HOMILY FOR THE WEDNESDAY 3RD WEEK OF THE ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR THE WEDNESDAY 3RD WEEK OF THE ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B

THEME: ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 23:1-6
Luke 1:26-38

LITURGICAL COLOUR
VIOLET

INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the 20th December of the Advent season Year B.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people and the king of Judah, Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah. As a context, the people of Judah had long gone through many periods when they disobeyed the Lord, and king Ahaz of Judah was one of those kings that tradition had labelled as being wicked and disobedient against God. This means that it was likely that he allowed and even promoted idol worshipping and the corruption of the worship of God at the Temple of Jerusalem, and in not following the Law and commandments of the Lord.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In our gospel reading this morning we hear Luke’s story of the annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she is to conceive and give birth to a son who will be called Son of the Most High, Son of God. This extraordinary scene has inspired artists down through the centuries. Indeed, it is depicted in a couple of places in our own church. Mary was a young woman betrothed to a young man, a carpenter, in the small village of Nazareth in Galilee, a region far to the north of the great city of Jerusalem. There was no reason to expect that this woman in this place at this time would be touched by heaven in this wonderful way that had such consequences for us all.

CONCLUSION
Dear friends in Christ, Mary was graced unexpectedly by God, and she was graced in this way on behalf of us all. As we approach the feast of Christmas we prepare to celebrate God’s gracious initiative towards us all in giving us the gift of his Son through Mary. When we are graced in this way all we can do is surrender to the grace, allow ourselves to be graced. This is what Mary does. ‘Let what you have said be done to me’, she said. She shows us how to receive God’s unexpected grace. In receiving this grace, we will discover that this grace will make demands on us; we will be asked to give as we have received. Yet, receiving comes before giving and this morning we are invited to be one with Mary in opening our hearts to receive from the fullness of God’s grace, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.
The Lord be with You.

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