FEAST OF SAINT PETER CANISIUS – 21st DECEMBER
December 21, 2024
MONTHLY DEVOTIONAL FOR 21 DECEMBER
December 21, 2024
21 December, 2024
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21
Heavenly Father, by your boundless Mercy and tender Compassion towards your creation, who, instead of clinging gratefully to their Maker, turned feeble and fell away from you. Your unconditional love inspite of our mortal folly, are overwhelming, and give great cause for turning to you with total repentance of the heart and spirit. We rejoice gladly at having a God who lives in us and for us, everloving, ever-giving, who is so benevolent that he forgives all our transgressions, forgets our iniquities when we seek him with faith and hold him in our hearts, ready to do his Will. Our trust is in you, dear Lord.
Lord, your people who were weighed down with sin and wickedness, bound in deep bondage to Satan and slaves of the darkness of his worldly empire, cried out to you to fulfill your promise of a Messiah for their deliverance. Their prayers were heard when you, in accordance with your plan of salvation, sent your Son, incarnated as the Son of Man, to rescue all mankind with the ransom of his blood for purchase of our freedom from slavery to sin and our adoption as children of God, through conversion and transformation by faith. He was born, as destined by you, a lowly mortal, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and was named Jesus.
Jesus came as a sacrificial offering, as the Lamb of God, who permanently destroyed the yoke of sin binding mankind, becoming the curse, for the sway of the curse to be lifted forever. Jesus finally, fully atoned for the sins of the world. With his death he restored your glory, Almighty Father, and with his resurrection and ascension into heaven, he afforded to us the gift of your saving grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within us as guide and counselor and eternal life with you in heaven. With his perfect sacrifice, he defeated the reign of evil, ushering in a new dawn of eternal salvation. We hold fast to our faith, in our Lord Jesus’ Name. Amen
