Reading
I
Mic 5:1-4a
Thus 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.
Therefore 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
He 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;
he shall be peace.
Responsorial
Psalm
Ps 80:2-3, 15-16,
18-19
R. (4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and 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.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then 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.
Heb 10:5-10
Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in."
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will."
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel
Lk 1:39-45
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted
When
the infant leaped in her womb,
and
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."
Commentary
Today’s First
Reading comes from the prophet Micah whose main concern was the people’s
rejection of God. The prophet’s
message is one of coming punishment because a false sense of security has
replaced authentic worship of God. Micah
is very preoccupied with social justice and the wickedness of all leaders,
whether political or spiritual. Secular
leaders cheat and steal from the poor and disenfranchised and the priests and
prophets water down God’s message so as to please the audience and not offend.
In Micah’s world, the leaders
mistake good for evil and visa versa. Despite
all of this infidelity hope still exists and it is this hope that is presented
in today’s First Reading. The
prophet alludes to the messianic texts of Isaiah and Samuel.
The place “Ephrathah” was identified as
The Second Reading taken from the Letter to the Hebrews assures the reader that God prefers obedience to sacrifice. These verses do not repudiate rituals; instead they are a statement to prove the inferiority of the ritual when placed next to obedience. This reality is expressed in Jesus’ offering of his body. The terms “sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings” probably refer to the four main types of offerings:
Peace offering – Sacrifices
Cereal offerings – Offerings
Holocausts
Sin offerings (include guilt offerings)
God’s preference of obedience to sacrifice is interpreted by Paul as repudiation of the Old Testament sacrifices and is replaced by the self-offering of Jesus. The “will” spoken of here is the will of God, which has been faithfully carried out by Jesus. The offering of Jesus’ body expresses the same meaning as the shedding of his blood. In both instances offering the body or blood signify his total offering.
Today’s Gospel
Reading presents a story whose intent can be missed if we were to focus on
Mary’s charity and social concern in visiting her cousin Elizabeth.
Although this aspect is definitely a valid source for greater reflection
on Mary, it misses Luke’s most plausible literary and theological intent.
The evangelist brings together the two mothers-to-be, so that both might
praise God for his work realized in the child that each carries, and so that
Birth of John: Zechariah Birth of Jesus: Joseph
John Jesus
The leaping of John in
Reflection
This last Sunday of Advent is marked by the importance given to living our lives according to the will of God. But just what is God’s will? What does it mean to do God’s will? For Jesus, doing God’s will was to take on flesh (hence the incarnation), live subject to his mother Mary and adoptive father Joseph, preach the truth by word and example and finally offer himself on the cross for our sins. For Mary, doing God’s will was submitting herself to God in everything, even risking death (see Matthew 1:18-19) for the sake of brining the Messiah into the world. She did not selfishly adore the child-God conceived in her womb. On the contrary, she immediately set off to visit her cousin and bring the great gift of salvation into the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. She put herself at the service of others, preparing the way if you will, for the birth of Christ.
But what is God’s will for us?
Simply put, God’s will is that we live our lives offering ourselves to
others just as Jesus and Mary did. For
example, it does us no good to “hear” Mass every Sunday if we turn it into a
private experience between God and ourselves (that’s what private prayer is
for). Mass is only a beginning.
We must take to others, through our words and example, the God we
ourselves received in the Mass through the Word that was read and the Eucharist
received. We must allow others to
experience the divine through us, by bringing Christ to others just as Mary
brought Christ to Elizabeth and Zechariah. We
are all called to prepare for the Lord, who is about to come and help to prepare
others, and we do this by living as Jesus and Mary did.
We need to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty; clothe the
naked and visit and console the sick and imprisoned.
Just as Jesus was born in
Biblical Sources
New American Bible; Brown, R. K., and Comfort, P. W. (trans.) and Douglas, J. D., (ed.) “The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament”; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Hillers, D. R. “Micah”; Attridge, H. W., “Hebrews”; Bruce, F. F., “The Epistle to the Hebrews”; Fitzmyer, J. A., “The Gospel According to Luke”; LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Maddox, R., “The Purpose of Luke-Acts”; “The Collegeville Bible Commentary”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”.
Reflection by
Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa