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THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Do you love Christmas traditions but don’t know where they come from? Tune in for Dr. Michael Patrick Barber’s Advent reflections called “The True Meaning of Christmas” and learn the meaning behind your favorite Christmas pastimes. To go deeper, be sure to get his accompanying book,"The True Meaning of Christmas", available on Catholic.Market.
Twenty Episodes on FORMED.ORGTo View, Click HERE -
Today's Readings
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Advent Rosary Reflections
The First Joyful Mystery - The Annunciation
Journey with us this Advent with reflections on the joyful mystery of the Most Holy Rosary. Taken From 'Honoring Her Virtues' by Frances Pergamo
From and into all eternity, God chose to take on flesh in a particular moment in time. It was a cosmic moment - a moment that changed the universe. Yet, as God would have it, this moment was veiled from the eyes of men and played out in the bedchamber of a young Jewish girl, upon whom the fate of humanity rested. Did Mary know it? Could she fully understand what was being asked of her? She was probably frightened by the splendor of the Archangel Gabriel and unsure of what he was proposing, yet she was wise enough to know there would be consequences for her. Despite her fear and bewilderment, however, Mary said, "Yes," to God's plan.
Say an Our Father...
Annunciation 1
Mary's profound humility was the fertile soil that allowed the seed of salvation to be planted. It is the greatest weapon against evil and the most desirable of all virtues. Humility before God is the opposite of pride before God, which is the root of all sin.
Pray: Holy Mary, your humility is the new Garden of Eden. In it, there is no pride before God, and He entered it willingly to reconcile man to Himself. It is in your humility that you are the fairest of our race, allowing yourself to be a new dwelling place for Yahweh - a new Ark of the Covenant. Please pray I am granted a portion of that humility so my Lord and Savior will find it pleasing to dwell in me, especially when I receive Him in the Eucharist. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 2
The Blessed Mother's lively faith was unsurpassed when she said, "Be it done unto me according to Thy word." She did not understand how she was going to bear a Son. She did not understand how she was going to face the questions and accusations, especially from her family and from her betrothed, the kind Joseph. But God's will was clearly revealed to her, and she left the rest in His hand.
Pray: Virgin Most Faithful, help me to trust that God works all things for good. When I am anxious about how things will work out, or when I feel I have to be in control, let me recall how willingly you placed yourself in God's service when He asked you to clothe Him in humanity at the risk of shame to yourself. Pray I am grated the gift of faith when God's ways are beyond my grasp. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 3
Our Lady's example of blind obedience at saying 'yes' to God's plan opened the gate of His salvation for us. In the history of mankind, it is singularly the most loving 'yes' God ever heard. He did not need a human collaborator because He is omnipotent, but He chose to come to us through the consent of a young virgin. Her beauty inside and out was hidden to all except her Creator. Because of May's obedience, everything happened as it was supposed to happen. She is the paragon of a free will surrendered so completely to God that He not only touched humanity but became one of us.
Pray: Gate of Heaven, your total submission to the will of God is something to which we aspire. As our loving Mother, help us discern His will in our lives, and teach us how to be obedient children to our loving Father in heaven. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 4
Our Lady's piety as a young girls was so pleasing to God that He found her a worthy vessel for Himself. Her whole life was a prayer -- an intimate personal relationship with God -- and so He entrusted Himself as a helpless infant to her maternal care. Because there was so much she did not understand at the moment she agreed to become the mother of the Redeemer, she must have prayed night and day for guidance, protection and wisdom.
Pray: Singular Vessel of Devotion, you prayed without ceasing during your life on earth. You yearned to be in God's Presence every minute of every day. Please draw me to your Son and pray that I am filled with the same desire to be near Him. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 5
Mary suffered shame knowing she would be with child before her marriage took place. Yet she did not think of herself or her reputation as more important than the Divine Will, and she consented to be God's instrument, even though it meant she would be tainted in the eyes of the world. It would benefit us to contemplate how she felt when she had to explain her mission to her parents and to Joseph.
Pray: Queen of Confessors, I am ashamed that I often care more about what other people think than what God thinks. Help me to overcome my desire to please my fellow man and show me how to be pure of heart in putting God first. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 6
The blessed Mother's virginity and purity of body was foretold from ancient times. When the Angel told her she would bear a son, she asked, "How can this be?" She was told, "The Holy Spirit will overshadow you." She was not only pure in the flesh, but her virtues were close to God's own heart. For Him, she was a fitting daughter, mother and bride.
