Thursday, 20 December 2007

Daily Gospel
Thursday of the Third week of Advent

Sts. Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob

Commentary of the day
Saint Amadeus of Lausanne : The Holy Spirit draws forth the new creation from Mary

Reading

Is 7,10-14.
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world,
or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary
men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be
with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.


Ps 24(23),1-2.3-4.5-6.
A psalm of David. The earth is the LORD'S and all it holds, the world and
those who live there.
For God founded it on the seas, established it over the rivers.
Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?
"The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who
have not sworn falsely.
They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving
God.
Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of
Jacob." Selah


Lk 1,26-38.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of
Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the
virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found
favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name
him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God
will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations
with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to
be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old
age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me
according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.


Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day

Saint Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159), Cistercian monk, then Bishop
Third Marian homily (SC 72)

The Holy Spirit draws forth the new creation from Mary

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” He will arise within you, Mary. In
some saints he has come; in others he will come; but in you he will arise…
He will arise by means of the fertility, the abundance, the fullness of his
outpouring in your being. Even when he has filled you, he will yet be upon
you; he will sweep over your waters to create in you a work greater and
more admirable than when, hovering over the waters at the beginning, he
brought created substance into being in all its various forms (Gn 1,2).
“And the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Christ, the power and
wisdom of God, will overshadow you. Then he will take human nature from you
while keeping the fullness of God, which you are unable to bear, even as he
assumes our flesh. He will take you beneath his shadow because the humanity
to be taken by the Word is to be a screen for the inaccessible light of
God. This light, filtered by its screen, will penetrate your most chaste
womb… We therefore pray you, Sovereign Lady, most worthy Mother of God, do
not despise today those who ask with fear, who seek with devotion, who
knock with love. We pray you, tell us what feelings moved you, what love
seized you… when this was accomplished in you, when the Word took flesh
from you? In what state was your soul, your heart, your spirit, your
senses, your mind? You burst into flame like the bush that was shown to
Moses long ago and you did not burn, (Ex 3,2). You dissolved away in God
but were not consumed. Burning, you melted beneath the fire from on high
yet regained strength from that fire divine to burn again and dissolve once
more in him… You became more virgin still – and more than virgin because
both virgin and mother. Therefore we greet you, full of grace: the Lord is
with you. You are blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your
womb.




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