The Holy Family

Today is the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, The Holy Family of Nazareth.

Five days ago we celebrated the feast of the Nativity, the birth of a baby boy to his mother Mary who had conceived  Him nine months earlier through the power of the Holy Spirit which took place when this young girl at the invitation of the angel at the Annunciation had said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.”

Christmas Day

The Lord Jesus is come. Today is His birthday. A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth.

This is the day the Old Testament prophets spoke of, Isaiah said “The virgin shall be with child and she shall bear a son and shall call him Emmanuel. That is God is with us.”

Jesus is the Difference

Today is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. We celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, day after tomorrow. Christians salute others with the words “Merry Christmas!”

But those who are indifferent or who live in the spirit of the world often say “Happy Holidays!” Over the years in the Western world which thru the centuries grew up Christian, the later greeting has gained ascendency over the former. Is there a difference and if so what is it?

The Immaculate Conception

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary as proclaimed a dogma of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Many was, by the grace of God, conceived in her mother’s womb without, or absent, the stain of the original sin of Adam and Eve. In the eyes of God, she was perfect in holiness, made perfect for a reason, that when the time came she would be ready, through her own free will, to accede to the invitation of God as announced by the message of an angel to become the Mother of God, to give God’s son a human nature.