Pray: Mother Most Pure, help me remember I am a temple of the Holy Spirit. Set yourself as an example of physical, emotional and spiritual cleanliness for all your children, and let me call upon your name when I am tempted in the flesh. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 7
Our Lady always placed the needs of others before her own, never hesitating to do what God asked of her. If she foresaw all that would happen to her Precious Child, and if she knew that His suffering was for the sake of but one person, she still would have consented to become His afflicted mother. Such is the depth of her charity.
Pray: Refuge of Sinners, your Immaculate Heart burns with love for God and for us. Help us to emulate that love in our dealings with one another. Inflame us with a zeal for souls so we are better able to draw others to your Son. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...Annunciation 8
The Word became flesh after Mary uttered her surrender to the Divine Will. She did not demand to know what would happen one week, nine months or thirty-three years in the future. She simply trusted. She did not complain or become impertinent with God because He did not explain further or reveal how it would all happen. The angel Gabriel reminded her that anything was possible with God, and she just let it play out, waiting and keeping everything in her heart.
Pray: Virgin Most Prudent, teach me the virtue of patience. When I am tested, remind me that nothing happens without God's knowledge, and that I always need to discern what is right before taking impulsive action. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 9
Immaculate Mary is the sweetest creature God ever created. Her nature, her disposition, her lack of guile and malice while she walked the earth made her soul shine before God and His angels. In her sweetness, she might have been not hidden in the spiritual realm. Gabriel, himself a glorious creature, deferred to the lowly maiden of Nazareth, saying, "Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you."
Pray: Mother Most Amiable, how arrogant and abrasive I must appear before the throne of God. Walk with me when I approach my Lord, so that your angelic sweetness outshines my many displeasing traits, and form me into a docile servant eager to carry out His will as you did. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Annunciation 10
God the Father infused the Mother of Jesus with a share of His own Wisdom in order to make her capable of bearing and raising the One who is our Redeemer. This Wisdom inflamed her with an intimate knowledge and love of God's omnipotent Presence so that when He took up residence in her womb, she was worthy to be mother to the Divine Child. At the moment of His conception, she was a vessel of all graces and wisdom, allowing the fulfillment of salvation history to begin. Mar's own Creator, who had brought Israel out of Egypt by numerous miracles and held her next breath in His Power, was pleased to become the most vulnerable being - an unborn baby- growing within her.
Pray: Seat of Wisdom, God the Father infused you with intimate knowledge of Himself so that you would better know and love your Holy Child. Please pray that we, too, might be infused with the wisdom we need to accomplish His work in our everyday lives. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Glory Be ...
Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
The Second Joyful Mystery - The Visitation
"And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" ~ Luke 1:43
We can all echo the words of Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, when we realize what a gift Christ has given us in His Blessed Mother. She comes to each of her children, bearing her Son within her. She is eager to have Him sanctify us as He sanctified His cousin, John the Baptist, while both were still in the womb. John recognized the Messiah, the One he was destined to foretell, before his eyes were able to see. It was his soul that recognized Jesus, and it was the Holy Spirit that orchestrated this meeting of the Messiah, His prophet and their holy mothers. Elizabeth honored Mary by proclaiming that she was blessed among women, and Mary , in turn, praised God.
Say an Our Father...
Visitation 1
Mary's humility was evident in her beautiful Magnificat, in which she praises God for blessing her in her lowliness. As soon as her cousin pays her tribute, Mary deflects the words of praise to God, paying Him homage in the name of all creatures present and acknowledging that all is accomplished by His power. She recognizes from her own experience and intimate relationship with God that the proud and conceited are roadblocks to God's will, and He can accomplish His greatest works with the cooperation of the most docile souls.
Pray: Mother of Divine Grace, let our voices join with yours throughout all age as you say:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has looked upon His handmaid's lowliness;
Behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is His Name."
