Saturday 31 December
7th day within the octave of Christmas Saint Silvester I, Pope Gospel - John 1:1-18 “The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth”. The Word continues to live among us in different ways. We can see His glory in different occasions. His glory filled with grace. The truth of incarnation is a reality of everyday life. The presence of God amongst us is a fact of daily life. When we acknowledge that presence in our life, in our day today experiences, we will start to see His glory also present in our life. From recognizing the presence of God to seeing the Glory of God, filling with grace in our life. Being in the last day of this year, it’s a moment to see all these grace-filled moments of 2022. Let’s fill our hearts with gratitude and love. This is very important to underline again the loving presence of God assured for 2023, so that we can see the glory of God present by His grace in each moment of our life.
Friday 30 December
The Holy Family Gospel - Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 “So, Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt…...So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel.” Getting up, taking the child and his mother, and moving to the destination indicated by the angel of the Lord is being the Holy Family. Because the life of the Holy Family revolves around the Holy Child, Jesus. Joseph follows the instructions of the angel of the Lord, follows the Word of God. Mary follows Joseph. Prophecies about the Jesus is being fulfilled through their actions. Jesus is the centre of their life. We can also become part of this Holy family. Putting Jesus in centre of our life is the way to become part of this Holy Family. To put Jesus in the centre of our life, we must get up, get up from our comfort zones; we must detach from our plans. Then we must take Jesus and his mother and move together. That means, we must act with love to put Jesus in the midst of our life. Whenever we act with love for the other, we put Jesus in our midst. Sometimes we get up, we make sacrifices, but we forget to act with love, we forget to smile. Let’s reflect: Are we getting up from our comforts to put Jesus in the midst of our life and become part of the Holy Family?
Thursday 29 December
5th day within the octave of Christmas Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop, Martyr Gospel - Luke 2:22-35 “Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God”. How many times, we were prompted to do good things and we just ignored the prompting by the Holy Spirit. Simeon did this because his only intention was to set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. When we have different intentions, it’s difficult to follow the prompting by the Holy Spirit. All our intentions must be centered around the one intention. The intention of seeing Christ. When we have this disposition, we will follow the promptings by the Holy spirit. Otherwise, we follow other intentions according to our selfishness. In all those occasions, we lost the opportunity to take Jesus in our arms and bless God. Let’s reflect: Do we follow the promptings by the Holy Spirit or the promptings of our selfishness?
Wednesday 28 December
The Holy Innocents, Martyrs Gospel - Matthew 2:13-18 “Herod was furious when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men.” This is what happens when man continues with his plan without recognizing the hand of God in the things that happen around us. We don’t see the plan of God because we are blind by our plan. We pretend to follow the plan of God with the intention of making use of even God’s plan to our own self interests. When we find that the plan of God is different then we become furious like Herod. This is followed normally by accusing everyone else for the failure of our plan. All because we don’t want to accept the plan of God. Let’s reflect: Recognize the hand of God in our plans and adjust our plans to suit that hand of God and not viceversa.