Holiday Traffic

Holiday Traffic

   Tonight I felt the need to go to adoration and normally at the time I ended up going I should have just zoomed right on through the lights to get there but, since it is just two days before Christmas, there was traffic. I got to Adoration and because it was warm in there someone had opened a window and I could see and hear the cars racing to get to the store or home. This got me thinking how blessed I am to be able to take time out of all the holiday hustle and bustle and spend the time with Jesus. 

     This time of year there is a lot going on. Our minds are set on trying to find the best gift for the special people in our lives. Trying to find the money to pay for those best gifts. Trying to find the time to spend with those special people. Trying to get through the holidays without some special people in your life. All of these thoughts causes “traffic jams” in our own heads and the message of the true meaning of Christmas can got stuck in that traffic and not make it to our hearts. 

      We have to take the time and pull ourselves and our thoughts away from the commercial side of Christmas and look to the manger where the true gift lies. There is nothing wrong with wanting to get just the right gift for a person, just do not let that be your main focus. We lose time when we are stuck in traffic and we try and rush when we see that opening to get ahead. 

      For me I wish that same rush to get to the store this time of year was the same rush people take to get to mass. I know I am not being realistic but that would be my wish for people this Christmas. That people see that with all the running around and all the waiting in lines, that the best line to be in is the Communion line at church. That is my saving grace each week. Receiving Jesus in all His Glory in the Eucharist is the best gift I could ever get. 

     It is the gift of the Priesthood that allows all of us to be able to bow our heads and say Amen, when we are about to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. There are so many gifts we have within the Catholic Church. I ask that on Christmas, think of all the gifts that we have as Catholics and remember that they are there for us to open each day and not just on Christmas. I know I will be this year and hope to share my thoughts after Christmas on this. 

    

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and prepare the way of the Lord, for He shall come to us. 

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Lectionary: 200

Reading 1

2 SM 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16

When King David was settled in his palace,

and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,

he said to Nathan the prophet,

“Here I am living in a house of cedar,

while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” 

Nathan answered the king,

“Go, do whatever you have in mind,

for the LORD is with you.” 

But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:

“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD:

Should you build me a house to dwell in?

“‘It was I who took you from the pasture

and from the care of the flock

to be commander of my people Israel. 

I have been with you wherever you went,

and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. 

And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. 

I will fix a place for my people Israel;

I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place

without further disturbance.

Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,

since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel.

I will give you rest from all your enemies. 

The LORD also reveals to you

that he will establish a house for you. 

And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,

and I will make his Kingdom firm.

I will be a father to him,

and he shall be a son to me.

Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me;

your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 AND 29

R. (2) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

The favors of the LORD I will sing forever;

through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.

For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;

in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David my servant:

Forever will I confirm your posterity

and establish your throne for all generations.”

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,

my God, the rock, my savior.’

Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,

and my covenant with him stands firm.”

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel

LK 1:67-79

Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying:

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

for he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,

born of the house of his servant David.

Through his prophets he promised of old

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

to set us free from the hand of our enemies,

free to worship him without fear,

holy and righteous in his sight

all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

to give his people knowledge of salvation

by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”