Saturday:     Christmas: Mass During the Day.
Date:         December 25, 2024.
Year:         C
The readings: [Is. 52:7-10; Heb. 1:1-6; Jn. 1:1-18]
The message:  We have seen His glory.
Prepared by:  Catholic Doors Ministry.
Total words:  766

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Merry Christmas everyone! May the joy and peace of the Lord Jesus always be in your hearts as it is today. Why? Because today, we have seen the glory of Jesus in the Church, in the world, in our families, everywhere we look. Everyone is joyfully celebrating the fulfillment of the promise of God the Father to send a Redeemer into the world.

Before Jesus was born into the world, whenever God spoke to His people, He spoke through the prophets. But now that the Word of God has been given to us, the truth, the way and the life has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ.

Jesus "is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being." [Heb. 1:3] As Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." [Jn. 14:9]

To have a general perception of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, we have to think of the spiritual gift of bilocation. According to Church history, when a Saint bilocated such as St. Francis did, his two identical bodies (presences) were seen in two different locations during the same time frame. In such instances, while enjoying two presences, his physical and his bilocating form, these being separated by a distance, sometimes thousands of miles, yet, there still was only one Saint Francis who had been created by God. While we can say through the gift of bilocation that there were two persons in St. Francis, yet he was one.

When it is said that Jesus is a perfect reflection of God the Father, this is similar to the spiritual gift of bilocation. While the Heavenly Father and Jesus are two separate Persons in the Divine Trinity, yet there is One God. While God the Father is formless, He has manifested Himself through Jesus Christ through Who the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily. [Col. 1:19, 2:9] Truly, those who have seen Jesus, they have seen the glory of God.

When we look at baby Jesus in the manger, or when we look at a holy picture of our Lord, or even when we look at Jesus on the Holy Cross, in each case, through the physical form of Jesus that we see, we see the glory of God manifested in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is God! All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. When Jesus came into the world, He was a Light that shined in the darkness, in a world that was called to die because sin had entered into it. But darkness did not overcome Jesus. He overcame sin as the perfect atoning sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.

When Jesus came into the world, many did not know Him because they had hardened their hearts. His own people rejected Him and crucified Him as the worst of criminals. But some believed because they had opened their hearts to the grace and truth of God. Those who believed, Jesus gave them the power to become children of God through faith and the Church Sacraments of Baptism, Confession and the Holy Eucharist that is the Bread of Life.

Through Jesus, we have come to know the love and goodness of God. We have come to know the forgiveness and mercy of a God who has never forgotten His people, a God who welcomes us all to be adopted as His children through the Sacrament of Baptism and our perseverance in living faith.

Today, we have gathered here to give thanks to Jesus for having come into the world. Through our praise and worship, we glorify the Lord Jesus. And by glorifying the Lord, we see His glory all around us.

Christmas day is a special time of the year. It is a time when our spirits, bursting with joy, are uplifted towards God. It is a day when the glory of God manifests itself very clearly in each and everyone of us who are celebrating the coming of Jesus into the world.

As we continue with the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray that this glory of the Lord will be with us throughout the coming year so that we may always shine as bright stars in the love of Jesus. May the joy and peace of the Lord always be with you.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.

Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." [Is. 52:7-10]

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Second Reading...

"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the ages.

He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God every say, 'You are my Son: today I have begotten you'? Or again, 'I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God's Angels worship him.'" [Heb. 1:1- 6]

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Gospel Reading...

"In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of the human race.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." [Jn. 1:1-18]

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