The Word today, Advent4C

December 23 - December 27, 2024

Monday 23 December

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 To music lovers, this reading will sound familiar, from Handel’s Messiah. Malachi says that a gure like Elijah will usher in the end. This was taken to John the Baptist who ushered in, so to speak, the Messiah and the messianic age.

Luke 1:57-66 The birth of John is told to lay the foundation for the similar yet signicantly different birth of Jesus. Both come as the result of a promise. On both occasions, there is “treasuring in the heart.” Both children will enjoy the blessing of God. And yet, one is the forerunner and the other is the Christ.

Tuesday 24 December

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 Anyone who comes to Mass on this morning will hear a striking reading from 2 Samuel 7: in reality one of the key texts in the Old Testament. It portrays the delity of God as seen in God’s loyalty to David and his house. It makes for a great nal reaction as we come to mark the birth of Jesus, the son of David, in whom all of God’s faithfulness came to be for us.

There is some word play in today’s reading: house means temple, residence and family line. Even in Nathan’s correction of David, a tremendous promise of God’s faithful through time, it comes to expression.

Luke 1:67-79 The Benedictus takes up the theme of the House of David and goes on to praise God who is now fullling in John and in Jesus his promises of old. The future role of John the Baptist is hauntingly evoked: to prepare the way for him, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins; this by the tender mercy of our God.

Pope Francis on the Annunciation

In this Gospel passage, we notice a contrast between the promises of the angel and Mary’s response. This contrast is manifested in the dimension and content of the expressions of the two protagonists. The angel says to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever” (vv. 30-33). It is a long revelation which opens unprecedented possibilities. The Child that will be born to this humble girl from Nazareth will be called Son of the Most High. It is not possible to conceive of a higher dignity than this. And after Mary’s question in which she asks for an explanation, the angel’s revelation becomes even more detailed and surprising.

On the other hand, Mary’s reply is a short sentence that does not speak of glory. It does not speak of privilege but only of willingness and service: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38). The content is also different. Mary does not exalt herself before the prospect of becoming the mother of the Messiah, but rather remains modest and expresses her acceptance of the Lord’s plan. Mary does not boast. She is humble and modest. She always remains the same.

This contrast is meaningful. It makes us understand that Mary is truly humble and does not try to be noticed. She recognises that she is small before God and she is happy to be so. At the same time, she is aware that the fullment of God’s plan depends on her response, and that therefore she is called to accept it with her whole being.

In this circumstance, Mary’s behaviour corresponds perfectly to that of the Son of God when he comes into the world. He wants to become the Servant of the Lord, to put himself at the service of humanity to full the Father’s plan. Mary says: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord”; and the Son of God upon entering the world says: “Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God” (Heb 10:7). Mary’s attitude fully mirrors this statement by the Son of God who also becomes the son of Mary. Thus Our Lady shows that she is in perfect accord with God’s plan. Furthermore she reveals herself as a disciple of his Son, and in the Magnicat, she will be able to proclaim that God has “exalted those of low degree” (Lk 1:52) because with her humble and generous response, she has obtained great joy and also great glory.

As we admire our Mother for this response to God’s call to mission, we ask her to help each of us to welcome God’s plan into our lives with sincere humility and brave generosity.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024ak, December 22). Fourth Sunday of Advent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122224.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/

The Word today, Advent3C

December 16 - December 21, 2024

Monday 16 December

Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17 Balaam was a prophet in Moab. When the king of Moab tried to get him to curse Israel, he uttered instead a remarkable blessing. The last lines speak of a star and a sceptre, symbols of the coming Messiah, picked up in Matthew 1-2.

Matthew 21:23-27 Jesus counters a trick question and yet it is obvious that he think John the Baptist came from God. In these nal days leading up to the feast of Christmas, the readings are very carefully chosen. They provide a very rich biblical tapestry against which it is possible to understand the teaching offered in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.

Tuesday 17 December

Genesis 49:2, 8-10 The great patriarch Jacob is about to die and he gathers his sons around him for a nal blessing. The blessing to Judah (= son, tribe and tribal area) includes a reference to the sceptre—pointing to the much later Davidic dynasty.

God’s delity to David’s line is fullled in Jesus. It thus prepares for the Gospel, which is the genealogy in Matthew. Matthew 1:1-17 The genealogy locates Jesus in real time with real people, warts and all. Neither the men nor the women were particularly moral—think only of David and the wife of Uriah.

Matthew 1:1-17 is a kind of Gospel in miniature: God writing straight with crooked human lines. The gures in the last two generations are consciously ambiguous: Jacob and his son Joseph, evoking the earlier father and son.

Wednesday 18 December

St Flannan, bishop

Jeremiah 23:5-8 The oracle cited here has its historical place in the Exile (as is very clear from the reading itself). But the real reason for the choice lies in the rst couple of verses, which underline God’s faithfulness to David and his offspring. This prepares directly for the Gospel.

