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Mi 5:1-4a
Heb 10:5-10
Lk 1:39-45 A selection of Advent-Christmas reflections, in general and also related to pro-life themes, can be found at www.priestsforlife.org/preaching/advent-christmas.htm. This material can be helpful for preaching on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In today’s readings, we see that Christmas is linked to Easter. Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation (not only of the event of his birth), and Christ takes on a human body precisely so as to offer the sacrifice of that body that saves the world. In fact, his sacrifice is not limited to Calvary. It begins even in the womb. “A body you have prepared for me … I come to do your will.” Even as an embryo, Jesus was offering himself to the Father, in obedience to his will and for our salvation. “A Savior is born for you.” He is a savior precisely because he bears our human nature, and has a human body like we do – a body offered on the cross and in the Eucharist. As we see in the first reading and the Gospel, the details of his birth are carefully planned by God and foretold by his prophets. His birth is all about hope fulfilled and hope inspired. That hope outlasts his birth, and extends to us today as we work to build a world in harmony with the vision of peace, life, and love that Christmas inspires.
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