Cycle C - Year II:

25 December 2021: The Nativity of the Lord (Mass during the day) 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 52:7-10

Second Reading:   Hebrews 1:1-6

Gospel:  Please Read  John 1:1-18 

The Lord comes to save us!

 What a beautiful and blessed day to witness the birth of the Savior of humanity....in our journey of faith in our world!  The Psalmist sings it beautifully for us..."All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God!" (Ps 98)

TODAY is the great and blessed day as we welcome and proclaim the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!  The prophet Isaiah has foretold this event in the old days: "A child is born to us, and a son is given to us; his scepter of power rests upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel." (Is 9:5)

Let us rejoice and be glad, for today is the BIG DAY as we greet each other a Merry and Blessed Christmas 2021!

So let us proclaim to the whole world: "Glory to God in the highest!  For this day the Almighty gives His greatest Gift to us all, the Gift of His beloved Son!"

The event of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ is the reason for all our preparations in our Advent journey and our nine-day Novena-Masses or Misa de Aguinaldo.  Indeed, let us rejoice and be glad for our Messiah is born! We are overwhelmed with joy in the hope that lights up our darkness.

In the simple introduction to his Gospel, the evangelist John summarizes for his audience everything that he wanted to say about Jesus of Nazareth.  John expresses the divinity of Christ.  This means, Jesus was there in the very beginning (the beginning before anything else has been begun); in that time Jesus was with God and He was God; nothing was made without Him because it was all created through Him; in Him is life for all men.

John writes about Jesus as God's creative, life-giving and light-giving Word that has come to earth in human form.  For our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed truly Man while remaining truly God.

And so it is only through Jesus Christ that we can behold the glory of God.  Jesus became the partaker of our humanity so that we could also be partakers of His divinity.

Let us then reflect on the significance and importance of the Christmas event in our lives.  Today we continue to proclaim anew the wonder of the Incarnation. "The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it.  The Son of God..... worked with human hands; He thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart He loved.  Born of the Virgin Mary, He was truly been made one of us in all things except sin." (Gaudium et Spes)

As we celebrate Christmas 2021, let us reflect more deeply the meaning of Christ birth for us today in our particular situation. The government has eased up on the pandemic restrictions, so we will be able to attend Mass to celebrate Jesus' birth.  Thank You, Lord, for the unexpected Christmas blessing!

So we welcome Christmas 2021 in the midst of this pandemic, because our Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

Christmas is the perfect time to celebrate the love of God. For Jesus is God's perfect Gift, indescribable Gift to humanity.  It is amazing that as we receive God's Gift of His Son, we are also able to share our Savior with others on Christmas Day through our witnessing of love and charity to others, especially those who need them most during this difficult time of pandemic.

As we gather together to celebrate the birth of our Lord, and to celebrate the Eucharist around the Infant Child of Bethlehem in churches and chapels, it is my joy to wish everyone of my family and friends, and my readers and followers, A Blessed and Merry Christmas 2021!

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY, BABY LORD JESUS!  Deliver us from this pandemic but grant us the grace to accept God's will for humanity.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!