“The Blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christs’s disciple than to have been His mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood.”

                                       ~St. Augustine For Reflection:

Consider this quote in light of Luke 11:27-28. How did Mary’s discipleship begin at the moment of the Annunciation and continue throughout her life? To what extent does your discipleship mirror hers? Formulate a new year’s resolution to help you grow in this way in the coming year.

In Conversation With God Vol 1 Advent/Christmas Francis Fernandez-Carvajal Pb 387 pgs

The Christmas Season 27 December ST JOHN, APOSTLE AND                           EVANGELIST 33 THE DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED Our Lord called him specifically to be one of the group of the Twelve.St. John,...did so with all his heart, with a love that was undivided, exclusively for Jesus.  For St John, as for everyone else, his vocation gave a new meaning even to the most ordinary things.  John's whole life was centered on his Lord and Master; in his faithfulness to Jesus he found the meaning of his life.  He put up no resistance of any kind to His call; he was found on Calvary when all the others had disappeared....Our Lord has chosen all of us - some of us with a specific vocation - to follow Him, to imitate Him and to carry on in the world the work of His Redemption.