'Tis the Fourth Sunday of Advent: Advent-link & Wikipedia-link.
Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Book of Micah, chapter five, verses one thru four(a);
Psalm Eighty, verses two & three, fifteen & sixteen, & eighteen & nineteen;
The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter ten, verses five thru ten;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses thirty-nine thru forty-five.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation, the visionary sees in the heavenly place the Ark of the Covenant—that box in which the remnants of the Ten Commandments were kept, that sign of Yahweh’s presence among his people. Immediately after, we hear of a queen who is about to give birth to a son. As a dragon waits to devour the child, the mother and child are swept away, and a great war breaks out between Michael and his angels and the enemy.
This sequence is not accidental. In today’s Gospel, we see Mary as the true Ark of the Covenant. She bore in her own womb the Word made flesh and the very presence of God. When she visits her cousin Elizabeth, the infant John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb, doing his own version of David’s dance before the Ark.
But Mary, as both the true Ark and the Queen Mother of Israel, is also a fighter. Israel frequently brought the Ark into battle with them, and the king of Israel and his queen mother were warrior figures. Mary is all about spiritual warfare against powers and principalities.
This terrible crisis we’re passing through in the Catholic Church has been a diabolical masterpiece. it undermines the work of the Church in practically every way. So what do we do? Get in the army of Christ the Warrior-King and Mary the Warrior-Queen. Enter into the great spiritual struggle. And fight to set things right—not with the puny weapons of the world but with the weapons of the Spirit.
Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Video reflection by Father Claude Burns (uCatholic): Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.
Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.
Mass Journal: Week Four
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:
The story of Jesus Christ is the most powerful in history & has directly or indirectly influenced every noble aspect of modern civilization. But amid the hustle & bustle of our daily lives, it is easy to become distracted & distance ourselves from this story. From time to time, someone comes along who reminds us of the spellbinding power the Gospel has when it is actually lived.†
Otherwise, 23 December would be the festival of Saint Dagobert (circa 650-679, King Dagobert II of Austrasia): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the festival of Saint Frithbert of Hexham, Bishop (died 766, also spelt Frithubeorht): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Wayback Machine.
'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Hartmann of Brixen, Bishop (1090-1164): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the festival of Saint John of Kanty, Priest (1390-1473, also spelt John Cantius): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the festival of Saint John Stone, Religious & Martyr, O.S.A. (died circa 1539), martyred in the reign of the English king Henry VIII, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Dissolution, Martyrs-link XL, & Wikipedia-link XL.
Papal Quote o' the Day
"We will celebrate Christmas well if, like Joseph, we will give space to silence; if, like Mary, we say 'here I am' to God; if, like Jesus, we will be close to those who are alone; if, like the shepherds, we will leave our enclosures to be with Jesus."Little Flower Quote o' the Day
—Pope Francis (born 1936, reigning since 2013)
"I know I shall never recover from this sickness, & yet I am at peace. For years I have not belonged to myself, I have surrendered myself wholly to Jesus, & He is free to do with me whatsoever He pleases."Saint Quote o' the Day
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)
"What is the idea that runs all through scripture? It is nuptials. The covenant is based on nuptials. As we used to say in the old marriage ceremony, 'Not even the flood took it away, not even sin.' There was the nuptials of man and woman in the garden of Eden, the nuptials of Israel and God in the Old Testament. In the prophet Hosea: 'I your Creator am our husband.' God is the husband of Israel. In that beautiful passage of the Book of Hosea, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute, an worthless woman. She leaves him, betrays him, commits adultery, has children by other men, and when the heart of Hosea is broken, God says, 'Hosea, take her back, take her back. She's the symbol of Israel. Israel has been my unworthy spouse, but I love Israel, and I will never let her go.' Hosea taking back the prostitute is the symbol of God's love for his qahol, his church of the Old Testament. Now we come to new nuptials, the nuptials of divinity and humanity in our Blessed Mother."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
No comments:
Post a Comment