God is with Us: The Fourth Sunday of Advent

God is with Us 

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 18, 2022

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Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24

 

          While Mary often gets the major attention in the birth narratives, Joseph is a hero of this passage. Joseph is one who gets what God is doing in his life. In Matthew’s Gospel, before this passage appears, the ancestral lineage of Joseph is proclaimed, placing Joseph as a key figure in the House of David, a critical person in allowing salvation history to unfold. Through the angelic dream appearance, Joseph becomes obedient to divine instruction, and, like Mary, his “yes” is essential for salvation history. He is placed in a lineage of just men, obedient to the law, but tempered by his compassion for the woman to whom he was engaged. In naming the child, Joseph acts as the legal father of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the Emmanuel prophecy. Through Emmanuel, God is with us. Through Jesus, God will save us from our separation from God.

 

          The story of the birth of Jesus touches a special place in our soul where we understand the significance of God’s actions to enter our lives. While our hearts may be moved by the physical birth of the child, we know that there is another purpose, that this was God’s way of reaching into our souls to say, “I have come for you.” If God has come to be with us, there is no way God is ever going to leave us. What God has created and loved; God can never forget. Through Jesus, God enters our lives, and that is where God wants to stay.

 

          I hear stories of people feeling disconnected from God or being unable to pray in ways that make God feel real to them. Some hold stories of not feeling worthy of God’s love, because they are broken or that they don’t have matters together well enough, and they are not able to keep on a righteous track, or that they are struggling with addictions or mental or emotional issues. There always seems to be a reason for not yet being in a place that would make a person lovable to God, but that is what people don’t get. There is no perfect time or place or condition. God comes into our world because of those issues, and God is satisfied with who we are. God did not make anyone perfect, and God does not expect or want that. God just wants us to find and make our happiness just as we are, with whomever is near, and to find ourselves completely worth God’s love. 

 

          The Christmas season is expressed by sharing gifts with loved ones. It is far easier to give something meaningful to others, and far more difficult to give something meaningful to ourselves. Please understand that you are a gift to others. More people than you imagine like you and care for you. You are a gift to yourself, a gift to be shared generously and freely. There is absolutely nothing that you have to do to earn God’s love, or for that matter, the love of others. We don’t have to try to please God to be loved. We don’t have to try to please others to be loved. I hope a gift that you allow yourself this season is to treasure all those people who are in your life and care about you. There are so many more than you would imagine. The whole reason for the nativity is so that we know how close God wants to be to us. It did not happen just for the people over 2,000 years ago. It happens for today, and for you. God is still with us because it is God’s free choice. 

 

          Joseph was favored by God because of his justice, and he was a major hero of the original story because he made room for God in his life during inopportune times. He increased his compassion and remained faithful to God’s mysterious ways. We, too, can increase the space we allow for God in our lives, to accept the reality that God likes to be with us, no matter what is unsettled and incomplete, that God wants to nourish the already unique relationship, so much so that others may plainly say about us, “God is indeed with you.”

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

Monday: (Judges 13) A barren woman was visited by an angel to receive the message that she would bear a son. She named him Samson and the spirit of the Lord stirred within him.  

 

Tuesday: (Isaiah 7) This is the sign that you will be given: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall be named Emmanuel.

 

Wednesday: (Song of Songs 2) My lover come, springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a young stag. Arise my beautiful one. Come.  

 

Thursday: (1 Samuel 1) Hannah presented her son, Samuel, to the Lord. She left Samuel to grow as a servant of God.     

 

Friday (Malachi 3) I am sending my messenger before me to prepare the way. I will send you Elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of all people back to God.  

 

Saturday (2 Samuel 7) When King David settled into his palace, he was distraught because his Lord had no proper abode for himself. The Lord told David that this house will be David’s.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 1) Zechariah, on priestly duty, and his wife, Elizabeth, prayed fervently. An angel visited them to announce that they would bear a son, who was to be named John. 

 

Tuesday: (Luke 1) The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a son who would become the savior of the world. He shall be named Emmanuel.

 

Wednesday (Luke 1) Mary set out to the hill country to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah. When she entered the house, Elizabeth recognized that Mary was pregnant with the Lord.

 

Thursday (Luke 1) Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.”   

 

Friday (Luke 1) When the time came to name Elizabeth and John’s son, they wanted to name him after his dad, but Elizabeth said, “No. He will be called John.”

 

Saturday (Luke 1) Zechariah sang, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to his people and set them free.”

 

Saints of the Week

 

December 18 - O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come to rescue us with your mighty power.

 

December 19 - O root of Jesse's stem, sign of God's love for all the people, before you the kings will be silenced, to you the nations will make their prayers: come to save us without delay!

 

December 20 - O key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, opening the gates of God's eternal kingdom: come and free the prisoners of darkness.

 

December 21 - O radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

 

December 21: Peter Canisius, S.J., priest and religious (1521-1597), was sent to Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Switzerland during the time of the Protestant Reformation to reinvigorate the Catholic faith. He directed many through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. He is a doctor of the church for his work in bringing many people back to the faith.

 

December 22 - O King of all nations, and their desire, and keystone of the church: come and save us, whom you formed from the dust.

 

December 23 - O Emmanuel, our king and giver of the Law, the hope of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, Lord our God.

 

December 24: ERO CRAS  In the Roman Catholic tradition, on December 23, the last of the seven “O Antiphons” is sung with the “Alleluia” verse before the Gospel reading at Mass and at Vespers – Evening Prayer in the Divine Office/Breviary. Most ordinary Catholics, however, are more accustomed to hearing these antiphons as verses in the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Saints are not celebrated during the octave leading up to Christmas.

 

December 17 - O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• December 18, 1594. At Florence, the apparition of St Ignatius to St Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi. 
• December 19, 1593. At Rome, Fr. Robert Bellarmine was appointed rector of the Roman College. 
• December 20, 1815. A ukase of Alexander I was published banishing the Society of Jesus from St Petersburg and Moscow on the pretext that they were troubling the Russian Church. 
• December 21, 1577. In Rome, Fr. Juan de Polanco, secretary to the Society and very dear to Ignatius, died. 
• December 22, 1649. At Cork, Fr. David Glawey, a missionary in the Inner and Lower Hebrides, Islay, Oronsay, Colonsay, and Arran, died. 
• December 23, 1549. Francis Xavier was appointed provincial of the newly erected Indian Province. 
• December 24, 1587. Fr. Claude Matthe died at Ancona. He was a Frenchman of humble birth, highly esteemed by King Henry III and the Duke of Guise. He foretold that Fr. Acquaviva would be General and hold that office for a long period.