The Word became flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory. JN 1:14
ISAIAH 7:10-14,8:10
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
The world is full of people who deliberately shut their eyes to the light and their ears to the voice that calls them out of bondage to freedom. They are so addicted to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that they refuse to heed the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit abiding in them and inviting them to turn away from a life that leads to spiritual death forever.
Ahaz refused to ask for a sign even when the prophet himself asked him to do so. He preferred his own wisdom and to trust in his own resources, rejecting the plan of God who desired to help him and his people. So it is with us hypocrites as well. We know very well that if we asked for a sign, You would give it to us, and we would have to turn away from our sinful pleasure, our own worldly wisdom, and embrace the narrow way that leads to life.
Beloved, even though we refuse to humbly listen to God's plans for our lives, You still do not revoke those plans and promises just as the prophet said, whether or not Ahaz asked for a sign, God would still give the world the greatest sign of all:
‘The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.’
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.’
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
PSALM 39(40):7-11
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
PSALM 39(40):7-11
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
I have not hidden your justice in my heart
but declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
HEBREWS 10:4-10
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Why are we so hidebound, so rigid, so bound in our own ideas that make us prisoners of the old and passing and refuse to embrace the wonderful, new, astounding, and amazing thing that God desires to do for us? This is what happened to the Jews and the Jewish nation. They refused to accept the time of Your visitation and have thus condemned themselves to a life without grace and truth.
But what about us, O Lord, who call ourselves Catholic and Christian? Many of us are no better. We have been raised on the faith of our parents and grandparents for generations and have never made it our own. This is why we are so woefully ignorant of the beauty, the truth, the goodness, and our Catholic faith. We have only a watered-down idea of what the Church teaches; this is why it is so easy for us to be swayed by false teaching.
There is only one Sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world, and that is the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. There is only the supreme Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which makes this eternal Sacrifice present on every altar where the Holy Mass is celebrated. This is the will of the Father that we eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Lamb and receive eternal life. There is no other way to enter God's Kingdom. The quicker we understand this, the quicker we will make a good sacramental confession and be received into the sheepfold.
Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on coming into the world:
You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
LUKE 1:26-38
You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
LUKE 1:26-38
My Soul's Beloved,
With her fiat, the new Eve undoes the knot made by the old Eve. Today, in Passion Tide, we take a moment to savor the moment when the Eternal Word, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and all Heaven, waits in silent and eager anticipation for Mary's answer to the invitation of God extended to her by the Angel Gabriel. It took a few moments because she was taken aback by the Angel's greeting. It is understandable that this young, humble Virgin from the backwaters of Nazareth, who, although she was wholly wrapped up in God since her conception, was unable to quite grasp the extent of what was being asked of her. Yes, she was well acquainted with the prophecy, but she would never have imagined that it was speaking of her.
‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.’
Once the Angel explained how God would work the amazing miracle of grace, even though she did not fully grasp the extent of what it would all mean, her response was one she had always given to God; she said, 'yes' to Him as she had always done her entire life. ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ It would have been contrary to her nature to have said anything else yet, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit waited graciously for her consent. When she gave it, heaven erupted with joy and that joy spills over in the Church today as we celebrate this glorious feast when the Eternal Word stooped low from Heaven and entered the new Ark of the Covenant, the womb of Mary and took on flesh and blood. The Body that would redeem the whole world and everything in it.
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
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