Valodas

Franciscan at Home

Forming those who form others

Unto Us a Child Is Born

Some people approve of “baby-worship;” others don’t. I’m one of the worshippers. Baptizing babies—the younger the better—is one of the greatest joys of my priesthood. I love to see and hear babies at Mass. They preach a far better sermon than I could ever do. By raising their voices in praise of God, they tell us that a mother has had a baby, and that her faith is so fundamental to her life that she wants to bring the child to Mass with her. Thank God for mothers and fathers and babies! On Christmas Day Our Lady and St. Joseph, the angels, and the shepherds all worship a baby, the baby. Of course, they worship him! This baby, this child born for us, this Son given to us, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, is God the Son, eternally begotten of the Father in the Godhead, and on Christmas day is born in time and human nature of the Ever-Virgin Mary. Of course, we must worship him!

The rest of this online article is available for current Guild members.

Join the Guild today!

Fr. John Saward is a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, a Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, and priest in charge of the parish of SS. Gregory and Augustine, Oxford. He is the author of several books, including The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty: Art, Sanctity, and the Truth of Catholicism, which was recently reprinted by Angelico Press. He is the prior of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic in England.

This article is from The Catechetical Review (Online Edition ISSN 2379-6324) and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of The Catechetical Review by contacting [email protected]

Categorized Under
Issue: 

Articles from the Most Recent Issue

Free Mary’s Motherhood: A Healing Balm in Our Modern Times

There ’s something particularly mysterious about the motherhood of Mary. Her fiat that shook the whole world as the uncontainable God chose to be contained within her womb. Her prompting at the wedding at Cana, “do whatever he tells you,” echoing through generations as if she is saying it directly to us. Her overwhelming trust in God as she endured... Read more

Free The Eucharist and Our Call to Mission

What does it mean to receive the Eucharist, to enter into communion with Jesus? We catechists can be so (rightfully!) focused on explaining how the Eucharist is Jesus himself that we might not spend time with our students considering the ramifications of receiving this divine gift. What does receiving the Eucharist mean for us? Is it for our personal spiritual... Read more

The Passover and the Eucharist as Redemptive Sacrifices

I suspect that most Catholics who have some familiarity with the Bible and the Eucharist could tell you that the Eucharistic celebration, rooted in the Last Supper, has connections with the Passover of Exodus and Jewish practice. We know that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper in the context of the Passover Feast and that he and his apostles used some... Read more
Designed & Developed by On Fire Media, Inc.