Mother of God. Christmas celebrates the incarnation of God becomes Man.  As the Catholic Church celebrates the Octave of Christmas solemnly for eight days, the concluding day on January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God.       We see the expression of Mary as the Mother of the Lord, of God, in the New Testament. St. Elizabeth, then over six months’ pregnant with St. John the Baptist, greets the Blessed Virgin Mary, then early in her pregnancy with Jesus, saying, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43.) We know from the Old Testament that the Hebrews and their descendants would not pronounce out loud the Divine Name (transliterated as YHWH) but would instead speak out loud “the Lord.” Even in almost all English Bibles, “the Lord” (usually written with all caps) is printed instead of the Divine Name used in the original text. Here Elizabeth specifies, "my Lord,” clearly denoting God. “Mother of m...

Virgin Birth       Christmas celebrates the miraculous birth of Christ Jesus our Lord over two millennia ago. Miraculous meaning not in the ordinary course of nature. As the angel Gabriel told Mary, “With God, nothing will be impossible” ( Lk 1:37 ). Jesus puts that truth this way: “What is impossible with men [humanity] is possible with God” ( Lk 18:27 ; cf.. Mt 19:26 ; Mk 10:27 ).       Last week we discussed Isaiah’s prophecy: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [Emmanuel]” ( Is 7:14 ). The Hebrew word translated “virgin” here is “ almah ,” which can mean “virgin” or “young woman,” and virginity was expected of every young woman. There is a separate word, “ bethulah ,” that means a virgin specifically, and the two terms can be used interchangeably as with Rebekah ( Gen 24:16, 43 ).       The Greek Septuagint translation (3rd Century ...

The Two Waits of Advent        Advent is a time of waiting. While we wait for the coming of Christ, the Church reads from the prophet Isaiah during Advent as the clearest prophetic expression of Christ. Isaiah 30:18 has an interesting take on this waiting. It says: “Blessed are all those who wait for” the Lord, which we hear often from many passages in Scripture. But this verse actually begins by saying an astonishing thing: “The Lord waits to be gracious to you.” We wait for the Lord; but first the Lord is waiting for us so that He might shower us with grace. Part of our Advent reflection, then, is: how open, receptive, and available are we to this God of grace who is waiting for us?       The Christmas and New Year’s schedule for Our Lady of Lourdes Church is as follows:       This Saturday, Dec. 21, our Pastor, as Vicar of the High Desert Region, must be in Fresno for a priestly ordination, and therefore ther...