Mary "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." During the Octave of Christmas, the church has been contemplating the newborn Jesus, God's gift of self to us and all of creation.

The great blessing scripture speaks of this week is Jesus Christ, born of Mary, the one through whom God became human. As a human being, Jesus lets all of us become adopted children of God. But spiritual childhood is not simply a matter of spiritual childishness.

There’s no intrinsic reason why a new year should be any different from an old one. While we’re conscious of having turned a page on a whole new calendar, New Year's Day is really no more than just another sunrise. Still, we greet each new year with hope for the chance to be born again to new life and possibilities.

OVER THE CENTURIES the manger scene has been the subject of a lot of art, much of it created by and for Roman Catholics. Yet you can find one of the largest collections of European religious art not in a museum or a Catholic institution but at a university—Bob Jones University, to be specific, in Greenville, South Carolina.

In the past few years I've been to more funerals than I care to count as my parents' generation crosses the threshold into all that is unseen. One theme that runs constant at the funerals for mothers is "Mom was a good listener."

There is always a market for nostalgia. Depending on our age, we look back at the '40s or '60s or even the '80s as the "good old days." On the internet and in specialty stores, we can listen to music from Guy Lombardo to the Jackson 5.

Like the shepherds who went in haste to see the child Jesus, we eagerly seek to receive God's forgiveness and blessings.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The triple blessing in the reading from Numbers is some of the oldest poetry in scripture. Blessing usually means God's giving of life-sustaining power that produces growth.