In today's Office of Readings we encounter a reading from a sermon of Saint Leo the Great, pope (-461 A.D.). For a reflection, "Christian, remember your dignity," please click on the image. Peace be with you!
The Incarnation is such a great and marvellous mystery. With the firmness of faith we believe the God of the Universe - the God who breathed all things into creation - entered into space and time becoming a gentle, innocent, and defensely baby. Yet how could this be? How could the long-awaited Messiah foretold by the Jewish prophets come in this way?
For my Advent Reflection, "The Mystery of the Incarnation," please click on the image
With nowhere to lay his head, may Jesus, Mary, and Joseph find a home in your heart this Silent Night. May the peace of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you. Merry Christmas.
Peace be with you!
Adam and Eve, the first man and woman created by God as recounted in the Old Testament book of Genesis, are the father and mother of all humanity. Through their willful disobedience to the command of God, sin came into the world. To redeem mankind which was thereby separated from the perfect communion with the Holy Trinity for which they were created, God became man, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and died on a Cross. Jesus is the New Adam, and Mary is the New Eve. Christian tradition recognizes that Adam and Eve were rescued by Christ in virtue of His death, burial, and resurrection, and are with God and the saints in heaven. The Church celebrates their feast day together on December 24th.
For more about these saints, please click on the image.
Peace be with you!
In today's Office of Readings we encounter a reading from a sermon of St Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.).
He wrote an enormous amount and left a permanent mark on both philosophy and theology. His Confessions, as dazzling in style as they are deep in content, are a landmark of world literature. The Second Readings in the Office of Readings contain extracts from many of his sermons and commentaries and also from the Confessions.
For a reflection, "Truth has arisen from the earth and justice has looked down from heaven," please click on the image.
Peace be with you!
St. Victoria was a Christian noblewoman from Rome. She, together with her sister, St. Anatolia, were forced into arranged marriages with two pagan noblemen. Both Victoria and Anatolia desired to devote themselves entirely to God rather than marry. Upon this refusal, their suitors denounced the sisters as Christians to the authorities under the persecution of Roman Emperor Decius. The sisters were seized and put under house arrest in order to break their faith and convince them to marry. Instead of weakening, their faith in Christ became more resolute. While under house arrest they sold all of their belongings, gave their money to the poor, and converted the servants and guards who attended them to Christianity. Both St. Victoria and her sister were eventually killed for their faith; first Anatolia, and later Victoria. St. Victoria was stabbed through the heart at the request of her rejected suitor, Eugenius.
For more about this saint, please click on the image.
Peace be with you!
