SATURDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,
come to save us,
and delay no more.

JUDGES 13:2-7,24-25

My Soul's Beloved,

"Nothing is impossible with God." These are the words that the angel Gabriel said to Mary. It is an echo of  God's assurance through salvation history. He causes streams to flow in arid land and everything He touches teems with life, joy, and hope. Abraham's wife Sara was barren and bore Isaac when she was  90 years old. Rebekah was barren and Isaac pleaded with God to bless her with a child and she conceived Esau and Jacob. Rachel was barren and God had compassion on her and opened her womb and she bore Joseph and Benjamin. 

Today's first reading narrates how Manoah's wife was barren and an angel appeared to her and assured her that she would conceive a son, and she bore Samson. Hannah wept with great tears over her overwhelming sorrow at being barren and God blessed her with Samuel. And finally, we have Elizabeth, Zachariah's wife who was also barren. The angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him his prayers were had and Elizabeth would conceive in her old age and bear a son, John the Baptist.

Every one of the sons conceived in barren wombs was destined to accomplish God's work, to each was entrusted a mission for God's glory. Their mothers were women of great faith and their great faith in God was rewarded.

And the ultimate miracle of all - is the virgin birth the fruit of which brought salvation to the world. Truly, nothing is impossible with God.    

Manoah's wife gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.

PSALM 71:3-6,16-17

My Soul's Beloved,

I am wicked and sinful because I am weak and frail, and without Your saving help fall I fall easily when beguiled by the temptation to sin.  This day I make the prayer of the psalmist my own.

 

Be a rock where I can take refuge,
a mighty stronghold to save me;
for you are my rock, my stronghold.

Keep my gaze fixed on You - for when I contemplate Your Face, my heart is filled with thanksgiving and praise for all You have done for me from the moment of my conception. If all my thoughts every moment of the day are thoughts of You then nothing will entice me to stray from the path of life.

Grant me this grace O Lord, that I will always turn to You who are my hope, my trust, and my help. Keep me always grateful, always aware of Your mighty help. May my mouth never cease to proclaim all the wonderful blessings You have showered on me. I do not deserve the least of Your favors yet You do not look at my wickedness with anger and disgust but with great compassion and tenderness. With every breath I breathe and to my last breath may I praise You for great goodness and mercy. 

LUKE 1:5-25

My Soul's Beloved,

Being barren in Old Testament times was seen as a curse and the result of sin, this is why the women who were unable to conceive were so terribly unhappy. 

Luke's gospel speaks at length about Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, the cousin of our blessed Mother. They both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. They were childless and had prayed earnestly for years that God would take away this affliction from them, however, they were now both old when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah while he was in the sanctuary burning incense. 

Finally, in answer to their anguished prayers, and at the time of God's choosing, the longed-for child would be conceived. Zechariah's response was disbelief, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ One can almost feel the terrifying, awe-inspiring presence of the angel filling the sanctuary as he responds sternly, ‘I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’

One of the many wonderful promises God makes to Zechariah through Gabriel is this, 'Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.' This promise was fulfilled at the visitation when Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth and she exclaimed, "As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."

The moment Zechariah wrote, ‘His name is John,’ his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. As for Elizabeth she withdrew for five months to contemplate God's goodness, and to exult and rejoice in silence at this wondrous thing God had done for her, ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’

Let us never ever doubt the power of God to do the impossible for nothing is ever impossible with God.