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,
Sacred Scripture constantly points out that God does not hesitate to reach down to our humanity, to stoop low over His poor, frail, sinful, weak children, and rescue us from the consequences of our disobedience against His law which is written on every human heart. God's Covenant with us is eternal. He always keeps His promises. And for this my Soul's Beloved, we ought to be forever grateful.
From the moment Adam sinned God put His rescue mission into operation. He would not allow sin to destroy us because He created us for Himself. He would send You, His only Son, sinless, holy, perfect. You O Lord are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father. He would lay on Your shoulders the burden and the punishment that was ours and save us.
Having come into the world in history, abiding with us now in mystery and the blessed hope of Your glorious return in majesty we long for Your coming when You will claim all creation and establish Your glorious rule over us all.
As Advent slowly draws to a close and we celebrate Your birth, grant O Lord that we never lose sight that You remain with us in the Sacred Mysteries that we celebrate and never cease to hunger and thirst for Your glorious return when You will restore and subject all things to the Father, and place Yourself and the whole humanity under the dominion of God so with God the Father, You, His glorious Son, and the Holy Spirit we will be all in all.
See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –
In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel dwell in confidence.
And this is the name he will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.
So, then, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” but, “As the Lord lives who led back and brought home the descendants of the House of Israel out of the land of the North and from all the countries to which he had dispersed them, to live on their own soil.”
In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel dwell in confidence.
And this is the name he will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.
So, then, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” but, “As the Lord lives who led back and brought home the descendants of the House of Israel out of the land of the North and from all the countries to which he had dispersed them, to live on their own soil.”
PSALM 71(72):1-2,12-13,18-19
In his days justice shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
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.
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.
and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.
In his days justice shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
MATTHEW 1:18-24
My Soul's Beloved,
I am so grateful to be Catholic, to have Catholicism as my heritage, and to be aware at least to the extent possible, of the grandeur, the mystery, the wonder, the beauty, the truth, the goodness, and the majesty of the Church You founded. You clothe her in majesty and truth for she is Your Spouse and the Holy Spirit lavishes on all her members, to the extent they desire it, to become like You.
In these few verses, Lord, pregnant with sacred mystery, we see how You, the Son of God, having pierced time and space was conceived and born. Although the Church has contemplated the glorious mysteries of our faith for over 2000 years she can never fully comprehend what God has done for the Church and for those who are her members. Nothing is more heartbreaking to Catholics than non-Catholic Christians speaking cavalierly about Your Virgin Mother and ours, speaking blasphemously about her immaculate conception, and of St. Joseph who was chosen by God to be Your foster father and the most chaste spouse of Your Mama.
Today's Gospel narrative from Matthew speaks of how You were born. When we read these verses we must do so with awe for God deigns to reveal His salvific plans for mankind through these sacred events. The wisdom in the Living Word is inexhaustible and transcends the words on the pages of Sacred Scripture. We can never fully comprehend the mysteries of God becoming Man through the Woman He chose and prepared for so singular a task from the moment of her conception. She was to give flesh to Him whom the heavens cannot contain and to whom the earth is a mere footstool.
Lord God, we join our prayers to the unceasing prayer of the Church that all believers will come to know the Truth that sets all of humanity free. May the Gospel spread like wildfire to the ends of the earth so every man woman and child would be baptized into Your Body and be saved.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.
No comments:
Post a Comment