December 21
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intention
7:45 AM - Bill Sovik / Weeks & Vito Family
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Song of Songs 2:8-14
Hark! my lover–here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. My lover speaks; he says to me, “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! “For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!
“O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice, For your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21
R. (1a; 3a) Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
R. Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.
Gospel Acclamation
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 1:39-45
Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
“Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.”
Reflection
Our gospel text picks up immediately where yesterday’s concluded. Let’s stay in that same mindset… awe and wonder at just how remarkable it is that God—the author of all life…the creator of the vast universe…the Holy Trinity in its fullness—is held miraculously in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We too can generously respond with God’s grace to become a dwelling place for the Holy Trinity. Living out our call to holiness is a journey that often begins by recognizing our need for purification of whatever in us is ‘not from God,’ namely sin and vice. The more we allow the Lord to purify us, to help us grow in virtue, the more the temple of our being becomes a place for the Holy Trinity to live and produce great fruit within us, for his body on Earth, the Church.
Prior to Mary, God never ‘gave’ himself to any creature more fully than he did to Mary. It is said that no one ever understood better than Mary the grandeur of the divine “Gift;” nor has there ever been a more loving, more faithful guardian and adorer of it…and this is why we are often invited to imitate Mary’s virtues. By imitating her, we walk the path that leads us closest to her son.
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: “If you but knew the gift of God!...There is one created being who knew this gift of God, one who never lost a particle of it…the faithful Virgin, who kept all things in her heart…Mary was forever seized upon and held by God. In what peace, what recollection, Mary went to and lent herself to everything!”
Mary teach me the secret of your interior life; teach me to live recollected with God present in my soul. Teach me your silence, communicate to me your spirit of adoration; close to you, in your school, I too wish to be the little temple of the Trinity. Help me to detach myself from creatures and to live in silent, loving adoration of the Trinity in the innermost depths of my soul. Amen!
Peace,
Fr. Foley
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