Christmas will be a complete Christ-Mass if you receive Christ!
The O Antiphon today is O radix Iesse (O stock of Jesse).
THIS WEEK:
Masses Monday, Wednesday and Thursday II cl. ferias of the prior Sunday.
Tuesday 21st December: Feast of St. Thomas Apostle and Evangelist.
Tradition says St. Thomas evangelized the Medes and Parthians, but another tradition says he went on to India and was martyred at Calamine. His body was afterward transported to Edessa. The Gospel relates that St. Thomas was a doubter of Christ’s Resurrection, that Our Lord appeared to St. Thomas and asked him to place his hands into the wounds of His Hands and the wound in His Side. St. Thomas fell to his knees and said to Our Saviour, “My Lord and my God.” Pray at this Mass that our own faith be renewed during the days leading up to Christmas especially when our faith is tested to the full at the present time.
Friday 24th December: Vigil of the Nativity.
Station at Rome is St. Mary Major where the relic of the manger is located and also the Station for Midnight Mass and the III Mass of the Nativity of Our Lord. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans enumerates the titles of Our Lord. The Gospel relates Mary, to be Mother of God, accepting God’s Will.
Saturday 25th December: The Nativity of Our Lord: Holy Day of Obligation
The object of the day’s liturgy is threefold: First to adore Jesus as true God in His eternal birth as Son of the Father, for to ignore Him would be folly (Introit, Gradual, Communion). Second, to recognize Jesus as true Man in His earthly or temporal birth as Son of Mary, born in a stable where, without speaking a word, but rather by the force of example alone, He teaches humility of service to God and neighbour, instructs us in obedience to the decrees of His Father and the arrangements made by Mary and Joseph, and furthermore warns us against the softening influence of material comforts by the poverty of His manger (Gospel). Third, to realize more and more the spiritual birth of Jesus in our souls (Epistle), by recalling our birth as “reborn” members of His Mystical Body, growing with Him throughout the coming year, by rejoicing in His Joys from Christmas to Lent, by sorrowing with His Sorrows during Lent and by celebrating His Glories during the Easter and Pentecostal periods. Before the crib today, in union with Mary, contemplate this threefold Birth of Jesus.