The Octave Day of Christmas Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God Numbers 6:22-27 Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

Celebrating Christmas Daily Christmas Prayer Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

The first reading is the blessing given to the high priest Aaron by God through Moses.  What a beautiful way to begin the calendar year, as we all respond together today, "May God bless us in his mercy!"  And in the second reading from Paul's letter to the Galatians, we are, like the shepherds, amazed at how wonderfully God fulfilled the promise of blessing, given first to Abraham and then to Moses, in sending us the Son in whom and through whom we have all become the beloved daughters and sons of God!  Not as slaves (not under the law -- we have been ransomed from slavery) but as adopted sons and daughters because we have the same Spirit as Jesus, which both sets us free and makes us heirs of the Reign of God.

The Christmas Gospel, the "glad tidings of great joy" and the song of the angels ("Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to God's People on Earth") that dazzled and mystified the shepherds who were so greatly blessed to see the Infant Jesus, is ours also at this glorious time.  Even more -- and this is why today's Feast of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus is now called  the "Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God" -- we are invited into the sacred space of the inner life of Mary who "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."  She is not only the Mother of Jesus, but also the First Disciple, and we could not do any better prayer today than one of imitating her in pondering the great mystery of the Birth of Jesus and all that it promises.

As so many spiritual masters have reminded us, the best way to allow love to grow in our hearts is through gratitude.  So, in addition to gazing with Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds on "the little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay," and adoring Him, we would do well today to take a few moments to count our blessings.  Recalling the highs and lows for us of 2009, the incredible graces and blessings of our own lives and of our world, let us look forward to a New Year, returning like the shepherds to our own situation, "glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen."  And above all thanking God for the name of Jesus, which is above every other name in the heavens and on the earth, by whom and in whom we have been born again to live fully as God's dearly beloved children.