December 29, 2014

O Lord, thank you for the gift of this day.

Help me to act in ways that are pleasing and useful to you, not just to me.

You have given me the gift of life, now let me give the gift of my life to you.

December 22, 2014

Pagan Rome celebrated the Feast of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, on December 25th missing the winter solstice by just a few days. Not bad, considering the rudimentary astronomical instruments available to them back then.

Thus it was that the Roman Christians celebrated the birth of the Light of the World, the birth of the Son of God, on December 25th.

So, as the sun’s light pushes back the boundaries of darkness, let heaven’s light, the Star of Bethlehem, lead you to the re-birthing of the Light of the World in your heart and soul.

December 15, 2014

Love in hope and hope in love.

December 8, 2014

“The best way to live is to trust the Lord,

to keep peace in one’s heart,

to accept all things as being for the best,

to be patient and good,

never to do ill.”

Pope John XXIII

December 1, 2014

The hope of Advent is not our common everyday hope for this, or that, or the other thing. It is the fundamental hope we have in God’s promise that He will come to us to shepherd us, console us, and comfort us. It is a hope that will not disappoint because God cannot and will not go back on His promise. What a comfort that is! It is the comfort that Isaiah offers when he cries out:

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated… A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!