The Nativity of the Lord Christmas
Mass During the Day
It-Twelid ta' Sidna Ġesu' Kristu
Quddiesa ta' bi Nhar
Messalin
A pp 101
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings
glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and
saying to Zion, “Your God is King!” Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry, together
they shout for joy,for they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion Jerusalem Jerusalem
Qari mill-Ktieb
tal-Profeta Isaija 52, 7-10
Kemm huma sbieħ fuq il-muntanji r-riġlejn
ta' min iħabbar
il-bxara, ta' min ixandar is-sliem, ta' min iħabbar ir-riżq, ta' min
ixandar is-salvazzjoni, u jgħid lil Sijon:
"Alla tiegħek isaltan." Imbagħad l-għajta!
l-għassiesa
tiegħek
għollew
leħenhom,
lkoll flimkien jgħajtu
bil-ferħ, għax
raw b'għajnejhom
lill-Mulej rieġa'
lura f'Sijon. Intom, ħerbiet ta' Ġerusalemm, għajtu
lkoll bil-ferħ, għax
faraġ
il-Mulej il-poplu tiegħu, feda lil Ġerusalemm. Kixef il-Mulej id-driegħ
tiegħu
qaddis, quddiem il-ġnus
kollha, u raw it-truf kollha ta' l-art is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. All
the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of
R. All
the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise. .
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. All
the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Salm
Responsorjali
Salm 97 (98)
Għannu lill-Mulej għanja ġdida,
Għax għamel ħwejjeġ ta' l-għaġeb.
Ġibitlu
r-rebħa
l-leminija tiegħu,
u d-driegħ imqaddes tiegħu.
R/ Raw it-truf kollha ta' l-art
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Għarraf il-Mulej is-salvazzjoni tiegħu,
f'għajnejn il-ġnus wera l-ġustizzja
tiegħu.
Ftakar fit-tjieba u l-fedelta' tiegħu
mal-poplu ta' Iżrael.
R/ Raw it-truf kollha ta' l-art
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
L-art
kollha, minn
rat
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Għajtu bil-ferħ lill-Mulej fl-art kollha,
infexxu
fil-hena, ifirħu u għannu!
R/ Raw it-truf kollha ta' l-art
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Għannu lill-Mulej biċ-ċetra,
biċ-ċetra
u bil-ħlewwa ta' l-għana,
bit-trombi
u bid-daqq tat-trumbetti;
għajtu bil-ferħ quddiem il-Mulej is-sultan!
R/ Raw it-truf kollha ta' l-art
is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.
Hebrews 1:1-6
Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and
various ways to our ancestors through
the prophets; in these last days, he has
spoken to us through the Son, whom he
made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence
of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his
mighty word. When he had accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat
at the right hand of the Majesty on high, as far superior to the angels as the
name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels
did God ever say: You are my son;
this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me?
And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him.
This is the
Word of the Lord.
It-Tieni Lezzjoni
Bidu ta' l-Ittra lil-Lhud 1,1-6
Alla
fl-imgħoddi kellem lil
missirijietna ħafna drabi u b'ħafna manjieri permezz tal-profeti. Issa
f'dan l-aħħar żmien, huwa
kellimna permezz ta' Ibnu, li hu għamlu
werriet ta' kollox , u li bih ukoll għamel il-ħolqien. Hu,
l-Iben, li hu d-dija tal-glorja ta' Alla u x-xbieha ta' l-essenza tiegħu, u li jżomm id-dinja kollha bil-kelma setgħana tiegħu, wara li naddafna minn
dnubietna, qagħad fuq il-lemin tal-kobor ta' alla fl-għoli tas-smewwiet, u b'hekk sar daqshekk aqwa
mill-anġli daqs kemm ogħla minn
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 to be through him, and without
him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was
the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to
testify to the light, so that all might
believe through him. He was not the light, but 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 to be through him, but the world did not know him. He
came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those
who did accept him he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s
decision but of God. And the Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the
Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried
out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of
me because he existed before me.’” From
his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the
law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one
has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him. This is the Word of the Lord.
L-Evanġelju
Bidu ta' l-Evanġelju
skond San Ġwann 1, 1-18
Fil-bidu kien il-Verb, u l-Verb kien ma' Alla, u
l-Verb kien Alla. Hu kien fil-bidu ma' Alla. Kollox bih sar, u xejn ma sar mingħajru;
kull ma sar kellu l-ħajja fih, u l-ħajja kienet id-dawl tal-bnedmin. Id-dawl
jiddi fid-dlam, imma d-dlam ma għelbux. Kien hemm raġel mibgħut minn minn minn
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COMMENTARY:
In Jesus, the Medium is Indeed the Message
Fr.
Thomas Rosica, CSB
The message of
Christmas takes our breath away every year and continues to stagger the
imagination: the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the only begotten Son of
the Father, the eternal Word, our Creator wills to clothe himself in our
nature, and to become man, our brother, one of us! God Himself lies in the
manger, completely human, completely divine. It is an awesome reality!
Divine
Communication with Us
The second reading from the letter to the Hebrews for
Christmas Mass during the Day [1:1-6] opens with a reflection on the climax of
God's revelation to the human race in his Son. The divine communication was
initiated and maintained during Old Testament times in fragmentary and varied
ways through the prophets. But now in these last days [v 2] the final
age, God's revelation of his saving purpose is achieved through a son, i.e.,
one who is Son, whose role is redeemer and mediator of creation. He was made heir
of all things through his death and exaltation to glory, yet he existed before
he appeared as man; through him God created the universe. The
once-humiliated and crucified Jesus has been declared God's Son, and this name
shows his superiority to the angels.
