20 December 2011

20 Dec 2011, Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

Reading 1 Is 7:10-14

The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. (see 7c and 10b) 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.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
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.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

Gospel Lk 1:26-38

In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."

But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.

Meditation: Isaiah 7:10-14


“The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son.” (Isaiah 7:14)

The tribes of Judah were fac­ing attack from their kinsmen in the north, and King Ahaz was terrified. Through Isaiah, God had promised to deliver him from his enemies and even wipe out these enemies within a couple of generations. Still, Ahaz cowered in fear. Even though Ahaz’s attitude wearied the Lord, God wanted to shore up his faith, and so he told Ahaz to ask for a sign.

God wanted to reassure Ahaz that he was with him, and so the sign he gave was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This child would be so filled with God’s Spirit that people would call him Imman­uel, which is Hebrew for “God is with us.” Knowing that God was present in such a powerful way, see­ing how utterly committed God was to his people, was meant to solid­ify Ahaz’s faith and move him to act decisively.

If we fast-forward to Nazareth, hundreds of years later, we see Mary, a virgin, saying “yes” to God’s prom­ise, once she had been reassured that she would not lose her virgin­ity, which she vowed to God. Once the angel told her that she would be­come a mother by the power of God, she did not shrink back in fear. In­stead, she accepted God’s word and went forward in faith and trust. In contrast to Ahaz, Mary chose to act based on all that she knew God had done. Firm in her faith, she trusted that God would be faithful to his promises.

How about us? Each day we have a chance to build up our faith or let it go unattended. Mary said “yes” because her early efforts to learn about God and love him gave her the strength and the willingness to move forward when the angel appeared to her. Not everything was clear to her on the day of the Annunciation, but she knew she could rely on the Lord because she had already built a strong foundation of faith and trust in him.

In a similar way, our actions today to build up our faith will give us the strength and the generosity we will need to say a more complete “yes” to God tomorrow. So let’s all make every day count!

“Lord, I will keep moving on! You have done so much in my life to show me your love! Help me to be confident in your commitment to me.”
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