Glimpse of God for the week of July 21, 2024
Now to follow the theme of Christmas in July, last week I focused on some of the Christmas songs that we are familiar with and the possible spiritual significance they can have in our lives. I have to admit, it took me time and serious reflection as to what to write about for this week’s glimpse. As I was continually inspired and the idea would not leave me, as you will soon see, I couldn’t resist the inspiration and I decided to write this week’s glimpse on the 12 days of Christmas along with a combination of my and another’s Catholic Christian interpretation which I will call the 12 gifts of Christmas. That made it easier because as I tried to come up with a spiritual parallel for the 12 days, I did fall short of a few so I borrowed from another. As I reflect on the 12 days of Christmas and how they are normally celebrated beginning with the day after Christmas to the feast of the Epiphany, my suggestion is as we reflect on a different interpretation of the 12 days, may we make them a mindset as the Spirit of Christmas should be, beginning with each new day. I have to admit, the 12 days of Christmas is one of my least favorite Christmas songs, that is why it wasn’t included in last week’s glimpse. I actually never listen to it in its entirety because I feel it is too long, and goofy, like what was the partridge doing all by himself when all the other creatures had company, and they didn’t all travel in pairs, the French hens and the swans were all odd. The lords were leaping, why? For joy?, were their pants were on fire?, were they playing leap frog? But that is just my opinion, and I don’t mean to insult anyone else’s. So, you can see that I have listed the song with the secular and the Catholic Christian interpretation.
Now since I normally write a reflection for each day, I had to write this glimpse up a little differently, so bear with me through it all. I could not write this in the actual order of the 12 gifts of Christmas so as you will see I did include them just a little out of order.
SECULAR LYRICS – 12 DAYS CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION – 12 GIFTS
OF CHRISTMAS
The 1st day - A Partridge in a pear tree 1 - The 1 True God
The 2nd day - 2 Turtledoves, 2 - Old and New Testament
The 3rd day - 3 French hens, 3 - The Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
The 4th day - 4 Calling birds, 4 - 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
The 5th day - 5 Golden rings, 5 - The Pentateuch: 5 first books of the Bible
The 6th day - 6 Geese a laying, 6 - 6 Days of Creation
The 7th day - 7 Swans a swimming, 7 - 7 Sacraments
The 8th day - 8 maids a milking, 8 - 8 Beatitudes
The 9th day - 9 Ladies dancing, 9 - A novena
The 10th day - 10 Lords a leaping, 10 - The 10 Commandments
The 11th day - 11 Pipers piping, 11 - 11 Faithful Apostles and
The 12th day - 12 Drummers drumming. 12 - 12 Points of Doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed
SUNDAY - As we begin a new week, let us begin by acknowledging that our God is the One True God and in and through Him we have been give the gift of life and received the promise of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. As we seek to know God in a deeper way, think about reading His inspired word as found in Sacred Scripture.
You can begin by the Old Testament, beginning with the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible which describe the history of man’s fall from grace, or the New Testament which include the 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that narrate the life and ministry of Jesus. They include the narrative of His birth as found in Luke, as well as His healings, His teachings, The calling of His Apostles, His many other miracles, as well as His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
MONDAY - Today as we seek to draw nearer to God through the graces that we received as we attended our Sunday Worship, the time spent in reading Sacred Scripture, developing our personal prayer so that our relationship with God can deepen as we seek to become our best self, the person that he created us to be, and have the potential to become. Let this be a day where we continue to seek the graces, inspiration, and the wisdom from the Holy Trinity: God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Let our prayer be to God that we seek to know His will and surrender our will to Him so that what He calls us to do we will do. Let us take each day that the Lord has made to glorify Him and serve Him faithfully.
TUESDAY - He created the heavens and the earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th. Let us take our cue from Him and seek to serve Him during the week, but make the time to reverence, rest and reflect on our worship and on our service so that our service does not become something out of habit, but rather out of love. Let us take each day to follow Him so that when we rest on the sabbath, we can see where our footsteps were going forward, where we faltered and where we learned to get back up and put one foot in front of the other. Let us seek to serve and honor Christ in and through the 7 Sacraments of the Church.
With the 3 sacraments of Initiation which are Baptism, Holy Eucharist, and Confirmation. In the sacraments of initiation which are baptism where we received the light of Christ and were cleansed and freed from original sin, the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist where we receive the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and Confirmation where we are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The 2 Sacraments of healing which are Reconciliation where we are reconciled to Him and given the grace and strength to reconcile to another, forgive another as we have been forgiven, ask for mercy and strive not to sin again. The Sacrament of anointing of the sick where we are anointed in the case if terminal illness, in preparation for surgery, chronic illness and death. The 2 Sacraments of vocation which are Marriage, where we honor our call to serve God and His church as a domestic church where a married couple nurtures their children and family in the knowledge of the faith, God’s will and His plan for them as they grow with morals and values consistent with the teachings of the Church, and the Sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament by which men are ordained as priests or deacons. It is a sacrament carried out by a bishop, who must lay his hands on the candidate. Taking holy orders is a commitment for life both to God and to the Catholic Church. Through the sacrament of holy orders, or ordination, a man vows to lead other Catholics by bringing them the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. He promises to do this by proclaiming the Gospel and by providing to Catholics other means to achieve holiness. Being ordained a deacon - a deacon may baptize, preach, and distribute Holy Communion (but not to transubstantiate it). Being ordained a priest - a priest is believed to have the power to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ (transubstantiation) and to forgive sins.
WEDNESDAY – The 8 Beatitudes, which mark the opening of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. {Matthew 5:1-12} They can be viewed as attitudes to live by, learn from, and grow in. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls them the heart of Jesus’ preaching. So, the 8 beatitudes are the center of all Jesus’ teaching, and they give life to Jesus’ teaching. – just as the heart gives life to the body. They can be seen as 8 signposts that lead us to happiness because they are what Jesus gave us to show us how to be more like himself here on earth as His follower, and to lead us to our eternal reward which is heaven when our earthly journey is over.
The 8 Beatitudes are: Blessed are;
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, the meek for they shall inherit the earth, those that mourn for they shall be comforted, those that hunger and thirst for justice for they shall have their fill, for the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, the pure of heart for they shall see God, the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God, those that suffer persecution for justice sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
THURSDAY – A nine-day Novena. A novena is a period of nine consecutive days of intensified prayer. A novena may be offered in preparation for a major feast day such as Pentecost, to deepen one’s relationship with Jesus Christ, to grow in greater devotion to the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, to honor a particular saint, or to make a request for a special favor. A novena can be offered by the entire Church, within a community or by an individual.
FRIDAY – The 10 commandments that were given to Moses from God to teach us how to live rightly by following the commands of God that He knew would lead us closer to Himself. They are not rules that God gave us to punish us or to make life difficult, but rather to lead and guide us to a better life, a life centered on Him, serving Him, honoring Him, and reverencing Him. They help us to know how to serve God and how we should live with each other. We can not honor God or reverence Him if we purposely seek ways to hurt others. The 10 commandments show us how to keep on the right path and divert when we see the devil try to take us down the wrong path.
The 11 faithful apostles were on the road to following the 10 commandments just as Jesus did and as He combined them with the beatitudes, he gave the apostles first and foremost the richer more real-life education so that they can teach it to those to which they were sent. After Jesus suffered, died, and rose, he offered them peace and commissioned the 11 faithful yet very much afraid and confused apostles, to go and to teach in His name so that others would come to know Him and grow in His love as they exuded it and shared it. Although Judas was one of the Apostles chosen by Jesus, he chose to go off the path of righteousness and gave into the devil’s temptation to betray Jesus. When Jesus offered peace to the apostles after His resurrection, he offered it to them knowing their heart and even in their weakness as Peter denied Him, and the others ran from Him and hid out of fear, he forgave them and believed in them that they would do His will and proclaim His message of unconditional love and mercy to all the ends of the world.
SATURDAY – The 12 doctrine points of the Apostles Creed. We say the Nicene Creed each week at Mass, but we do not say the Apostles Creed except during baptisms. We often say prayers or other parts of the mass out of memory, but do we know what we are saying and do we realize how what we are saying is significant in our life? The Apostles creed came first and was adopted by the early church before in the beginning of the 2nd century and is shorter than the Nicene creed. The Nicene creed was created by the council of Nicaea in 325. The Apostle’s creed summarizes our faith and leads us to confirm what we believe so that we can live what we believe. The creed begins with “I believe” so that we can take responsibility for what we believe and recite. Take some time today to pray the Apostle’s creed. Listen to your prayer as you profess your faith and see where you live it out in and through these words.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary,
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
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