Beloved

Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you. Matthew 2: 13

Spiritual disciplines and habits. 

She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger. Luke 2: 7b

We all have friends. We had some friends before and some of those friends are not friends anymore. Some friendships have been broken.

What qualifies someone to be a friend? A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. In today's Gospel Jesus speaks of his friends and what they look like and how they will act like.

John 15:14–17

Jesus mentions four things concerning His friends... listen for more

She gave birth to her firstborn son. Luke 2: 7a

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. Luke 2: 6

Fr. Thomas Merton, one of the greatest contemplatives of our time says, “Fidelity to grace in my life is fidelity to simplicity, rejecting ambition and analysis and elaborate thought or even elaborate concern.”

He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. Luke 2: 53

What is sacred? What is desecrated? How not to miss God when God appears. 

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalms 36: 7