A Catholic Devotional Magazine based on the Daily Mass Readings http://wau.org
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The Word Among Us Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back... Why is this? Because ...God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. -St. John Chrysostom
The Word Among Us
December 24 Christmas Eve: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16 Nearly a thousand years later, Jesus was born. What David had lamented—that God dwelt in a lowly tent—Jesus came to set right. Since the fall of our first parents, humanity had given God a lesser role in their lives. They failed to honor him for his holiness and perf...ection. Because their hearts had been darkened by sin, they couldn’t see him as he truly is. Because our ailment was spiritual, we needed a spiritual remedy.
That remedy came through Jesus, the Word who became flesh and pitched his tent in our midst (John 1:14). He came to take away our sin and open our eyes. He came to rebuild the temple of God—not a temple of stone but a temple of human hearts. This new temple is far greater and far more splendid than anything Solomon could ever have built. It is the body of Christ, the dwelling place of God on this earth.
Tomorrow is Christmas, the day when God took a crucial step toward rebuilding the temple. When you see the baby Jesus tomorrow, make sure that you also see a master builder who is still at work in this world. That’s the one we are called to adore.
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King David was all settled. His palace was in good order, and he enjoyed victory over all his enemies. Still, he felt that all was not right. The Ark of the Covenant was housed in a tent, while he lived in an ornate palace. ...
The Word Among Us Today's Meditation: Malachi 3:1-4,23-24 It’s only two days before Christmas. What plans did you make four weeks ago? What goals did you set for this Advent? Have you met them? The good news is that it is never too late to welcome Jesus. It’s never too late to remove whatever obstacles exist between you and him. Even no...w, God is standing next to you, eager for you to turn to him so that he can shower you with his blessings. Why not try to get to Confession before Christmas? Or at least sit quietly with Jesus in prayer, and ask him to set you free from any sins that are weighing on you. It’s still not too late to know the joy of being forgiven. In the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as a late start. You may not feel entirely ready for the celebration, but you will still know his presence, because every time you take one small step toward God, he takes a giant leap toward you. Let him come in and purify you, making you like gold or precious silver!
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Advent is a time of anticipation, a time to prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. As part of this preparation, it’s a good idea to take inventory of our spiritual lives and reflect on the past year’s successes and failures in our relationship with the Lord.
The Word Among Us December 23: O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God.
The Word Among Us
Gathered in His Name. This Christmas week, make time for family prayer BY: PATRICIA MITCHELL. Why Pray Together? “Parents are … the first herald of the Gospel for their children,” wrote Pope John Paul II in 1981 in On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World (Familiaris Consortio). When we pray with our ch...ildren, we introduce them to the language of faith so that it becomes natural for them to converse with God. By our example and guidance, our children learn how to praise God, how to thank him, how to ask for forgiveness, how to intercede for others, and how to ask for their own needs.
Regular family prayer also demonstrates to our children that being a Christian means that God reigns in our family—not just on Sundays but every day of the year.
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Kevin and Annette Bentler of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada, gather with their four young children each evening during Advent to pray.
The Word Among Us December 22: O King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.
The Word Among Us Jesus Is in the Chaos: It’s what this dad is learning from his kids. BY: TIM BETE During the weeks before Christmas, I try to focus on the “reason for the season,” but often find myself distracted by the pressing concerns of daily life. The fire engine and other unexpected guests that interrupt their tranquil nativity... scene aren’t all that different from the things in my life that keep me from gazing in awe at the miraculous birth of the infant king.
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The thing I like best about Christmas is the Holy Family. There’s Joseph, the devoted father, taking care of his wife and infant son.
The Word Among Us December 21: O Rising Sun, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
The Word Among Us 12/19: Pope Benedict XVI has declared his predecessor Pope John Paul II 'venerable', moving the long-serving Polish-born pope closer to sainthood.The decree bestowing the title is the first step towards beatification and eventual sainthood for the charismatic Pole who headed the Roman Catholic Church for nearly three decades.
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What does the resurrection mean to our lives and to the life of the world? Throughout all of human history, man has sought to know his ultimate source and destiny—to know God. For his part, God, ...
The Word Among Us December 19: O Root of Jesse, you stand for the ensign of all mankind; before you kings shall keep silence and to you all nations shall have recourse. Come, save us, and do not delay.
The Word Among Us December 18: O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
The Word Among Us Advent is nothing other than annual meditation... on the work of salvation and sanctification, the work of grace and love, which the Lord "began" and continually "begins" in every man and in every generation down to the coming of Jesus Christ, when this work shall be brought to completion. - Pope John Paul II
The Word Among Us December 18 Matthew 1:18-25 In Joseph we see a model of humility and openness to God. Like Abraham when asked to sacrifice Isaac, Joseph was willing to follow a new path, even if it didn’t completely make sense. When faced with a radical change in his plans for his life, he took his confusion and distress to God, and h...e wasn’t disappointed. God spoke to him in a dream and gave him the peace he needed to embark on this new adventure.
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When we first meet Joseph, we see him as an upright and devout man who is all set to marry a young woman named Mary. But when he learned that Mary was pregnant—by some miracle, she claimed—he reckoned that the godly thing to do was to divorce her quietly. ...
The Word Among Us Let us consider carefully what this means: that the everlasting, infinite Creator not only reigns over o in the world but, at a specific "moment," crossed an unimaginable borderline and personally entered into history... Once at this point a friend gave me a clue that helped my understanding more than any measure of ba...re reason. He said, "But loves does such things!" -Romano Guardini
The Word Among Us
Prayer Resources: The Nativity. The Road to Bethlehem BY: JEANNE KUN “His Mother carried him in her womb, may we carry him in our hearts; the Virgin became pregnant with the Incarnation of Christ, may our hearts become pregnant with faith in Christ; she brought forth the Savior, may our souls bring forth salvation and... praise. May our souls be not sterile, but fertile for God.”
— St. Augustine
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And [Mary] gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. — Luke 2:7
