Mother Church celebrates Sunday, December 23, 2018, as the fourth and last Sunday of Advent in the liturgical year C. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “let the earth be opened and bring forth a saviour. Amen”.
The spotlight of this day’s Eucharist is on Mary, the mother of our Saviour, as we listen to the story of the Visitation. No one can help us understand the significance of Christmas better than Mary. That is why she, better than anyone else, can help us to prepare for and recognize the coming of her Son, our Redeemer, who touches us, as he does John the Baptist, from his mother’s womb and sends us leaping with joy.
In the first reading, the prophet Micah looks forward to the future king of the house of David, who will be born from the Ephrathah clan and rule over a reunited kingdom of Israel and Judah, and will be the true shepherd of God’s people. The Epistle to the Hebrews, in the second reading, tells of the priestly sacrifice of Christ. It is a passage that expresses beautifully the attitude of the Son to his Father in accepting to become man. The Son, who says ‘Father, here I am! I am coming to do your will’, offers himself on the cross as a sacrifice in obedience to his Father’s will.
In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to follow Mary’s example of obedience to God’s will. Like her, let us tell our Lord, in all humility, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your will.”
First Reading: Micah 5: 1-4.
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 Israel. 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.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Last Sunday, our first reading was taken from the book of one of the minor prophets: Zephaniah. Today, our first reading is still from another minor prophet, Micah. There are twelve books of the minor prophets in the Bible. These are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. They are called minor, not because their works are of less importance than those of the major prophets, that is, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, but because their works are generally shorter. For example, the book of Isaiah is 66 chapters long whereas the book of Micah has only 7 chapters.
From the African Bible, we learn that the prophet Micah was a contemporary of two other minor prophets: Hosea and Amos (in the northern kingdom of Israel) and of Isaiah, who lived in Jerusalem. The political and social circumstances of Micah’s prophecies were therefore the same as those found in Isaiah and Amos. They were generally characterized by corruption that was destroying both the religious and social life of Israel. This was intensified by the greed of the wealthy and the powerful, the dishonesty of the merchants, and the rampant corruption of the priests and prophets, who were leading the people to worship the pagan gods of their conquerors. On the whole, pagan worship had replaced or greatly adulterated the worship of the God of Israel.
This sinful condition had caused the downfall and destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in 721 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah also fell to the Assyrians in 701 BC and Micah, who came from a small town southwest of Jerusalem watched as Jerusalem was conquered and ransacked by the Assyrians.
Micah’s message is basically a denunciation of the rulers, priests and prophets who had taken sides with the exploiters of the weak and the helpless. He denounces their sham religion and prophesied that God’s judgment would fall on Samaria and Jerusalem and only after that would restoration come about.
It is that restoration we hear in the first reading of this day. It will be brought about by a king who would come from the line of David and who would rule over a reunited kingdom of Israel and Judah and would be a true shepherd of God’s people. He would rule over the whole earth, not with force of arms, but in the peace and security God alone can bring. He identifies the small tribe which settled in the insignificant town of Bethlehem as the place from where the Messiah would come. That Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us.
What message does the prophecy of Micah have for us in Cameroon today? Unfortunately our country has earned for itself the unenviable title of the most corrupt country in the world two years in a row. The situation has been made worse by a senseless war the government has been prosecuting for the past three years in the northwest and southwest regions of the country. The result is untold destruction of human lives and property and corrupt officials are reaping a profit out of it.
We all know how corruption, greed and dishonesty have helped to destroy the social, economic, moral and religious fabric of our fatherland. The prophet Micah’s warning that God’s punishment on the perpetrators of such acts would be severe was not only addressed to the people of his day. It is addressed to us in Cameroon today. How can we be saved from such a situation? As Micah says, let us worship the true God, whose Son, Immanuel, is here with us. Let us refrain from worshipping the false gods of money, witchcraft, fortune-telling and superstition, and welcome the true God, maker of heaven and earth. Amen.
