https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/YfADCBmLQxU50eGDo2f5?ru=Paul-Evangelion
GOSPEL THIS WEEKEND. (Episode 510)
Readings for Sunday, December 22, 2024 - Fourth Sunday of Advent. Year C
FIRST READING: Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1ab+2, 14-15, 17-18. "Lord make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved"
SECOND READING: Hebrews 10:5-10
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 1:39-45). Alleluia, alleluia! I am the servant of the Lord. May his will for me be done.
GOSPEL: Luke 1:39-45
Image Credit: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/YfADCBmLQxU50eGDo2f5?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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Please listen to the audio recording of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Year C - Sunday, December 22, 2024, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-advent-3/s-PlMiVzVnbPt - (Episode 510)
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Homily: Fourth Sunday Advent. Year C - Sunday, 22 December 2024
*Prologue
"Yes, truly blessed is she who believed that the promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled" – And blessed are we, when we hope and trust and believe that the lord will be faithful to us and fulfil the promises, he made to us.
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Mary and Elizabeth meet with an unspoken bond, born of their shared condition. They're each expecting a baby. They know they cannot face this alone.
And they also know that God has no intention of letting them face this alone. God is with them, really with them. This yes from these two ladies will need an ongoing commitment.
It will need care, time, and of course, God's sustaining grace. They know they are God's partners in bringing to birth hope and life in a very real way. This beautiful gospel today illustrates the importance of giving thanks and expressly naming our blessings.
I remember hearing a story about a man who would always write down the significant things that happened to him. He had two methods of writing these things that happened to him in his life. He said he would write in the sand, all the list of hurts that he had received.
But he also would carve in stone, all the blessings he received. When he was asked, why do you do this? And why do it differently? He said, I inscribed the hurts and wrongs in sand, so that the winds of forgiveness and love can eventually erase them after a time. But just as importantly, I remember to carve all my blessings and graces in stone, so that time, busyness, or even misfortune or circumstance will be unable to erase those memories.
Carving our blessings in stone. What a wonderful thing!
It serves as a constant reminder to all of us of the things for which we are eternally grateful and ought to remember always.
Why do I suspect that for many of us, including myself, we do things the other way around. We write the countless acts of kindness, love, generosity and grace and blessedness on shifting sands of memories, whilst carving in stone all the hurts and grudges and bad memories and misfortunes and the list of our own and others' sins and weaknesses. And that doesn't do us any good at all.
The Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Elizabeth are wonderful examples of faithful discipleship. They notice the graciousness of God happening all around them and within them. They both delight in praising God and in thanksgiving.
They make a deliberate and vocal decision to name those blessings of God and to give voice to the presence of God. It is truly an inspiring moment, a moment of true and abiding praise and thanksgiving. The other thing that strikes me about this well-known passage today is the importance of family, including extended family, our family of faith, our parish, our friends, our colleagues and the wider community as well.
The Virgin Mother must have been daunted and filled with awe by what she knew was happening to her and what her future would be. Not everyone would understand what God was doing in her life. Not everyone would be happy and certainly not everyone would have goodwill towards her and assume that the Holy Spirit was at work in this extraordinary event.
Mary went to visit Elizabeth. Together they meet in great joy and affection. They gain enormous support from each other.
How very important is the support and encouragement we give to one another in times of joy and times of trial. This weekend, as Advent comes very quickly to a close, let's take some time to carve a few things in stone. Let's look back.
Who are some of the people we need to give thanks for from this past year and all past years for that matter? Let's recall in our hearts and minds every act of kindness and love that we could possibly think of. So many people have shown us these acts of kindness and love daily and let's remember the people, the many people, through whom we have experienced Christ's graced presence, his love, compassion and mercy, his kindness. Let us remember and give thanks for all these people and all the blessings in our hearts and minds and show this gratitude in our words and in our actions.
And let us take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ's birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn each year and each day in the Bethlehem of our homes and in our daily lives and in our hearts. Let us take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the divine mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is so wonderfully present. Let's seek out people like Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin Mary who have grateful remembering hearts, who focus on the positives and show us the world in all its goodness for us to build our lives upon. People who don't dwell on negatives and who do not get us more and more upset or downcast by focusing on everything that is wrong.
Let's be attentive to the ways in which God is present to us, especially God's abiding presence in action in the people with whom we socialise, work and live.
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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
(A) Alice Camille, 2009: A Book of Grace-filled Days).
https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/YfADCBmLQxU50eGDo2f5?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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Fourth Sunday of Advent. Year C (Sunday, December 22, 2024) (Episode 510)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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{{Peace and greetings to you all.}}
INTRODUCTION
In the Name of the Father (+) and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
We continue our Advent journey. We now light the fourth Advent Candle. The "Angel's Candle" Reminding us of the message of the angels: "Peace on earth, to people of goodwill. .
(The Presider/helper, lights the fourth candle)
O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who yearn for you. Lord Have mercy.
O King of all, Come and save humanity, whom you formed from the clay. Christ Have mercy.
O Emmanuel, Lord our God, Come and save us. Lord Have mercy.
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(no Gloria in Advent)
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Psalm 80:1ab+2, 14-15, 17-18. "Lord make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved"
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 1:39-45). Alleluia, alleluia! I am the servant of the Lord. May his will for me be done.
Memorial Acclamation
1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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PREFACE: Advent II
EP II
Communion side. pwk: RH
(theme variation: v3 )
(pre+post variation: v2-lonjg)
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{Thank you for giving generously of your time and prayer.}
Go in peace.(glorifying the Lord by your life)
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Archive of homilies and reflections: homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead: soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection " - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
"O Come. Lord. (Advent) " - In Memory of Paolo Mario (Paul) Giacomantonio (1968-2020).
By Paul W. Kelly. Based on the Ancient church "O Antiphons " of Advent.
Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics, By Stefan Kelk, 2020.
[ Production - KER - 2024]
May God bless and keep you.
{extra text : unspoken for Advent -
Roman Missal, 3rd edition, 2010, (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA.
"The Psalms " by The Grail - 1963, 2009.
Prayers of the Faithful - Robert Borg "Together we pray " - (1993) }
Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly.
Microphones: - SHURE MOTIV MV5
Editing equipment: NCH software - MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software
NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 12.44
Sound Processing: iZotope RX 6 Audio Editor
[ Production - KER - 2024]
May God bless and keep you.
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