Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)

Ps 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17
My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!

1^st Reading: Jdg 13:2-7, 24-25a*

There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan called Manoah. His wife could not bear children. The angel of Yahweh appeared to this woman and said to her, ”You have not borne children and have not given birth, but see, you are to conceive and give birth to a son. Because of this, take care not to take wine or any alcoholic drink, nor to eat unclean foods from now on, for you shall bear a son who shall be a Nazirite of Yahweh from the womb of his mother. Never shall his hair be cut for he is consecrated to Yahweh. He shall begin the liberation of the Israelites from the Philistine oppression.” (…)

Gospel: Lk 1:5-25*

 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah, belonging to the priestly clan of Abiah. Elizabeth, Zechariah‘s wife, also belonged to a priestly family. Both of them were upright in the eyes of God, and lived blamelessly, (…) but they had no child. (…)

Now, while Zechariah and those with him were fulfilling their office, it fell to him by lot, according to the custom of the priests, to enter the Sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. (…) On seeing the angel, Zechariah was deeply troubled and fear took hold of him.

But the angel said to him, ”Don‘t be afraid, Zechariah, be assured that your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall name him John. (…)

This son of yours will be great in the eyes of the Lord. Listen: he shall never drink wine or strong drink; but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother‘s womb. Through him, many of the people of Israel will turn to the Lord their God. He, himself, will open the way to the Lord, with the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah; he will reconcile fathers and children; and lead the disobedient to wisdom and righteousness, in order to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Zechariah said to the angel, ”How can I believe this? I am an old man and my wife is elderly, too.” The angel replied, ”I am Gabriel, who stands before God; and I am the one sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news! My words will come true in their time. But you would not believe; and now, you will be silent and unable to speak until this has happened.” (…)

When his time of service was completed, Zechariah returned home; and, some time later, Elizabeth became pregnant. For five months she kept to herself, remaining at home, and thinking, ”This, for me, is the Lord‘s doing! This is his time for mercy, and for taking away my public disgrace.”

Reflections

If a woman was not able to have a child, it was often thought that it was because God was punishing her for some sin. But we see here that this was not the case. Zacharias and Elizabeth were blameless before God. They were not being punished. It took sometime time before they got a child. Zacharias felt it was even too late. And then he tries to give God a lesson in biology and procreation. ”How can I believe this? I am an old man and my wife is elderly, too.” He questions the message from the angel. What is clear wasn‘t because God didn‘t hear their prayers. It wasn‘t because they were sinning and so God wasn‘t answering their prayers. It was because God had something in store for them beyond anything they could ask or imagine. They would become the parents of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for Jesus Christ. They had waited and waited and waited, and God had finally answered, in His own time, and in His own amazing way! God always keeps his promises. He kept his promises to Israel. He kept his promises to Zacharias. And He will keep His promises to you. In causing Elizabeth to become pregnant in her old age, we read at the end of Luke 1:25 that God took away her reproach. God removed her shame of barrenness. One of the greatest promises in the Bible which God has given to each of us is that, like Elizabeth, He will take away our reproach and our greatest shame.

Daily Reflection 2018

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

Bible Diary ® 2018
Copyright © 2O17 
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
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3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)

Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

1^st Reading: Jer 23:5-8

Yahweh further says, ”The day is coming when I will raise up a king who is David‘s righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness. That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called Yahweh-our-justice!”

”The days are coming,” says Yahweh, ”when people shall no longer swear by Yahweh as the living God who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Rather, they will swear by Yahweh as the living God who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where he had driven them, to live again in their own land!”

Gospel: Mt 1:18-25

 This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ”Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus‘ for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel, which means: God-with us. When Joseph awoke, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home. He did not have any marital relations with her. When she gave birth to a son, Joseph gave him the name Jesus.

Reflections

An unmarried woman. An unplanned pregnancy. ”Who is the father?” ”They say Joseph still intends to take her as his wife. He‘s going to marry her after all this.” ”This whole thing is a disgrace. She and her love child should be stoned. The law requires it.” Joseph knows this is a scandal. He knows there are questions of faithfulness. But it is not a scandal of immorality. The real drama is that God is with us. We thought God was up there, or out there, maybe somewhere in the future. But then Mary got pregnant. The mystery of that pregnancy is that God is intimately present with our humanity and history. God‘s holy spirit fills the womb of Mary. The wonder of the event is that humanity can become pregnant with God. In this pregnancy God renews all the covenants of history and again chooses us to be his people. God‘s continuing promise to show up and live in the midst of our lives is fulfilled in Mary‘s pregnancy. The child within Mary is a love child. That is not, however, a euphemism for illegitimate, a child born to unmarried parents. The child is the revelation of God‘s love and fidelity for humanity. Love that can be seen, heard, touched. This embodied love of God will feed and nourish God‘s people. Joseph‘s daytime resolution to quietly dismiss Mary has given way to a night of dreaming, pondering, and wrestling. Joseph‘s view of Mary, her pregnancy, even himself has been enlarged and opened. He has begun to see this situation through the eyes of faith rather than what others thought about the marital situation. God is committed to us and makes Mary and Joseph his partners in bringing himself more intimately to humanity. God believes in us more than we do, says St. Augustine. This is the truth of the virgin birth and the mystery of the incarnation.

Daily Reflection 2018

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

Bible Diary ® 2018
Copyright © 2O17 
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com

3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet/Rose)

Ps 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17
Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

1^st Reading: Gen 49:2, 8-10

 “Gather around, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father Israel!

