First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©
Second Reading – Isaiah 9:1-7 ©
Third Reading – Isaiah 62:11-12 ©
Fourth Reading – Isaiah 52:7-10 ©
First
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 88(89):2-5, 27, 29 ©
Second
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 95(96):1-3,11-13 ©
Third
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 96(97):1, 6, 11-12 ©
Fourth
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-6 ©
Fifth
Reading – Acts 13:16-17, 22-25 ©
Sixth
Reading – Titus 2:11-14 ©
Seventh
Reading – Titus 3:4-7 ©
Eighth Reading – Hebrews 1:1-6 ©
The First Acclamation
The Second Acclamation – Luke 2:10 –
11
The Third Acclamation – Luke 2:14
The Fourth Acclamation
The
First Gospel Reading, The Gospel According to Matthew 1:1-25 ©
The Second Gospel Reading, The Gospel
According to Luke 2:1-14 ©
The Third Gospel Reading, The Gospel
According to Luke 2:15 – 20 ©
The Fourth Gospel Reading, The Gospel
According to John 1:1-18 ©
(NJB)
In the reading for Christmas the
prophet expresses a profound hope for the future of Israel, and by extension the
entire world. As followers of the way we should brandish that hope, we
should carry it forward as the expectation of justice that we hold not only for
ourselves, but for all people we do not know what the future will bring but whatever
comes we will face it together.
Together we are stronger, together we
are wiser, together we are better; the love we share with one another is like a
gemstone, bright and beautiful, fixed in a circle of gold that we may wear like
the solar-disc, like a beacon on a hill or a new-star in the heavens.
Remember!
God made us in freedom, as individuals
and the entire creation, God made us free. God does not coerce, God does not
intervene in worldly affairs, either for our benefit or our detriment, though God
has promised to deliver us to a place of wellbeing when we are done with this
world.
Understand this!
The prophet errs when he ascribes a
divine motive or intervention by direct-action to any event that transpires or
has transpired or will transpire here on Earth. God does not confer glory on
anyone, not on any tribe or nation, neither does the divine spirit not seek
glory for God’s own self…set these ideas aside; all such talk is vanity,
springing directly from the human heart, delivered by the mouths of men, to the
ears of other men.
The prophet was wrong to speak this
way; his error was the error of human ambition, representing the limits of human
imagination. Nevertheless, the prophet was right to speak of hope like a light
shining in the darkness, which once perceived gladdens the heart and brings
joy.
Know this.
Hope is the way that leads to
God, and faith (which means trust) kindled by and love.
The divine light shines from beyond
the world, we will not see the fullness of it until we have left the world
behind.
Take joy!
What Isaiah says concerning Zion, is
a message he intends for all God’s children…the prophet is speaking to everyone
when he informs us that the savior does not come as a conqueror, but as a
healer, God’s victory is not against armies and principalities; God’s victory
is over death-itself and the prize is life.
Be mindful.
The one who comes in the name of God,
comes as a herald of peace
We are what the divine spirit is
seeking, wherever we are, in whatever city we dwell, on whatever world we
exist, God will find us and will bring a blessing to all; no-one is left behind
Know this.
God is not a king; when we call God, King,
we risk the eventuality that we will find ourselves calling a our temporal vicars…gods.
This is the hubris of the ruling class. Royalists are never harbingers of peace;
kings always make slaves of their people and ruin their nations with war…do not
listen to their promises. Tear down the Jerusalem of kings and fanatics,
rebuild a Jerusalem of love and friendship; this is the way of Jesus and
the prophets.
Consider the words of the psalmist
and beware, because much that has been preserved in scripture was written by nationalists
and war-mongers.
God is the God of love and mercy, not
of palace intrigues; God is not the lord of battles.
It is right to praise God; it is
right and good to treat our discourse concerning God with respect and honor; for
God is holy and our discourse should reflect the sacred nature of God’s work.
Be mindful!
