The SOLEMNITY of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A - Sunday, December 25, 2022 (EPISODE- 397)
Readings for Sunday, December 25, 2022 - The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A
FIRST READING: Isa 9:1-6
Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13. "Today is born our saviour, Christ the Lord."
SECOND READING: Titus 2:11-14
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 2:10-11). Alleluia, alleluia! Good news and great joy to all the world. Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord.
GOSPEL: Luke 2:1-14
Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock Vector ID: 1220902873 - Biblical vector illustration series, nativity scene of The Holy Family in stable. Vector Contributor: rudall30
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers, and homily), for The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord Jesus. Year A - Sunday, December 25, 2022, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-the-nativity-of-the-lord-jesus-christmas-year-a-episode-397 (EPISODE- 397)
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God With US!
Hello everyone, and happy Christmas.
It is such a beautiful time this Christmas Season. We celebrate God, who loved us so much that he "pitched in his tent with us" and made his home with us… to share our joys and sorrows, our graces and temptations, our failures and successes.
The wonder of this Christmas season is shown by the sight of so many people… family, friends, and parishioners gathered together at Christmas masses and wonderful gatherings for meals. Christmas is about family. And through the Birth of Our Lord, that first Christmas night, we are all made, forever, brothers and sisters in God's family. We are all one beloved family in Christ who loves us beyond words.
(And the beautiful thing is we didn't have to earn or prove that we somehow deserve this love); God's love for us is always "just there!" ... just like the love of unconditionally loving family and friends...
And it is never going away!
The entrance into this world of God, as a vulnerable and needy baby…. It is a profound statement to us…. God became one of us… We know that God is all-powerful… God could have come to the world any way he wanted….. In glory… in might… in majesty…. But no…. God came humbly … as one of us… sharing our condition completely…. And as a vulnerable baby….
This baby Jesus shows us and invites us how to enter into the truth of real unconditional love…..
**(1)(an insight into what babies teach us about true love, comes from British philosopher Alain de Botton who writes insightfully……. "Children teach us that love is, in its purest form, a kind of service. The word LOVE has grown overburdened with confusing and contradictory ideas of what true love really is. It seems to be – too often - used in a sense of an individualistic, self-gratifying culture – which sits uneasily with the idea of being "there for others," without hope of what they can give back to us. (pwk=The Blessed Virgin Mary understood what true love was… mothers throughout history know it intuitively… and fathers too..)
"We are used to loving others in return for what they can do for us, for their capacity to entertain, charm, or soothe us. Yet babies …..teach us to give without expecting anything in return, simply because (they completely need our help, care and love to survive) - and we are in a position to provide that love and care.
"We are introduced to true love which is based not on admiration for strength or potential self-gain, but on surprising compassion for weakness, …….Because it is always tempting to overemphasise autonomy and independence, these helpless creatures remind us that no one is, in the end, 'self-made': we are all heavily in someone's debt. We realise that life depends, quite literally, on our capacity for love - (to give it, and to receive it graciously!).
We learn, too, that being there for others -- ………set us free from the wearying responsibility of continuously catering to our (self-focused desires). We learn the relief and privilege of being granted something more important to live for than merely for ourselves alone . (p.110}
The child teaches the adult something else about love; that genuine love should· involve a constant attempt to interpret with maximum generosity what might be going on, at any time, beneath the surface of difficult and unappealing behaviour.
The parent has to constantly second-guess why the baby is kicking , upset or angry….. WHAT is really about in a small child. And what marks out this project of interpretation - and makes it so different from what occurs in the average adult relationship - is its charity. Parents …… proceed from the assumption that their children, though they may be troubled or in pain, are fundamentally good. Once the particular pin that is jabbing them is correctly identified, they will be restored to native innocence. When babies cry, we don't accuse them of being mean or self-pitying; we wonder what has upset them. When they scream out, we know they must be frightened or uncomfortable. We are alive to the endless effects that hunger, a tricky digestive tract, or a lack of sleep may have on mood.
Babies remind us all how much effect we have over people who depend on us and, therefore, what responsibilities we have to tread carefully around those who have been placed at our mercy. We learn of an unexpected capacity to hurt without meaning to - to frighten through unpredictability, anxiety or momentary irritation. We learn to train ourselves to be as others need us to be, rather than as our own first reflexes might dictate.
How kind we would be if we managed to import even a little of this instinct into adult relationships - if here, too, we could look past the grumpiness and the arbitrariness in adult life and recognise the fear, confusion, and exhaustion, hurt, and so on, which almost always underlies these things
It's not just the children who are childlike. Adults, too, are – (beneath the bluster) - variably playful, silly, fanciful, vulnerable, hysterical, terrified, pitiful, and in search of consolation and forgiveness. {We have just gotten better at clothing it in other garments}.
