St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

King David was the greatest of Israel's Old Testament kings. Today's First Reading begins by telling us that when David received the wonderful Christmas prophecy about his descendent, Jesus, who would rule forever, he "was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side." That's a very brief summary of the last twenty-plus years of his life. During those years David lived like a renegade to avoid being murdered by the king who preceded him, Saul.

Then he fought a civil war against Saul's followers, and another, ongoing war against the foreign power of the Philistines. Although he was usually outnumbered and under-equipped, God always gave him the victory.

Perhaps the most famous of his victories was his first one.

At the time, the Israelites' war with the Philistines was at a standstill. The Philistine's gigantic warrior, Goliath, had challenged Israel to let the war be decided by one-on-one combat between himself and Israel's greatest soldier. But no Israelite, not even King Saul, was courageous enough to face the gargantuan Goliath. When the teenaged shepherd boy David heard about it, he immediately accepted the challenge and went in front of the giant without armor, sword, or shield.

As they faced each other, he said to the Philistine:  "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted." And sure enough, as Goliath rushed at David with sword and spear, the future king fit a stone to his sling and fired it right into the Philistine's forehead, stopping him dead in his tracks. David knew God well and trusted in Him - our God, the God of Jesus Christ, for whom "nothing is impossible," and that was the source of his extraordinary courage.

As we continue preparing our souls for Christ's arrival in the Christmas liturgy, we should do two things. First, we should stir up the virtue of gratitude. We are here today because God has protected our faith from the many lies all around us saying that Jesus is not really Lord and Savior or that His Church is nothing special. He has protected us from giving up our hope in the power of His mercy and grace. We have fought (and maybe are still fighting) spiritual battles against doubt, discouragement, and other temptations, and God has fought on our side. By God's grace, we are Christmas lights that still work, Christians still living their friendship with Christ; we should be grateful for that.

Second, we should make an effort to help someone else take a step closer to Christ this Christmas. In the Mass, Jesus will prove once again that nothing is impossible for Him. He will shatter the limits of time and space to become truly present in the Eucharist, nourishing us in Holy Communion with His holy body, blood, soul, and divinity. If He can do that, then He can do anything.

And so, we should not hesitate to let Him work through our words, prayers, and actions to bring Christ's light into some dark corner of the world where His light is not shining. That dark corner may be a poor orphan, a relative's bitter resentment, or an elderly person's loneliness. All of us knows someone whose Mass this Christmas will be the only Mass they come to all year long. Let's make it our task, counting on God's grace at work in us, to somehow help them make that Mass into the new beginning of a real, everlasting friendship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. After all, "Nothing is impossible for God."

PS:  I would like to once again encourage all of us to return to the practice of the praying of the Angelus every day. Traditionally we were encouraged to pray it at 6am, Noon, and 6pm. It allows is to take a pause out of our daily life and to be reminded of the beautiful promise of salvation that Our God has brought to us through the cooperation of the Blessed Virgin Mary! At least we can pray this prayer once a day to be reminded that nothing is impossible for God.