Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

In today’s Gospel reading, Matthew relates the genealogy of Jesus. To read it is to be invited into Jesus’ family history. Many of the names are unfamiliar. Others, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon call to mind key figures in the Davidic lineage. Still others bring to mind that not all people in that family line are models of holiness. It is this human family that Jesus enters into when he took on flesh to live among the people he created in his image. In my own family genealogy, who are the models I look to for growing in my faith? My parents and grandparents come to mind; beyond that, my lineage is swallowed up in all of history, and I flounder to identify who I am and where I came from.

God, you sent your Son to us within a long lineage—part of your plan from the beginning of time—to bring us out of captivity and into everlasting life in your presence. Help me understand, Lord, that just as you had a plan for your Son and for all of history, you also have a plan for me, to draw me ever closer to you.

Be with me today, God. I know you are present, but I am not always mindful. In the people I encounter today, especially my family, and in the opportunities you present to me today, through your grace let me know you are near.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Friday of the Third Week of Advent

Jesus said to the Jews: “The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.”

In today’s Gospel reading from John, Jesus expresses an essential truth of his character. What he says the Father sent him to do he does. “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified,” Jesus says. “But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.” Jesus speaks the truth because he accomplishes the will of his Father, who is truth. How do I respond to the Father’s call to live in truth by doing his will?

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your Son. You bless us with Him in every way. As the psalmist says, “God, our God, has blessed us. May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him!” Give me the grace to trust your testimony and your every word. I want to understand your meaning by saying, “But I have testimony greater than John’s.” As Saint John Paul II said of John the Baptist: “[He] is above all a model of faith. Following the example of the great Prophet Elijah, in order to listen more attentively to the word of the one Lord of his life, he leaves everything and withdraws to the desert, from which he would issue the resounding call to prepare the way of the Lord.” Through your life, death, and resurrection, Lord, John first prepared the way for us.

Thank you, Lord, for preparing my heart this Advent to receive Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Stay with me today.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://youtu.be/2W-KSOPWWBY

Readings

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Jesus said to the crowds about John the Baptist, “Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus has just answered the question the disciples of John the Baptist has asked him: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus makes clear his relationship to those listening by saying of John that he was “more than a prophet,” that he is the messenger that prepares a way for the Lord. The Pharisees and scholars of the law, he says, who were not baptized by John rejected God’s plan for themselves. How is it, God, that I routinely go to great lengths to see and do what is trivial but struggle to bring you into the present moment each day?

God, help me understand the restlessness that the crowds felt is little different from the restlessness I feel each day, whether at work or at home. It takes very little to unsettle me when comfortable habits are disrupted. If I had less to cling to, I’d have less to let go of. What is it about John the Baptist that prepares the way? He lived in the desert, he ate locusts and wild honey, and he lived apart from the comforts of civilization. He lived a life of detachment. Lord, let me know you are with me today. I hear in this the words of Saint Paul: “You must increase; I must decrease.”

Quiet my soul, Lord. See me in the great and small distress of the day. From the first reading, let me keep within my soul this consolation: “But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the Lord, your redeemer.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the chief priests and elders the parable of the two sons. The father said to the first: “Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.” He said, “I will not.” Afterward, he changed his mind and went. He gave the second son the same order. He said, “Yes, sir,” but did not go. Jesus then asks them, “Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Which of these sons am I most like? How often do I enthusiastically respond to God’s call but then falter?

God, help me understand the Gospel reading. Tax collectors and prostitutes, Jesus says, are entering the Kingdom of God before the ones—myself included—who first say yes and then don’t go. Is it that because of their sins, they no they have greater need for your grace and mercy? Grant me the grace, Lord, to hear and respond to you, as in the words of the first reading: “But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly, Who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD: the remnant of Israel.”

I feel the constraints of time today and a stubborn drive to accomplish the work that lies ahead in my own way. Lord, through your presence, let me hear you and go where you want me to go. Show me how to do it your way. You are my father, and you ask me to go out and work in the vineyard today, in the things I do and with the people I meet. Let me humbly accept the work you give me and find peace in following your will.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://youtu.be/2W-KSOPWWBY

Readings