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 2
The angel Gabriel told young Mary that her cousin, who was older and thought to be barren, was six months pregnant. So Mary, set out, never doubting what she heard. Elizabeth's own husband, Zechariah, did not believe it when the angel told him, and he was stricken mute until the day of his son's presentation in the Temple. That is why Elizabeth told Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled"
Pray: Vessel of Honor, you never doubted the extraordinary turn of events that were heralded by the angel Gabriel. Your womb would bear a Son destined to be the Savior of the world, and the barren womb of your cousin would bear a son destined to be His prophet. Help me to always respond as you did, even when I do not understand fully, by giving homage to God and trusting in His ways. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 3
Scripture tells us that Mary set out in haste as soon as she learned that Elizabeth was going to have a baby. Once again, she did not hesitate to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, placing herself where she was needed and where God wanted her to be.
Pray: Mother of our Creator, you were ready to go wherever God led you. May I always show the same willingness to be where God wants me to be, and please pray I respond to His call quickly and joyfully. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 4
The Blessed Mother's Magnificat is a model prayer of praise and thanksgiving. In its strains she never asks God for a thing. Yet this joyous Canticle doesn't flow from Mary's spirit as mere lip service. Her actions demonstrate her total trust in God. She could have complained to her cousin Elizabeth that God was asking her to make tremendous sacrifices, but she did not see it that way. Instead, Mary recognized the Omnipotence that revealed Itself to her, and her humanity trembled. Years later, Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with the same reverence by involving Our Father in heaven and hallowing His Name.
Pray: Mother of Good Counsel, teach me how to pray. Help my languishing soul rejoice in God my Savior and trust in His unfathomable plans as you did, especially when I receive Him in Holy Communion. Let your words ring out to Him when mine are inadequate. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 5
When the young Virgin Mary traveled into the hill country of Judah to visit Elizabeth, it must have been a long and arduous journey for her. Yet, instead of complaining or seeking comfort from those traveling with her, it is easy to imagine that she bore her trials with a noble spirit and offered them to God as yet another form of prayer.
Pray: Comforter of the Afflicted, guide me in finding holiness in my suffering. Dispense to me from the fountain of God's grace the will and strength to bear physical pain and discomfort with a spirit of self-sacrifice so that, united to the Cross of your Son, it may be of eternal benefit to souls. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 6
The angel Gabriel greeted Our Lady as one filled with grace and present to God. It is this salutation that we use when invoking her in the Hail Mary. Saint Elizabeth gives us the second part of that salutation when she says, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Mary responds in her Magnificat that all generations will call her blessed. She is the new Ark of the Covenant, the new Temple, the New Jerusalem, because she houses the Lord of Hosts within her. This is only possible because of her exemplary purity.
Pray: Mother Inviolate, you are the ideal of human purity. Help each of us according to our particular vocation, to be pure in thought, word and deed so we may be better prepared to walk with God. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.Visitation 7
There are many things that could have motivated the young Mary to journey out and visit Elizabeth, and it is good to ponder them all. She must have felt prompted by what the angel Gabriel told her, knowing that her older cousin was celebrating her own miracle. Mary's children today have come to know and believe that she went out to serve someone in need. Charity and service were at the heart of her journey, and Scripture tells us the Blessed Mother stayed with her cousin for three months, which means she was present at the birth of John the Baptist.
Pray: Queen of Prophets, ask your Son to inflame me with the same spirit of charity you showed toward your cousin Elizabeth. Guide me so I learn to put others before myself, especially the members of my own family, and God grant that I show the same readiness to leave the comfort of my home to answer the call of those in need. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 8
Surely there were times when Mary, so young and soft-spoken, was faced with challenges while tending to the needs of her older cousin. Perhaps she was even taken for granted by those in Elizabeth's household and other neighbors who wanted to help. It is not an easy thing to take care of the sick and debilitated, especially when dealing with different personalities and opinions. It takes great patience. Yet we can confidently surmise that our Blessed Mother remained focused on serving her cousin and rejoiced in her challenges to the glory of God the Father.
Pray: Health of the Sick, please pray I am granted the patience needed to care for the sick in our midst. Help me recognize every person's dignity, recalling that they are made in God's likeness so they may experience Him in the touch of my hands and the compassion of my heart. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 9
Elizabeth told Mary, "The moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy". What a sweet sound it must have been. What a sweet presence filled Zechariah's house when Mary entered. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she was able to recognize Mary as the Mother of her Lord because Mary is His Beloved Spouse.
