1/12 Tuesday 1st AT
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Happy the eyes that see what you are seeing! Luke 10,23
Jesus speaks clearly and humbly. The disciples had not yet understood that he was the one the prophets and everyone was waiting for! With these words he helps them. I am also very, very fortunate to be able to know Jesus! I realised this when I saw how a family who had been raised in a country with no faith, responded with such joy when listening about Jesus!

2/12 Wednesday 1st AT
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This is the Lord for whom we have waited! Isaiah 25,9
Isaiah announces joy! We have hoped in the Lord who will dry the tears of his people! We have placed our hope correctly, we are not mistaken! We hope in you, good and compassionate Father, only in you, you gave us Jesus to free us from sin, sadness and all the attractions of evil!

3/12 Thursday 1st AT
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Trust in the Lord forever! Isaiah 26,4
We trust in you, holy Father! Jesus trusted in you and you listened: we too, place our trust in you and you only. You love us, you are aware of our smallness, you correct us and bless us. We trust wholly in you!

4/12 Friday 1st AT
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As you have believed so let it be! Matthew 9,29
They were blind and these Words opened their eyes. What do they see? The face of Jesus! Whoever opens their eyes in faith, sees Jesus first of all! I too, can see him and he is still the most important thing. Whoever takes me away from him, takes me back to darkness and deception and causes me to stumble.

5/12 Saturday 1st AT
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The sight of the crowds moved him to compassion! Matthew 9,36
Jesus felt compassion for the crowds! They don't realise that they need bread, they are only aware of their hunger for the Word that Jesus speaks from his heart! He speaks to them for a long time and then has the disciples distribute bread to them. There is sufficient for everyone, because Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and blessed God!

6/12 Sunday 2nd AT
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Prepare the way for the Lord! Luke 3,4
The words of the prophets resound on the lips of John the Baptist and on the steep and tortuous desert paths. Let us prepare a path for the Lord which does not take too long to follow. Let us prepare the way to our hearts with repentance, with the desire to listen to him and with the will to obey him.

7/12 Monday 2nd AT
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The things we have seen today are beyond belief! Luke 5,26
What have we seen? A paralysed man get up from his bed with joy because he had been pardoned, not because he had been healed. We have seen that men and women can be pardoned right now, on earth! Joy comes from pardon. Run to receive it, so that tomorrow's celebration will be a delight to our Mother!

8/12 Tuesday 2nd AT The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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I am the Lord's servant! Luke 1,38
We love Mary for these Words which demonstrate her humility, that humility for which she is raised up by God and received by all mankind. To be a servant and to want to be one is beautiful humility; to be the servant of the Lord is joy and fullness of life! With these words Mary shows her willingness to fulfil God's plans for humanity. We thank her and try to imitate her!

9/12 Wednesday 2nd AT
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Come to me all who are weary! Matthew 111,28
Jesus, you are calling me! I come to you tired and weary of the many burdens which my weaknesses and my surroundings have procured for me. The kindness of your look and your word restore me. I come to you in simplicity. Do not only ease my burden, but ask of me something so that I may do your will!

10/12 Thursday 2nd AT
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It is I who help you! Isaiah 41,14
Thank you, Father! You have watched over your people, who were in need of your faithfulness, because they kept being unfaithful. You know my smallness and my weaknesses. You love me, you always watch over my life, better than I do myself. Come, help me with your presence, with your Son Jesus!

11/12 Friday 2nd TA
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I lead you in the way you should go! Isaiah 48,17
God does not deceive us. His words and his teachings are a light and a safety net for us. We oppose them with our lack of confidence because in our pride, we think we are wise, but we are ignorant for we know little of our past and nothing of our future, while he sees everything!

12/12 Saturday 2nd TA
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Elijah is to come and set everything right! Matthew 17,11
The Jews were expecting the prophet who had helped the people to maintain purity of faith. John the Baptist came to direct faith in the true, concrete Word of God become man. Helped by him we can look to Jesus with a real desire to learn from him and to obey him!

13/12 Sunday 3rd TA
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What are we to do? Luke 3,14
John the Baptist must answer this question. What must we do to prepare our hearts to receive the Messiah? We must try to free ourselves from idols, those which our egoism raises up: riches, fashion, pleasure, superficiality.

14/12 Monday 3rd TA St John of the Cross
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By what authority are you acting like this? Matthew 21,23
It is not pleasant to reply to those who interrogate us with ill intention. Even for Jesus it was difficult and therefore he replied with a question. We know that Jesus' authority came from the Father and we are certain because he died loving and rose again from the dead!

15/12 Tuesday 3rd TA
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I shall leave a remnant in you, lowly and poor people! Zephaniah 3,12
To God humility is pleasing and men and women also enjoy speaking to those who are humble! For this reason the Father found a humble virgin to give birth to his Son and she is an example of humility. If her disciples are not humble, they must become so. Some of them have become humble through the humiliation of sinning.

