* * *** “… for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Lk 2:30-32)

— “The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord. With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Savior… Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the ‘light to the nations’ and the ‘glory of Israel.’” (CCC 529)

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“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the […]

* * *** “After the Lord was baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Entrance Antiphon ~ Cf. Mt 3:16-17, Daily Roman Missal)

— The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to “rest on him”. Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism “the heavens were opened”… (CCC 536)

* * *** “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10-11)

~ Karlskirche in Vienna / Tetragrammaton high above the main altar, transliterated as YHWH

* * *** “The brightness of God illuminated the holy city Jerusalem, and the nations will walk by its light.” (Communion Antiphon-Cf. Rev 21:23, Daily Roman Missal)

— The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the World. (CCC 528)

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“O God, who through the blessed Apostle John have unlocked for us the secrets of your Word, grant, we pray, that we may grasp with proper understanding what he has so marvelously brought to our ears. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Proper of Saints, Daily Roman Missal)

May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character… (CCC 533)

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of […]

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father… For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1:14,17)

We wish you a Blessed Christmas! ~ from all of us at Midwest Theological Forum

* * *** “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev 12:1 ~ Proper of Saints, Daily Roman Missal)

— The miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the tilma of St. Juan Diego is preserved at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, in Mexico City.

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— On the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday), the faithful rejoice in hope as the Solemnity of Christmas draws near!

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