It is a wonderful thing to live in a world where so many people are nice to children. (May this ever continue!) - It would be an even better world if we were a little nicer to the childlike sides of adults as well ….. - for at different times… this could easily be all of us. {P122}" (1)
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This is what it would mean to gaze upon the human race with love
{P112-113}
{This is what Our Lord did! - on that first Christmas eve… { and every day after that……reaching out with generous love… inviting us to do the same……..}.
And it changed and saved the world!}
….Our Lord's birth as a baby… reminds us …..to stop demanding a perfect love or being frustrated with the absence of perfect love around us in the world….. and instead start to give compassionate, and caring love away – generously and widely……, ….. and without expecting return.
{P117}
We remember today, the birthday of a person whose whole life (from birth, ministry, death to resurrection) speaks of complete self-giving and love.
Jesus shows us how to act and respond purposefully with kindness and generosity to life, come what may. (Jesus, even in the face of the absolute worst things that an ungrateful world threw back at him, steadfastly refused to stop giving freely of his compassion, his mercy, his generosity, and his healing). In short. He loved unreservedly... He IS love and invites us to join him in living his love and giving this to others...
Amidst all this joy and hope, worry and messiness is indeed news of extraordinary joy and amazing wonder and significance. Joy (and news) to be shared by everyone - of every time and place!
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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
(1) **Alain de Botton. "The Course of Love -By: ISBN: 9781501134517 - Penguin Books: 20th June 2017.
Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock Vector ID: 1220902873 - Biblical vector illustration series, nativity scene of The Holy Family in stable. Vector Contributor: rudall30
The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A (Sunday, December 25, 2022) (EPISODE- 397)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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On this Feast day of The Birth of Our Lord, Heaven has been joined to earth. God has become flesh and dwelt among us.
A blessed, happy and peaceful Christmas to everyone.
My brothers and sisters, we have gathered to celebrate the Holy Eucharist on this wonderful Solemnity of the Birth of Our Lord. So let us pause and reflect upon our sins to rejoice in God's loving mercy.
Lord Jesus, you came into the world to give us eternal life. Lord have mercy.
You are the eternal light, who shines in the darkness. Christ have mercy.
You are the word made flesh, to make us all children of the light. Lord have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
GLORIA - SUNG
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COLLECT- (The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A)
Let us pray,
O God, who have made this most sacred (night/day) radiant with the splendour of the true light, grant, we pray, that we, who have known the mysteries of his light on earth, may also delight in his gladness in heaven. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever.
Amen.
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Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13. "Today is born our saviour, Christ the Lord."
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 2:10-11). Alleluia, alleluia! Good news and great joy to all the world. Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord.
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Memorial Acclamation
When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
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Nativity I
Eucharistic Prayer II
(pre+post variation: v1-long)
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Prayer after Communion- (The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A)
Let us pray.
Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, that we, who are gladdened by participation in the feast of our Redeemer's Nativity,
may through an honourable way of life become worthy of union with him, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
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I pray that you have a truly blessed and joyous Christmas and that Our Lord's love and peace will completely fill your hearts and minds, and safe travelling to and from your destinations…
God bless.
(Solemn Blessing)
The Lord be with you.
(Let us bow our heads and pray for God's blessing)
May the God of infinite goodness,
who by the Incarnation of his Son has driven darkness from the world, and by that glorious Birth has illumined this most holy (night/day),
drive far from you the darkness of vice
and illumine your hearts with the light of virtue.
Amen.
May God, who willed that the great joy
of his Son's saving Birth be announced to shepherds by the Angel,
fill your minds with the gladness he gives
and make you heralds of his Gospel. Amen.
And may God, who by the Incarnation,
brought together the earthly and heavenly realm,
fill you with the gift of his peace and favour
and make you sharers with the Church in heaven.
Amen.
And may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit
come down on you and remain with you forever.
Amen.
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: Subscribe to mailing list to keep up-to-date
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Roman Missal, 3rd edition, 2010, (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA.
"The Psalms" by The Grail - 1963, 2009.
Prayers of the Faithful - Robert Borg "Together we pray" - (1993).
St. Ralph Sherwin Gloria - written and sung By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. 2011 ccwatershed.org.
Christmas Hymn - "Word Made Flesh" by Paul W. Kelly. Based upon: John's Gospel 1:14, 1 John 4:9, & Isaiah 9:2, 6, 7. (Written on 8/5/20; 10/9/20). Arranged and sung by Stefan Kelk, with adjusted lyrics. 2020. https://www.airgigs.com/user/stefankelk
Traditional hymns:
O Holy Night (Vocal Duet),
Joy to the World (Choir),
Away in a Manger (Choir), performed by the Bobby Cole Chamber Choir, licensed via Shockwave-Sound.com
(https://www.shockwave-sound.com)
[ Production - KER - 2022]
May God bless and keep you.
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