At the beginning of creation God judged
the world and the entirety of the created order, then, seeing the whole of it
from end to end, God proclaimed that it was is good, that we are good; even in
recognition of the reality of sin and evil, despite our own sinfulness, God saw
that we are good.
God is Abba, father; Jesus is
brother, teacher, friend…and the spirit is our mother. God is the keeper of a
garden, not the master of a castle, not a knight on crusade or a general
leading armies.
In God, within whom all things exist,
within whom all things have their being…in God there is no conflict.
God is to be trusted, not feared.
Let the Earth rejoice and all people
in it proclaim the reality that we are all God’s children, and that the divine
spirit has no enemies. God is the creator of all things and all things obey the
will God, in the end all things and beings will express the divine love in its
fullness, with justice and mercy for all.
Let go of your doubts and your
dismay; do not cling to them, there is no comfort there. God will wipe away the
tears from everyone’s face, as the prophet said:
All have been invited to the table,
and the feast will not begin until everyone is in.
Be mindful.
If you have never worshipped a carved
image do not think you are superior to someone who has; idolatry can be discerned
in more than the worship of objects, idolatry is even more insidious when it is
presented in the form of ideas and dogmas, propaganda and myth, creeds and
doctrines.
Understand this.
It is not God’s justice that is shown
in the work of human beings; human beings enact human justice. However, when
human justice approximates the justice of God, we experience justice as mercy…and
that is good.
God is kind and the divine spirit is
faithful to all people, showing no favoritism.
Consider the teaching of the apostles:
It was a mistake for them to link
Jesus, son of Joseph the carpenter, to the lineage of David the King of Judea
and all Israel, this was an exercise in shameless propaganda and should be
rejected.
Jesus was poor, he came from a humble
village, his father was a craftsman, his friends were shepherds and fisherman,
he was a Jew of the diaspora.
Jesus was also a rabbi, which is to
say that he was a pharisee; he was also a healer, a prophet, and most
importantly, he was a man committed to a life of humility, seeking justice for
the people who followed him through a spirit of mercy.
David was the opposite; he was a tyrant,
a warrior, a murderer; he was vile and debauched and the father of despots.
Be mindful.
The salvific work that God wrought in
Jesus did not begin with his birth, or his death; it began in the mysterious
place outside of time at the beginning of all things. Our salvation begins with
the Word of God, the Divine Logos, the second person of the trinity in
whom all things are made, and sustained.
The salvation of all people, of all
creation, that work began then, at the beginning of time; it is built into the
foundation of all that is.
Living a good life does not purchase
salvation, we do not earn it, and no one earned it for us. Our salvation was
God’s intention from the outset; we were born in darkness and will be delivered
by grace.
Living a life of justice and mercy,
of love and humility, a life that manifests the reality of God’s salvific will (already
present in us), is like walking through the darkness with a torch held high, it
is there for all to see, signaling to everyone the joy and peace of the divine,
and the expectation of God’s blessing which we hold in faith while we sojourn
on Earth.
Remember.
God is the savior of all people,
providing for our salvation from the moment we come into existence. Salvation
is well-being, both in this world and the next, the reception of it does not
require rituals or rites, or the magical-mechana of justification.
There are no secret codes that grant
us access to heaven. We are saved and delivered into the next world simply because
God wills it, and we experience salvation in this world through faith in that
promise
Be mindful!
The apostle makes a fundamental error
when he writes about the station Jesus occupies. I do not fault him for this,
not personally, because the apostle is a man of his time, formed with a
hierarchical view of the world, that was dominated by kings, emperors and other
pretenders.
The apostle tells us that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of God, through whom the entire universe, everything that
is, was or will ever be, has its existence. He tells us that Jesus of Nazareth
possesses the exact copy of God’s nature, and in-so-doing he expresses his belief
in the categories of Platonic thought.
The apostle tells us that the
universe itself is sustained by the power that resided in Jesus of Nazareth,
and that through this same power sin has been destroyed, which is an odd
insofar as it is clear to anyone that sin is a constant reality, present in the
lives of every human being.
