First Reading – Isaiah 7:10-14
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6
©
Second Reading – Romans 1:1-7 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 1:23
The Gospel According to Matthew
1:18-24
(NJB)
Listen!
God is not a politician; the divine spirit does not engage in the machinations of human dynasties. The creator of the universe is not a kingmaker. God does not give victory in battle; God does not appoint winner and losers. God, Immanuel, the God of Jesus Christ, God is with all people, at all times, in all places…“from the depths of Sheol to the heights above.”
Know this:
God loves each and every one of us as a parent love’s their child; we are God’s children, and God’s love is without measure, flowing out from the divine source of all being and sustaining everything.
God stands with all people, whether or not any of us stand with God; God’s presence is constant regardless of how we may waiver and fail. All things and person have their being in God who is the foundation of all that is, without whom there is nothing…and in nothing there is not even the possibility of being.
If you wish to climb the mountain, if your desire is to find God, do it; God desires to be found. However, the path to God is closer than you might think; simply turn to your neighbor, whoever they are, wherever you are, and you may see God reflected in their face.
God is there; behold the face of God, and in the presence of the divine give thanks; give thanks for your neighbor, with your neighbor give thanks. Demonstrate God’s faithfulness to you, demonstrate the faith living in you, by trusting in the divine and exemplifying it through love.
There is no other way.
Reflect on the teaching of the apostle and do not repeat the errors of Paul who was nakedly concerned about his own state of holiness; do not worry about holiness, such pretensions have no pertinence to the task before us. Rather, believe that God loved you before the creation of the world, when only the possibility of you existed, know that even then you were loved and desired…for who you are and the contribution you make to the collective experience of us all, for without you the rest of us are not…believe that this is true of all things and beings, just as it is true of you, for this is true of everyone; everyone is loved by God, everyone is a vessel of holiness.
The apostle was not chosen; but rather he chose to preach the Gospel, the good news; he was not passively converted, he actively converted, undergoing kenosis and metanoia, a turning around in repentance followed by the recognition of God’s loving embrace
Believe that this is true.
If you seek God’s blessing you will find it in the service you provide to your neighbor, to your mother and father, to your sister and brother; know that God desires to see you blessed and that you find God’s blessing in this way. If you seek to do justice, to be justified or justification in anything, find it in humility and practice it in mercy.
Remember.
God is not confined to the pages of a book, to inked scratching’s on parchment or vellum or the printed word on paper, neither is God bound by the history and mythology of a single people. We may look to such histories and traditions for glimpses of God and remembrances of past encounters with the divine, but if you seek the living God you must find God in the beating hearts of living beings…for God is alive in us.
In the mythological space of the Garden of Eden, when the first parent walked with the creator, there was no talk of kings, and no talk of God finding glory through victory in battle…let us return to those metaphors now, written simply in the light and warmth of growing things.
Consider the Gospel reading for today:
Jesus descends from David through his father Joseph (if he walked the earth at all). Jesus was a human being…this is a simple truth; he was not a lord or king. Jesus rejected those titles, and even though he did words to that affect were hung on the cross to mock him.
Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph, was a Jew of the diaspora; he was rabbi (which means that he was a pharisee), he was a teacher and a healer; that is how the story goes…
The record of his life speaks of a man whose works provide an unparalleled example of goodness and the fullness of grace. He was not a conduit of grace, he was a manifestation of grace…the providence of God emanating from the seed of the divine planted at the core of his being (God in God’s fullness), the same seed that lies dormant within all of us but was germinated and came to fruition in Christ.
Jesus’ mission was not to confer on human beings something which they lacked, but to activate in them something innate, the inherent capacity for good and a receptivity for God’s love.
Understand this:
Mary was betrothed to Joseph and Joseph was of the House of David. Mary became pregnant before their wedding according to the design God put in place for the propagation of all human life, with no other intention behind it.
Matthew depicts Joseph as having second thoughts about his betrothal when he learns that Mary is pregnant; this would be especially true if the child were not his, but even if he knew that the child was his, a man of his time might still have second thoughts about being a father, it would be reasonable for such a man to consider breaking his promise to her by setting her aside. He did not have to take her into his house…but then, after an examination of his conscience and by listening to the spirit of grace within him, Joseph made a choice; he embraced the truth and accepted responsibility for his child who he named Joshua after the great hero of the Exodus.
If Joseph had succumbed to his fear and weakness and rejected Mary when she was with child (a real possibility in that time and place), Mary would have been destroyed; she would have become an outcast with no standing in her community, she and her child would have gone into servitude and likely would have perished after much suffering.
The narrative shows that Joseph was humiliated by his weakness and humbled by his moment of doubt, but he came through that moment having learned what it means to truly love. He choose good and rejected evil…if you believe it.
First Reading – Isaiah 7:10-14
The Maiden is With Child
The
Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself
coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz
answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then
Isaiah said:
‘Listen
now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without
trying the patience of my God, too?
The
Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign.
It
is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she
will call Immanuel,
a
name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6
©
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of
glory.
The
Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the
world and all its peoples.
It
is he who set it on the seas;
on
the waters he made it firm.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of
glory.
Who
shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who
shall stand in his holy place?
The
man with clean hands and pure heart,
who
desires not worthless things.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of
glory.
He
shall receive blessings from the Lord
and
reward from the God who saves him.
Such
are the men who seek him,
seek
the face of the God of Jacob.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of
glory.
Second Reading – Romans 1:1-7 ©
Our Apostolic Mission is to Preach
the Obedience of Faith to All Pagan Nations
From
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus who has been called to be an apostle, and
specially chosen to preach the Good News that God promised long ago through his
prophets in the scriptures.
This
news is about the Son of God who, according to the human nature he took was a
descendant of David: it is about Jesus Christ our Lord who, in the order of the
spirit, the spirit of holiness that was in him, was proclaimed Son of God in
all his power through his resurrection from the dead. Through him we received
grace and our apostolic mission to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan
nations in honour of his name. You are one of these nations, and by his call
belong to Jesus Christ. To you all, then, who are God’s beloved in Rome, called
to be saints, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send grace and
peace.
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 1:23
Alleluia, alleluia!
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 1:18-24
How Jesus Christ Came to
be Born
This
is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph;
but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through
the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare
her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do
this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has
conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and
you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from
their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord
through the prophet:
The
virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a
name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of
the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home and, though he had
not had intercourse with her, she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.
The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)