Second Reading: Hebrews 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.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
The Letter to the Hebrews is one of the most imposing and important books in the New Testament. It was written principally to show the superiority of Christianity over the Old Covenant. It focuses on the idea that Christ's priesthood and sacrifice are superior to those of the priests of old. The author clearly indicates that the Law of Moses is not capable of saving mankind which has fallen through Adam’s sin. Christ has therefore, through his cross, abolished and replaced the Old Law with the new Law of the Gospel, which is the law of grace, freedom and interior challenge. This sacred writer uses this teaching as the basis for encouraging his readers to persevere in the faith despite the difficulties they may face in their Christian life. The Letter to the Hebrews is therefore a word of exhortation to steadfastness in faith, which is anchored on Jesus Christ in whom we believe.
The passage of our meditation tells of the priestly sacrifice of Christ. This is a beautiful passage that expresses well the attitude of the Son in accepting his Father’s wish to become man. The ways of the OT and its diversity of sacrifices were only preparations for the supreme sacrifice of Christ, the offering of his body and blood on the cross, in obedience to his Father’s will.
The Messiah’s sacrifice is greater than the sacrifices of the Old Law. The sacrifice of Christ has replaced every ancient sacrifice because Christ came into the world to offer himself up to suffering and to death for the redemption of the world. The sacrifices of goats and bulls offered to God in ancient times were not capable of taking away the sins of men, only Christ’s sacrifice could and did.
As we say in the Creed, for us men and for our salvation, Christ came down from heaven so as to give us full right to ascend to heaven ourselves. Let us therefore welcome him. Let us say to him: “Here I am, Lord, I have come to do your will”. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia: I am the handmaid of the Lord; let what you have said be done to me. Alleluia.
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45.
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 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.”
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
At the beginning of Saint Luke’s Gospel, the evangelist introduces us to an old, married couple who live on the hope that God will not abandon them but will fulfill their dream of a child. Zechariah and Elizabeth represent the hope that refused to die and that hope is fulfilled in their son, John the Baptist, who has come to prepare the way for the one from Bethlehem, whom the prophet Micah foretells in the first reading of this day.
The story of the Visitation is a familiar one. As soon as Mary hears that her kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age too, conceived a son, she hurries to be with her, to help her through her pregnancy. She has no regard for the difficulties of the journey. From her visit to her cousin, we, Christians, should learn to be caring people. In the words of Saint Jose Maria Escriva de Ballaguer, the founder of the Opus Dei Movement, “If we have this filial contact with Mary, we won’t be able to think just about ourselves and our problems. Selfish personal problems will find no place in our mind.”
In the meeting of the old Elizabeth and of the young Mary, the Old Testament meets the New Testament. Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to call Mary “the mother of my Lord”. She repeats the words of the angel Gabriel when he confirmed Mary as the bearer of the Messiah. The child leaping in Elizabeth’s womb, the Holy Spirit falling upon her, the loud cry of joy and thanksgiving are all signs that Mary is truly full of grace.
In Mary, the centuries-old promise of God has now become a reality. The prophets of old had been announcing the coming of the Messiah. The prophet Hosea announces that Israel will still return to its ancient love and will blossom in it (Hos 2: 1.25). Isaiah announces the coming of the Messiah (Is 7: 9-14), while the prophet Micah, in the first reading of this day, points to Bethlehem of Judah as the place of the Messiah’s birth (Mic 5: 2-5).
As we hear in the Second Preface of Advent, “The prophets proclaimed that he would come, the Virgin Mother carried him in her womb with boundless love. The Baptist prepared the way for his arrival and announced his presence. He has given to us now the joy of looking forward to the mystery of his birth, so that watching always in prayer we may fittingly celebrate the Christmas feast.”
That Christmas feast is only a few days from now. We will soon see our Saviour lying in the manger. At Christmas we celebrate the event that Jesus is the kept promise of God. From the stable to the moment of his ascension into heaven, Jesus proclaims a message of hope. He is our only hope. Our Lord points out to us that our life as Christians only has meaning when we have hope that one day God will give us eternal rest in his kingdom.
Christ comes to us at Christmas as God’s special gift to us. He, in turn, invites us to make a promise to him as well. The promise to repent from our sins and forgive each other’s trespasses. Let us pray: “Lord, open our hearts to your grace. Through the angel’s message to Mary, we have learned to believe in the incarnation of Christ, your Son. Lead us by his passion and cross to the glory of his resurrection. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
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