MONDAY OF THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Ruler of the House of Israel,
who gave the law to Moses on Sinai,
come and save us with outstretched arm.

JEREMIAH 23:5-8 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Holy God, mighty King, Saviour, and Redeemer of the human race and our Spouse, Brother, and Friend, You came to establish Your reign over us and to wrest from Satan what he was never his to steal when he caused our first parents to disobey and fall. We are filled with reverent awe when we contemplate the Father's love for His wayward, foolish, sinful children. 

Thank You, Beloved, for coming into the world in perfect obedience to the Father's will. Your will and the will of Your Father are one and it is the Holy Spirit that made the incarnation possible with Mary's fiat. Obedience and humility are key to living in the shadow of God's love and grace. 

Thank You, Lord, for the New Jerusalem and the new people of Israel that You purchased, ransomed, and redeemed at infinite cost to Yourself and to God. Unworthy though we are, stubborn, self-willed sinners You did not hesitate to become one like us in all things save sin. Thank You, Lord, for entering into our poverty and our misery and offering us salvation, redemption, and eternal happiness when our pilgrim journey on earth ends.

PSALM 71(72):1-2,12-13,18-19 ©

O God, give your judgement to the king,

to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.

For he shall save the poor when they cry

and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.

Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,

who alone works wonders,
ever blessed his glorious name.
Let his glory fill the earth.
Amen! Amen!

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.

MATTHEW 1:18-24 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We are in awe of Your 'fiat' to the Father even though it meant that You O Lord, were prepared to leave Your glory and majesty and become one like us in Your incarnation. We are in awe of Mary's 'fiat' to God to become the Virgin Mother of our Savior. But we rarely consider Joseph's 'fiat' to God which gave Mary a most chaste spouse and gave You a legal father.  

We know from Matthew's account of the events leading to Joseph's obedience to the will of God to take his betrothed, Mary, into his home when he knew that the Child in the womb of Mary was conceived by the power of God and the Holy Spirit. Humbled and wonderstruck that God chose him, a humble laborer to watch over and care for the Son of God and to be addressed as dad by God was to him simply astounding. And Joseph said, 'yes' uniting his fiat to Yours and to Mary's and making it easier for the Mother of God to bring to birth the Son of God without violating the law which would have seen her stoned to death.

When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

Anyone who takes Mary home takes home not just her but the Triune God as well. For where one Person of the Trinity is the other Persons are present as well for God is one.