Pray: Cause of Our Joy, help me to be more aware of your sweet presence when I am in need of reassurance and guidance. In the midst of turmoil, let me hear your voice so I may draw closer to your Son, the source of my comfort and salvation. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Visitation 10
In her Magnificat, the Virgin Mary declares that God has worked wonders for His chosen people throughout the ages and continues to work wonders in her very own life. She recognizes how He intervenes in the course of human history by toppling kingdoms and empowering the lowly. By her many endowed virtues, Mary came as close as any creature could come to knowing the mind of God.
Pray: Queen of Patriarchs, please pray for those who hold power in government and for all who are in a position to lead others. Help them to seek the mind of God and to recognize Truth as you did. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary.
Glory Be ...
Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
The Third Joyful Mystery - The Nativity
In giving birth to the Incarnate Word, Mary's maternal destiny reached beyond what any human mother had ever experienced. Her Son, who took from her the full nature of humanity and was born a helpless infant into her arms, also retained the full nature of His Divinity. He was not half man and half God. By a mystery of faith, the new Adam, born of a Virgin, possessed both natures fully. Thus, while Mary's rush of maternal love was prompted in the most natural way after giving birth, she was also destined, by her total consent to cooperate with God the Father, to become Mother to all those redeemed by her Holy Child. Her virginal womb, sanctified and preserved by the Holy Spirit, remained holy and intact as the City of God for all its future inhabitants.
Say an Our Father...
Nativity 1
How important it is to meditate on Mary's poverty. When Jesus was born, after an arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, there was no place for her to rest. The Blessed Mother, who from all eternity issued from God's creation as the Fairest of our Race, was poor. But she was not only poor in the worldly sense. Again, there is a profound dual meaning in her poverty. She is also poor in spirit - poor before God. He willed to be born in a stable, and His handmaid meekly complied.
Pray: Holy Mother of God, pray that I may accept hardship as you did for God's greater glory. Help me understand the true meaning of your Son's Holy Birth in a lowly stable, so I am able to detach myself from worldly desires and seek Him with all my heart. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 2
There was so much for Mary and Joseph to worry about upon arriving in Bethlehem, and it is easy to imagine getting anxious in a similar situation. A woman can envision facing a long, uncomfortable trip while in the last weeks of pregnancy, only to find out she must give birth in a barn. A man can put himself in Joseph's place and picture arriving in an overcrowded city with his suffering wife only to find he cannot provide properly for her. Jesus' holy parents were not spared the physical exhaustion, inconvenience, and worry that their situation posed. What they did have was extraordinary faith that God was in charge of every moment.
Pray: Mother of Our Savior, because you entrusted yourself so totally to God's tender care, everything happened just as He intended. He desired to be born in fulfillment of prophecy and to identify with those who have no place to lay their head. Thank you, my Lady, for trusting God enough, even when things seemed as though they could not get any worse. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 3
Sometimes God works through others to bring about His will in our lives. He can even work through those who are not aware of Him, as He did when a Roman government census prompted Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem at a crucial time. Their civic obedience placed them where God wanted them. At the time, they certainly were not aware that Eastern sages knew of the prophecy about Bethlehem or that their Divine Child would relate to the disenfranchised by being born in a stable.
Pray: House of Gold, your act of civic obedience to the enrollment of all in Roman territory brought you to the City of David, where God promised to bring forth His Messiah and establish the New Covenant. Help us practice the same civic obedience when we discern that the laws of our nation are in accordance with God's will and to have the courage to protest when they are not. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 4
"And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." ~ Luke 2:19
Scripture does not record many words spoken by the Blessed Mother. Even at the most crucial moments, namely the joy of His birth and the grief of His bitter Passion, Mary remains hidden. More than once we are told she reflects on everything in her heart. That is where God resides, and it is to Him alone that she speaks. As any good mother, she shows us by example that our lives, with all our joys and sorrows, rest in God.
Pray: Spiritual Vessel, please lead me to a new awareness of God in my everyday life so I, too, can turn inward and find Him there with a single thought. Pray for me also at those crucial times so I may find meaning and take refuge in my God. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 5
The very act of bearing a child is a hardship that can be united to the Cross and offered up. For the Blessed Mother, there was the arduous trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the lack of a proper shelter. But aside from the physical agonies, the fatigue and the threat of complications, there is also the need for a modest woman to maintain her personal dignity. Who was with Mary when she delivered her Divine Babe? Was it Joseph? For a woman of Mary's time, such a scenario would have been distressing. Was it a midwife? A stranger? Did she give birth alone? Whatever the case, Our Lady endured her suffering with a nobleness we can try to emulate, and we can call on her tender compassion when we are faced with illness or pain.
