4th Sunday of Advent (22/12/2024): Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Commentary on the Mass Readings for the 4th Sunday of Advent, Cycle C (22/12/2024):
The First Reading is taken from the Prophecy of Micah 5:1-4. In today’s reading we hear words of hope that focus on one who is to be born in Bethlehem and who will bring in the day of peace when all nations will look to Jerusalem.
The Second Reading is taken from Hebrews 10:5-10. The perfect offering of Christ restores us to oneness with God. Jesus came to do the will of God perfectly. He overcame the power of evil that separates us from God and became our bridge back to God when we fall into evil. David prefigures Christ’s sacrifice. The Psalm is now seen from the perspective of Christ.
The Gospel of this Sunday, Luke 1:38-45 recounts the visit of Mary to St. Elizabeth. An ancient title of Mary is Ark of the Covenant. The Church Fathers saw the parallels between the Old Testament wooden chest containing the divine presence and the Virgin about to give birth to Jesus. This theme is developed in a tape series by Tim Staples. Tim brings out the similarities between today’s Gospel and the ascent of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:1-15).
1. As the ark is brought to Jerusalem, King David is overcome with awe saying, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (v. 9)
2. The ark remains three months in the hill country near Jerusalem, bringing great blessings to the house of Obededom. (v.11)
3. King David leaps for joy—dancing before the ark. (v. 13) (Tim Staples, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed)
In today’s Gospel, Elizabeth says to Mary, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” She tells how the babe (John the Baptist) leaped in her womb as she became filled with the Holy Spirit. Finally Mary remains three months with her kinswoman before returning to her home. This Sunday, so close to Christmas, the Church invites us to focus our attention on Mary, round-wombed because of the God-child. As we say in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin: “Ark of the Covenant, pray for us.”
—Excerpted from Fr. Phil Bloom
This is the last Sunday of our preparation for Christmas, the anniversary of Christ’s birth. Like Joseph, we can all feel unworthy of the honour of welcoming him into our hearts and our homes. We are indeed unworthy, not because we have little of this world’s goods, but because we have so little humility, so little charity, so little faith and trust in God’s goodness. Let us try to imitate Joseph and Mary, the humblest of the humble, the kindliest of the kindly, and the greatest-ever believers in God’s goodness and mercy. We can never hope to equal them, but we can follow them humbly, from afar.
The feast of Christmas should draw the hearts of every child of God towards the furnace of divine love. In the manger, the infinite love of God for us miserable sinners is dramatically and forcefully portrayed before our eyes. In that helpless Baby, represented by a statue, we know that the person, and the power, of the omnipotent Creator and sustainer of the universe lie hidden “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” for us. He became a creature, like ourselves, so that he would make us sharers in his divine nature. He came on earth to bring us to heaven. He hid his divine nature so that he could cover us with it.
“Unsearchable indeed are the judgements of God, and inscrutable his ways.” But though we are unworthy of his infinite love, it nevertheless stands out as clear as the noonday sun in the Incarnation. We realize that we can never make ourselves worthy of this infinite love, but let us imitate Joseph and accept the honour which God is giving us, as we trust that he will continue to make us daily less unworthy.
Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O’Sullivan, O.F.M.