v We have reached the last Sunday
before Christmas, we have made the journey of preparation for the celebration
of the coming of the Lord among us.
v The readings present this reality
announced in the Old Testament (First reading) fulfilled in the New Testament
(Gospel) and continued in the Church (second reading)
FIRST READING Is 7:10-14
Ø The prophet in the name of God says to the king that
he can ask for a sign from God.
Ø Let us see the meaning of this petition.
Ø The prophets look at the political, social and
economic situation, and say to the those in leadership and to the people how
they are unfaithful to the covenant by the way they live their life, and how to
change their ways.
Ø Israel is already divided in two kingdoms Northern and
Southern. Ahaz the king of the Southern
Kingdom, Judah, is about to become a vassal of the king of Assyria in order to
escape the destruction of his country.
Ø The prophet not knowing how to make the king understand
that what he plans to do will lead all to ruin, tells the king to ask for a sign from God to know what to do.
Ø The king does not want to ask for a sign, apparently
moved by reverence.
Ø But the answer of the prophet "do not tire my
God" helps us to understand that the attitude of the king was not sincere.
Ø What is the sign that God will give? It is a sign of
life, in spite of destruction and
oppression God always creates and nurtures
life
Ø It is the announcement of the birth of a child, the son of a young woman.
This child is probably one of the sons of the king, son of one of his wives.
Ø What does that sign mean? We will find the answer on
verse 16, do not be afraid Ahaz, and in
your desperation do not make covenant with the oppressor, because within a few
month, the time for a child to be formed in his mother's womb, the danger will
be no more, these powers will no longer be a danger.
Ø History tells us that Ahaz made covenant with the
foreign powers and it was a total ruin, but for us Christians of the 21st
century, what does that mean?
Ø The child announced was born in the time of Ahaz, but the prophecies, since they
come from God, transcend time and space, and have diverse levels of
understanding, of interpretation of revelation. .
Ø Very soon the Church understood that this prophecy was
the announcement of the coming of the true descendant of David, the Messiah,
who was to be born from a virgin mother, a young woman, a young girl.
Ø And his name is Emmanuel, this was the name of the child
of Ahaz, but the true Emmanuel, God-with-us is Jesus, the son of the true king,
the Father God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 24
LET
THE LORD ENTER, HE IS THE KING OF GLORY
The Lord's are the earth and its fullness
the world and those who dwell in it
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless,
whose heart is clean
who desires not what is vain.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
a reward from God his savior
such is the race that seeks for him
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob
GOSPEL Mt 1:18-24
Today the liturgy
of the church explains to us the conception and birth of Jesus, from the point
of view of Joseph.
We are very used
to think about the conception of Jesus according to what Luke narrates in his
Gospel, that is the experience of Mary.
Matthew being a
Jew sees the part of the man, Joseph, and sees also in the birth of Jesus the
fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which we have read in the first
reading.
Like Luke,
Matthew says that the name of the child's mother is Mary, and that she is betrothed
to Joseph.
Before they lived
together, that is before Joseph took Mary into his home, she became pregnant. Matthew
as well as Luke tell us that this is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Up to now this is
the same story that Luke tells us, but Matthew is going to tell us the feelings
and the reaction of Joseph
He says that Joseph
is a just man, this is the greatest praise that a human being may receive from
God, yes Joseph is just, his heart is in the image of God's heart.
Joseph does not
understand, what he sees now is very different from what he knows of Mary. What
has happened? A priest told me many years ago that Joseph, since he could not
understand, and was afraid in front of the mystery, decided to leave.
He wanted to
leave because he did not want to expose Mary to shame , and also to spare all the consequences
that this situation could bring to her, even death.
That is why he
decides to divorce her in secret, in this way the blame would fall on him.
And as always,
when we do not know, when we reach the point of being in complete darkness,
then God intervenes, and gives us the answer to all our questions:
ü
Joseph do not
fear to receive Mary, the child she carries is from God.
ü
He is the
fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.
ü
It is God himself
who comes to live among us, to be one like us, to be Emmanuel = God-is-with us
ü
God says that to
Joseph in a dream, because God speaks to
us in the way each one can understands.
ü
When Joseph woke
up he took Mary into his home as the angel had told him in a dream.
ü
His reaction is
the same as the one of the young girl from Nazareth. He receives her into his
home, Mary says to the angel "I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done
unto me according to your words."
Thus these two
members of the human race welcome the son of God among us. They dedicate their
lives to him, they will be father and mother for this child. They will
accompany him in his human journey to become an adult member of the human
race.
They participate
in the mystery of the redemption accomplished by Jesus, son of God, known in
his town as the son of the carpenter, and
of Mary.
This makes me
always realize that when we see someone, his or her
attitudes, his or her life, truly we do not know what is going on in that
person. The Lord Jesus has told us not to judge, because certainly we will be
mistaken. We think that we know but in reality we do not know, each person is a
mystery.
Those of Nazareth
never knew the great mystery that was unfolding in front of their eyes, they
only saw a young girl who had conceived not being married, and that Joseph the fiancé
of Mary, was the father of this child.
SECOND READING: Rm 1:1-7
§
The letter to the
Romans is the master piece of Paul's theology.
§
Paul says that
the grace of the apostolate, of his mission, comes from Jesus, the Son of God,
risen full of power and holiness.
§
This mission of
being an apostle is given to lead the
unbelievers to the obedience of faith.
§
And Paul says
that we are among those unbelievers, and this is certainly true since we are
descendants from pagan peoples, because we are not Jews.
§
And we have been
called to belong to Christ, this is the grace we have received at Baptism when
we were submerged in the life of Christ to become a new creature.
§
This is our call
to holiness
§
Paul ends saying:
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
She (Florentina) could not get over of her
amazement seeing the residence that God had prepared for us so suited to our
taste: even though we had to search for one whole year, it could not be more
fitted to our purpose. Then, my
companion (who was very good and the Lord had led her always by ways of
comfort) said: “How good it is to throw oneself in the hands of the Divine
providence! But how is it that the Lord hid this consolation He had prepared
for us?” And, really, nobody can understand the call to religious life but he
to whom the Lord had granted this grace. So a religious outside her beloved
enclosure is to live apart from all conversation with creatures. God granted us
this grace because of the love I had for the holy enclosure and having
sacrificed it to fulfill His Divine Will. Venerable
María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters, Autobiography
116.
In each of the towns I mentioned, one or more of these
services had been held that year or some recent year and had always been quite
fruitful. There had been conversions of all sorts everywhere--mass conversions,
great and extraordinary conversions. At the beginning of the mission everyone
would come to hear me: some in good faith, others out of curiosity, and others
out of sheer malice, to see if they could trap me in my speech.
During the opening service I never made a frontal attack
on the vices and errors of the town I was visiting. Instead I always talked to
them about the Blessed Virgin, the love of God, etc. As the wicked and corrupt
saw that I was not attacking them, but was all love, sweetness, and charity in
my speech, they were interested and felt like coming again. As I started
talking about the last things that pertain to all of us, they were not
offended. Finally, they underwent a complete change of heart. During the last
days of the mission I was able to speak with complete freedom about their
predominant vices and failings. Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisters, Autobiography 469-470.
No comments:
Post a Comment