As Father Bowen is the primary celebrant at most of our English speaking masses this weekend, we will be using the Christmas at Night readings.  They can be found here.  

If you are at the 4:30 pm Saturday at Wilde Lake or the Sunday 11:30am Oakland Mills, please check in with the presider and you might want to familiar yourself with the other Christmas reading options.

Meanwhile, our First Reading is the most famous of all the messianic prophecies of Isaiah. Its original meaning was very different from the associations that have grown up around it in Christian use during this season. The joy of the occasion is expressed by two comparisons: the joy of harvest and the joy of victory on the battlefield. The new reign ushers in freedom from want and freedom from oppression  and peace.

 The Second Reading speaks of the two comings of Christ: (1) “the grace of God has appeared,” that is, in the Christ event, and (2) “while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory...” The Second Coming, which had been the dominant theme at the beginning of Advent but had receded into the background as the season progressed and the expectation of the birth of Christ took over, is not completely forgotten now that Christmas has come.

The Gospel offers the telling of the Nativity of Our Lord. The infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke pose very difficult problems for those who would use them to reconstruct actual history. The two narratives agree on the following points: the names of Mary and Joseph as the parents of Jesus; his supernatural conception and Bethlehem as the place of his birth; and the dating of his birth in the reign of King Herod. Clearly these items go back to earlier tradition, prior to the evangelists.

May God abundantly bless you as you proclaim the Word of the Lord.