Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #347
Inspiration for the week of December 29, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
Merry Christmas!
Nothing like the Christmas season to fill you with hope, peace, joy and love—at least I pray that this has been the beginning of your experience of theChristmas octave.
And since we are in the midst of the Christmas octave—meaning that we are literally still celebrating Christmas it seemed appropriate to focus upon the miracle that is Christmas.
Saint Francis of Assisi advocated that the Incarnation was a greater miracle than the Resurrection because if the Incarnation had not happened, then neither would have the Resurrection!
Regardless, the Incarnation is one of the greatest mysteries of our faith.
Therefore, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet is going to seek to inspire, encourage, and empower you to continue to pause and meditate upon the Incarnation. The very mystery that launches our journey towards holiness because when God became like us, it then became possible that we could become like Him…
Food for the Head
"We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.” – St. Paul VI
No encounter, no faith.
Without an encounter with God, it is not possible to have true faith.
Faith might begin in the head—knowing that God exists and that He loves me and wants me to be with Him for all eternity.
But faith needs to be more than head knowledge. It needs to be an encounter.
A great encounter in a particular moment of history that decisively determined that there would be a relationship between God and His people.
This is what we celebrate at Christmas.
That it is possible to have a relationship with God.
Ponder that reality.
It is possible for each of us to have an encounter with the Creator of the universe. The same One who made the planets and stars and galaxies and all the various plants, birds, trees, fishes, and animals that I encounter every day.
The same God who created the sky and the air I breathe and also formed me in my mother’s womb.
Sit and ponder the wondrous magnificence of this reality.
And then come and adore the babe in the manger.
This week, resolve to spend time before a Nativity scene pondering the reality that the Babe in the manger is also the God of all creation.
Food for the Heart
"Jesus Christ said of Himself: I am the Living Bread descended from Heaven. Therefore, Bethlehem, the place where our Lord was born, has been called the House of Bread; for He who fed our hearts to satiety appeared there in the substance of flesh.” – St. Gregory I
Saint Gregory reminds us of Jesus’ words—”I am the Living Bread descended from Heaven.”
This mystery is a result of the mystery of the Incarnation.
Jesus would not have been able to feed our hearts or satisfy us if He had not come in the flesh.
The great gift of the Most Holy Eucharist would not be available to us if Christ had not come to us at Christmas.
There is no greater gift outside of Heaven.
Let us give thanks for this great gift and how it sustains us for the journey.
Therefore, let us come and adore.
This week, resolve to spend time in Adoration this week.
Food for the Hands
"Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all.” – St. Leo the Great
Saint Leo tells us how we should be celebrating Christmas—by rejoicing!
But how many of us are already on to plans for New Year’s Eve? Or planning our New Year’s resolutions? Or taken down the Christmas tree?
Or maybe we had to go back to work and in the busyness of work we have forgotten all about the great joy of Christmas as we get caught up in pursuing the next goal or tackling the next project?
Joy should fill our hearts and minds and souls and should overflow into our everyday life. We have the promise of eternal happiness because death has been swallowed up, so sadness will be no more!
This promise applies to everyone.
Jesus came at Christmas to free us all from sin, darkness and death.
So, let us rejoice by shouting it from the rooftops—or at least by continuing to wish people you meet a “Merry Christmas.”
Bottom line, keep reminding people of the joy!
This week, resolve to greet people with “Merry Christmas!” throughout the Christmas octave.
Food for the Feet
"O Father, in your Truth (that is to say, in your Son, humbled, needy and homeless) you have humbled me. He was humbled in the womb of the Virgin, needy in the manger of the sheep, and homeless on the wood of the Cross. Nothing so humbles the proud sinner as the humility of Jesus Christ’s humanity.” – St. Anthony of Padua
All of us need more humility.
There is not a single one of us who can not learn how to be more humble, especially in light of Jesus’ humility as He entered the world defenseless and homeless.
He was dependent upon Mary to grant Him a home in her womb, and then after His birth, Joseph found Him a home in a manger.
Jesus was a defenseless refugee, along with Mary and Joseph, as they fled to Egypt to escape Herod and the soldiers who were seeking to kill Him.
And Jesus humbled Himself to die as a criminal although He had committed no crime.
All of these instances are considered humiliating. Yet, throughout His life, Jesus exemplified what humility looks like and how we might live humbly ourselves by embracing the humiliations that came His way, and they resulted in humility.
How might we grow in humility?
John the Baptist gives us an idea. “There needs to be less of me and more of Him.”
As you continue to relfect upon the Incarnation, take the time to meditate upon God’s humility and consider how you might become more humble.
This week, resolve to practice humility by setting aside more of you to be filled with more of Jesus.
Exhortation
"Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”—CS Lewis
This quote from CS Lewis reminds us of the mystery that is the Incarnation.
We should not rush through Christmas, but rather, seek to embrace the fullness of its celebration for at least the octave and the twelve days until Epiphany.
And then maybe keep meditating upon the mystery for the full forty days until the Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd.
Spending time in awe and wonder before this mystery can only help us to grow in humility and put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience and bear with one another and forgive others.
This might seem too big to do, but that is the paradox of mystery—what seems impossible becomes possible.
Just like a stable in our world holding something that was bigger than the whole world.
Embrace the mystery.
Meditate and contemplate and adore.
Live Christmas to the full and embrace the possibilities that are a result of the Incarnation.
May each of you do WHATEVER IT TAKES this week to live Christmas, so that together we can tell the Master of Death, "NOT TODAY!"
All the best,
Christina
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
Guest appearances on the Religion to Reality podcast:
Catholic Podcasting with Paul Fahey, Christina Semmens, and Jose Manuel de Urquidi
Living the Works of Mercy: Bridging Faith and Action
(My comments can be found around the 24 minute mark.)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog in 2025:
Do Not Be Terrified (Nov 16)
Gaining Wisdom of Heart (Sept 9)
The Passion of the Passion (Apr 13)
Bearing Fruit in a Pruning Season (March 23)
Putting Out Into the Deep (Feb 9)
Article on Catholic365.com Platform:
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #256—”Don’t Let Anxiety Define You”—1:1 Conversation with Dr Rachael Popcak Isaac, Mental Performace Specialist
Subscribe to the Say Yes to Holiness podcast!
You can listen to the latest episodes of the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
You can also watch the podcast on the Say Yes to Holiness YouTube channel
Click Here to Check Out All the Podcast Episodes
The Say Yes to Holiness YouTube Channel
Episode #255—Embracing Your Advent Journey
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle content continues! Here is the latest...
The Catholic Leadership Puzzle is a initiative that shares and discusses content from my upcoming book (also to be named The Catholic Leadership Puzzle) that focuses upon how we each can help to create life-giving communities where we can become the holy men and women that God created us to be.