            Judah, your brothers will praise you! You shall seize your enemies by the neck! Your father‘s sons shall bow before you. Judah, a young lion! You return from the prey, my son! Like a lion he stoops and crouches, and like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter shall not be taken from Judah, nor the ruler‘s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and who has the obedience of the nations.

Gospel: Mt 1:1-17

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah‘s wife.
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings: Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uz ziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Ma nasseh, Amon, Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ — the Messiah.
There were then fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.

Reflections

Today‘s passage from Matthew is the opening of his Gospel. The genea­logy is divided into three significant parts, each with fourteen generations. The first part is from Abraham down to David, the se­cond from David to the deportation to Babylon, and the third from the deportation to Joseph and Mary. It is not a complete genealogy. The names mentioned all appear one way or another in the Hebrew Testament. There are four women mentioned – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. They are interesting characters in their own right. The Book of Genesis (38:15) recounts that Tamar pretended to be a harlot and seduced her father-in-law, Judah. Rahab was a prostitute, as the Book of Joshua attests (Jos 2:1), but the New Testament praises her for her faith and good works (Heb 11:31 and Jas 2:25). Ruth was one who showed her Je­wish mother-in-law care and fidelity. The infamous Bathsheba that Matthew described simply as Uriah‘s wife committed adultery with David. By including these women in Jesus' genealogy, Matthew is showing us that God takes humanity as it is to bring an unfolding plan to fulfillment. It involves sin and conversion, success and failure, sinners and saints. But God is at work in it, making broken ways straight and rough ways smooth. And ultimately, God's love prevails, a truth revealed in the person and life of Jesus. Jesus comes in our midst and is totally incarnated in the world so that he could communicate the message of God‘s love to the world and for the world. We are not true to our ­calling if we think that, in order to be true to Jesus, we have to separate ourselves from a material and sinful world. St. Thomas is right when he says that grace builds on nature.

Daily Reflection 2018

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

Bible Diary ® 2018
Copyright © 2O17 
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com

3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet/Rose)

Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

1^st Reading: Zep 3:14-18a

Cry out with joy, O daughter of Zion; rejoice, O people of Israel! Sing joyfully with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

Yahweh has lifted your sentence and has driven your enemies away. Yahweh, the King of Israel is with you; do not fear any misfortune.

On that day, they will say to Jerusalem: Do not be afraid nor let your hands tremble, for Yahweh your God is within you, Yahweh, saving warrior. He will jump for joy on seeing you, for he has revived his love. For you he will cry out with joy, as you do in the days of the feast.

I will drive away the evil I warned you about, and you will no longer be shamed.

2^nd Reading: Phil 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again: rejoice, and may everyone experience your gentle and understanding heart. The Lord is near: do not be anxious about anything. In everything, resort to prayer and supplication, together, with thanksgiving, and bring your requests before God. Then, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Gospel: Lk 3:10-18

 The people asked him, ”What are we to do?” And John answered, ”If you have two coats, give one to the person who has none; and if you have food, do the same.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and asked him, ”Master, what must we do?” John said to them, ”Collect no more than your fixed rate.” Then some soldiers asked John, ”What about us? What are we to do?” And he answered, ”Don‘t take anything by force, or threaten the people by denouncing them falsely. Be content with your pay.” The people were wondering about John‘s identity, ”Could he be the Messiah?” Then John answered them, ”I baptize you with water, but the one who is coming will do much more: he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. As for me, I am not worthy to untie his sandal. He comes with a winnowing fan, to clear his threshing floor, and gather the grain into his barn. But the chaff he will burn, with fire that never goes out.”

With these, and many other words, John announced the Good News to the people.

Lectio Divina

Read: Gaudete Sunday. Yahweh delights in His people and jumps for joy. We return the favor with joy in our hearts, and peace descends to our interiors. John baptizes with water; but the one who comes after him baptizes with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the fire of love.

Reflect: The third Sunday of Advent is all about rejoicing. But who rejoices? Whose joy is it? Primarily it is the Lord‘s. It is God who will jump for joy on seeing us, His beloved. He will cry out with joy for us, so says Zephaniah. And when we see the joy of our beloved, the one who delights in us, we cannot but be joyful and rejoice. Our joy is a spontaneous response in gratitude to the discovery of having been loved by a love that we didn‘t know ever existed.

Pray: You have been loved beyond your understanding. Knowing this, speak to God in words that spontaneously well up in your heart.

Act: Gaze on the crucifix – the symbol of a love that delighted us so much that it embraced death to give us life.

Daily Reflection 2018

Bible Diary ® is a product of Claretian Publications, a division of Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. (CCFI) which is a pastoral endeavor of the Claretian Missionaries in the Philippines that brings the Word of God to people from all walks of life. CCFI aims to promote integral evangelization and renewed spirituality that is geared towards empowerment and total liberation in response to the needs and challenges of the Church today.

CCFI is a member of Claret Publishing Group, a consortium of the publishing houses of the Claretian Missionaries all over the world: Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Chennai, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Madrid, Macao, Manila, Owerry, São Paolo, Varsaw , Yaoundé.

Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57^th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL

With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

 

Bible Diary ® 2018
Copyright © 2O17 
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
U.P. P.O. Box 4, Diliman,
1101 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (63-2) 921-3984
Fax: (6352) 921-7429
Email: ccfi@claretianpublicationscom
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.claretianph.com