Unknown master, Madonna with Child Sedes Sapientiae (16th century), Abruzzo Region (Italy).
Mary was the perfect person to be the mother of God. She continually turned to the Lord, making God present not only physically, at Bethlehem, but spiritually wherever she was. To meet her would be to understand the quality of love the Lord was bringing to the world. The paintings and statues of Mary that I like best are those that depict her as a young mother, holding up her baby for him to bless the world. As a man, I can never fathom what it must be like to hold in your arms the child that lived inside you for nine months. Does a mother see her husband, the baby’s father, in the infant? Does she see herself? I’m sure she see a unique individual that came from her yet is not her.
A mother must experience love of a different type than she ever has experienced before. She also must experience love to a greater degree than she ever understood she could have. What must have it been like for Mary to hold Jesus? Did she see herself? Did she see her family traits, her father’s eyes, her Uncle Solomon’s cleft chin? Did she see the baby’s Eternal Father, the First Person of the Trinity? Did Mary see in Jesus the Mercy of God, the Peace of God, the Compassion of God for his people, a people that struggled to get by in the darkness of a world that had rejected its Creator? How much did Mary love this child? Certainly, she loved him as much as every mother loves her child. But she must have loved him even more than this. She must have loved this child with, as the beautiful preface for Advent says, “with love beyond all telling” She loved the child created within her, and she loved the Creator whom the child perfectly reflected. So, it is reasonable to depict Mary holding the child up for him to bless the world, to bless us. Her resolve to fulfill God’s plan for her and for all people resulted in our Savior becoming one of us.
Mary is the only person in scripture to be present in every aspect of Jesus’ life, from his birth to his death. She is always there, saying to us: “Look here is your Savior, my son”. Just as Mary was resolved to make God present in the world through her faith and obedience, we are called to make God present to the world. Even though the beginning of the Church year is the first Sunday of Advent, and even though we concentrate during Lent on those areas of our lives that need spiritual refining, it is still proper for us to consider New Year’s resolutions regarding our faith. This is a good time of year to consider how to make Jesus present to the world. Joseph and Mary pondered in their hearts the mysteries of the presence of the Lord. You and I need to begin this year considering the mystery of Jesus’s presence in our lives. We need to search for ways to bring this presence to others. Like Mary, we have to hold Jesus up to a world that seeks His peace, His presence, a world that yearns for His salvation • AE
An examination of conscience at the end and beginning of a new year
We are about to begin a New Year. What will it be like? What do I expect of the New Year? What do I really wish for? What is it I need? To what will I dedicate my most precious and important time? What will truly be new and good for me in this year that starts today? Will I live just in any way, going from one occupation to another, without knowing exactly what I want or what to live for, or will I learn to distinguish what is important and essential from what is secondary? Will I spend my life in a rut and bored, or will I learn to live with a more creative spirit? Will I keep on this year distancing myself a little more from God, or will I start to look for him more trustingly and more sincerely? Will I continue this year being muter before him, not opening my lips or my heart, or will a small, humble but sincere invocation finally spring from my shattered soul? Will I again go through life worrying only about my own welfare, or will I know how to be concerned sometimes about making others happy? To which people will I draw near? Will I sow joy in them, or will I spread discouragement and sadness? Wherever I go, will life be more pleasant there and less hard? Will it be one more year devoted to doing more and more things, piling up selfishness, tension and nervousness, or will I have time for silence, rest, prayer and encounter with God? Will I just lock myself up in my problems, or will I live trying to make a more human and livable world? Will I follow with indifference the news coming daily from nations plagued by hunger? Will I look coldly at those who come as far as where we are, looking for work and bread? When will I learn to look at those who suffer with a heart that is responsible and committed to solidarity?
