What does account of Jesus' birth mean for us today? Is it just a quaint story to be repeated each year at Christmas time or does it have meaning for us each and every day of our lives?
The child in Mary's womb was and is God with us – the LORD God Himself in human flesh – and He came into the world to fulfill all righteousness and to suffer and die in the stead of all mankind for the sins of the world.
In these prophetic words, Zacharias the priest, being filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke of the salvation God was providing in His Son, and of the ministry of his son, John the Baptist.
St. Paul and all who are called by God through the Church to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ are ministers and servants of Christ, and they are stewards of the mysteries of God.
How can this be? Upon hearing the announcement of the angel Gabriel, Mary wondered how she, a virgin, could conceive in her womb and bring forth this Son who would be called "the Son of the Highest" and who would reign on the throne of His father David forever, over an eternal kingdom.
Instead of overindulging in food, drink, or the things of this world, living in drunkenness, or being wrapped up with the cares of this life, we are to be watching and praying that we not be caught off guard and, like the rest of the world, be found living in sin and impenitence and not ready at Jesus’ return.
Truly, it is high time to awake from the sleep of our sin-darkened minds and make ourselves ready for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is God Himself in the flesh, the judge of the living and the dead!
Are you ready for Jesus Christ to return on the Last Day? Jesus told this parable to admonish us to be watchful and ready at all times for His return.
It’s so easy to neglect to thank and praise the LORD God and to forget that it is He who has so richly blessed us with all that we have and need. And, when we do speak words of thanks, it is so often only an outward expression and not the true and sincere response of heart and soul.
On the Last Day, when Jesus Christ returns with all His holy angels to judge the living and the dead, He shall separate the believers and unbelievers from one another as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, putting the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left.
