TUESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

He has pulled down princes from their thrones
and exalted the lowly. LK 1:52

 King of the peoples
and cornerstone of the Church,
come and save man,
whom you made from the dust of the earth.

1 SAMUEL 1:24-28

My Soul's Beloved,

The Lord heard Hannah's prayer and satisfied all the hungry longing in her heart for a child. Having been blessed with a son, she did not cling to him, spoil him rotten, treat him like the world revolved around him. Instead, once the infant was weaned, she took him back to the temple and gave him to God to serve him all the days of his life.

She came to Eli the priest, who had heard her cry out to God pleading for a child and said, "I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord granted me what I asked him. Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is made over to the Lord." And then we are told, 'There she left him, for the Lord.' 

If every parent did as Hannah did and entrusted their children to the Lord, directing their footsteps in His Way, the world we live in would be a happier, more peaceful, more loving place. 

Hannah teaches us that we are to cling to God alone. He alone must be our heart's dearest and only desire, anything we place before Him makes us idolators.

1 SAMUEL 2:1,4-8

My Soul's Beloved,

The echoes of Hannah's hymn of praise on receiving the gift of a son, the child of her great longing conceived after many tears and sighs before the Lord, reverberates through the centuries until another Woman, would sing a hymn much like it and make it singularly her own. 

You, My Beloved, are the fulfilment of every prayer, every dream, every longing, every desire. You are the Father's answer to everything. You are the One that every heart is hungry for - but many are not aware of it. 

In You are our hearts exult for You are our strength. What can anyone do to us Beloved, when we walk with You and receive  Your saving help when we cry out to You?  

We live in a terrifying world right now - those who have been entrusted with the duty of governing have abdicated their responsibility to wealthy, powerful, wicked people who care for nothing but themselves. While we wait for Your judgment on the world we will keep vigil like the shepherds on the hillside.  We will watch and pray as You instructed the disciples on the night of Your Agony in Gethsamane. The bows of the mighty will be broken. The proud and conceited of heart will be cast down onto the dungheap. The wealth of the wicked will not satisfy their hunger but those who mourn now, those who weep now, those who are forgotten, those trod upon, those who are persecuted, the voiceless who lack the strength even to whimper, will be vindicated and clothed in Your strength.

You feed the hungry, You make the barren woman fruitful. You give life where there was only death. You raise the humble and give them glory and honor. All who were despised in the world will share in Your victory and good will ultimately triumph over evil. Ours is a God whose ear is close to the brokenhearted.

LUKE 1:46-56

My Soul's Beloved,

The Magnificat, Mary's hymn of joyful praise to God comes from a soul that was immersed in God and with the grace of God from the moment of her conception. There never was a moment in her life when her whole being was not focused on God and the normal state of her soul was one that was always raised to Him and lost in Him in delightful contemplation. 

Every line of praise that bursts forth from her lips is steeped in Scripture and the psalms revealing her intimate knowledge of the Word of God - the same Word that took flesh in her and became incarnate of her. 

All Mary's children would do well to be handmaidens of the handmaid of the Lord. It would do us well to keep our gaze fixed on her always for there is none better than this lovely creature of God to direct us in the way and the will of the God she has always loved better and more perfectly than any human creature. She is the disciple par excellence and there is none among the daughters of Adam created like her, sinless and pure except for Eve - our first mother, who like her, was created sinless. Unlike Eve, who was the instrument that brought us death, Mary was the instrument that brought us life.

Of all women, God chose Mary to collaborate with Him to bring salvation to the world and she was perfectly aware that all the glory belongs to God alone. The superabundance of grace granted to her was not through any merit on her part - it was all God's gift to her. 

She knew it was God who cast His gaze on her, it was God who clothed her exquisitely with every virtue and grace. It was God who raised her up and exalted her giving her a place high above every creature and just below You, her Son. She understood that because of this great dignity accorded to her by God she is blessed in every generation and eternally.

It pleases Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to honor Mary, to raise her up, and crown her Queen of heaven and earth. Nothing pleases and delights God more than to channel His graces and blessings through her and nothing gives our Mother greater joy than in taking all our prayers to her Son. Answers received through her are always accompanied by rich graces and blessings for the Mediatrix of all graces loves to bless her little ones. 

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home. Let us resolve to keep Mary with us in our home and hearts always and like her we will always exult and make our boast in God alone.