Mass Reflection: Sunday, 20th December 2020

2 SM 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16; PS 89:2-5, 27, 29; ROM 16:25-27; LK 1:26-38

As any harried parent or excited child can tell you, there are just five days left until the celebration of Christmas begins. As Christian stewards, let’s live these last days of Advent well.

Our First Reading, from 2 Samuel, features King David, who has resolved to do God a favor by building Him a house in which to dwell. But God reminds David Who is truly in charge. “It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went and I have destroyed your enemies before you.” What is true of David’s position before God is true for all of us. Our God is mighty, all-powerful and Love itself. The only proper response is to worship Him and live our lives as a grateful gift for all His goodness to us.

How can we possibly live up to this task? Only by relying on God, as St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading, from his letter to the Romans. Paul instructs us to go to “him who can strengthen you… Jesus Christ.” The truth is, once we recognize that all we have is gift from God, the next step is to acknowledge that we need God’s strength and wisdom to guide us in the best use of those gifts for the building of His Kingdom. Hopefully, we are making time during Advent to go to God in prayer and through the sacraments to obtain the strength we need to live as His disciples and the guidance to know we are indeed following His will with the gifts He has entrusted to us.

In fact, our aim should be to make the words of our Blessed Mother our own. We read in today’s Gospel passage from Luke the wonderful words of her “fiat,” her “yes” to God’s plan. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” These are among the most beloved words in the Gospel. But the next sentence is also important for the Christian steward. 

After Mary’s fiat, we read, “Then the angel departed from her.” Our Blessed Mother was left with a lot of unexplained details about God’s plan for her! Yet, she followed God’s will perfectly. She gave herself and her life fully to God as a gift. She trusted in her Heavenly Father to guide her at each step, and He did. She was the first disciple. We are called to follow her example as disciples today.

This Christmas, let us resolve to make our whole life a gift to the One Who has given us every-thing. It is the work of a lifetime. But He will give us all the help and strength we need to do it.

Mass Reading: Sunday, 20th December 2020

FIRST READING
A reading from the second book of Samuel 7:1-5. 8-12. 14. 16
The kingdom of David will always stand secure before the Lord

Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest
from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet
Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells
in a tent’. Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for
the Lord is with you’. But that very night the word of the Lord came to
Nathan: ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you
the man to build me a house to dwell in? This is what you must say to
my servant David,” the Lord Sabaoth says this: I took you from the
pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I
have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your
enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the
greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant
them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed
again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the
days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest
from all their enemies. the Lord will make you great; the Lord will make
you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest
with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you
and make his sovereignty secure. I will be a father to him and he a son
to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use,
with strokes such as mankind gives. Your House and your sovereignty
will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for
ever.”

The Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm   Ps 88: 2-5. 27.29 Rv: 2

Response:  I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

1. I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.

2. ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.’

3. He will say to me: ‘You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.’
I will keep my love for him always;
for him my covenant shall endure.

SECOND READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans 16:25-2
The mystery kept secret for endless ages, is now made clear.

Glory to him who is able to give you the strength to live according to the
Good News I preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation
of a mystery kept secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must
be broadcast to pagans everywhere to bring them to the obedience of
faith. This is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the
way the eternal God wants things to be. He alone is wisdom; give glory
therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord.

Gospel Acclamation   Lk 1: 38

Alleluia, alleluia!
‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’
‘let what you have said be done to me.’
Alleluia!

GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke 1:26-38
Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and
the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her,
‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply
disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could
mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won
God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must
name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most
High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will
rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’
Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a
virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the
power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child
will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your
kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and
she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is
impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what
you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

The Gospel of the Lord.