Tag: Christmas

Read: 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 were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:1-18

Reflect:  Thank you for journeying with Smitten with Goodness as we prepared our hearts for Christmas. Now that we have finished, you might be wondering what is next? How do I maintain the spiritual momentum I developed this Advent? 

Respond:  Help me to pray and establish a dedicated time to dialogue with You, developing a personal relationship and solid foundation for living a spiritual life. Draw me towards your word, reading the bible (protip: start with the Gospels, Psalms or Proverbs) and meditating on what the living word is telling me. Let me apply what I hear to my life.

Let’s be Smitten with God’s Goodness!

Merry Christmas! Love is born.

Read:  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:4–8

Reflect: Living in the Theological Virtue of Love. Love or Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment and it is superior to all virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity.” Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.

By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Charity, the form of all the virtues, “binds everything together in perfect harmony”

Colossians 3:14

Respond: We love because you loved us first Lord. Thank you for your birth, for being fully human and divine, to show us the way to love. Help me love you above all things with my whole heart and soul, because you are all good and worthy of all love. Help me love my neighbor as myself for your love. Help me forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon for all whom I have injured.