LIVE IT TODAY: Monday, December 29, 2025
I am the Light revealed to the nations, and I come to uncover hearts with truth and love.
Christmas Blessings!
We are deeply grateful to share this extraordinary journey with you—encountering Jesus Christ more fully and becoming instruments of His presence to others. One simple way you can help is by “liking” this reflection. If someone comes to mind while reading, please share. And by becoming a paid subscriber you help us deliver this “living bread” to many more hungry souls—Bethlehem means “house of bread.”
We are delighted to share with you The Inn Crowd — a very moving Christmas short story. Weekly Live IT radio program and podcast coming soon.
We wish you and your family abundant Christmas blessings!
LIVE IT TODAY: Monday, December 29, 2025
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GOD’S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
I am the Light revealed to the nations, and I come to uncover hearts with truth and love.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Luke 2:22–35
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce)
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
God fulfills His promises quietly, faithfully, and on His timetable.
Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple not with fanfare, but with obedience. They come because the Law commands it, not because they expect revelation. Yet it is precisely within this ordinary faithfulness that something extraordinary unfolds. God meets obedience with disclosure.
Simeon stands as a man shaped by waiting. Scripture describes him as righteous and devout, one who awaited the consolation of Israel. The Greek word for consolation, paraklēsis, carries the sense of comfort born of presence. Simeon is not waiting for an event, but for a Person. And because he waits with trust, he recognizes the Christ when others pass Him by.
When Simeon takes the Child into his arms, salvation is no longer abstract. It is tangible. It has weight. It can be held. This is how God often works—fulfillment arrives not as spectacle, but as gift entrusted to those prepared by patience and prayer.
Yet Simeon also speaks a hard truth. The Child will be a sign of contradiction. Light does not simply illuminate; it exposes. The revelation of Christ draws hearts into the open. Neutrality becomes impossible. Acceptance or resistance—both reveal what lies within.
This Gospel reaches directly into family life. Mary and Joseph model the posture of the domestic church: faithful to God’s commands even when they do not yet grasp the full cost. Parenting in faith means offering our children back to God again and again, trusting that His purposes exceed our understanding.
We parents are called to Simeon’s posture—to wait, to watch, and to bless. To recognize God’s work unfolding quietly in our homes. To accept that fidelity may involve both joy and sorrow. And to pray over our children by name, believing that God will reveal His promises in His time, and that His light—though sometimes challenging—is always saving.
“The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord… Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the ‘light to the nations’ and the ‘glory of Israel,’ but also ‘a sign that is spoken against.’” (CCC 529)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
In My Heart: Where is God inviting me to trust His timing rather than demand immediate clarity?
In My Home: How can our family better practice faithful obedience in ordinary routines?
In My World: Where might God be asking me to witness to truth even when it brings tension?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, share one place where you are waiting on God for guidance or fulfillment.
Then, one by one, pray over each person by name, asking for an outpouring of grace to know God’s love personally, freedom from the whispers and lies of the Enemy, strength to overcome temptation, and joy in living the Gospel concretely each day.
Daily Challenge:
Offer one act of patient obedience today—done without recognition—as a gift to God.
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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