4TH SUNDAY IN ADVENT - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the handmaid of the Lord:
let what you have said be done to me. LK 1:38

MICAH 5:1-4

My Soul's Beloved,

The Magnificat is a hymn of praise that exults from the soul of one who is intimately and totally in union with God. If there is one thing that we can take away from Sacred Scripture and how God reveals Himself it is this - He does it in ways that are so breathtakingly unexpected that it beggars belief. God does not think or act as man does for Your ways O Lord are far above our ways and Your thoughts far above our thoughts. Who could ever believe that God would stoop low, leaving all Your glory and majesty behind, and become incarnate in the womb of the Virgin? Who could believe that this same God came into the world hidden, silent, in poverty, and would be born in a stable? Kings are born in palaces, God was born in a stable.

God always chooses those who are little, the humble, those with the simplicity of children. If only, the world understood this it would better understand how to approach You and to model our lives after Your own for this is the only way pleasing to Him. To live a life in total surrender to the will of God just as Mary did.

The world's ways are so utterly alien to Your ways O Lord. Teach me your ways, O LORD; make them known to me. Teach me to live according to your truth, for you are my God, who saves me. I always trust in you.

PSALM 79(80):2-3,15-16,18-19

God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

O shepherd of Israel, hear us,
shine forth from your cherubim throne.
O Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.

God of hosts, turn again, we implore,

look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.

May your hand be on the man you have chosen,

the man you have given your strength.
And we shall never forsake you again;
give us life that we may call upon your name.

God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

HEBREWS 10:5-10

My Soul's Beloved,

To hunger and thirst to do the will of God just as You did O Lord, in this is perfect joy and peace. God so loved the world that He gave us You, His only Son, that whoever believes in You will not perish but have eternal life. You came into the world as an atoning sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. You came in perfect obedience with the will of the Father to save us a stubborn and stiff-necked people whose hearts are hardened with sin. We are a rebellious people O Lord, all of us have sinned and walked away from the source of all life, love, joy, truth, and peace.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, by the power of Your redeeming work of salvation on the Cross, by the power of Your Blood atoning for the sins of the whole world, I plead with You today to soften our hearts so we may know and understand how pleasing it is to God and how beneficial to our salvation if we like You said, always and everywhere, 

‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’

LUKE 1:39-45

My Soul's Beloved,

We are on the threshold of Christmas. Soon we will be celebrating the anniversary of Your birth. Families and people are busy completing all the outward signs of the festivity - shopping, cooking, baking, decorating. Buying and selling is at its peak. Many parts of the world are filled with the hustle and bustle of the season, people are carol singing, and Christmas gifts are being packed. Children are giddy with excitement. But where are You in all this? Where is God? 

As Catholics how well have we prepared our hearts this Advent to celebrate the anniversary of Your birth? Have we prepared at all? Have we made a good confession? Have we waited with eager anticipation like Mary who prayed, and waited with eager longing for the moment when You will be born? Have we, like Mary, carried You in our hearts as she carried You in her womb when she visited her cousin Elizabeth who needed her? Are our eyes open to the needs of so many of our brothers and sisters who are suffering, sick, friendless, alone, and neglected?

Beloved, give us a heart like Your Mother, who filled with the Holy Spirit, hastened to visit her cousin who she knew would need her and would be comforted by her presence. Mary answered the call to love and serve and was rewarded by Elizabeth's joy at seeing her. This will be our experience when we open our hearts and lives to those in need.

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’