READINGS
The
Octave Day of Christmas
Solemnity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Solennita ta’ Marija Omm Alla, Omm il-Paċi
Messalin Ċ pp 123
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The LORD said to Moses: “Speak to
Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say
to them: The LORD bless you and keep
you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD
look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the
Israelites, and I will bless them.” This is the Word of The Lord.
L-Ewwel Qari - Qari
mill-Ktieb tan-Numri 6, 22-27
Il-Mulej kellem ‘il
Mose’ u qallu: “Kellem lil Aron u ‘l
uliedu u għidilhom: Meta tbierku ‘l
ulied Israel : ‘Ibierkek il-Mulej u jħarsek! Jixħet il-Mulej
id-dija ta’ wiċċu fuqek u jurik il-ħniena!
Iħares lejk il-Mulej bi mħabba, u jagħtik is-sliem!” Hekk huma jsejħu ismi fuq
ulied Irael, U jien nberikhom.” Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
May God bless us in his mercy.
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
May God bless us in his mercy.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
May God bless us in his mercy.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 66 (67)
Iħenn għalina Alla, u jberikna.
Iħenn għalina Alla,
u jberikna;
idawwar għal fuqna
d-dija ta’ wiċċu!
Biex jingħarfu fuq
l-art triqatek,
fost il-ġnus kollha
s-salvazzjoni tiegħek. R/
Jithennew il-ġnus u
jgħannu bil-ferħ,
għax trieġi l-popli
bis-sewwa,
u l-ġnus fuq l-art
inti tmexxihom. R/
Ifaħħruk il-popli o
Alla,
ifaħħruk il-popli
kollha.
Iberikna Alla, u
tibża minnu
l-art kollha minn
Brothers
and sisters: When the fullness of time had come, God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As
proof that you are sons, God sent the
Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying
out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God. This is the Word of The Lord.
It-Tieni Qari Qari mill-ittra lill-Galaltin 4,
4-7
Ħuti, meta waslet
il-milja taż-żmien, Alla bagħat lil
Ibnu, imwieled minn
Gospel Luke
2: 16-21
The
shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem
Evanġelju - Qari skond San Luqa 2, 16-21)
F’dak iż-żmien: ir-rgħajja marru jgħaġġlu, u sabu lil Marija u lil
Ġużeppi, bit-tarbija mimduda f’maxtura. Kif
raw dan, bdew igħarrfu b’kulma kien intqal
lilhom dwar dik it-tarbija, u kull min semgħhom baqa’ mistagħġeb b’dak li
qalulhom ir-rgħajja. Marija, min-naħa tagħha, baqgħet tgħożż f’qalbha dawn il-ħwejjeġ kollha u taħseb fuqhom bejnha
u bejn ruħha. Ir-rgħajja mbagħad reġgħu lura, isebbħu u jfaħħru lil Alla għal
kulma kienu raw u semgħu, kif l-anġlu kien qalilhom. Meta
wasal it-tmien jum biex lit-tifel jgħmlulu
ċ-ċirkonċiżjoni, semmewh Ġesu’, bl-isem li kien tah l-anġlu qabel ma tnissel
fil-ġuf. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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COMMENTARY:
Fr Raniero Cantalamessa
on the Mother of God
" Can we become mothers of Christ? “
The Council taught us to look upon Mary as a "figure" of
the Church, that is, as the Church's perfect exemplar, as the first fruits of
the Church. But can Mary be a model of the Church even as "Mother of
God," the title with which she is honored on the first day of 2015? Can we
become mothers of Christ?
Not only is this possible, but some fathers of the Church have said
that, without this imitation, Mary's title is useless to me: "What
does it matter," they said, "if
Christ was once born to Mary in Bethlehem
Jesus himself was the first to apply this title, "Mother of Christ," to the Church when he declared: "My
mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into
practice" (Luke 8: 21).
Thursday's liturgy presents Mary to us as the first of those to
become mother of Christ through attentive listening to his word. The Church has
chosen for this feast the Gospel passage where it is written that "Mary, for her part, treasured all
these words, meditating on them in her heart." How one concretely
becomes a mother of Christ is explained to us by Jesus himself: hearing the word and putting it into practice.
There are two types of incomplete or interrupted motherhood. One is the old one
which we know: early termination of
the pregancy. This happens when a woman conceives a life but does not give
birth to it because, in the meantime, either for natural causes or the sin of
men, the child dies. Until a short time ago this was the only known form of
incomplete motherhood.
Today, however, we know another which consists, on the contrary, in giving
birth to a child without having conceived it. This happens when child is first
conceived in a test tube and then inserted into the womb of a woman. In some
terrible and squalid cases, the womb is borrowed, sometimes rented, to bear a
human life conceived elsewhere. In this case, that which the woman gives birth
to does not come from her, is not "first conceived in her heart."
Unfortunately, also on the spiritual plane there are these two sad
possibilities. There are those who conceive Jesus without giving birth to him.
Such are those who welcome the word without putting it into practice, those who
have one spiritual abortion after another, formulating plans for conversion which
are then systematically forgotten and abandoned at the halfway point; they
behave toward the word as hasty observers who see their faces in a mirror and
then go away immediately forgetting what they looked like (cf. James 1: 23-24). In sum, these are those who have faith but
not works.
On the other hand, there are those who give birth to Christ without having
conceived him. Such are those who do many works, perhaps even good ones, which
do not come from the heart, from love of God and right intention, but rather
from habit, from hypocrisy, from the desire for their own glory or interests,
or simply from the satisfaction of doing something, acting. In sum, these are
those who have works but not faith.
These are the negative cases of an incomplete maternity. St. Francis of Assisi : "We are mothers of Christ," he writes,
"when we carry him in our hearts and our bodies through divine love and
pure and sincere conscience; we give birth to him through holy works, which
should shine as an example before others!"
We -- the saint says -- conceive Christ when we love him with sincerity of
heart and with rectitude of conscience, and we give birth to him when we
accomplish holy works that manifest him to the world. ©
Innovative Media Inc.
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