First Reading - Micah
5:1-4 ©
Responsorial Psalm - 79(80):2-3,15-16,18-19
©
Second Reading - Hebrews
10:5-10 ©
Gospel Acclamation - Lk1:38
The Gospel of the Day – Luke
1:39-44 ©
(NJB)
The
prophet Micah foresaw the coming of the Prince of Peace, of Jesus of Nazareth, who
was Joshua bin Joseph, the child of Mary, who Saint Paul called the Christ.
Note
well; Micah’s prophecy was not a reading of the future. We know this because
the future is not predetermined. God, the creator of the universe, God made us
and it free.
Micah’s
prophecy is an expression of hope, of trust in the way of love, which he
believed all people are called to.
As
all prophets must do, Micah called our attention to the troubling times we are
facing. There is sorrow and there is pain and there is a deep sense of
alienation felt among the people, of isolation from each other and of separation
from God.
This
is the human condition
As
a good prophet does, Micha pointed toward our future, to the hope that the
Christ will come, the archetype of peace to which all human should aspire, a
peace that all leaders should seek to serve.
It
is easy to read things the wrong way, consider the words of the psalmist for
today
The
psalmist misunderstands the natural unfolding of historical events for the will
of God. God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings, God is not the
author of our history past, or our future histories; we are.
God
is the shepherd of all people, not of Israel only, and not of the Church
founded in Christ’s name.
God
does not reside on a throne and God is not the general of armies. Armies and
kingdoms are human institutions and when we imagine God in the role of emperor or
king, price or warrior we do a disservice to God, who created the universe, and
everything in it. God who loves all of God’s children with the same equal share
of the divine, the infinite and eternal love.
God
will not rescue anyone from human the human dilemma, not in this life, whether
it is long or short, easy or hard, there is no deliverance from it, save by our
own action, and but for the love of our family and friends, or the stranger if
we are so fortunate.
Remember
this:
God’s
face shines on everyone, look for it in the face of your neighbor, in the face
of your enemy, in the faces of those who persecute you. God is as much present
in them as God is present in you, and where God is present God is present
fully.
God
did not rescue the Israelites from Egypt. They rescued themselves, and they committed
horrible atrocities and considerable crimes along the way. I am not talking
about the promises they broke to God, God knew that they would. They murdered and
plundered, killed and robbed, put dozens of tribes to the sword along the way.
God
forgave them, and loved them anyway.
God
did not send the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Ptolemy’s, or the Romans, to
punish them.
God
did not destroy the temples.
Each
of those conquering Empire’s did what they did for their reasons in their own
time, just as the armies of Joshua son of Nun did in his.
The
only lesson we are to draw from it is this, God will not protect you, or show
you favor in this world. We are all subject to the vicissitudes of change and
the random nature of change.
It
is up to us, God’s children, to love, show mercy, mete justice, and care for
those downtrodden. We are called it.
Service
is the seal of our baptism, we are called to it. It was the call to service
that Jesus heard when he accepted his death on the cross, his life was sealed
there too.
Note
well:
Saint
Paul the Apostle made a tragic error in his early formulation of the purpose of
Jesus’ ministry and the reason for his death.
When
Jesus said, “God wanted no sacrifice, takes no pleasure in holocausts, or
sacrifices for sin, he meant it.
Jesus
did not mean to suggest that his own death was the sacrifice God wanted, the purpose
of Jesus’ ministry was not that his death become an oblation to God or a
holocaust rising to the heavens.
He
was murdered plain and simple, it was a political assassination.
Know
this:
Jesus
stood in the tradition of the prophets against the cult of animal sacrifice,
because he knew that the cult of sacrifice was a corrupt practice, one that
burdened the poor, bankrupting them to fatten the wealthy.
That
is why he turned the tables of the money changers over in his tirade at the
temple.
That
is why the priests plotted his murder and conspired with the Romans to achieve
it.
God,
the creator of the universe, God takes no pleasure in blood sacrifices and
burnt offerings. They are a contrivance, witchcraft, ineffectual and
meaningless.
The
only sacrifice God desires, is the sacrifice of service, offered in love,
engendering hope.
Your
loving service to your neighbor, is the offering God wants from you, service
which furthers the ends of peace, fosters trust, seeks justice, and teaches a
love for the law of God that was written in your heart.
Pay
attention:
The
writers of Mark’s gospel begin their narrative when Jesus was a man, an adult at
the beginning of his public ministry.
The
early Christians wanted more, and so the authors of Luke went back in time and
narrated a fable about his conception and birth. In this fable, or myth
(whatever you think it should be called) they attempted to tie up various loose
ends in the stories that were being told about Jesus.
They
wanted to unite different factions of the Christian movement in that was
already falling apart just a half-century after his death. This particular
narrative from today’s reading, was meant to appeal to the followers of John
the Baptist.
It
brought forth the notion that Jesus and John were actually cousins, and that
even though John was older, he was a follower of Jesus from the time he was in
the womb.
Just
as John’s mother was subordinate to Mary.
It
is a story, a fable, a myth; the whole thing is a fiction.
It
is an unfortunate fiction, because a great deal of theology and doctrine has
been hung from these exercises in make-believe, and such fictions were in
themselves naked political calculations meant to manipulate the burgeoning
movement.
The
succeeding Gospels each in their turn reached back further in time. The writers
of Matthew inserted a confusing genealogy; tracing Jesus’ heritage back to
Adam, through David on his father’s side, and yet, at the same time, the Church
insists that we believe Joseph was not his biological father.
The
writers of John begin their narrative with the beginning of time itself, and
the creation of the universe.
It
is sad to note, that over the centuries, what people believed about these
fables, ended up being the cause of extreme, bitter and deadly partisan conflict
among Christians, setting aside the
actual teaching of Jesus; to love your enemies, and pray to for those who
persecute you.
Remember
this when you pray; remember the errors of the church, the fictions of Luke,
the mistakes of Paul, the carelessness of the psalmist, and remember the hope
of Micah, that the proper expectation of the faithful is for the reign of
peace.
First Reading - Micah
5:1-4 ©
He Will Stand and Feed His
Flock with the Power of the Lord
The
Lord says this:
But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be
born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the
distant past, to the days of old.
The
Lord is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give
birth gives birth.
Then
the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel.
He
will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of
the name of his God.
They
will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the
land.
He
himself will be peace.
Responsorial Psalm - Psalm
79(80):2-3,15-16,18-19 ©
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O
shepherd of Israel, hear us,
shine forth from your cherubim throne.
O
Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
God
of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit
this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
May
your hand be on the man you have chosen,
the man you have given your strength.
And
we shall never forsake you again;
give us life that we may call upon your name.
Lord of hosts, bring us
back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
Second Reading - Hebrews
10:5-10 ©
God, Here I Am! I Am Coming
to Obey Your Will
This is what Christ said,
on coming into the world:
You who wanted no
sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in
holocausts or sacrifices for sin; then I said, just as I was commanded in the
scroll of the book, ‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice
that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be
offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the
sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I
am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace
it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of
his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
Gospel Acclamation - Lk1:38
Alleluia, alleluia!
I
am the handmaid of the Lord:
let
what you have said be done to me.
Alleluia!
Gospel - Luke 1:39-45 ©
Why should I be honoured
with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
Mary set out and went as
quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into
Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s
greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit
from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the
child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the
promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
The Fourth Sunday of
Advent
