ADORATION AND BENEDICTION
Fridays: 6:00pm – 7:00pm
DAY-LONG ADORATION
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILLATION
Prepare by meditating on the love of God. We need to meditate on what Christmas is all about. We came to know that God will bear the penance for all our sins, but He cannot bear seeing us suffer for all our sins. He will even hang on the cross for us. Isn’t this truth tastier and more delightful than anything!!
Prepare by doing the will of our Lord. John the Baptist was preparing the world for the “First Christmas”. When people asked what we should do for preparation, He answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” When tax collectors asked, he replied, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to”; To soldiers he told, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely — be content with your pay.” In conclusion, preparing well is doing our job well.
PREPARING THE WAY OF THE LORD
John the Baptist could be the central figure in our thoughts today. He prepared the way for the people of his time to understand the good news of their salvation. That is the way God normally works; He sends the message of salvation to us through each other. As St Paul once put it, how can people know the truth about God if they have never heard it; and how can they hear if nobody is sent to them?
Jesus found his first disciples among those who were influenced by the preaching of John the Baptist. He had showed them the value of self-control and of prayer; he urged them to listen to the inner voice of God, with repentance and a faithful heart. The high point of John’s short ministry was his meeting with Jesus. Not only did he get to baptize Our Lord, but he also helped some of his own followers to go with Jesus and become the first Christian disciples. Through him, Andrew and his brother Peter, and Philip and Nathanael became apostles of Jesus. MORE
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
“John the Baptist prepares us to welcome Jesus Christ“
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
CATHOLICISM