Daily Meditation - Christmas Day 25th December 2007 - Let this Truth sink in!

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After hundreds of years waiting and keeping Faith with God and trusting His Promises, Israel’s long awaited hope is fulfilled “today a Saviour is born to us”. I also wait and strive to keep Faith with Jesus and trust in His Promise that He will return in Glory to fulfill and establish His Kingdom “and there shall be a new Heaven and a new earth”. My Hope too shall be fulfilled and no matter how long that waiting in Hope may be, no matter the many generations perhaps yet to pass before that Hope shall be fulfilled: “My ways are not your ways” - and God’s Time is not my time either “one day to The Lord are as a thousand years”. So why do I tend to ask things be my way and in my time?

This Saviour that has been born to us is no distant Saviour of some 2007 odd years ago leaving me to wait alone in Hope…But He is “Emmanuel” - God with us! Nor is this simply some remote theological concept…it is a reality of this moment, this now. It is present tense. If I cannot grasp this then I will pray to be able to grasp it and that all may share in this gift. Lord grant to us the fullness of the Gift of Knowledge and of fruitful evanglizing that Your Peace and Your Joy, Your Love, may be everywhere more embraced, known and loved.
The hurdle that most faces me personally, is that I was raised in a Church that almost fiercely promoted judgement and hence guilt and fear when I was quite young and probably most impressionable. The hurdle I face and probably the hurdle of many is conditioning and this can be very difficult to overcome …and at times I mistake these feelings of conditioned guilt and fear as flowing from a Rigidly Judgemental God and Saviour.
“It can be overwhelming—almost embarrassing—to consider how much the Father and the Son delight in you. But let this truth sink in.”…"Today, let the Father tell you how much he loves you. If possible, spend time gazing at the Nativity scene. Ponder the greatness of God’s design to unite you with himself. Welcome Jesus into the world and into your heart in a new way today, and thank him for being the Brother who delights in you. "…
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Readings
usccb.org/nab/122507d.shtml
Meditation
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=12&day=25&year=2007&x=13&y=3

Nativity of the Lord

Cries of “Merry Christmas!” echo everywhere today. On a day as important as this one, God invites us to ponder the great, unfathomable mystery on which the whole world hinges: God will not settle for us being apart from him! In Jesus, we see God the Father extending his arm of salvation across the abyss of our sinfulness. And why? Just so that we might enter into a living relationship with him.
Jesus is the Word who tells us that our Father does not want eternity without us. His coming tells us of a Father’s love that counts no cost too great for restoring us to himself. It tells us that we are valuable, that God loves us deeply, even that we brighten his day and give him joy.* It can be overwhelming—almost embarrassing—to consider how much the Father and the Son delight in you. But let this truth sink in.* Don’t shrug it off! What God thinks about you is more important than what anybody else thinks. And incredible as it may seem, he loves you as his child and sees his own Son, “the light of the human race,” dwelling in you (John 1:4). God is on your side. He has planned that you should know him. He wants to surprise you with the knowledge that you belong to him, even if you feel you don’t belong anywhere else in this world.
Today, let the Father tell you how much he loves you. If possible, spend time gazing at the Nativity scene. Ponder the greatness of God’s design to unite you with himself. Welcome Jesus into the world and into your heart in a new way today, and thank him for being the Brother who delights in you. “Jesus, my Lord and Brother, let me look into your eyes today. You have come so far to find me! You paid so great a price to bring me back to the Father! I want to see your great love. I want to be with you forever.”
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Happy Birthday Jesus!
Joy and Blessings to all this Christmas!
 
There is always excellent background information to each day’s Gospel in the Lectio Divina section of the Daily Prayer and Liturgy thread which is updated daily - new thread commences each month (you need scroll down to the Lectio Divina section for each day)
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=3119783#post3119783

If you are not familiar with Lectio Divina which until relatively recently has been very much confined to monastic life and is now advocated to the laity also, here is an explanation:
ocarm.org/lectio/lecteng1.htm

Here is a sample of the extensive and invaluable type of background to a Gospel from today’s Lectio Divina - often referred to as simply “Lectio”: (Thursday 25th. December 2007). This type of extensive information can be invaluable to a meditation of the day’s Gospel…go to next post (wordcount problem!)
 
Lectio Divina information for 25th. December 2007 - Birth of Our Lord:

ocarm.org/lectio/anno_a/naa01eng.htm

**
a) Some questions for reflection
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  • God who is light has chosen to dispel the darkness of man by making himself darkness. Man is born blind (cfr Jn 9:1-41): blindness is his condition of creature. The symbolical gesture of Jesus in gathering mud to spread over the eyes of the man born blind in John, signifies the newness of the incarnation: it is a gesture of new creation. The blind man whose eyes are still covered with the mud of creation is asked to make not an act of faith but one of obedience: to go to the pool of Siloe, which means “sent”. The one “sent” is Jesus. *Are we able to obey the Word, which comes to us every day? *
  • The blind man in the Gospel of John is poor: he has no pretence and asks for nothing. We often live in daily blindness, resigned that we do not deserve better horizons. Can we see ourselves as having nothing so that the gift of God may be ours too, a gift of the redemption of the flesh, but above all a gift of light and faith?
*- «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 close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known» *(Jn 1:17-18). The knowledge of what happens in the story of our lives leads us to get out of the blindness of presumption and to contemplate the light that shines on the face of the Son of God. *Our eyes, flooded with light, become open to events. When shall we be able to see God in our midst? *
b) A key to the reading:
John was someone who was able to see the light shining, who saw, heard and touched the light. In the beginning was the Word: constantly turned towards the love of the Father, the Word became the Father’s true explanation, his only exegesis (Jn 1:18), the revelation of his love. In the logos was life and life was light, but the darkness did not welcome the light. In the OT the revelation of the Word is the revelation of light: to this corresponds the fullness of grace, the grace of grace, given to us in Jesus, the revelation of God’s unlimited love (Jn 1:4-5, 16). The whole witness of the OT is a witness of light: from Abraham to John the Baptist, God sends witnesses to his light. John the Baptist is the last of these: he announces the light that is to come into the world and recognises in Jesus the long awaited light (Jn 1:6-8;15).

Dabar IHWH is God’s communication with man, which took place with all those whom God has called and to whom the word of the Lord came (cfr Is 55: 10-11). As Augustine says: *The Word of God is the true light. *

The word comes from the mouth of God, but it keeps its full force, and it is a person who creates and sustains the world. This word that creates and saves is identified with the Torah, which for Israel is the divine revelation in its totality, with Wisdom: The law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of Yahweh from *Jerusalem(Is 2:3). *

The memra (aramaic) is the concept used by John to go from the dabar to the logos: in the targum the memra has a creating function, but above all a revealing function that is expressed particularly through the image of light. In the Targum Neophiti, the famous poem of the four nights on Ex 12:42 it is written:* «The first night was when IHWH revealed himself above the world to create it: the world was desert and empty and darkness covered the face of the abyss. And the memra of IHWH was the light that shone»*. In the Targum Jerushalaim manuscript 110 says: *«With his word IHWH shone and shed light». *

The midrash stresses that the law was before the world, it was life, it was light: *«The words of the Torah are light for the world» *(Midrash Dt Rabba 7.3). Only daughter of God, the Torah was written with black fire in the white flame and sits on God’s knees while God sits on his throne of glory (cfr Midrash on Psalm 90:3).

The logos-light becomes present in the world. All is life in him: the Word takes the place of the Torah. The signs are transcendent, and more than a substitution we see a fulfilment. If for the Jew the Torah is God’s daughter, John shows that she is the logos that from the beginning is with God, is God. This logos becomes flesh: man, frail, …"…shortened text due to wordcount - go to above link for full text.
**
 
The Meditation points out to us that very often and most often the dynamics of dramatic change in our lives are not a miraculous conversio experience like St. Paul on the road to Damascus…there seems to us nothing miraculous at all about our eventual change and that God seems to prefer a slow but consistent and unnoticed by us change over time and with our continuing perseverence, until one day we can look back and see that indeed we are changed. And this is indeed a miracle!

Further down, below the Meditation, is the link to today’s Lectio Divina for anyone wanting a deeper look at today’s Gospel.

Readings
usccb.org/nab/122607.shtml

Meditations
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=12&day=26&year=2007&x=13&y=6
St. Stephen

Why would the church place the feast of Saint Stephen the day after Christmas? We’ve just finished Advent, and are celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus—and the very next day we read of the violent stoning of a member of the early church! Don’t we get a chance to bask in the glow of Christmas? Couldn’t we wait at least a little while before we have to think about martyrdom?
The truth is, the baby in the manger really is God. Jesus, born humbly in a stable, is the very one who transformed Stephen’s life and empowered him by the Holy Spirit. He is also the same one who has the power to transform us today! Stephen was so in love with Jesus that he could never turn his back on him, even when faced with the threat of death. How did he get to be this committed? We have no record of a “lightning bolt” experience—like St. Paul’s conversion—in Stephen’s life. Rather, Stephen most probably lived as other believers did in the early church, devoting himself to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer (Acts 2:42).
As Stephen remained faithful to these basics, Jesus changed him. Humbly and without fanfare, Stephen’s life of prayer and service opened him up to the Holy Spirit’s power. Just as Jesus “advanced in wisdom and age and favor” as he grew up in Nazareth (Luke 2:52), Stephen became passionate in his love for Christ over time. In the end, Stephen was so focused on Jesus that he didn’t care about—or fear—whatever might happen to him.

It can be the same for us! Christmas is such a dramatic, climactic season that we can begin to expect everything in our lives to change at once—and then feel disappointed when we find ourselves pretty much the same on December 26 as we were on December 24. Just remember that Jesus loves to use the “routine” activities of prayer, Scripture, and the sacraments to penetrate and transform us. Day after day, year after year, we can become more like Stephen—and more like Jesus—to the point where we are willing to give up even our lives for the sake of the gospel. “Lord Jesus, transform me! Use my commitment to spiritual growth to permeate my life with your grace. Make me passionate in my love for you so that I would fearlessly approach whatever comes my way!”