Matthew 1:18-24 This passage continues where yesterday’s left off. God-with-us—Emmanuel—reminds us of God’s word to Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Jeremiah and so forth. Also to us, if we reect back.

Thursday 19 December

Judges 13:2-7, 24-25 The birth stories of Jesus in Matthew 1- 2 and Luke 1-2 often echo highly signicant accounts in the Old Testament. Today’s reading from Judges is an example: an annunciation to a women who is childless. There is even a similarity between the word nazirite (a kind of prophet) and Nazareth (or Nazarene).

Luke 1:5-25 Our Gospel is also an annunciation but this time to a childless father, to Zechariah the priest who is to become the father of John the Baptism.

Friday 20 December

St Fachanan, bishop

Isaiah 7:10-14 This passage from Isaiah is explicitly cited in Matthew’s account of the annunciation to Joseph in a dream.

Luke 1:26-38 The annunciation to Mary (the fourth in our sequence) matches the pattern of Old Testament annunciation scenes and then, signicantly, breaks it. Mary is open to God’s call.

Saturday 21 December

St Peter Canisius, priest and doctor

Song of Songs 2:8-14 You may be surprised to hear in Advent a reading often used at weddings. It is however very suitable for two reasons. (1) Love is the ‘reason for the season’ as they say. (2) Like the lover bounding over the hills, Mary in the Gospel travels across the hill country to visit Elizabeth, her cousin.

or: Zephaniah 3:14-18 This delightful reading already appeared on the third Sunday of Advent this year. Being such a ringing invitation to rejoice, it is good to hear it again. The image of God dancing for joy is, perhaps, not so usual among us!!

Luke 1:39-45 Luke joins his two strands of narrative in this encounter between the two mothers. We notice the deep things said about Jesus before his birth.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024ai, December 15). Third Sunday of Advent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/

The Word today, Advent2C

December 09 - December 14, 2024

Monday 09 December

The Immaculate Conception of the BVM

Genesis 3:9-15, 20 The early stories in Genesis explore common human experiences , including sin, shame and the “outsourcing” of blame! All very human, of course. The serpent symbolises something more sinister—the power of sin, against which we need the grace of God.

Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 The great hymn from Ephesians explores God’s grace in Christ, thus inviting us to engagement gratitude.

Luke 1:26-38 Mary’s yes is in contrast to the “no” of Adam and Eve...and all the rest of us of course! It is really good news that “nothing is impossible for God.”

Tuesday 10 December

Our Lady of Loreto

Isaiah 40:1-11 Powerful images in this reading should awaken a deep longing in our hearts. Let us come again to the great shepherd of our souls, holding us and leading us in all circumstances.

Matthew 8:12-14 The parable of the lost sheep makes a direct link with Isaiah. Of course, the ninety-nine who don’t stray at all also don’t really exist! We are, all of us, lost sheep and in need of guidance.

Wednesday 11 December

St Damasus I, bishop of Rome

Isaiah 40:25-31 Our reading today is really a meditation on God and in particular on the “beyond-ness” of God (his transcendence). The fact that God is so other in this reection is a source of hope and renewed energy.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Yoke” was a term used by the rabbis to refer to the guidance of Torah, by which we plough straight furrows in life. Jesus himself is now our Law and his guidance is light.

Thursday 12 December

Our Lady of Guadalupe; St Finian, bishop

Isaiah 41:13-20 The opening line of this poem give the key to the rest: Do not be afraid. The reading goes on to explore such deep trust using several metaphors: harvesting, drought and barrenness.

Matthew 11:11-15 So, who really was John the Baptist? In Jesus’ estimation, John was the greatest of the old dispensation. In orthodox tradition he is called the forerunner, the prodromos. Yet even he falls into the second rank compared with the least in the kingdom of heaven!

Friday 13 December

St Lucy, virgin and martyr

Isaiah 48:17-19 There is a great promise in this reading, but also one big “if ”: if only you had been alert to my commandments. Isaiah can tell us the rest!

Matthew 11:16-19 There’s no pleasing some people seems to be the message of this passage.

[The very last line, puzzling to us, calls for special comment. The passage comes from the Q community, who produced the Sayings Source (Q), behind parts of Matthew and Luke. In the view of that community, John, Jesus and their members were all children of transcendent wisdom. Originally, the last verse read: But Wisdom was vindicated by her children. (Q 7:35; see Luke 7:35.) For Matthew, Jesus himself is our Wisdom and so he alters the text and continues his portrait to Jesus as wisdom in Mt 11:25-30.]

Saturday 14 December

St John of the Cross, priest and doctor

Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4, 9-12 Elijah remained a gure of fascination long after his death, as we hear in this reection. An Elijah-type gure was expected to usher in the long-expected Messiah. The blessedness of this is caught in the very appealing beatitude which closes the reading.

Matthew 17:10-13 As noted above, the expected Elijah-type gure was based on Mal 3:1. By identifying John as Elijah, Jesus afrms the signicance of the present moment and his own ministry.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024ag, December 8). Second Sunday of Advent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120824.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/