Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 62 : 11-12
For YHVH proclaims to the ends of the earth : Say to the daughter of Zion, here comes your salvation! YHVH brings the reward of His victory, His booty is carried before Him.
They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of YHVH; and you shall be called The Sought After, a city no longer abandoned.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 2 : 1-14
At that time the Emperor issued a decree for a census of the whole Empire to be taken. This first census was taken when Quirinus was governor of Syria. Everyone had to be registered in his own town, so everyone set out for his own city. Joseph too set out from Nazareth of Galilee. As he belonged to the family of David, being a descendant of his, he went to Judea, to David’s town of Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was with Child.
They were in Bethlehem when the time came for her to have her Child, and she gave birth to a Son, her Firstborn. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. There were shepherds camping in the countryside, taking turns to watch over their flocks by night.
Suddenly an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, with the Glory of the Lord shining around them. As the were terrified, the Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; I am here to give you Good News, great joy for all the people. Today a Saviour has been born to you in David’s town; He is the Messiah and the Lord. Let this be a sign to you : you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly the Angel was surrounded by many more heavenly spirits, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and Peace, on earth, to those whom God loves.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Titus 2 : 11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed Hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.
He gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13
Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.
Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.
Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 9 : 1-7
The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.
For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.
For a Child is born to us, a Son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon His shoulder, and His Name is proclaimed : “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
To the increase of His powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be His dominion, He will reign on David’s throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever. The zealous love of YHVH Sabaoth will do this.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 1 : 1-25
This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus Who is called the Christ – the Messiah. There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.
While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”
All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.
So she gave birth to a Son and he had not had marital relations with her. Joseph gave Him the Name Jesus.
Alternative reading (shorter version)
Matthew 1 : 18-25
This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.
While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”
All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.
So she gave birth to a Son and he had not had marital relations with her. Joseph gave Him the Name Jesus.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 13 : 16-17, 22-25
So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, “Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after He had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, He led them out by powerful deeds.
After that time, God removed Saul and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.
It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus. Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for after me another One is coming Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 88 : 4-5, 16-17, 27 and 29
You said, “I have made a covenant with David, My chosen one; I have made a pledge to My servant. I establish his descendants forever; I build his throne for all generations.”
Blessed is the people who know Your praise. They walk in the light of Your face. They celebrate all day Your Name and Your protection lifts them up.
He will call on Me, “You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.” I will keep My covenant firm forever, and My love for him will endure.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 62 : 1-5
For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, for Jerusalem I will not keep silent, until her holiness shines like the dawn and her salvation flames like a burning torch. The nations will see your holiness and all the kings your glory. You will be called by a new name which the mouth of YHVH will reveal.
You will be a crown of glory in the hand of YHVH, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will you be named Forsaken; no longer will your land be called Abandoned; but you will be called My Delight and your land Espoused. For YHVH delights in you and will make your land His spouse.
As a young man marries a virgin, so will your Builder marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in our calendar is the first day of the Gregorian Year, the New Year’s Day of the Year of Our Lord 2025. On this day while we rejoice with many other people all around the world celebrating the arrival of the new year, and looking ahead with great hope and jubilation, the Church also celebrates the very important occasion of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, or in the original Greek, ‘Theotokos’ which means ‘God-bearer’. This most honourable title is one which the Church had upheld and believed ever since the earliest days of the Church and which was later on then codified and formalised at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in the early fifth century, about four centuries after the Death and Resurrection of the Lord.
Together with the other three important Marian Dogmas, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary and the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, this Dogma of the Divine Motherhood of Mary are the four Marian Dogmas that the Church and all Christian believers had believed and upheld since the very earliest days of the Church, passed down through the generations from the time of the Apostles, through their successors and right up to our present day world. And this day, the New Year’s Day, if we may wonder why is it that we accord such an important celebration to Mary, then it is important that we realise just how central the figure of Mary is to our salvation history and her connection to her Son, Our Lord and Saviour, the One Whom we celebrate this Christmas season, is something that we must always keep in mind.
Today being the eighth day since Christmas makes it the Octave Day of Christmas, the last day of the solemn Christmas Octave, an eight days period of great rejoicing and celebration, marking the memory of the first coming and arrival of the Saviour of the world, the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who was born in the small town of Bethlehem in Judea more than two millennia ago. He was born not in a grand palace or into a family of royalty, or influential and rich people, but instead in a stable at Bethlehem, as the Son of a carpenter from Nazareth and his young wife, to people who were totally unknown to the world. And yet, His coming into this world restores light and hope to all of us who have lived in the darkness of sin and evil, and assures us all of God’s ever enduring and everlasting love, mercy, compassion and kindness.
And all of these have been made possible because of the faith that Mary has in the Lord and all of His plans, and the obedience and cooperation that she has exhibited upon listening to the words of the Lord and in doing His will made her obedience and trust that she has shown in all of her actions at that time. Mary is our great role model in faith, through her humility and commitment to God, her virtues and purity, in her fullness of grace and her love for, for all the tender and wonderful care and love that she has shown her Son throughout all of His life. By following her examples, her obedience and faith, we can truly find the best way to proceed towards the Lord and His salvation, and considering that she is not just the Mother of God, but also the Mother of all of us mankind.
Through Mary, His Mother, God showed us all His love even more wonderfully, by entrusting her to all of us to be our own loving Mother. That is why Mary in particular has made many attested and proven appearances or apparitions throughout history in various places and moments in time, calling on all of us her beloved children to come back towards her Son and to seek salvation in Him, rejecting the path and the temptations of sin and evil, so that we will not be lost forever to God. Her great love for her Son, our Lord and Saviour, has also been shown to us as well, and we really should consider ourselves really fortunate to have such a great mother who has loved us all so passionately and patiently, caring for us all as her own beloved children, guiding and interceding for us all throughout the way.
And yet, there are still those who refused to believe in this Dogma of the Divine Motherhood of God, as historically, there were those who reject this teaching of the Church that Mary is truly the Mother of God, and this debate came about especially as during the early history of the Church, there were still disagreements on the exact nature of Jesus Christ, the One born to Mary and Who has suffered and died for all of us mankind. While we now believe firmly that Jesus Christ is both Son of God and Son of Man, having both Divine and Human nature, distinct and yet indivisibly united in the One Person of Jesus Christ, but during the early centuries of the Church there were those who did not believe in this, and instead claimed that Mary cannot be the Mother of God because she was merely just the Mother of Jesus Christ the Man, and not of God.
Some of those who opposed the definition of Mary as the Mother of God offered alternatives such as Christotokos or ‘Christ-bearer’, a title that diminished her importance and also implied that the Humanity of Jesus is not truly united to His Divinity. All of these were at the centre of all the polemics and disagreements which were only settled definitively at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus where Mary was defined as the Mother of God, ‘Theotokos’ and is accorded the honour befitting her position as the Mother of God, that while she herself is a human just like us, but by the virtue of her Motherhood of the Incarnate Son of God, the King of Kings and King of the Universe, she therefore merit the honour as the mother of the Divine Lord and King.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we rejoice greatly during this celebration honouring Mary as the Mother of God, let us all also remember her great examples in faith and dedication, her love for each and every one of us, her companionship towards us where she journeyed and guided us through difficult and challenging moments in life. Let us all follow in her examples and do our best so that all of us may be good examples, role models and inspirations ourselves in our own respective lives. And as we begin this New Year and continue to rejoice still in this Christmas season, let us always remember that Christ must always be at the centre and heart of everything that we do in our lives, with Mary, His mother and our mother ever close by our side, guiding and strengthening us in our journey.
May Mary, the Holy Mother of God continue to intercede for us all sinners and help us so that we may remain firm in our commitment to follow the Lord and to be good and worthy of God’s grace and love. May she continue to show us all her maternal love and tender care as she has always shown us, guiding us all to the path towards salvation and eternal life through her Son, Our Lord and Saviour. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 