We’ve all seen it: the standard cartoon sketch in which the main character, faced with a decision, imagines the devil coaxing him toward evil on one shoulder while an angel encourages him toward good on the other. Lighthearted though they are, these classic scenes are the product of Biblical wisdom and millennia of human experience. In fact, the Garden of Eden provided the prototype: Eve was the first to listen to Satan in a conversation that was disastrous for her and her descendants.

It can be uncomfortable to admit, but our speech habits can truly reveal our interior life. Too often, I’ve fallen prey to the temptation of gossip or other alluring but unbecoming forms of conversation. Perhaps we all have to some degree, which is why today’s words from Sirach capture our attention: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks.”

“Love your enemies” may be one of the most oft-quoted verses of Scripture. We tend to think of it as a moral principle to guide us in our dealings with people who rub us the wrong way. But do we ever consider what it tells us about God? After all, Jesus, who is God himself, speaks it. God tells us to love our enemies because God loves his “enemies” – that is, those who freely choose to oppose his plan of life and love.

“It is so good to be poor, to have nothing, to await all from God!” These sentiments of the humble French religious sister St. Jeanne Jugan sum up the spirit of Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel. Jesus praises poverty, hunger, sadness, and rejection, but certainly not as ends in themselves; God does not take pleasure in our suffering! He does use our suffering, however, to awaken us to our need for him. Poverty can spur us to pursue heavenly goods, and thus Jesus assures the poor, “the kingdom of God is yours.”

For a humble guy, St. Paul really tells it like it is. Paul lists those witnesses who actually saw the risen Jesus, last and least of these being Paul himself. Now we are used to thinking of Paul as one of the greatest apostles, even though we know he once persecuted Christians. So you might think he is being overly humble, like someone fishing for a compliment. No, Paul is only interested in making sure the Corinthians understand just how much God has done.

In the old tradition of the Church, the Christmas season was celebrated up until this day, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This allowed for 40 days of bringing to mind the glorious day of Christ’s birth on earth, similar to the 40 days we celebrate from Easter Sunday until the Feast of the Ascension. While current calendars have us taking down our trees at the Baptism of the Lord, just three short Sundays after the Nativity, today’s Feast still holds great significance.