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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me trust that I'm being good and Christmas will be good, too! Amen.

Before Jesus was born, Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was also going to have a baby. When Mary said hello, Elizabeth's baby jumped for joy inside her. Excited, Elizabeth shouted, "You're blessed for trusting God's promise to send you a son, Jesus!"

With only a few days left until Christmas, some kids are worried right now. If your parents have told you that Santa Claus is watching or that you have to be extra good to get presents, you might worry that you need to be almost perfect - and of course, no one is perfect. You wonder if your version of "being good" is good enough!

This week's Gospel (Luke 1:39-45) talks about being good. Mary is visiting Elizabeth while she's pregnant with Jesus, and she's probably nervous. She's never had a baby before, and she knows she's having the most important baby ever. She must be wondering how she's supposed to take care of the Son of God!

If you need to be reassured right now that you're a good kid, just look at Mary. She had done an amazing thing, agreeing to become the mother of God, but even she must have needed reassurance that everything was going to be OK.

That's what God gave her, through Elizabeth. As Mary was most likely worrying, Elizabeth basically said, "Stop that! You are blessed! You trusted God, and God is going to work this out."

Sometimes other people see in us what we may not see in ourselves. Even the grownups telling you to be good know that you already are. You should know that, too. Elizabeth saw in Mary the same thing God saw in her: a good person, a person ready to become a very special mother. Christmas will always work out just fine; it always has, ever since that very first Christmas.[[In-content Ad]]

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