16/12 Wednesday 3rd TA
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Turn to me and be saved! Isaiah 45,22
The Christmas novena is about to begin. How do we turn to God? John's disciples show us: they turn to Jesus and leave their first teacher. Everything beautiful, including religion must bring us to turn our gaze on Jesus, the only Son of God, the only Saviour of mankind!

17/12 Thursday 3rd AT The Start of the Christmas Novena
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Gather around and listen, Sons of Jacob! Genesis 49,2
On his death bed, Jacob calls his sons to his side. What he says is a prophecy. He turns to his son Judas, the bearer of blessing for all nations. From his line of descendents was to come the one who would have authority over all peoples!

18/12 Friday 3rd AT
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She shall bear a son and you shall give him the name Jesus! Matthew 1,21
Joseph is sleeping. However he realises that his dream is not a normal dream, but the word of God. So he changes his mind about Mary. From this moment he respects Mary as the temple of the living God!

19/12 Saturday 3rd AT
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Your prayer has been heard! Luke 1,13
Zechariah which means "God remembers" has forgotten his prayer to God. But God does not forget! God waited a long time to answer his prayer, so Zechariah was then sure that it was truly God acting in his life!

20/12 Sunday IVth AT
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God's blessing is on the fruit of your womb! Luke 1,42
Mary listened to Elizabeth's words. She was the first human being to know her secret. And so Mary understands that faith is a gift of God, not the fruit of human effort. When someone recognises Jesus as God and saviour, it is a miracle: it is the Father who reveals it!

21/12 Monday
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Who am I that the mother of my Lord should visit me! Luke 1,43
Elizabeth is surprised; she sees the presence of Mary in her house as an unmerited gift! Mary bears Jesus within her, the fullness of God! Is Mary present in your home? Remember that she is not alone for she always bears within her the Son of God!

22/12 Tuesday
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My soul tells out the greatness of the Lord! Luke 1,46
This is how Mary replies to Elizabeth's blessing. We should remember this reply whenever someone thanks us or praises us. If we succeed in doing something beautiful, let us praise the Lord: every gift, every good thing comes from him!

23/12 Wednesday
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I am about to send my messenger to clear a path before me! Malachi 3,1
God does not come suddenly. He always sends someone ahead of him to help us prepare for the meeting. A man or a woman, an adult or a child, a sad face or a happy one: I must be alert to be able to discern between man's word and divine Word!

24/12 Thursday Christmas Eve
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The dawn from heaven will break upon us! Luke 1,78
Our wait ends tonight. All our expectations are fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Are you waiting for something? Are you waiting for a new world? A new life? A new beginning? Receive Jesus: he comes from on high even though he is revealed to us by someone of this world.

25/12 Friday The Birth of Our Lord
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The true light was coming into the world! John 1,9
Lord Jesus, we see you as a child today and we receive you with the joy we would a child. You begin to illuminate our lives, our past and our future. Thanks to you everything becomes luminous!
Nothing will sadden us, because you are here!

26/12 Saturday St Stephen, the first Martyr
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Be on your guard! Matthew 10,17
We must not live diffidently or even avoid meeting certain people. We live amongst men and women trusting only in God. He will give us prudence, but also courage. He gave Stephen the courage to be a witness for Jesus. And now his name is a consolation to us and encourages us in our faith!

27/12 Sunday The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
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His mother treasured up all these things in her heart! Luke 2,51
How many "treasures" there are in Mary's heart! Her meeting with the angel, her reply to God, a reply which changed her life, the birth of Jesus, the words' of the shepherds, the meeting with the three wise men and with Simon and Anna, Joseph's difficulties, the journey into Egypt and now the unexpected behaviour of Jesus himself. Mary forgot nothing for they were all God's gifts.

28/12 Monday The Innocent Martyrs
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Jesus Christ… will plead our cause with the Father!
The Father does not accuse us, he does not wish us ill. The one who accuses us before the Father is the enemy who with twofold evil was able first to make us disobey and then wishes us to partake in his damning. But we have one who will defend us: Jesus, who will stand before the Father in our favour.

29/12 Tuesday Vth day of the Octave
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The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining! I John 2,8
What is the darkness? It is everything that prevents clear discernment of the path to take, of the choices to be made, of the values to be upheld. The darkness dissipates with the coming of Jesus. We must repeat this for our society which boasts of excluding him. The fruit of this exclusion is an ever greater darkness.

30/12 Wednesday VIth day of the Octave
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I write to you young men, because you have conquered the evil one! I John 2,13
St John writes to the young men to say how pleased he is that they have accepted Jesus. The temptation to ignore him or to refuse him is very great for the young: these young men have overcome it and are now present in the Church with their faithfulness!

31/12 Thursday VIIth day of the Octave
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In him was life! John 1,4
Let us end this year and prepare for the new one in peace, that peace that comes from Jesus. He is life! Let us consign to him all the past days and receive from him those that are to come. We do not wish to spend even one hour without him. The life I desire, the one I dream of, is in him!

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