The apostle tells us that this
perfect copy of God, sits at the right had of the creator, and is himself the
creator of the universe. The Church that followed him demands that we rigidly
adhere to these constructions, which in reality is merely a set of metaphors
intended to convey an essential mystery and doing so inadeqately.
The apostle expresses concern that
we, his audience, properly understand the majesty of Jesus, a majesty above all
other beings, even the angelic host, because he, Jesus has inherited the title,
Son of God…a title belonging to no other.
We must understand that the apostle was
winging it. He was making it up as he went along, and he did not know what he
was talking about. He was trying to say that God dwelt within Jesus of Nazareth
in a special way, and as a result Jesus is a unique being, a being fundamental
to God’s sovereignty over the universe, whose life (and death) were the
critical instruments God employed for the resolution of sin and evil in the
world.
The apostle’s message gets muddied
with his incessant commentary on the hierarchy of the angelic hosts, the role
of sonship, qualities of majesty, position and station. It would have been
better for the world if he had spoken more plainly.
Let us recap his teaching and do so
mindfully!
Jesus was a child of the creator, he
was our brother. In Jesus the conflict of sin was resolved, by following the
example of his life we may resolve it for ourselves. The fullness of the
eternal and infinite God dwelt perfectly within Jesus, as it dwells perfectly
within each of us, whether we know it or not…believe it or not/
The whole is in the part, the whole
is undivided, and we are one with each other in the divine.
Jesus came and went, but human
sinfulness will not end as long as human beings sojourn through time and space;
the divine promise concerning the resolution of sin and evil is not of this
world.
Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus
and we call him Immanuel, which means God is with us; it is vital
that we remember, God is always with us; from the beginning to the end God is
with us.
Be mindful of how you praise God,
even praise can lead a person astray; for instance, if you say that God is in
the highest heaven, you may forget that God is everywhere, that God dwells in the
hearts of all people, even the worst of us.
Know this!
All of God’s children are beloved by
God. God finds favor in everyone. Praise God, but do not let your piety circumscribe
the fullness of the divine love. The creator of the universe cannot be defined
by words and titles.
Consider the Gospel readings for
Christmas; pay close attention to what they say and the assumptions they make.
Mary was betrothed to Joseph; Joseph
was of the House of David. She became pregnant before their wedding, according
to the design God had established for the propagation of human life.
Joseph had second thoughts about
their marriage and being a father. He considered setting his pregnant-betrothed
aside, but in a moment of conscience, listening to the spirit of God within
him, he choose to do the just and honorable thing; Joseph chose to go forward
with the marriage and raise his son…more children followed.
They named their first born Joshua
after the great hero of the Israelites who had delivered his people to the
promised. They pinned their hopes on him, and through that trust they
experienced the presence of God, in their child God was with them.
If Joseph had succumbed to his fear
and weakness Mary would have been destroyed, as a woman with child out of
wedlock she would have been an outcast, she would have had no standing in her
community, and neither would her son.
Joseph was humbled by his weakness
and doubt, in his humility he found the strength to do the right thing, and in
that moment he learned what it means to truly love, this was the Christmas
miracle.
Jesus, son of Joseph of the House of
David, was a Galilean of Nazareth.
These are the essential elements of
the birth narrative in Luke’s gospel, along with the historical references to
the reign of Augustus and the census conducted under Quirinius; everything else
in the story is propaganda veiled in myth, representing an expression of the beliefs
and ideology of people who lived a hundred years after Jesus’ death.
The apostle Luke never met Jesus, he
was not one of the disciples, but rather a protégé of Paul, who never met Jesus
either.
Luke and Paul travelled broadly and
met many of those who had known and followed Jesus, including James, who was
Jesus’ brother, virtually everything Paul and Luke knew about Jesus came to
them as hearsay.
