Holding Baby

 

CHRISTMAS SUNDAY

Do you like looking at and holding tiny babies? Everyone does. Mothers and fathers, grandparents and godparents, aunts, uncles and siblings – everyone – loves holding a baby.

When each of our four grandchildren were born, we couldn’t wait for our turn to hold them. When it was my turn to hold each one, I felt different.

When you hold a tiny baby, you feel different. You have this tiny baby in your arms, and you’re very careful with the baby, but you feel different. You feel love in your heart. Is that how you feel? That’s how I felt.

In our Gospel today, Mary and Joseph take their baby, Jesus, to the Temple. When they get there, they meet two people. They meet an older man named Simeon and an older lady name Anna.

Do you know what Simeon and Anna did when they saw and held Baby Jesus? They praised God. They. Praised. God.

Whenever you hold a baby, make sure you praise God because God is the One responsible for giving that baby life and bringing him or her into the world.

When I held my grandchildren, I praised God, said a blessing and made the Sign of the Cross on their foreheads. Before two of them turned a year old, I baptized them. That was a thrill for me.

And when you come up with your parents who take Holy Communion, because you’re too young still, I make the Sign of the Cross on your foreheads and say this blessing: “May God, who has begun His good work in you through Holy Baptism bring you quickly to His Holy Table. Amen.” … Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.