HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT.

THEME: I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.

BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA.

 

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

*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
PURPLE/VIOLET

*INTRODUCTION*
There is a pattern in today’s gospel reading that is often found in the Jewish Scriptures. God calls someone to take on some role, the person called feels either unworthy or incapable of doing what God is asking, God promises to give them his empowering help for their role and task and, finally, the person says ‘Yes’ to God’s call.

RELATED: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF ADVENT.

*ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF THE DAY.*
In the gospel reading. God through the angel Gabriel greeted Mary as ‘highly favoured’ because he called her to a unique role. She was to conceive and bear a child who will be called ‘Son of the Most High’. Initially, Mary was deeply disturbed and asked, ‘How can this come about?’ When Gabriel assured her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, she gave a complete ‘yes’ to what God was asking of her, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me’. The role that God was asking Mary to take on was completely new. There was nothing comparable to this in the Jewish Scriptures. No one had ever been asked to become the mother of God’s Son. If anyone had reason to hesitate before God’s call, it was Mary. Yet, once assured that ‘nothing is impossible to God’, she did not hesitate to respond fully to God’s call.

*CONCLUSION*
God’s call comes to each one of us. It will not have the same dramatic form it had for Mary, yet, each of us is called to play a role in God’s purpose for the world. Today’s reading assures us that the God who calls us also empowers us to answer his call. Saint Paul expresses this conviction very simply, ‘The one who calls you is faithful and he will do this’. We go forth in response to God’s call, our baptismal call, not relying on ourselves, but, like Mary, relying on God who gives us his Spirit, and trusting, like her, that ‘nothing is impossible to God’.
May God bless us All through Christ our Lord.

 

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