Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Bring gifts, and enter His courts; worship the Lord.” –Psalm 96:8-9 We can have two kinds of Christmases — one real and the other fake. Anna the prophetess had a real Christmas. This eighty-four year old widow “was constantly in the temple, worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer” (Lk 2:37). “She gave thanks to God and talked about the Child” (Lk 2:38). Anna met and loved Christ. Her Christmas and life were Christ-centered. The fake Christmas is described as “carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, the life of empty show” (1 Jn 2:16). This fake Christmas passes away....

“Now, Master, You can dismiss Your servant in peace.” –Luke 2:29 Simeon told the Lord, His Master, that he was ready to die now that he had seen Jesus alive. This points out the connection between our deaths and Jesus’ birth. The Church emphasizes this connection by celebrating the deaths of St. Thomas Becket today, the Holy Innocents yesterday, and St. Stephen on the second day of Christmas. Jesus’ birth and our deaths go together because Jesus has revealed to us that our deaths are births into the eternal life of heaven (see Rm 6:8). Death is not the end...

“He came to the temple now, inspired by the Spirit, and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to perform for Him the customary ritual of the law, he took Him in his arms and blessed God.” —Luke 2:27-28 Some orthodox Jews have the custom of using the birth of a baby boy as an occasion to discourse on the coming of the Messiah. An older relative traditionally starts the conversation with the question: “Could this baby be the Messiah?” Then various relatives wax eloquently about the coming and the glories of the Messiah. Some people may have thought...

“You will be hated by all on account of Me. But whoever holds out till the end will escape death.” —Matthew 10:22 On this second day of Christmas, the Church presents to us St. Stephen, the first martyr. The festive red color of Christmas is mixed with the blood-red of the martyr. The Church proclaims that Christmas is not just a custom, diversion, or triviality. Christmas is glorious — and serious. Christmas is the proclamation of Jesus’ lordship. It is the Word confronting the world (see Wis 18:15). The Church’s Christmas characters are not Santa, Rudolph, or Frosty. Our Christmas...

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King!’ ” —Isaiah 52:7 The Good News of Christmas is: “A Savior has been born to you” (Lk 2:11). “Your Savior comes” (Is 62:11). “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us” (Ti 3:4-5). If Jesus had not been born, our future would be bleak, our present a desperate escape attempt, and our past an even heavier burden. If Jesus had not been born, fear, resentment and...