What is “new” about this year will not come from outside. Its newness can only spring from within us. This year will be new if I learn to believe in new and more trusting ways, if I find new and more loving gestures, so as to share a life of fellowship with those of my own flesh and blood, if I awaken in my heart a new compassion toward those who suffer. We are about to start a new year. But can it be for us something truly new and good? Who is able to bring in us a new joy? What psychologist will teach us to be more human? Little do our good intentions count! What is decisive is to be more attentive to the good that Jesus awakens in us, the salvation we are offered each day. We don’t need to wait for anything other helps. This very day can be for me a day of salvation • AE
St. Joseph Catholic Church (Dilley, TX) • Christmas Season Schedule
Tuesday, December 31, 2024.
5.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation.
6.00 p.m. Holy Mass.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
10.00 a.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation
11. 00 a.m. Holy Mass.
Friday, January 3, 2025
5.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation
6.00 p.m. Holy Mass.
6.45 p.m. Eucharistic Adoration & Benediction
Saturday, January 4, 2025.
5.00 p.m. Sacramento de la Confesión
6.00 p.m. Santa Misa.
Sunday, January 5, 2025
8.00 a.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation
8.30 a.m. Holy Mass.
10.30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation.
11.00 a.m. Holy Mass.
Solemnidad de María Santísima, Madre de Dios (2024)
Maestro anónimo, La Virgen con el Niño (S. XIII), Metropolitan Museum (New York)
Una de las cosas más consoladoras de nuestra fe cristiana es la certeza de que Dios comienza siempre de nuevo. Con él nada hay definitivamente perdido. En él todo es comienzo y renovación. Por decirlo de manera sencilla, Dios no se deja desalentar por nuestra mediocridad. La fuerza renovadora de su perdón y de su gracia es más vigorosa que nuestros errores y nuestro pecado. Con él, todo puede comenzar de nuevo. He aquí que yo hago nuevas todas las cosas, dice en el libro del Apocalipsis. Por eso, es bueno comenzar el año con voluntad de renovación.
Cada año nuevo es un tiempo abierto a nuevas posibilidades, un tiempo de gracia y de salvación en el que se nos invita a vivir de manera nueva. Por ello, es importante escuchar las preguntas que pueden brotar de nuestro interior. ¿Qué espero yo del nuevo año? ¿Será un año dedicado a hacer cosas, resolver asuntos, acumular tensión, nerviosismo y malhumor o será un año en que aprenderé a vivir de manera más humana? ¿Qué es lo que realmente quiero yo este año? ¿A qué dedicaré el tiempo más precioso e importante? ¿Será, una vez más, un año vacío, superficial y rutinario, o un año en que amare la vida con gozo y gratitud? ¿Qué tiempo reservaré para el descanso, el silencio, la música, la oración, el encuentro con Dios? ¿Alimentaré mi vida interior o viviré de manera agitada, en permanente actividad, corriendo de una ocupación a otra, sin saber exactamente qué quiero ni para qué vivo? ¿Qué tiempo dedicaré al disfrute íntimo con mi pareja y a la convivencia gozosa con los hijos? ¿Viviré fuera de mi hogar organizándome la vida a mi aire o sabré amar con más dedicación y ternura a los míos? ¿Con quiénes me encontraré este año? ¿A qué personas me acercaré? ¿Pondré en ellas alegría, vida, esperanza, o contagiaré desaliento, tristeza y muerte? Por donde yo pase, ¿será la vida más gozosa y llevadera o más dura y penosa? ¿Viviré este año preocupado sólo por mi pequeño bienestar o me interesaré también por hacer felices a los demás? ¿Me encerraré en mi viejo egoísmo de siempre o viviré de manera creativa, tratando de hacer a mí alrededor un mundo más humano y habitable? ¿Seguiré viviendo de espaldas a Dios o me atreverá a creer que es mi mejor Amigo? ¿Permaneceré mudo ante él, sin abrir mis labios ni mi corazón, o brotará por fin desde mi interior una invocación humilde pero sincera? Y la Virgen María ¿estará presente? Es año nuevo ¡levantemos hoy la mirada hacia la santa Madre del Redentor! Si queremos, la Virgen María nos acompañará con cuidado y ternura. Ella es Madre. Ella es vida, dulzura y esperanza nuestra • AE
LA MEDITACION DE LA ESPOSA 