Year B, Lectionary 13
Like Joseph we may not understand what is happening in our lives and even reject our role in God's plan but what we fail to realize is that God's work has been going on since the start of creation. God has been working to grant us salvation and be among us. We need to be attentive to God's guidance and mission to cooperate with the divine plan.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Adoration • Appreciate • Christmas • Covenant • David • Faith • Family • Gift • Grateful • Holy • Hope • Incarnation • Marriage • Mary • Messiah • Relationship • Sight • St. Joseph • Trust • Unity •
“one of the first things that Christian evangelists had to establish was not just that Jesus was the Messiah but that he was from the house of David, that he was part of the royal family”
“So what you think, you are, you're God's gift to humanity? Yes, you are. If Jesus is God's gift to humanity, you are a part of the life of the living Christ.”
“Jesus is saying 'I didn't come here to make you feel bad because you're not perfect. I came here to show you that perfection is yours' in our God.”
“even the Holy Family...would have had aunts and uncles and cousins in Nazareth who weren't perfect. Even they knew what it meant to live among imperfection. So this Christmas let's all take a deep breath and remind ourselves how holiness makes its home in humanity just like God did at Christmas in the person of Jesus.”
“We will not need to wait until we get to heaven to realize how close God was with us”
“Are we adoring the one we profess to adore? Do we know who it is whom we follow? Do we understand just how radical this baby would grow to be?”
“Emmanuel, God is with us. Will it make a difference? Should it make a difference? Can it make a difference? God seems to think so but now it's up to us to decide how much we can and we will give to living out the mission of that baby. Living out the mission of the Christ child.”