Note well:
While the Gospel of Luke bears Luke’s
name, it was not written by Luke. None of the Gospels were written by
individuals. All four of the gospels were exercises in collective development, the
writing of them took place over generations, by communities doing their best to
narrate their understanding of the life and mission of Jesus in terms their
audience would understand.
The Gospel of Luke says that Joseph
and Mary and baby Jesus were visited by three shepherds. This is presented in contradistinction
to Matthew’s Gospel which says that they holy family was visited by three kings,
who were “wise men” and Magi, which means that they were priests and
astrologers in the Zoroastrianism tradition of the Persian Empire.
The Gospel of John, which was the
last to be written, and that of Mark, which was the earliest, those Gospels do
not treat the subject of Jesus’ birth at all.
Respectively, the communities of
Matthew and Luke were writing to very different audiences. As such, they
tailored the narrative of Jesus’ birth to those differing groups. Each in their
own way created a fiction that was pleasing to the people to whom they were
preaching…this is the essence of propaganda.
Therefore, in order to understand the
Gospels, this must be understood first of all:
The Gospels contain some legitimate
historical data, but the facts are difficult to find even with the best sifter.
The Gospels are at best allegorical, they are analogies and metaphors. They
speak to some truths that are universal, and relate some true events, but taken
as whole they cannot be relied on as a true account of anything other than the
faith of the people who wrote, compiles and edited them.
This is not to say that they are bad,
but it is to say that they must be seen for what they are. Because the Gospels
are propaganda, they are not reliable as a tool to teach us about Jesus, though
they can be used to teach us about the diverse Near Eastern and Mediterranean
communities that formed the early church.
Consider
John’s Gospel, which is an outlier:
Its
authors were the farthest removed from the life of Jesus, writing their
narrative between one 120 and 150 years after Jesus’ death. It is also the
furthest removed from the actual ministry of Jesus, from the lives of actual
people who came to him for healing, mercy and justice, while being overwhelming
concerned with the cosmic identity of the Christ (or anointed one), as the Word
of God.
The
gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew are commonly referred to as the synoptic
gospels. The events that they narrate are closely linked to each other and
follow the same basic pattern; even though there are differences. Luke and
Matthew rely largely on Mark for their structure, Mark having been written
first.
Luke
was compiled in the second-place goes a little further back in time. Whereas
Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan; Luke begins with the story
of his birth.
Matthew
coming third in the sequence goes farther back still; he tell us of Jesus’
descent from Abraham. John, coming last, takes the reader all the way back to
the creation of the universe and the beginning of time.
John narrates some of the same events as the
other gospels do, but with a markedly different character, designed to tell us
who Jesus is…i.e., God’s own self.
The
historian in me objects to this treatment of the life of Jesus, but it is what
it is, and this fiction having taken hold of the Christian consciousness,
represents a historical reality all of its own.
The
prolog to John’s Gospel tells us very little about the persons of Jesus and
John the Baptist, but they tell us a great deal about what Christians believed concerning
God and the world.
Even
though it was common at the time to view our material condition as essentially
corrupt, as evidenced by our experience of pain, sickness, and death. The
Christian community of John was articulating its faith in the essential
goodness of the world, and regardless of its many other flaws, this is good.
John’s
Gospel affirms the unity and oneness of all creation; having been brought into
being through the Word of God, the divine Logos, which is the principle of
rationality within the Godhead. This is meant to convey the notion that life
itself has purpose, it is not random, nor is it the product of chaotic forces. It
tells us that creation emerges from the goodness and light of the eternal God, and
that not one thing or being exists apart from the divine.
The
Gospel encourages us in the hope that no matter how bad things are in the drama
of creation, the darkness will not overcome the light. It encourages us to
believe that the world and humanity itself are worthy of love, so much so that
God becomes a human being, lives and suffers with us in a spirit of compassion
and solidarity.
