Daily Reflection – Dec 21, 2015
Monday 21 December 2015
First Reading: Song of Songs 2:8-14 / Zephaniah 3:14-18
Psalm Response:
Cry out with joy in the Lord, you holy ones; sing a new song to him
Psalm 32(33):2-3, 11-12, 20-21
Gospel Acclamation:
O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!
Gospel Reading: Luke 1:39-45
Today’s Note: Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today’s Saint: St Peter Canisius
Gospel Reading:
Mary set out in those days
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,
“Most 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.”
Reflection:
“Soon the Lord God will come, and you will call him Emmanuel, for God is with us.”
It was Isaiah who said to the king: “The young girl (mistranslated as “virgin”) will conceive and bear a son and he shall be Emmanuel.” This child from Isaiah’s time will be an ordinary child. Royal indeed, but ordinary. All children might well be called Emmanuel, for God is with us in each child.
Remember gazing on a newborn or an infant and finding God there. Gaze on the child who still lives within you and wonder at the mystery of you, the depths and beauty of you, belonging so totally to God that you put flesh on God in 2015. Savor the God within and pray to reveal God to all whom you meet today.
According to the Canadian translation of the O antiphons, we pray: “O come, Emmanuel, God’s presence among us, our King, our Judge. Save us, Lord our God!” Set us free, and set free all those cowed by violence or those addicted.