Lectio Divina for Today and a deeper look at this Gospel:
ocarm.org/lectio/annoA_eng/021eng.htm
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/28/28_4_12.gif
Joyful Christmas all!
 
The Meditation points out to us that very often and most often the dynamics of dramatic change in our lives are not a conversio experience like St. Paul on the road to Damascus…there seejms to us nothing miraculous at all about our eventual change and that God seems to prefer a slow but consistent change over time and with our continuing perseverence, until one day we can look back and see that indeed we are changed. And this is indeed a miracle!

For a deeper look into today’s Gospel, go to Daily Prayer and Liturgy thread and scroll down to today’s Lectio Divina entry:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=3119916#post3119916

Readings
usccb.org/nab/122607.shtml

Meditations
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=12&day=26&year=2007&x=13&y=6

Why would the church place the feast of Saint Stephen the day after Christmas? We’ve just finished Advent, and are celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus—and the very next day we read of the violent stoning of a member of the early church! Don’t we get a chance to bask in the glow of Christmas? Couldn’t we wait at least a little while before we have to think about martyrdom?
The truth is, the baby in the manger really is God. Jesus, born humbly in a stable, is the very one who transformed Stephen’s life and empowered him by the Holy Spirit. He is also the same one who has the power to transform us today! Stephen was so in love with Jesus that he could never turn his back on him, even when faced with the threat of death. How did he get to be this committed? We have no record of a “lightning bolt” experience—like St. Paul’s conversion—in Stephen’s life. Rather, Stephen most probably lived as other believers did in the early church, devoting himself to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer (Acts 2:42).
As Stephen remained faithful to these basics, Jesus changed him. Humbly and without fanfare, Stephen’s life of prayer and service opened him up to the Holy Spirit’s power. Just as Jesus “advanced in wisdom and age and favor” as he grew up in Nazareth (Luke 2:52), Stephen became passionate in his love for Christ over time. In the end, Stephen was so focused on Jesus that he didn’t care about—or fear—whatever might happen to him.

It can be the same for us! Christmas is such a dramatic, climactic season that we can begin to expect everything in our lives to change at once—and then feel disappointed when we find ourselves pretty much the same on December 26 as we were on December 24. Just remember that Jesus loves to use the “routine” activities of prayer, Scripture, and the sacraments to penetrate and transform us. Day after day, year after year, we can become more like Stephen—and more like Jesus—to the point where we are willing to give up even our lives for the sake of the gospel. “Lord Jesus, transform me! Use my commitment to spiritual growth to permeate my life with your grace. Make me passionate in my love for you so that I would fearlessly approach whatever comes my way!”
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/28/28_4_12.gif
 
The Meditation points out to us that very often and most often the dynamics of dramatic change in our lives are not a conversio experience like St. Paul on the road to Damascus…there seejms to us nothing miraculous at all about our eventual change and that God seems to prefer a slow but consistent change over time and with our continuing perseverence, until one day we can look back and see that indeed we are changed. And this is indeed a miracle!
For those who may want a deeper look into today’s Gospel go to Daily Prayer and Liturgy thread and scroll down to today’s Lectio Divina Entry:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=3119916#post3119916

Readings
usccb.org/nab/122607.shtml%between%

Meditations
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=12&day=26&year=2007&x=13&y=6
St. Stephen

Why would the church place the feast of Saint Stephen the day after Christmas? We’ve just finished Advent, and are celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus—and the very next day we read of the violent stoning of a member of the early church! Don’t we get a chance to bask in the glow of Christmas? Couldn’t we wait at least a little while before we have to think about martyrdom?
The truth is, the baby in the manger really is God. Jesus, born humbly in a stable, is the very one who transformed Stephen’s life and empowered him by the Holy Spirit. He is also the same one who has the power to transform us today! Stephen was so in love with Jesus that he could never turn his back on him, even when faced with the threat of death. How did he get to be this committed? We have no record of a “lightning bolt” experience—like St. Paul’s conversion—in Stephen’s life. Rather, Stephen most probably lived as other believers did in the early church, devoting himself to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer (Acts 2:42).
As Stephen remained faithful to these basics, Jesus changed him. Humbly and without fanfare, Stephen’s life of prayer and service opened him up to the Holy Spirit’s power. Just as Jesus “advanced in wisdom and age and favor” as he grew up in Nazareth (Luke 2:52), Stephen became passionate in his love for Christ over time. In the end, Stephen was so focused on Jesus that he didn’t care about—or fear—whatever might happen to him.

It can be the same for us! Christmas is such a dramatic, climactic season that we can begin to expect everything in our lives to change at once—and then feel disappointed when we find ourselves pretty much the same on December 26 as we were on December 24. Just remember that Jesus loves to use the “routine” activities of prayer, Scripture, and the sacraments to penetrate and transform us. Day after day, year after year, we can become more like Stephen—and more like Jesus—to the point where we are willing to give up even our lives for the sake of the gospel. “Lord Jesus, transform me! Use my commitment to spiritual growth to permeate my life with your grace. Make me passionate in my love for you so that I would fearlessly approach whatever comes my way!”
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/28/28_4_12.gif
 
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