Thursday 10 January 2013

Christmass Weekday January 11, Day 18




http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/christmas/christmas_days18.cfmm
 
January 11, Christmas Weekday
Christmas Day 18
In Mexico El Día de Los Tres Reyes (Day of the Three Kings) celebrates the arrival of Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar at the place of Jesus' birth.
The day is also known as El Día de Los Reyes Magos (Magi) in Spanish and Epiphany in English commemorates the divinity of Christ as manifested to the Magi, the kings who brought him gifts.
On the night before El Día de Los Reyes, the children fill their shoes with hay and leave them outside. It is believed that the Wise Men will stop at each home to feed their horses, leaving gifts in exchange for hay.
Finally, El Día de Los Reyes arrives, and the whole family wakes up to open the gifts left by the Three Kings. However, this is only the beginning. On that day, family and friends gather, while the children keep busy playing with their new toys.
The adults continue with the day's activities by preparing a big dinner and serving a very special dessert, a bread known as La Rosca de Reyes or Three Kings Bread. — by Frances Chaparro, Estela Muñoz and Adrian Zamilpa


January 11 - Christmas Weekday

Christmas Weekday
1 John 5:5-13  +  Psalm 147  +  Luke 5:12-16
January 11, 2013

“So there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood.”  [1 John 5:7-8]
                                                                                                            
The Christmas Season is a time of beginnings.  During Christmastide we hear a great deal in the Sacred Liturgy from the writings of the Beloved Disciple.  St. John the Evangelist outlived all the other apostles.  The Blessed Mother, who had been entrusted to his care on Calvary, had completed her earthly life.  As he writes his Gospel account and epistles, then, he stresses the fundamentals.
If St. John’s epistles sound at times like he’s repeating himself, perhaps he knew that repetition is the key to learning.  He’s hammering home a message with eternal consequences:  the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In today’s First Reading, St. John speaks of “testimony” about the divine Person of Jesus.  He says something intriguing:  that “there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood.”  More than one Church Father suggests these three refer to the Trinity.  Perhaps it’s an imaginative leap, but whatever St. John’s literal intention in writing these words, we could apply his words to the three Sacraments that initiate a human person into the Body of the Church.  Confirmation, Baptism and the Eucharist initiate one into the life of Jesus Christ, and through Him into the communion of the Trinity.  Say a prayer of thanksgiving today for having received the gifts of Baptism and Confirmation, and resolve during the month ahead to attend daily Mass whenever possible.

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