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19 December/Sunday/4th Sunday of Advent – C

Mic 5:1-4/Psa 80:2-3,15-16,18-19/Heb 10:5-10/Luke 1:39-45

By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

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.

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.

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.

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   Luke 1:38

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.’

Reflection

The Gospel Reading is the account of the visitation of Elizabeth by Mary. Reading this narrative a few days before the celebration of the nativity of Jesus helps us relive the joy of Elizabeth when she encountered her Lord through the visit of her cousin, Mary. Luke informs the reader of two things that happened to Elizabeth when she heard the greetings of Mary. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, which is an expression of her divine possession. Apart from that, the child in her womb leaped for joy. This is not strange in Jewish tradition because the Jews are familiar with the idea that unborn children may take part in world events occurring around them. Such participations anticipate their later positions in life. For example, in Gen 25 we read about the struggles of Esau and the twin-brother Jacob in the womb which is in anticipation of their position in life. In the case of our Gospel Reading, we can say that Elizabeth responded to the greetings of Mary while the unborn John the Baptist responded to the presence of the unborn Jesus. These two observations are confirmed by Elizabeth when she said to Mary “why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.” Elizabeth’s words came from her inspired interpretation of the movement of the unborn child in her womb. In other words, the Holy Spirit that filled her at the greeting of Mary was her source of inspiration. Other than that, we would find it difficult to explain how she got to know that Mary was “the mother of her Lord”. The intense nature of what she said reveals the depth of the inspiration she received.

There is also a double blessing in the greeting of Elizabeth that is worth our attention. She said: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. Similar formulae are found in two forms in the Old Testament. It is either a two-lined blessing in which the second line reveals the cause of the blessedness or a double blessing where God is blessed as the source of the blessedness of the human person who has been blessed. It is not easy to say which of the two forms is used in the Gospel Reading because there are elements of both forms in the formulation. We can say that Mary’s blessedness is in bearing the Messiah who is blessed because of his unique role and identity. Although Elizabeth speaks about the blessedness of mother and child, the nature of their blessedness remains unspecified in her own words. It is only betrayed in the question that she asks in Luke 1,43: “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” Her question reflects reverence in the face of God’s action and presence. It also expresses further what she meant by the blessedness of Mary and the unborn child. She revealed her joy at being visited by the one who is bearing the messianic child.

The encounter between the two women and their unborn children reveal what should be our own reaction to the birth story of Jesus. The approaching nativity of Jesus should bring joy to all who hear that our Saviour is at the door. His advent is a blessing for all who welcome him because it introduces the divine presence into our lives. His coming is also an occasion to bless God who in his bountiful mercy has decided to reveal his goodness to humanity. Our sins do not merit us such a great gift but God has blessed us with his only begotten Son so that we may have the fullness of life in him. As we await the Christmas event, we are invited to bless God and thank him for the great gift of his Son.

18 December/Saturday

Jer 23:5-8/Psa 72:1-13,18-19/Matt 1:18-25

by most Rev Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

First Reading   Jeremiah 23:5-8

I will raise a virtuous Branch for David

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –

when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David,

who will reign as true king and be wise,

practising honesty and integrity in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved

and Israel dwell in confidence.

And this is the name he will be called:

The-Lord-our-integrity.

So, then, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” but, “As the Lord lives who led back and brought home the descendants of the House of Israel out of the land of the North and from all the countries to which he had dispersed them, to live on their own soil.”

Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 71(72):1-2,12-13,18-19

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.

O God, give your judgement to the king,

    to a king’s son your justice,

that he may judge your people in justice

    and your poor in right judgement.

For he shall save the poor when they cry

    and the needy who are helpless.

He will have pity on the weak

    and save the lives of the poor.

Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,

    who alone works wonders,

ever blessed his glorious name.

    Let his glory fill the earth.

Amen! Amen!

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Ruler of the House of Israel,

who gave the law to Moses on Sinai,

come and save us with outstretched arm.

Alleluia!

Gospel  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.

Reflection

In the First Reading, the prophet Isaiah continues the prophecy of restoration. He assures the people of days that are coming when Judah would be saved and Israel dwell in confidence. He then says that the name to be given the one who would do all this is “The-Lord-our-integrity”. This person is to come from the line of Judah which was in the genealogy we read yesterday. The Gospel Reading helps us link the unfolding event with the man who makes the lineage possible, that is Joseph.

Matthew who does not have the annunciation story as we find it in Luke 1,26-28, presents the divine choice of Mary from a different perspective. The focus of the story is the birth of Jesus but its narration had to unravel first the mystery and surprise of why Joseph is the foster father of Jesus. Whereas Luke in his narration of the annunciation focused on Mary as the recipient of the message, Matthew concentrates on Joseph. He points to the bond that existed between Mary and Joseph prior to her being found to be with child.

