our faults and failings before the person of Christ acting in and through a priest, He forgives us those transgressions and restores us to grace, giving us the strength to resist temptation and endure trials for His sake.

All of these gifts and so many more were revealed to men by Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, in perfect conformity with the will of the Father. May the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Family look with favor on you and your family this Christmas and in the year to come!

This year, because Christmas falls on a Saturday, the celebration of the Holy Family falls on the very next day. It is in this feast that St. Joseph takes the stage, so to speak, as head of the earthly family of the Son of God. The evangelists tell us that St. Joseph was a righteous man. We know that he was of the house of David, that he was a carpenter, and that he listened carefully to the messages God sent him via his angels, to take Mary into his home, to flee Herod's persecution to Egypt, and to return to Nazareth. We know that he cared for his Son's well-being, for he went looking for Him when they were separated leaving the temple in Jerusalem. And he taught Him his trade, passing down the art of carpentry to a Son who was obedient, patient, and devoted to the work of His earthly father, as He would be to that of His heavenly Father. Let us contemplate the beauty of the Holy Family, imagine how, with the chaste St. Joseph, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and the Incarnate Word of God, they would have lived amongst themselves, in their local community, expressing their faith, living simply and in such charity. Let us not despair if, in various ways, our own families do not exhibit all of those characteristics that seem so desirable; rather, let us look to them for inspiration and guidance and find hope in the fact that they were a human family that was disposed to receive an abundant outpouring of grace, and that we might also beg for such a gift, trusting in God's infinite mercy and love, which takes flesh to live among us this evening.

Merry Christmas!


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca