Theme:
The Church celebrates the Octave of Christmas. An octave is eight days after an event. For this day, the Church honours Mary as the Mother of God. Although Jesus has two natures, human and divine, he is still one person. Mary cannot be the mother of the human Jesus since the human Jesus cannot be a different person from the divine Jesus. There is only one Jesus – human and divine. So if Mary is the Mother of the human Jesus, she is also the Mother of the divine Jesus. If Jesus is God, Mary is the Mother of God.
Questions:
Day 1: The first reading is a blessing spoken by the high priest of Israel when he blesses the people. This blessing is appropriate because the Octave of Christmas is also New Year's day. It is a joy to receive a blessing from God at the start of the year.
What does the word bless mean?
The blessing asks that the Lord keep you. What does keep mean?
Looking back at the past year, would you say that the Lord has blessed you? Why or why not?
What will you tell the Lord?
Day 2: The blessing continues in the first reading.
What does it mean when the Lord makes his face shine on you?
List down all the blessings the Lord wants to give you. Do you believe that God really wants to give all these to you? Why or why not?
If all these blessings are yours for the coming year and for eternity, how should you feel?
What are your hopes and fears for the coming year? What will you say to the Lord?
Day 3: The psalm is a prayer for the Lord to bless the people.
Based on verse 2, what is the reason for asking God to bless us?
Why is it important for all the nations to know the saving power of God?
How will you help in letting people know of God's blessings to you?
Day 4: In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that God sent his Son in the fullness of time.
According to this passage, how did God send his Son? What did St. Paul mean by this?
St. Paul speaks of us being adopted as children. What does it mean to be adopted by God?
What did we receive when God adopted us?
Day 5: St. Paul continues to speak about our adoption.
What did the Spirit do when the Father sent him to us?
Is there anything that still enslaves you? This can be any addition or bad habit. Do you want to be set free from this slavery?
You can be set free from this slavery by the Spirit whom the Father gives us. What will you say to the Holy Spirit to help you conquer this slavery and so that you can be set free?
Day 6: The scene in gospel reading happened after Jesus was born. Angels appeared to shepherds and announced the news that their king was born.
Luke tells us that the shepherds went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child. This implies that the shepherds went to look for Jesus. Why did the shepherds want to find Jesus?
Do you also want to find Jesus in your life? The shepherds went in haste when the angels told them where he was. Are you willing to go in haste to find him? What should you do to find Jesus?
Day 7: Luke continues to tell us that Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Mary did not say anything and probably did not understand what all these meant.
What did Luke mean when he said that Mary treasured all the shepherds' words and pondered them in her heart?
When you are confronted with a situation that you do not understand, how should you respond? How can you treasure this and ponder it in your heart?
Mary is the Mother of Jesus. She leads us to a deeper understanding of Jesus. If you want to know more of Jesus, go through Mary. What will you ask Mary for this coming year?
