(2:1-14)<\/em> read at midnight mass, the proclamation of Jesus\u2019 identity is not made to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem. It is made to us.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\nLuke proclaimed the identity of Jesus in his own unique way. He wanted his followers to know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, from the moment of His birth in Bethlehem. Also, Luke wanted his friends to be aware of the continuity between the Old and the New Testaments to see in Jesus the fulfillment of the Judaic Scriptures.<\/p>\n
This Christmas, in Luke\u2019s story of the Nativity (2:1-14)<\/em> read at midnight mass, the proclamation of Jesus\u2019 identity is not made to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem. It is made to us. Let us receive this greatest revelation, as did the shepherds, with deep faith, trust and confidence proclaimed in different ways so that \u201cyou may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name<\/span>.\u201d (John 20:30-31)<\/em><\/p>\nPerhaps Luke is playfully saying don\u2019t be as dumb as an ox nor as stubborn as a donkey. It is time to recognize your master\u2019s manger. Accept God\u2019s love. The greatest energy in the universe is love and God is love. God comes to us as a little child in a manger to gently invite us into an intimate relationship. Do not refuse to accept God\u2019s acceptance of you, just as you are.<\/p>\n
Fr. John Gault died on November 30, 1995. Most of his overseas missionary service had been in the Dominican Republic. In 1960, he was forced to flee the country because of his solidarity with the people and his refusal to collaborate with the dictator, Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo was well known for the murder and torture of thousands of Dominicans and for his selling of the country\u2019s forests and other natural resources for his own personal gain.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Christmas reflection by Fr. John Gault, S.F.M. (1917-1995) There is no doubt that the prophet Isaiah was extremely severe in condemning his own people: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master\u2019s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, offspring who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5145"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5151,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions\/5151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}