MASS READINGS & SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Thursday - December 23, 2021

Thursday - December 23, 2021

December 23, 2021

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Lectionary: 199

 

Reading 1                                                                 Mal 3:1-4, 23-24

Thus says the Lord GOD:

Lo, I am sending my messenger

    to prepare the way before me;

And suddenly there will come to the temple

    the LORD whom you seek,

And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

    Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.

But who will endure the day of his coming?

    And who can stand when he appears?

For he is like the refiner’s fire,

    or like the fuller’s lye.

He will sit refining and purifying silver,

    and he will purify the sons of Levi,

Refining them like gold or like silver

    that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.

Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem

    will please the LORD,

    as in the days of old, as in years gone by.

 

Lo, I will send you

    Elijah, the prophet,

Before the day of the LORD comes,

    the great and terrible day,

To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,

    and the hearts of the children to their fathers,

Lest I come and strike

    the land with doom.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14

 

R.    (see Luke 21:28)  Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

 

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;

    teach me your paths,

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are God my savior.

R.    Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

Good and upright is the LORD;

    thus he shows sinners the way.

He guides the humble to justice,

    he teaches the humble his way.

R.    Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy

    toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,

    and his covenant, for their instruction.

R.    Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

 

Alleluia                                                                     

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

O King of all nations and keystone of the Church;

come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her.

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

“No. He will be called John.”

But they answered her,

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

     and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,

“What, then, will this child be?

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

 

********************************

The Spirit of Christmas    

Can we experience "Christmas all year"? We know that we should have the spirit of Christmas every day, every season, but what is this "spirit of Christmas"? Is it love? Is it joy? Is it hope? Is it peace and good will toward all?

 

Yes, and it goes much deeper than that. The core of the spirit of Christmas is a life of humility.

 

Today's first reading explains why: Every day, all year, God says to each of us: "Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me."

 

It requires humility to listen to God's messengers. And it takes humility to recognize when God is preparing his way before you. Do you see God coming to you in a messenger today? Are you alert and ready every day? Even when they tell you something you don't like to hear?

 

"For he is like the refiner's fire ... refining and purifying ...." In humility, we are grateful for this.

 

Watch out if you pray today's responsorial Psalm: "Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me...." for he surely will!

 

Sometimes he teaches us through modern day prophets who are like John the Baptizer, whose birth we see in today's Gospel passage. These are people on whom the Lord places his hand, even if only for a moment, to prepare our hearts for a new level of holiness. It can happen any time, through anyone, even those who don't believe in Christ!

 

"Thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way."

 

Blessed are you when you are poor in spirit, recognizing that you have a poverty of knowledge about how to be holy in that troubling and tiresome situation you're enduring right now. In such humility, you are teachable. The loving friendship of the Lord is with you.

 

Christmas should be a time of celebrating the birthing places of Christ's presence in our lives that occur throughout the year: the new spiritual growth, the new victories over sin and worldly behaviors, and the new purifications that come from listening to God's messengers.

 

The core of the spirit of Christmas is a life of humility - just like Jesus.

 

In humility, we accept what God teaches us through his messengers. Instead of arguing with them to prove that they are wrong just because we don't want them to be right, we embrace all opportunities for purification. The purging that we reject today will become the Purgatory we gratefully accept when the Lord comes for us at the end of our earthly journeys.

 

The refining fire that God provides is the Holy Spirit, who burns off what is not holy within us and enables us to become more purely the image of Christ. Why wait for Purgatory? Heaven doesn't need to see Christ in us - the world does.

 

Prepare to be filled with the spirit of Christmas - the love, joy, peace and hope of Christmas that lasts all year, by looking for the many messengers that the Holy Spirit is sending to you.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Eternal Father, Grant me the grace of strength to always do Your will above the will of the world. Praised be to You, for Your incredible and wonderful paths of blessing. Amen.

    

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”