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The Christmas Cycle
With gifts in our hand, in the strength of the Holy Eucharist, we approach the Lord. In the holy
Bethlehem of heaven, our homeland, we shall love, adore, and possess Him eternally.
“We have seen His star.” From the Offertory and from our sacrificial meal we return to our daily
occupations. The star which we saw early in the morning follows us everywhere. By recalling to
mind our part in the Mass and Holy Communion, we shall be able to renew our strength and
courage when our tasks become burdensome.
“We have seen His star in the East and are come with gifts to adore Him.” The star of the
Holy Eucharist has also risen over our neighbor; he has partaken of the same sacrificial meal we
have. We have shared in offering the same divine victim; we have been enlightened by the same
star. Its light has guided and strengthened both of us. We should soon be able to see Christ in
each of our fellow men. Then we shall honor our neighbor because we see Christ in him. We
shall best serve and worship Christ when we have learned to love our neighbor for His sake. “As
long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:40). The fruit of
our daily sharing in Mass and Holy Communion should be a persevering and efficacious love
of the members of Christ’s mystical body.
Prayer
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that what we celebrate with solemn office, we may attain
by the understanding of a purified mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Third Day in the Octave
“Christ has appeared: come let us adore Him” (Invitatory at Matins). The liturgy for today is
filled with admiration for the divine King. “Behold the Lord the Ruler is come; and the kingdom
is in His hand, and power and dominion” (Introit). In the Epistle the Gentiles come to the city
of the divine King to pay Him homage; in the Gospel and Offertory the wise men come from
the East. Let us also pay our homage with the liturgy.
Our mind falters when it contemplates this mystery; our reason cannot comprehend it. But
the eyes of faith recognize in the weak child in the manger the eternal Son of God, the Ruler,
the Lord of all, the one to whom “all power is given, . . . in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18). “I
believe in Jesus Christ, God of God, light of light, one in substance with the Father, who for us
men and for our salvation came down from heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Ghost
of the Virgin Mary; and was made man.” He suffered, died, and was buried, but rose again and
ascended into heaven, where He “sitteth at the right hand of the Father.” We believe in His person,
in His words, in all His promises, in His Church and her teachings and sacraments. We believe
in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting. We build all things on this foundation,
“for other foundation no man can lay” (1 Cor 3:11).
We must also submit our will to the designs of the divine King and accept His commandments,
His laws, His gospel, and His visible representatives on earth, the pope and the
bishops. We submit confidently to the designs of His providence, and conform ourselves
to His plans in our regard. In spite of the labors, trials, discouragements, and sufferings
these plans may hold in store for us, we acknowledge His right to make them, and we are
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