December
20, 2015
Fourth
Sunday of Advent
Saint
of the Day: Saint Dominic of Silos, Abbot (11th Century)
Reading
1
1Thus
says the LORD: You,
Bethlehem-Ephrathah too
small to be among the clans of Judah, from
you shall come forth for me one
who is to be ruler in Israel; whose
origin is from of old, from
ancient times.[1]
2Therefore
the Lord will give them up, until the time when
she who is to give birth has borne, and
the rest of His kindred shall return to
the children of Israel.[2]
3He
shall stand firm and shepherd His flock by
the strength of the LORD, in
the majestic name of the LORD, His God; and
they shall remain, for now His greatness
shall
reach to the ends of the earth; 4ahe
shall be peace.
Responsorial
Psalm
2O
shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth. 3Rouse
your power, and
come to save us.
R.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
15Once
again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine,
16and protect what your right hand has planted the son of man whom you yourself
made strong.
R.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
18May
your help be with the man of your right hand, with the son of man whom you
yourself made strong. 19Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new
life, and we will call upon your name.
R.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Reading
2
5Brothers
and sisters: When Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering
you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6in holocausts and sin
offerings you took no delight.
7Then
I said, “As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O
God.”[4]
8First He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you
neither desired nor delighted in. These are offered according to the law. [7]
9Then He says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish
the second. 10By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Alleluia
Luke 1:38
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord. May
it be done to me according to your word.
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
39Mary
set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,[6]
40where
she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41When Elizabeth
heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled
with the Holy Spirit, 42cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43And
how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?[7]
44For
at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb
leaped for joy.
45Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by
the Lord would be fulfilled.”[8]
Notes on Readings:
[1] Micah 5:1 - In contrast to Bat-gader
(Micah 4: 13 (14), where the ruler of Israel, the reigning king, is in
peril of his life from the Assyrians, is the tiny city and clan of
Bethlehem-Ephrathah, from which comes the ancient Davidic dynasty (whose origin
is from of old, from ancient times) with its messianic King, one who is to be
ruler in Israel.
[3] Micah 5:4-5 - This passage,
expressing confidence in Judah's ability to deliver itself from Assyria, is in
contrast with the preceding messianic oracle, which ascribes deliverance to the
Lord and His agent. Some believe that here the prophet is quoting the words of
the defiant men of Judah. The shepherds and men of royal rank are one and the
same: warriors capable of routing Assyria. The same kind of numerical
progression is used by Amos (Amos 1:3), and elsewhere in the Bible.
[4] Hebrews 10:5-7 - A passage from Psalm 40:7-9 is placed in the
mouth of the Son at His incarnation. As usual, the author follows the
Septuagint text. There is a notable difference in Hebrews 10:5 (Psalm 40:7), where the Masoretic text reads "ears you have dug
for me" ("ears open to obedience you gave me," NAB), but most
Septuagint manuscripts have "a body you prepared for me," a reading
obviously more suited to the interpretation of Hebrews.
[5] Hebrews
10:8 - Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings: these four terms
taken from the preceding passage of Psalm 40 (with the first
two changed to plural forms) are probably intended as equivalents to the four
principal types of Old Testament sacrifices: peace offerings (Leviticus 3, here called sacrifices); cereal offerings (Leviticus 2, here called offerrings); holocausts (Leviticus 1); and sin offerings ((Leviticus 4 -5) . This last category includes the guilt offerings of Leviticus 5:14-19.
[6] Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Mary Visits
Elizabeth, http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/1_39-56.htm, Guesses where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived include
Jutta, about five miles south of Hebron in Edomite territory, and Ain Karim,
five miles from Jerusalem, considering the traditional site since the sixth
century. The journey was about 80 to 100 miles and would probably take Mary
three to four days.
[8] Luke 1:45 - Blessed are you who
believed: Luke portrays Mary as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to
the disbelief of Zechariah (Luke 1:20). Mary's role as
believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the
explicit mention of her presence among "those who believed" after the
resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Apostles 1:14).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Dear Humanity,
I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.
And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.
Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.