Study Desk

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,

and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,

For my eyes have seen your salvation,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel."

Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.

Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,