LARRY BRODING

Event, Revelation, Reaction

Video  | 1st Reading | Psalm  | 2nd Reading  | Gospel

Christmas (A)

Is Christmas day a time of rejoicing (the Christ is born to us)? Or a time of relief (Christmas is finally over)?

The holiday season can be a mixed blessing. There are highs and lows. There are times of joy and times of stress. (Family gatherings around the holiday table can bring both!) No wonder most of us can bless and curse this season in a single breath.

The first Christmas was no different. Lows and highs. Times for stress and times for joy.

Children’s Reading | Catechism Link | Family Activity

SOURCE: WORD-SUNDAY © Larry Broding

VINCE CONTRERAS

Christmas (A) – NOT AVAILABLE
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

1. In the 1st Reading, the Jewish sage Ben-Sira, commenting on the commandment to honor ones father and mother, offers counsel on relations between children and their parents. How well is this followed in your family? What rewards does Scripture promise here and elsewhere to those who follow this commandment (see Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2)?
2. How does the 2nd Reading (including verses 18-21, a portion of Sacred Scripture sometimes omitted by lectors at Mass) form a template for relations within the family?
3. Based on Herod’s response to the news of the coming of the Messiah, what kind of person do you think he was? What does it say about his view of the Messiah?
4. What is Matthew’s point in emphasizing God’s watchfulness over Jesus? In fulfillment of Hosea’s and Jeremiah’s prophecies (verses 18-18, 23)?
5. What relocation options face Joseph? How did God use prophecy, dreams, faith and circumstances to guide him?
6. When, like Herod, do you feel threatened by Jesus’ Kingship? How do you react?
7. From Joseph’s responsiveness, what do you learn about faith and obedience? How long would it take you to say “yes” if God asked you to relocate?
8. Consider how God led Joseph to care for the Holy Family and protect them from danger. How have you noticed the Holy Spirit guiding your life? How sure of his guidance have you been? Despite uncertainty, how have you followed his guidance?

DON SCHWAGER

Christmas (A) – NOT AVAILABLE
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

SOURCE: Sunday Scripture Study for Catholics

MICHAEL MARCHAL

Christmas Mass During the Day

Christmas (A)

BACKGROUND: This is the last and oldest set of readings for Christmas in the Roman Rite. It can startle us because there are none of the details about the baby and the manger that we are so used to from the Lucan infancy narrative. Yet a saying from St. Athanasius, an ancient patriarch of Alexandria, can focus our understanding: “God became human so that human beings might become divine.”

The gospel selection from John asks us to go deep, to ponder our part in the story of salvation, since we too have been “begotten…by God” in baptism. We are the ones who have looked at the infant Jesus and seen not just a cute baby but God’s glory become our flesh, so that, as Hebrews points out, we might be “cleansed from our sins” and reborn in grace.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. In what ways have you seen God’s glory revealed in Jesus?
2. In what part of your life, do you still need God’s glory to shine?
3. From what darkness has the light of that glory set you free?
4. In what specific way do you think God wants us to bring the light of enduring love to our darkened world today?

SOURCE: TEAM RCIA

ANNE OSDIECK

Be Not Afraid

Christmas (A)

1. If you wanted to find God today where might you start looking? Do you think the shepherds were the same people after their experience? Did they understand what the angels said when they went and found Mary and Joseph and the baby in the stable? What enables you to see the divine in the ordinary?

2. In his homily on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis said the Jesus is the meaning of life and history, and he pitched his tent among us. Why does he say the shepherds were the first to see this “tent”?

The shepherds were the first to see this “tent,” to receive the news of Jesus’ birth. They were the first because they were among the last, the outcast. And they were the first because they were awake, keeping watch in the night, guarding their flocks. The pilgrim is bound by duty to keep watch and the shepherds did just that. …

To us the Lord repeats, “do not be afraid!” (Lk 2:10). As the angels said to the shepherds: “do not be afraid!” And I also repeat to all of you: do not be afraid! Our Father is patient, he loves us, he gives us Jesus to guide us on the way which leads to the promised land. Jesus is the light who brightens the darkness. He is mercy: our Father always forgives us. He is our peace. Amen.

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
December 24, 2013
Vatican Basilica

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

SOURCE: Sunday Web Site – Saint Louis University

MONIKA KORZEC

The Grace of recognizing God’s presence in difficult moments

Christmas (A)

Shepherds living in the fields

Many Christmas stories, nativity scenes and different Christmas plays feature this specific group of people as the ones who got to be the first people to see Jesus. Very often, we look at the shepherds through very romantic lenses. However, at that time in history, this occupation was associated with people who were not very honest and who were considered “unclean” under the standards of the law. Simply, they were outcasts, sinners, people from the margin. Yet, they were the first ones blessed with the experience of meeting Jesus in person.

1. think about all the people whom you meet in your life, who may be marginalized by society, who may be criminals, offenders, etc… In spite of what might be going on in their life, they may be the ones who truly meet God because of their woundedness. They may be the ones through whom you may get to know Jesus.
2. Or, perhaps you feel like you are one of the outcasts? If you do, look for the moments when you were invited to visit Jesus or for the moments when you know you met him. How did you feel then? What happened next? Did the event/encounter with Jesus change you in any way?

MICRO RETREAT

SOURCE: CONTEMPLATIVE RETREAT | Recent Retreats