With the new year, have you taken time to reflect about how you are doing mentally and spiritually? Is your mind resting in the space of thanksgiving and gratitude of what is placed before you. Or are you anxious about what is missing from your life? Is your spirit focused on growing in holiness and imitating Christ or do you spend more time focused on building your material world?
What if today were your last and you find yourself standing before our Lord giving an account of how well you loved him and others. How would you measure up compared to Christs love for you? Let’s seek an open heart of love with reckless abandon!
An Act of Love:
Lord God, I love you above all things and I love my neighbor for your sake because you are the highest, infinite and perfect good, worthy of all my love. In this love I intend to live and die. Amen.
With the start of another new year, we can use the calendar to help us with new resolve. So many times are attitudes affect our vision of how we see the world. We can believe the right things and do the right things, but we must have love at the foundation of everything.
Mary can be our role model for a new loving perspective. She achieved so much by her silent presence along with her son at many of the moments of his life, his birth, his first miracle at Cana and his death on the cross. She is for a model of silent contemplation as she ponders with great faith and devotion the mystery that unfolded before her in the life of her Son.
What perspective do you bring into this new year? Will you work tirelessly to seek God in everything? Will you strive for your faith to be visible through your actions? Do you plan to tell your family and friends you love them? How often will you tell God you love him? Will you give God thanks for your many blessings? Will you be bold in your faith? How do you plan to grow interiorly? Will you trust God’s plan and know you are exactly where you need to be? Will you endure the suffering you experience well? Will God come first in your life?
Ponder these things in your heart for a new loving perspective for 2025! Let’s be smitten with Gods goodness.
What is it about new beginnings and a fresh start that makes us feel hopeful? Its like the feeling of blue skies and endless light. The turn of the clock to the new year provides this perspective.
Have you made an examination of your past year. What is God asking of you in this new year to give him glory? By growing in love, we give the greater glory. In this new year let’s stretch, grow in humility and learn to love as God does. Let’s commit in 2025 to open our eyes to return Gods relentless love.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1–5
On this, the seventh day of the Octave of Christmas, we are given a mystery. The mystery of the “Word.” It’s a language that is veiled and yet revealing at the same time. It presents Jesus to us as the “Word.” He is the Word who takes on flesh and is eternal, from “the beginning with God.” The passage goes on to say that the Word was God and that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Lord, Jesus, Eternal Word of the Father, I thank You for coming among us and for making Your eternal dwelling present to us. Thank You for the great mystery of Christmas. Help me to always celebrate this season with great joy and gratitude, and also with a sense of mystery. May I always realize that the mystery of Christmas will never be fully understood. May this mystery draw me closer each and every day so that I may fall more deeply in love with You, my eternal God. Jesus, I trust in You.
There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36–38
Today, the sixth day of the Octave of Christmas, we honor the prophetess Anna. She, like Simeon whom we honored yesterday, spent her days in the temple worshipping God day and night. She anticipated the coming Messiah and, by a personal and special revelation from God, recognized His presence as He was presented by Mary and Joseph.
Reflect, today, upon Anna the prophetess. Try to imagine the joy in her heart as she spoke of this newborn King. And pray that her joy and prophetic example will inspire you to continually proclaim the Lord to all whom God puts in your path.
Lord, may I always remember the reason for Christmas. May I always keep the joy of Your coming among us at the center of my celebration. You, dear Lord, are the greatest Gift ever given. I thank You for Your life and I pray that You will help me to share the Gift of Yourself with others. Jesus, I trust in You.
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:29–32
On this, the fifth day of the Octave of Christmas, we are given the witness of the prophet Simeon. This holy man was promised by God by a personal revelation that he would actually see, with his own eyes, the Savior of the World. Throughout his life he would have anticipated this moment. He would have longed for it and hoped for it. And then, one day the moment came. Simeon would have woken up that day, going about his normal routine like any other day. However, the moment that Mary and Joseph brought their newborn Child into the temple, Simeon knew in his heart that this Child was the promised Savior.
Lord, I thank You for the great witness of Simeon the Prophet. Thank You for Your fidelity to Simeon in letting him see You as a little Child. May I always imitate his great faith and seek You all my life, waiting for You to come to me in veiled ways so that my heart may rejoice in Your presence. Jesus, I trust in You.
Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs Fourth Day of the Octave of Christmas
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Matthew 2:16
Today on the fourth day of the Octave of Christmas, we are given a similar witness to the one we received on December 26, the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen. But today’s feast presents the same evil in a different and even more tragic light. Here, out of envy and hatred, Herod had countless innocent children killed in an attempt to eliminate Jesus, the newborn King.
Reflect, today, upon that which is most painful for you this Christmas season. Whatever it may be, you are invited to unite your hurt and pain today with the sorrow of the families who lost these little ones. Let God do for you what He ultimately did for all of them. Let His Incarnation, death and Resurrection transform your hurt into a crown of martyrdom. In the end, the Lord will be victorious in your life if you let Him.
Lord, I surrender all hurt, pain and confusion to You. I unite myself, this day, with the sorrow of those who lost these little children and I trust that their lives, as they reign now in Heaven with You, are a sign for me of things to come. Your birth into our world was the greatest sign that You are our Savior and that You can turn all things into good. Jesus, I entrust my life to You and know that You will right every wrong. Jesus, I trust in You.
Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist Third Day of the Octave of Christmas
Season of thanksgiving in prayer
Beloved: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life—for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:1–4
The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:10–14
Glory to God in the highest! The celebration of the glorious birth of Christ the Lord has begun…Merry Christmas!
Lord, I love You and adore You. I thank You for the unfathomable gift of Your divine presence among us. I thank You, especially, for the invitation You offer me to join the poor shepherds as they come to adore You. May this Christmas celebration be one in which I understand, more deeply, the incredible love You have for all Your children. May I know that You came for
In Psalm 98, all of creation is called upon to make a joyful noise before God, for the Lord has come to “judge the earth,” and restore His Creation. We should not fail to see our own hand at work in the destruction of creation, in our sins of waste and decadence. This “judgment of the earth” is, in some part, a judgment of us as caretakers. But God is merciful and full of grace, and rather than leave everything in our hands, He gives us the Life-giver. This beautiful hymn makes the connection between the coming of Christ into this world and the beginning of that restoration. Christ brings “joy to the world,” a light where there is darkness, growth where there is decay. And we, along with all Creation, respond with a song of praise. Singing is praying twice so let our hearts sing!
Smitten With Goodness 