Sunday, January 01, 2012 {Octave Day of Christmas: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.
-- St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Numbers 6:22-27
(The Priestly Blessing)
22 The Lord commanded Moses
23 to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:
24 May the Lord bless you and take care of you;

25 May the Lord be kind and gracious to you;
26 May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.
27 And the Lord said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”
Psalms: Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
2 so that the whole world may know your will; so that all nations may know your salvation.
3 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you!
5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you!
6 The land has produced its harvest; God, our God, has blessed us.
Second Reading: Galatians 4:4-7
4 But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,
5 to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.
6 To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, “Father, my Father.”
7 So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.
Gospel: Luke 2:16-21
(Jesus Is Named)
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger.
17 When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child.
18 All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said.
19 Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them.
20 The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.
21 A week later, when the time came for the baby to be circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given him before he had been conceived.