Christmas Advent Archives - Page 16 of 17

Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent, COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US! (Part I)

12/15/2015

In more ways than one, we are waiting in darkness. Isaiah prophesied Jesus’ birth, saying, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2). Yet, the darkness will never totally go away. I’ve worked long enough in ministry to know that moral evil isn’t going to disappear, but the Gospel offers something much more subtle and helpful: “the light shines on the inside of the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome

Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: You Shall Call His Name Jesus

12/14/2015

Meditation: You Shall Call His Name Jesus The Gospel of Matthew begins with a long list of Hebrew names that give the family tree of Jesus on the human side. As we read these names some two thousand years of history pass in review. At the end of the list we find the name above every name, the name of Jesus. The procession passes through the centuries and comes to rest at Bethlehem. “Joseph, son

Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: The Danger of Busyness

12/11/2015

Meditation: The Danger of Busyness When God came into the world at Christmas, people didn’t have time. They were too busy. There was no room for Him in the inn. “He came unto his own, and they that were his own people received him not.” And it seems that still today we have no room. We crowd Him out with so many things, especially with our busyness. In Luke 14:16-24, the Lord Jesus tells a

Twenty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Emmanuel

12/09/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? This Word who now becomes flesh is the very same God before Whom the Seraphim in the vision of Isaiah covered their faces with their wings and exclaimed in fear and trembling: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Sabaoth!” The creature did not dare to look up. Such was the overpowering greatness of God. No man could see God and live. It is this transcendent, unapproachable, unfathomable, mysterious Word who

Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent, Mystery of Incarnation

12/08/2015

God’s revelations are always pointed, concrete, and specific. They are not a Platonic world of ideas and theories about which you can be right or wrong, or observe from a distance. Divine Revelation is not something you measure or critique. It is not an ideology but a Presence you intuit and meet! It is more Someone than something. All of this is called the “mystery of incarnation”—enfleshment or embodiment if you prefer—and for Christians it

Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part VI)

12/07/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Charlotte Adelsperger explained what the coming of Jesus meant to her: Christmas came for me when I allowed Jesus to outgrow swaddling clothes and wrap me in God’s love. Christmas came for me when I discovered that I am part of the flock God is watching over-even at night. Christmas came for me when I rejoiced, knowing Christ’s tidings of great joy were to all people-and I’m a messenger. Christmas

Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part V)

12/03/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Christmas means that there are two births of Christ: one into the world at Bethlehem; the other into the soul when it is spiritually reborn. Through the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and the Eucharist, Christ is born in the second Bethlehem. i.e., our hearts and minds, our souls and bodies. He that is the pre-eternal God becomes a newborn babe that we might be converted and become babes in Christ.

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

12/01/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Christmas means that “the Word (the Eternal God) was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In an attempt to capture the monumental humiliation God endured when He took on human flesh, C.S. Lewis likens it to our becoming a worm. Yet God did that for us in order to communicate His love to us. Christmas means that Emmanuel has come: God is not

Thirteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part III)

11/27/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Jesus himself explains why He came: “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5: 17). “I come not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9; 13). “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “I have come as light into the world, that whoever

Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent, “O Give Thanks unto the Lord!”

11/26/2015

By Father Steven Kostoff “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 136:1) In an article titled “A Moveable Fast,” the scholar Elyssa East summarized the history of our American Thanksgiving, and the intentions and practices of the early New England colonists toward this national feast. Initially, she writes, Thanksgiving was built around the Christian rhythm of fasting and feasting. Bearing that in mind, she also offered her

Archive

Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent, COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US! (Part I)

Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: You Shall Call His Name Jesus

Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: The Danger of Busyness

Twenty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Emmanuel

Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent, Mystery of Incarnation

Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part VI)

Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part V)

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

Thirteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part III)

Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent, “O Give Thanks unto the Lord!”

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