Many
people do not want to hear the truth, preferring their own cozy view of the
world, their tribal and national gods, their totems, their neat philosophies
and their magical realities to the sober understanding of what it means to be a
child of God and follow Jesus along the way; this is understandable and
we forgive them for it.
The
basic tenants of the Christian tradition assert that God’s own self-was taken,
tortured and killed for suggesting that there was a different way to live, than
the common way of life that was experienced by his contemporaries,
First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©
The
Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride
About
Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her
integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch.
The
nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be
called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.
You
are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in
the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land
‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for
the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding.
Like
a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as
the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.
Second
Reading – Isaiah 9:1-7 ©
A
Son is Given to Us
The
people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a
land of deep shadow a light has shone.
You
have made their gladness greater, you have made their joy increase; they
rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are happy when
they are dividing the spoils.
For
the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his
oppressor, these you break as on the day of Midian.
For
all the footgear of battle, every cloak rolled in blood, is burnt, and consumed
by fire.
For
there is a child born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his
shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father,
Prince-of-Peace.
Wide
is his dominion in a peace that has no end, for the throne of David and for his
royal power,
which
he establishes and makes secure in justice and integrity.
From
this time onwards and for ever, the jealous love of the Lord of Hosts will do
this.
Third
Reading – Isaiah 62:11-12 ©
Look,
your Saviour Comes
This
the Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth:
Say
to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your saviour comes, the prize of his victory
with him, his trophies before him.’
They
shall be called ‘The Holy People’, ‘The Lord’s Redeemed.’
And
you shall be called ‘The-sought-after’, ‘City-not-forsaken.’
Fourth
Reading – Isaiah 52:7-10 ©
Rejoice,
for the Lord is Consoling his People
How
beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who
heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation, and tells Zion, ‘Your God
is king!’
Listen!
Your watchmen raise their voices, they shout for joy together, for they see the
Lord face to face, as he returns to Zion.
Break
into shouts of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord is consoling
his people, redeeming Jerusalem.
The
Lord bares his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of
the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
First
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 88(89):2-5, 27, 29 ©
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your
truth.
Of
this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the
heavens.
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
‘I
have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I
will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
‘He
will say to me: “You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.”
I
will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.’
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
Second
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3, 11-13 ©
Today
a saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord.
O
sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
Today
a saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord.
Proclaim
his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.
Today
a saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord.
Let
the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let
the land and all it bears rejoice,
all the trees of the wood shout for joy
at
the presence of the Lord for he comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
Today
a saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord.
With
justice he will rule the world,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.
Today
a saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord.
Third Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 96(97):1,
6, 11-12 ©
This day new light will shine upon
the earth: the Lord is born for us.
The Lord is king, let earth rejoice,
let all the coastlands be glad.
The skies proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
This day new light will shine upon
the earth: the Lord is born for us.
Light shines forth for the just
and joy for the upright of heart.
Rejoice, you just, in the Lord;
give glory to his holy name.
This day new light will shine upon
the earth: the Lord is born for us.
Fourth Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 97(98):1-6
©
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
The Lord has made known his
salvation;
has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp
with the sound of music.
With trumpets and the sound of the
horn
acclaim the King, the Lord.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Fifth Reading – Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
©
Paul's Witness to Christ, the Son of
David
When Paul reached Antioch in Pisidia,
he stood up in the synagogue, held up a hand for silence and began to speak:
‘Men of Israel, and fearers of God,
listen! The God of our nation Israel chose our ancestors, and made our people
great when they were living as foreigners in Egypt; then by divine power he led
them out.
‘Then he made David their king, of
whom he approved in these words, “I have selected David son of Jesse, a man
after my own heart, who will carry out my whole purpose.” To keep his promise,
God has raised up for Israel one of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour,
whose coming was heralded by John when he proclaimed a baptism of repentance
for the whole people of Israel. Before John ended his career he said, “I am not
the one you imagine me to be; that one is coming after me and I am not fit to
undo his sandal.”’
