Fourth Sunday of Advent

Catechism Links [1]
 
CCC 496-507, 495: Mary’s virginal motherhood
CCC 437, 456, 484-486, 721-726: Mary the Mother of Christ by the Holy Spirit
CCC 1846: Jesus as Savior revealed to Joseph
CCC 445, 648, 695: Christ the Son of God in his Resurrection
CCC 143-149, 494, 2087: the “obedience of faith”

“The Nativity of Jesus”
by Caravaggio, 1609

 
Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary: [4]
 
Reading 1: Isaiah 7:10-14
 
The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God;
let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
“I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary people,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.
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Commentary on Is 7:10-14
 
Jerusalem is being attacked by two neighboring kings when Isaiah is commanded by God to go and speak to the Jewish king, Ahaz, cautioning him to have faith that God will protect Jerusalem. Ahaz is hypocritical in both his faith and his response, which is interpreted as cynical when he says: “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”
 
Isaiah follows with his prophetic vision. He does not realize the import of his prediction. Most scholars agree he thinks he is merely speaking of the rescue of Judah. “The sign proposed by Isaiah was concerned with the preservation of Judah in the midst of distress (cf Isaiah 7:15, 17), but more especially with the fulfillment of God's earlier promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) in the coming of Emmanuel (meaning, "With us is God") as the ideal king (cf Isaiah 9:5-6; 11:1-5). The Church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and his Virgin Mother.”[5]
 
"The child, the son, is the most significant part of the sign. If the prophecy refers to the son of Ahaz, the future King Hezekiah, it would be indicating that his birth will be a sign of divine protection, because it will mean that the dynasty will continue. If it refers to another child, not yet known, the prophet's words would mean that the child's birth could manifest hope that 'God was going to be with us,' and his reaching the age of discretion (v. 16) would indicate the advent of peace; the child's birth would, then, be the sign that 'God is with us.'" [6]
 
CCC: Is 7:14 497
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
 
R. (7c and 10b) Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
 
The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
 
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
 
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is king of glory.
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Commentary on Ps 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
 
Psalm 24 is a processional song. It recalls that God is the great Creator and he calls his people to be faithful. It asks the question: "Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?" The psalmist answers, only those who are sinless (completely reconciled to God). They who achieve that beatified state will receive the reward of eternal life from the Savior. It focuses on the character of the one who worthily seeks God, and the one who is worthy to come into God’s kingdom and stand before him. We are answered: “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.”
 
This is part of an entrance hymn, sung as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple at Jerusalem, followed by the faithful. Once again in this song, we find a reference borrowed by St. John’s Revelation (Revelation 14:5), and an image created in the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:22). Who are the ones allowed full access to God?
 
CCC: Ps 24:6 2582
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Reading II: Romans 1:1-7
 
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,
called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God,
which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh,
but established as Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness
through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship,
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Commentary on Rom 1:1-7
 
St. Paul introduces himself to the Christian churches in Rome with this opening message from his letter. We note that the apostle has seen clearly that all that was promised by the law of Moses and the Hebrew prophets was fulfilled in Christ, thus establishing continuity with the Jewish faith. In typical fashion, the introduction includes a statement of purpose (apostolate of the Gospel of Christ) and a profession of faith. Specifically, he directs his remarks to the Gentiles, also called to faith. It is implicit in this greeting that the profession of faith is shared by the church in Rome.
 
CCC: Rom 1:1 876; Rom 1:3-4 648; Rom 1:3 437, 496; Rom 1:4 445, 695; Rom 1:5 143, 494, 2087
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Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24
 
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
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Commentary on Mt 1:18-24
 
Following the genealogy, St. Matthew provides the short story of Mary’s virginal conception through the Holy Spirit, and how God intervened to ensure that Joseph also heard his call. This section of the Nativity narrative from St. Matthew’s Gospel tells the story of Joseph’s dilemma. He is required by Mosaic Law to file a petition of divorce in front of witnesses. He has resigned himself to this course of action when he had a dream in which an angel came to him and told him of the origins of the child Mary bore. For his part, Joseph accepted the message and did as the Lord commanded.
 
“Joseph, the tsaddiq or pious Jew, finds himself before a God who seems to contradict himself, just as he did when he asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the only son of the promise.  We are always compelled to read anew the deeds of God in our lives.  His justice and righteousness are inseparable from a hidden inventiveness whose logic cannot be codified once and for all. ‘To make an example by punishing publicly’ is the full connotation of the verb δειγματίσαι in the legal context in which it appears here, and it is the verb that describes the procedure prescribed by Jewish law for one convicted of adultery. But Joseph did not want to do with Mary in a literal obedience to Jewish law, God, in a sense, did with her, only in an unexpected way. The Gospel here proposes Mary as the example of how the God-fearing person ought to behave when approached by a God who always has unfathomable reasons for acting as he does.  The depth of Mary’s obedience, thus “exposed” by God, ought to convert our disobedience by the sheer force of its radiance! What Joseph did decide to do was λάθϱα άπολΰσαι to ‘dismiss’ or ‘divorce her secretly’.” [7]
 
CCC: Mt 1:16 437; Mt 1:18-25 497; Mt 1:20 333, 437, 486, 497; Mt 1:21 430, 437, 452, 1507, 1846, 2666, 2812
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Reflection:
 
All of the sacred texts used today have been used in our liturgy within the past twelve months.  They have occurred at different times and with different significance but each of the readings has been presented, some multiple times (the psalm and St. Matthew’s Gospel).  They come together today to tell a story of God’s plan being fulfilled.  It is remarkable that none of the individuals involved today had any relationship to each other, yet all were integral in causing God’s plan of salvation to come together.  Isaiah, probably thinking he was delivering a message to his king so the people would take heart that God was with them, predicted the birth of Jesus, born of a virgin, called Emmanuel, the Messiah.
 
Following Isaiah by hundreds of years come St. Joseph and Mother Mary, both being of the line of King David as was Ahaz. Both were selected by God to raise his Only Begotten Son, who was to be the salvation of the world.  Finally, we have St. Paul who comes as an apostle of the Son of God. He proclaims the arrival of the Messiah, predicted by Isaiah, and raised by St. Joseph and St. Mary, bringing the message of hope to the world.  We stand today in awe of God’s wondrous works and his plan of salvation.
 
The baton is passed to us as we gather ourselves for the final rush to the Nativity of the Lord. In this time of grave division in our communities it is urgent that we broadcast the message that was given to the shepherds at our Savior’s first coming. We take the message of peace and joy, which is encompassed by the Kingdom of God, into a world that prefers the darkness of greed, hate, and hedonism.  Like a scene from a vampire movie, we take the cross of Christ to dispel the evil of the world and bring hope to those without hope and love to the unloved.
 
Always it has been the same.  God called Isaiah to deliver a hard message; he called Joseph and Mary to take on a heavy burden based upon faith; and he hurled St. Paul into a hostile world.  We reach out for the hand of the infant Jesus, knowing where it leads, and pledge once more to walk with him to the Kingdom of God.
 
Pax
 
O Antiphon for December 21^st: [8]
 
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.
 

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture today is “The Nativity of Jesus” by Caravaggio, 1609.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] NAB footnote on Isaiah 7: 10ff.
[6] The Navarre Bible, Major Prophets (Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002), 73.
[7] Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996), 65.
[8] The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah. (USCCB).