Divine camping in
our midst
John’s Prologue [1:1-18] states the main themes of the fourth
gospel: life, light, truth, the world, testimony, and the preexistence of Jesus
Christ, the incarnate Logos, who reveals God the Father. In origin, the Prologue
was probably an early Christian hymn. Its closest parallel is in other
Christological hymns, Col 1:15-20 and Philippians 2:6-11. It’s core is poetic
in structure, with short phrases linked by "staircase parallelism,"
in which the last word of one phrase becomes the first word of the next.
“In the beginning” evokes the first words of the Old
Testament (Genesis 1:1). The Word (Greek logos) combines God's dynamic,
creative word (Genesis), personified pre-existent Wisdom as the instrument of
God's creative activity (Proverbs), and the ultimate intelligibility of reality
(Hellenistic philosophy).
The prologue climaxes with the announcement: “The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us” [v 14] [in Greek literally: pitched his tent among
us]. It’s a form of divine camping in our midst! This presence came about
though the free love of God: “In this way the love of God was made manifest
among us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might live through
him” [I John 4:9]. The Word is not simply a message that we can put into
words. In Jesus, the message and the messenger are united. The
medium is indeed the message!
God
does not love at a distance
The Christmas message announces a new divine presence among
us. Each day of our lives we seek the personal presence of those whom we care
for and who care about us. We cannot imagine leaving friendship and love at a
distance. Photographs, memories, letters, e-mails, text messages and phone
calls are not enough. We want to enjoy the personal presence of those who fill
our minds and let us live in their hearts. We live in God’s heart, and
Christmas visibly brought among us the Son of God who cares infinitely for each
of us. God did not want to live that love at a distance.
The high-point of
Jesus’ self-communication
Every Eucharist proclaims, "God so loved the world that
He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but
may have eternal life" [Jn 3:16]. Because the life of Christ is
oriented towards others, the Church must share this life with the world. The
Life of Christ is his gift to the Church that is meant to be the Church's gift
to the world. In the Eucharist we don't only receive the life of Christ.
Beholding this most precious gift, we are moved as well to worship and adore
the Triune God.
God’s Communication
Platform and Ours
The Word did not become an e-mail, an SMS or text message, or
some kind of divine oracle uttered from some distant heaven long ago. Through
Mary, the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us. The Word became
close to real people in real time. Through the wonder and mystery of the
Incarnation, the Word did not become a philosophy, a theory, or a concept to be
discussed, debated, exegeted or pondered. But the Word became a person to be
followed, enjoyed and loved! Our redemption is found in the Child of
Bethlehem.
God’s communication platform is the human person and
Christmas inaugurates a completely new kind of real friendship with God.
Friendship in virtual spaces is quite different from real time friendship. True
friendship depends on mutual revelations, and can only flourish within the
boundaries of privacy and modesty. The distance and abstraction of our online friendships
and online relationships can lead to a kind of systemic desensitization as a
culture if we are not wise, prudent and attentive to these new realities. Along
with the increase in online networking, there are increasing levels of reported
loneliness. Certain questions arise from the phenomenon of Social Networking.
What is it doing for us? What is it doing to us? What is it doing to our sense
of social boundaries? To our sense of individuality? To our friendships? We
expose everything, but are we feeling anything?
The great challenge in the era of Facebook and Twitter
consists in presenting the profound message of Jesus and the teaching of the
Church without being sidetracked by technology’s superficial aspects. An almost
exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we’re losing some of
the ability to build interpersonal communication that’s necessary for living
together and building a community. In using the media to evangelize and teach
the masses, we must never lose sight of the need to reach and teach the
individual as though he or she were the only person being addressed.
The enigma of the
human condition
At Christmas, let us recall the words of Benedict XVI in his
Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini #6:
“…Yet we would not yet sufficiently grasp the message of the
Prologue of Saint John if we stopped at the fact that God enters into loving
communion with us. In reality, the Word of God, through whom "all things
were made" (Jn 1:3) and who "became flesh" (Jn 1:14), is the
same Word who is "in the beginning" (Jn 1:1). If we realize that this
is an allusion to the beginning of the book of Genesis (cf. Gen 1:1), we find
ourselves faced with a beginning which is absolute and which speaks to us of
the inner life of God.
“The Johannine Prologue makes us realize that the Logos is truly
eternal, and from eternity is himself God. God was never without his Logos. The
Word exists before creation. Consequently at the heart of the divine life there
is communion, there is absolute gift. "God is love" (1 Jn 4:16), as
the same the Apostle tells us elsewhere, thus pointing to "the Christian
image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny".
God makes himself known to us as a mystery of infinite love in which the Father
eternally utters his Word in the Holy Spirit. Consequently the Word, who from
the beginning is with God and is God, reveals God himself in the dialogue of
love between the divine persons, and invites us to share in that love. Created
in the image and likeness of the God who is love, we can thus understand
ourselves only in accepting the Word and in docility to the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the light of the revelation made by God's Word, the enigma of the human
condition is definitively clarified.
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