Sixth Reading – Titus 2:11-14 ©
God's Grace has been Revealed to the Whole
Human Race
God’s grace has been revealed, and it
has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we
have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our
worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives
here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which
will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ
Jesus. He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness
and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no
ambition except to do good.
Seventh
Reading – Titus 3:4-7 ©
It was no Reason Except his own Compassion
that he Saved Us
When the kindness and love of God our
saviour for mankind were revealed, it was not because he was concerned with any
righteous actions we might have done ourselves; it was for no reason except his
own compassion that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and
by renewing us with the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us
through Jesus Christ our saviour. He did this so that we should be justified by
his grace, to become heirs looking forward to inheriting eternal life.
Eighth Reading – Hebrews 1:1-6 ©
God has Spoken to Us through his Son
At various times in the past and in
various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in
our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that
he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything
there is. He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his
nature, sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has
destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the
right hand of divine Majesty. So he is now as far above the angels as the title
which he has inherited is higher than their own name.
God has never said to any angel: You
are my Son, today I have become your father; or: I will be a father to him and
he a son to me. Again, when he brings the First-Born into the world, he says:
Let all the angels of God worship him.
The First Acclamation
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Tomorrow
there will be an end to the sin of the world and the saviour of the world will
be our king.
Alleluia!
The Second Acclamation – Luke 2:10-11
Alleluia, alleluia!
I bring you news of great joy: today a saviour has
been born to us, Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
The Third Acclamation – Luke 2:14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men
who enjoy his favour.
Alleluia!
Alleluia,
alleluia!
A hallowed
day has dawned upon us.
Come, you
nations, worship the Lord, for today a great light has shone down upon the
earth.
Alleluia!
The
First Gospel Reading, The Gospel According to Matthew 1:1-25 ©
The Ancestry and Birth of Jesus
Christ, the Son of David
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of
Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of
Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah was the father of
Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother, Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron
the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of
Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab
being his mother, Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother, Obed was
the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had
been Uriah’s wife, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of
Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat
the father of Joram, Joram the father of Azariah, Azariah was the father of
Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was
the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the
father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of
Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of
Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born
Jesus who is called Christ.
The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from
Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and
fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother
Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was
found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man
of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her
informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is
the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to
fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and
they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph
woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife
to his home and, though he had not had intercourse with her, she gave birth to
a son; and he named him Jesus.
The Second Gospel Reading, The Gospel
According to Luke 2:1-14 ©
'In the Town of David a Saviour has
been Born to You'
Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the
whole world to be taken. This census – the first – took place while Quirinius
was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to be registered. So
Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and travelled up to Judaea,
to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line,
in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with
child. While they were there the time came for her to have her child, and she
gave birth to a son, her first born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.
In the countryside close by there were shepherds who
lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the
night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone
round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen,
I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in
the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And
here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and
lying in a manger.’ And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the
heavenly host, praising God and singing:
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to
men who enjoy his favour.’
The
Third Gospel Reading, The Gospel According to Luke 2:15 – 20 ©
The Shepherds Hurried to Bethlehem
and Found the Baby Lying in the Manger
Now when the angels had gone from them into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they hurried away
and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the
child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard
it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured
all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as
they had been told.
The
Fourth Gospel Reading, The Gospel According to John 1:1-18 ©
The Word was Made Flesh, and Lived Among
Us
In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with
God and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be, not one thing had
its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him and that life
was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness
could not overpower.
A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness, as a witness to speak for the
light, so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light, only a witness to speak for
the light.
The Word was the true light that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world that had its being through him, and
the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain and his own people did not
accept him.
But to all who did accept him he gave power to
become children of God, to all who believe in the name of him who was born not
out of human stock or urge of the flesh or will of man but of God himself.
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.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me because he
existed before me.’
Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us,
received – yes, grace in return for grace, since, though the Law was given
through Moses, grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is
nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
The Solemnity of Christmas (Year C)
A Holy Day of Obligation
