Week beginning: 22nd December, 2024
‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord’ Luke 1:45.
Today’s Gospel reading is all about the Annunciation. Mary, Mother of the Saviour, is full of grace and the Lord is with her. Thus, Mary was graced from the very beginning. She was graced before sin could strike her. She was graced because the true Emmanuel, God with us, would be with her, within her, through her and made by her. This shows us that God in his wisdom had long ago prepared for us the most Blessed Virgin Mary.
On this last Sunday of Advent, we begin more intensively to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. There are the many practical things to do, such as the buying of presents, the shopping for food, and all the necessities of a great feast. But let us not forget that this great feast is in honour of the Lord and we take time to prepare ourselves spiritually as well. And if we look with objectivity at Mary, we will see in her simplicity and in her obedience to God’s will a wonderful model for our own lives. We cannot imagine very clearly what went through her mind on that day of the Annunciation. But all we know is that she placed herself at God’s disposal and that God found her to be a worthy vessel to carry his only begotten Son. She was not to build a Temple but to be the Temple of God.
Let us then pray today that we may imitate Mary and be so open and welcoming to God that He may make his true home in us and that we will carry him to all those we encounter.
Please find the link to this week’s Newsletter below:
