This week's readings Week of Dec. 29 - Jan. 4 Sunday, Dec. 29, 2002 Reading I: Gn 15:1-6; 21:1-3 Reading II: Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19 Gospel: Lk 2:22-40 Monday, Dec. 30, 2002 Reading I: 1 Jn 2:12-17 Gospel: Lk 2:36-40 Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2002 Reading I: 1 Jn 2:18-21 Gospel: Jn 1:1-18 Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2003 Reading I: Numbers 6:22-27 Reading II: Galatians 4:4-7 Gospel: Luke 2:16-21 Thursday, Jan. 2, 2003 Reading I: 1 Jn 2:22-28 Gospel: Jn 1:19-28 Friday, Jan. 3, 2003 Reading I: 1 Jn 2:29-3:6 Gospel: Jn 1:29-34 Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003 Reading I: 1 Jn 3:7-10 Gospel: Jn 1:35-42 Week of Jan. 5 - 11 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2003 Reading I: Is 60:1-6 Reading II: Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6 Gospel: Mt 2:1-12 Monday, Jan. 6, 2003 Reading I: 1 Jn 3:22-4:6 Gospel: Mt 4:12-17, 23-25 Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2003 Reading I: I Jn 4:7-10 Gospel: Mk 6:34-44 Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003 Reading I: I Jn 4:11-18 Gospel: Mk 6:45-52 Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003 Reading I: I John 4:19-5:4 Gospel: Lk 4:14-22 Friday, Jan. 10, 2003 Reading I: I Jn 5:5-13 Gospel: Lk 5:12-16 Saturday, Jan. 11, 2003 Reading I: I Jn 5:14-21 Gospel: Jn 3:22-30 Pope's Prayer Intentions January General Intention You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world: That Christian communities may fully embrace the Lord's invitation to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. January Mission Intention The Christian communities of China: That China's Christian communities may strengthen their ties and cooperate more effectively in spreading the Good News.

See the wondrous:
In the ordinary

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

When children are born today in the United States, there are many doctor visits after their parents have taken them home.

Physical checkups, weigh-ins, vaccinations, visits if the child becomes ill - these are the normal, ordinary things parents do to take care of their children.

"In our lives, we can see the extraordinary in the everyday, ordinary events of life."

In the first century A.D., when Joseph and Mary left Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus, they went to do the customary thing for him: to present him at the Temple for his circumcision, as prescribed by law.

There, they encountered Simeon and Anna.

Simeon, perhaps an elderly priest, "righteous and devout," awaited the coming of the hope of Israel. When he saw Jesus, he recognized that God had fulfilled his promise to his people - and to Simeon personally, who knew that before his death the Messiah would come. And here was Jesus, with his parents.

Readings for Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Dec. 29, 2002) Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3 Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9 or Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19 or Colossians 3:12-21 or Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:22-40

Anna, a holy woman, praying constantly in the temple, gave thanks to God for this child and told everyone she could that she had seen the redemption of Israel in his eyes.

Thus the young parents meet the elderly witnesses to the coming of the Messiah, in the simple and ordinary course of doing what was natural for the child to whom Mary gave birth in Bethlehem.

In our lives, we can see the extraordinary in the everyday, ordinary events of life. We can see the helpless child Jesus whenever we look at a little child who needs our protection, our care, our reassurance, our love. We can see his mother in every woman who is with child, and who needs support when she may be troubled.

We can see Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, in every man to whom God has entrusted a family to care for. We can see Simeon in the elderly gentleman whose wisdom and experience we should honor and respect. We can see Anna in the pious woman who prays for the needs of others, even above her own.

Taking Jesus home, Mary and Joseph cared for him and raised him. He grew in age and grace, the Gospel says, "filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him."

God sends his favor upon all his sons and daughters through the people in our lives who care for us, protect us, nourish us, teach us, form and mold us, and help us to become holy saints of God. And God passes that task to us as we grow and mature, so that we become the caretakers, the protectors, the ones who nourish and teach and form and mold a new generation of God's children.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.

Bring a gift: Receive a treasure

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

When a woman is expecting the birth of a child in our culture, her friends arrange a party called a "baby shower" and bring gifts for her and for the child she awaits. This custom is one way in which our society shows support and renders assistance to new mothers.

At the birth of Jesus, three wise men, or astrologers, or kings, or magi, came from the East, we are told, following the course of a star which brings them to the place where Jesus was born, and they find him in a manger.

Readings for The Epiphany of the Lord (Jan. 5, 2003) Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13 Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 Matthew 2:1-12

These three come bearing gifts which have symbolic significance: gold for his royal lineage, frankincense for his divine nature, and myrrh as a foreshadowing of the suffering and death for which he came.

This is the basic story of the "epiphany" - or the "showing" - of the Lord. Jesus is shown to the world, represented by the Gentiles who come bearing him gifts. He is manifested by the song of the angels, the wonder in the eyes and hearts of the shepherds, the adoration of the three wise men who came so far and sought so much.

Warned of Herod's treachery, they depart for their home by another route, so as to provide some protection for the child Jesus from the jealous King. As they go, they bring with them a treasure, a gift far more precious than the coffers they poured out before Mary his mother in Jesus' honor.

The gift they bear away? The light of the world's savior, still shining on their faces. His gaze, still fixed in their eyes. The sound of his small voice, which will one day preach a message of salvation and the forgiveness of sins. His infant breath still swirling in their nostrils, the breath of life which God breathed into Adam at the beginning of time.

One day Jesus would grow to become a man, leaving home to preach the Gospel and to suffer and die.

As a human being he would have no memory of the three visitors, only the story that his mother might have told him about the events surrounding his birth. Yet today there is scarcely a place in the world which does not retell the story of the three who came bearing gifts, and took away with them the world's first glimpse of the Savior.

It fell to the Apostles to bring the message of salvation to the ends of the earth, to preach the Gospel, to baptize, to heal and forgive sins. But the three wise visitors whose gifts told so early the identity of the child - King, God-made-Man, and Suffering Servant - are the very first heralds of his coming: for no doubt they returned home and told of the wondrous things they saw and heard.

Through the magi and through the Apostles, the words of the psalm come true: Lord, every nation on earth will adore you!

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.