Pray: Mother Most Admirable, we are at the mercy of our physical world. Help me bear my sufferings with the same fortitude you showed at Jesus' birth so I am strengthened in spirit for the real test of temptation. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 6
As the Faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary personifies the Church. She is mother to all the baptized and all who are born of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit. She is Ever-Virgin because Jesus could never diminish her purity. She remained intact and holy, sanctified by Christ Himself, just as the Church remains intact and holy despite the turmoil it withstood throughout the ages.
Pray: Mother Most Chaste, your purity embodies the Church and pleases God for all eternity. I humbly ask to be placed within your Womb, Holy Mother Church, where I can be nourished with the Word and the Sacraments until a time when I am ready to be born into God's Kingdom. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 7
Two very powerful images of Christmas are the shepherds and the wise men. We should contemplate how the Blessed Mother treated these visitors who were led to the Christ Child by celestial signs. The shepherds were a lowly class in those days - most likely unwashed and illiterate - yet God saw fit to reveal Himself to them, and Mary welcomed them. The three Magi from the East were not even Jews, yet they recognized the birth of the Messiah as it was written in the heavens. It must have been quite daunting for a humble daughter of Israel to see a caravan of pagans descend upon her family and prostrate themselves before her tiny Son. Yet Our Lady did not view them as unclean and turn them away in self-righteousness. She showed herself to be Mother of all long before Jesus' apostles discerned that they must preach salvation to the Gentile world.
Pray: Morning Star, the angels and the heavenly bodies led the shepherds and wise men to Jesus after His birth. You opened the door for them, accepted their gifts and showed them your Beloved Infant so they could be sanctified. Whether I come like a lowly shepherd or a wealthy sage, please do the same for me and let me come and adore the One who saves me. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...Nativity 8
The Virgin Mary elevates our humanity by her abundance of virtues. She could have thought her special mission in life warranted special treatment. Yet, she accepted the trials and inconveniences without expecting deliverance from them. She could have balked at the timing of the government census and complained that nobody at the inn had enough compassion to make room for a woman in her condition. But Mary never lost patience with God or with her fellow man, no matter what she went through to fulfill her calling.
Pray: Mother of Christ, you look on us with eyes of mercy when we think we deserve more of God's love than our neighbor. Seek pardon for me when I expect special treatment in return for my faith and help me to see the Father's hand in all things even my hardships. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 9
One of the closest examples of God's love manifested in humanity is the love of a mother for her child. A mother's love is usually unconditional and pure. It is self-sacrificing and generous. That is why Jesus tries to ingrain in us the concept of being a beloved child of God. He left heaven to entrust Himself to the caring arms of a human mother, and Mary was a worthy refuge. In her unsurpassed sweetness, she nurtured the Christ Child and provided a place where the flesh and the Divine could meet.
Pray: Mystical Rose, your essence of holiness is so pleasing to God that He saw fit, through you, to come and dwell among us. He descended by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in response you raised your eyes and your arms to heaven to receive Him. Pray for me, my Lady, as you hold Him, and nurture me also as part of His Mystical body.
Say a Hail Mary...
Nativity 10
The Blessed Mother, endowed fully with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, gazed lovingly at the face of her newborn Son and knew she was contemplating the very face of God. In trying to fathom the mystery of the Incarnation with our finite minds, it is helpful to meditate on the image of the Madonna and Child, realizing how Mary's love for God had its own duality. In her spirit, she worshiped the Almighty God, Creator and Master of the whole universe, as sung in her Magnificat. In her flesh, what she felt while rocking her baby was the visceral connection of maternal love, magnified by the purity of her human virtues. What other creature throughout all time could come as close to understanding God's desire for us?
Pray: Virgin Most Renowned, during your time on earth, your bond with God as daughter, mother and spouse was so personal that you embodied the perfect example of what our relationship with God could be. At the very heart of your bond was the perfection of human love. Help me to draw closer to God and to love Him more each day. Amen.
Say a Hail Mary...
Glory Be ...
Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
