4th Advent Sunday C
20.12.2015
Introduction
As we light our fourth Advent candle, you are very
welcome to our parish mass, especially of you are visitors. Mary goes to visit her
cousin Elizabeth, who is near her time. She feels the child leap in her womb as
Mary greets her.
Penitential Rite
I confess
Micah 5.1
You Bethlehem
Psalm 79
God of hosts bring us back
Let your face shine on us and we shall be saved
Heb 16
Here I am! I come to do your will
Acclamation
I am the handmade of the Lord:
Let what you have said be done to me
Omelia
We have four Advent candles lit on our wreath, so Christ’s birth is very near.
Naturally the Liturgy of the Word focuses on the Mother of the Lord. The first
reading makes the point that the coming one will gather the clans like a new
David. He will come from the same town and will stand and feed his flock, like a
shepherd. How about this for a line? He will stand and feed his flock with the
power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God. His people will
live secure and He himself will be peace.
St Luke deals with the two expectant mothers meeting in Zechariah’s house. It is
not recorded what Mary said, but Elizabeth feels the child leap in her womb and
they embrace. St Luke casts Elizabeth in the role of a prophet
for she was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was revealed to her what was
happening, and she salutes Mary as the mother of my Lord. It seems that the
two infants hidden in their mothers’ womb recognized each other as the One who
is to come and the one who will announce him.
In this prophecy Elizabeth called Mary blessed. This is something that the Lord
God bestowed on Mary. It is a gift. Mary is truly blessed because she believed
what the angel Gabriel told her. Mary becomes the first believer and she is
followed by many others. Indeed it is the writer’s primary purpose to lead the
followers of Jesus to a deep sense of faith. Ultimately we are believers, longing
for Christ’s promises to e fulfilled. We are still on our way. We too, each of us
should have a joyful expectancy in our lives.
I think that there should be a meditative sense to our mass today. We are all
busy with many things, yet we have come here to focus on the One who is to
come and to welcome him into our own hearts. The visitation is not an event in
the past but a reality for us in 2105.
We too, believe in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have found time to
come to praise and worship the Lord. He shows himself to us and we can go
home heartened and encouraged. We have made a space for him in our busy
lives. We have heard his voice in our ears and we have become his followers.
Do you find joy in your faith or is it something of a burden? Do you see it as a set
of difficult rules and regulations that don’t always make sense? Have you invited
the Lord himself into your heart to be at home there? Do you have a sense of
privilege that he has called you? Can you respond will gratitude like the writer of
the Letter to the Hebrews that we heard Here I am. I am coming to do your
will.
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Picture the young Mary, hurrying on her journey to support Elizabeth.
See the two women embrace. Those of you who are mothers will know of
the baby’s movement in the womb.
God has blessed May and helped her to believe.
She is the mother of my Lord.
She believed what Gabriel told her
She hurried to assist her cousin at the birth of John
We too have been given the gift of faith
The Lord travels with us on our journey
This Christmas we ask for a deepening of faith.
May our following of the Lord be generous and joyful.