I. Let Us Celebrate Christmas. Christ is born, glorify Him! Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him! Christ on earth, be exalted! Sing to the Lord all the whole earth (Ps. 96:1,11), and that I may join both in one word, let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for Him who is of heaven and then of earth. Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with trembling because – …

Rejoice, Highly Favored One Set before you the blessed Mary, whose surpassing purity made her meet to be the mother of the Lord. When the angel Gabriel came down to her, in the form of a man, and said: "Rejoice, highly favored one; the Lord is with you," (Luke 1:28) she was terror-stricken and unable to reply, for she had never been saluted by a man before. But, on learning who he was, she spoke, – …

"And the people that were there saw that there was none other boat there save the one into which the disciples had entered, and that Jesus went not into the boat, but His disciples." [v.22] And why is John so exact? Why didn’t he say that the multitudes having passed over on the next day departed? He desires to teach us that Jesus allowed the multitudes to suspect what had happened–if not openly, then in – …

The Confession of St. Thomas the Apostle And now let us see whether the confession of Thomas the Apostle, when he cried, "My Lord and My God," corresponds with this assertion of the Evangelist. We see that he speaks of Him, Whom he confesses to be God, as My God. Now Thomas was undoubtedly familiar with those words of the Lord, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One." How then could the faith – …

He indeed did not baptize, but they who carried the news, desiring to excite their hearers to envy, so reported. “Wherefore then ‘departed’ He?” Not from fear, but to take away their malice, and to soften their envy. He was indeed able to restrain them when they came against Him, but this He would not do continually, that the Dispensation of the Flesh might not be disbelieved. For had He often been seized and escaped, – …