Unearned Luck

Having eyes, do you not see, and having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?    -St. Mark 8:18 The Midnight Mass is the most beautiful liturgy of the year for me. For the most part, the people attending Midnight Mass have made the choice to be there, possess the willingness to participate, and bring with them an eager anticipation upon which comes a peace, a joy, and an energy rarely, if ever, seen at that dark, lonely ushering of the Eve to the Day. At the Midnight Mass, we are there with the shepherds in the fields and join them as the first witnesses of the miracle of the Incarnation, walking into that cave and falling to our knees in silent, fearful adoration. We see St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, and the Christ Child and are quickly overcome with a joy and a peace we have never known before, but unlike the shepherds on that first Christmas, we know the reason for our joy and peace. We know that the Word of God has become Man, so that through His pass...

And the angel said to them, "...And this will be a sign for you; you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."    -St. Luke 2:10, 12 And Jesus answered them, "...[T]hey will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from one end of heaven to the other."    -St. Matthew 24:4, 30-31 Jesus said to him, "...But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."    -St. Matthew 26:64 And Jesus said, "I am, and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."    -St. Mark 14:62 "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."    -St. John 5:22-23 "For...the Fat...

Merry Christmas! Christmas.  The celebration of God becoming Man by the action of the Holy Spirit within the womb of the Virgin Mary.  While we celebrate today, it seems from Sacred Scripture that not everyone was in a celebratory mood in the months leading up to Christmas nor on the day itself.  In St. Matthew, the angel tells Joseph, "...do not fear...."  In St. Luke, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, "Do not be afraid...," and later in St. Luke, the angel says to the shepherds, "Be not afraid..."  It is an awesome thing for God to come so close that He becomes a man.  Yet this is what happened and many of us are still afraid. The Sacred Scriptures continue, "...I bring you good news of a great joy.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son ...