A betrothal in Jewish society was a more serious matter than the contemporary notion of “engagement”. A betrothal was a formal pre-nuptial contract entered into before witnesses, which gave the man legal rights over the girl and which could only be broken by a formal process of divorce. Thus, when Joseph got to know that Mary was with child before they came to live together, he knew what he should do in such a situation. Out of respect for Mary, he contemplated an informal divorce which would have spared Mary publicity. In this, Joseph showed his respect for the dignity of Mary.

The divine intervention in a dream offers us the unravelling of the mystery and surprise of the conception of Mary. God intervened to preserve the dignity of Mary by revealing to Joseph that the child Mary was bearing in her womb was by the Holy Spirit. She was to give birth to a son who is to save his people from their sins. Being a devout Jew, Joseph understood the revelation and did not hesitate to take Mary to his home. In this development of affairs, it could rightly be said that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah” (Matt 1,16). In this story, we observe how God protects his own from all forms of humiliation. It also shows how he carries out his plan by intervening in human history in extraordinary ways.

17 December/Friday

Gen 49:2,8-10/Psa 72:1-4,7-8,17/Matt 1:1-17

By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

First Reading    Genesis 49:2,8-10

Until he comes, the sceptre will not pass from Judah

Jacob called his sons and said:

‘Gather round, sons of Jacob, and listen;

listen to Israel your father.

Judah, your brothers shall praise you:

you grip your enemies by the neck,

your father’s sons shall do you homage,

Judah is a lion cub,

you climb back, my son, from your kill;

like a lion he crouches and lies down,

or a lioness: who dare rouse him?

The sceptre shall not pass from Judah,

nor the mace from between his feet,

until he come to whom it belongs,

to whom the peoples shall render obedience.’

Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 71(72):1-4,7-8,17

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

O God, give your judgement to the king,

    to a king’s son your justice,

that he may judge your people in justice

    and your poor in right judgement.

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people

    and the hills, justice.

May he defend the poor of the people

    and save the children of the needy.

In his days justice shall flourish

    and peace till the moon fails.

He shall rule from sea to sea,

    from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

May his name be blessed for ever

    and endure like the sun.

Every tribe shall be blessed in him,

    all nations bless his name.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Wisdom of the Most High,

ordering all things with strength and gentleness,

come and teach us the way of truth.

Alleluia!

Gospel   Matthew 1:1-17

The ancestry of Jesus Christ, the son of David

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,

Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram was the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,

Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,

Obed was the father of Jesse;

and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,

Joram the father of Azariah,

Azariah was the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah;

and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.

Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon:

Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor was the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Achim,

Achim the father of Eliud,

Eliud was the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob;

and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;

of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.

Reflection

In the First Reading, Jacob addresses his last words to his sons. It is significant that of Judah, Jacob said his brothers would praise him. Furthermore, he stressed that “the sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he come to whom it belongs, to whom the peoples shall render obedience.” This is like a prophecy which is fulfilled in Jesus, a descendant of Judah.

The Gospel Reading presents the genealogy of Jesus Christ which is composed of a long list of names, beginning with Abraham and ending with Joseph, the husband of Mary. A good number of these names are unknown to us and some are very difficult to pronounce. The succession of names could be a reason to ask for the purpose of the genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew. The choice of the liturgy to present the genealogy is a way of stressing the reality of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Matthew wants to emphasise that in the light of the history of salvation, it is Abraham who leads to Christ. In the lineage that begins with Abraham, we experience the mercy of God and his desire to save all. We observe that even those who under normal circumstances would have been excluded from a typical genealogy are welcome in the divine plan of love. We note the presence of four women which is strange in a patrilineal society like Israel. In a patriarchal society, the lineage is traced from the father and not the mother. The presence of women in the genealogy of Jesus must be a message to the reader about the ways of God which are different from what human persons normally think. We also observe that the list is not composed of only saintly or holy people. We find great sinners like David who killed Uriah and took his wife Bethsheba and Solomon who married pagan women and allowed them to introduce their pagan worship in Israel.

Despite all the odds and the rugged nature of the genealogy, the reading emphasises that Jesus is a descendant of this lineage. He is born into a genealogy that includes great sinners; a genealogy that is imperfect although he himself was perfect. Jesus did not cling to qualities attributed to him. He rather emptied himself to become like us in all things except sin. As the day of the anniversary of his birth draws near, it is appropriate that we begin to contemplate his birth and what it means for us as Christians. We are invited to reflect on the imperfections in the genealogy of Jesus so that we may be more sympathetic toward those who are eager to listen to the word of God.