Archive for December 23, 2017

My reflections for 4th Sunday of Advent 

Posted: December 23, 2017 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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My reflections for the 4th Sunday of Advent

We often times have very good intentions and want to do things that seemingly would please the Lord. Instead of seeking His will for us and waiting on Him to guide our steps. Do this frequently enough, we may become compromised and become spiritually narcisstic. “I will not sit at the table with sinners because the Lord is telling me that I am set apart to do great things for Him.” Really? Is this truly what the Lord wants? Or does He intend that you lead them out of their sinful ways? Even the prophet Nathan thought David’s idea to build the Lord’s house was good one. But as the Lord says it clearly my ways are not your ways! Instead the Lord tells David His plans for Him and makes him a promise which the Jews held to and wrote down about five hundred years later to remind themselves even after the Davidic empire appeared to be totally wipe out. That the throne of David will be restored.

St Paul a scholar through the Holy Spirit recognised the fulfillment of the promises of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of all nations and so we should proclaim Him with great fervour to all non believers so that they too will have hope of eternal life.

Mary our Mother does not question the greeting nor the message from God, but accepted in obedience and full trust in the Lord our God even though she would not have understood the mystery yet to be revealed. In her purity she was chosen to be the living tabernacle of our Lord. Do we not see that we too are called to be likewise at every Eucharist? So that our Lord Jesus Christ can dwell in us. The Holy Spirit can live in us powerfully.

Another powerful message from the passage is that God can turn all curses into blessings. We who lead dry barren lives, who feel that we are at our wits end or that time for change is fleeting and hopeless, He the Lord can give us new life! For nothing is impossible for God. The new life we bring forth can become a powerful testimony of His great love and mercy.

Glory be to God in the highest. Amen
*Update 24 Dec *

In the homily today I heard another dimension of the first reading. David had it in his heart to do something good for the Lord His God, and God our Father knew the purity of his intentions, He however had other plans for David and will never be out done in goodness. His promises to David was beyond his imagination. God alone is wisdom so let us pray for His wisdom to rule our hearts. Amen

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Posted: December 23, 2017 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections
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The Mystery Kept Secret: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Readings:
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11, 16
Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

What is announced to Mary in today’s Gospel is the revelation of all that the prophets had spoken. It is, as Paul declares in today’s Epistle, the mystery kept secret since before the foundation of the world (see Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-9).

Mary is the virgin prophesied to bear a son of the house of David (see Isaiah 7:13-14). And nearly every word the angel speaks to her today evokes and echoes the long history of salvation recorded in the Bible.

Mary is hailed as the daughter Jerusalem, called to rejoice that her king, the Lord God, has come into her midst as a mighty savior (see Zephaniah 3:14-17).

The One whom Mary is to bear will be Son of “the Most High”—an ancient divine title first used to describe the God of the priest-king Melchizedek, who brought out bread and wine to bless Abraham at the dawn of salvation history (see Genesis 14:18-19).

He will fulfill the covenant God makes with His chosen one, David, in today’s First Reading. As we sing in today’s Psalm, He will reign forever as highest of the kings of the earth, and He will call God “my Father.” As Daniel saw the Most High grant everlasting dominion to the Son of Man (see Daniel 4:14; 7:14), His kingdom will have no end.

He is to rule over the house of Jacob—the title God used in making His covenant with Israel at Sinai (see Exodus 19:3), and again used in promising that all nations would worship the God of Jacob (see Isaiah 2:1-5).

Jesus has been made known, Paul says today, to bring all nations to the obedience of faith. We are called with Mary today to marvel at all that the Lord has done throughout the ages for our salvation. And we, too, must respond to this Annunciation with humble obedience—that His will be done, that our lives be lived according to His word.

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: December 23, 2017 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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We are in a sense back to where we were at the beginning of Advent as we are just before the eve of Christmas. Stay awake and prepare the way for the Lord!

Let us then rise up to the call, to be new spiritual Elijahs, new spiritual John the baptists! To bring about reconciliation. To encourage one another to turn away from sins as we lead each other towards the promised land; our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom. United with Him forever.

Lord I know that your hand is upon me. And I will serve You faithfully. Amen

First reading
Malachi 3:1-4,23-24

The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day. He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse.

Gospel
Luke 1:57-66

The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy.
Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.