These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
“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.” (Lk 1:26-38)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122022.cfm
In this final part of Advent as we build up to Christmas, we hear the Infancy narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Today, in the middle of the Annunciation story, the angel suddenly breaks into the Hallelujah Chorus, which appropriately comes not from the Christmas section of Händel’s Messiah, but rather from the Easter section.
Then Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel said to him in reply, “I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” (Lk 1:5-25)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121922.cfm
Luke’s Infancy Narrative is a double experience: two annunciations (to Zechariah and to Mary), two nativities (John the Baptist and Jesus), two hymns of praise (Zechariah’s Benedictus and Mary’s Magnificat. But what a contrast in the two annunciation stories, the priest who fails to believe, and the young girl who says “Let it be done to me as you said.” And what a fitting punishment for a priest: to be mute, until the child is born! Come, Lord Jesus, come, do not delay!
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." (Mt 1:18-24)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121822.cfm
God is with us . . . that’s the great mystery we celebrate. Through the unfolding of history and in the messiness of human lives, God comes to be one with us so that we can be one with each other and one with God forever or as the ancient Fathers and Mothers of the church have taught us: The Son of God became the Son of Man so that women and men could become the dear children of God.
Salmon [was] the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. (Mt 1:1-17)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121722.cfm
We come to the second and final part of Advent, the time of the O’s (the O Antiphons): “O Wisdom of God come teach us the path of knowledge!” One of my favorite gospel readings is the genealogy of the Lord in Matthew’s gospel. The Rahab mentioned is not the Rahab, the “Harlot of Jericho” from the Book of Joshua, but just the name alone brings to mind that other Rahab of the sordid reputation. (It’s like the name Jezebel in the South: the name is used but NEVER for little girls). Ruth, a foreigner, is one the great, great grandmothers of the Lord, and then poor Bathsheba couldn’t even be mentioned. She’s just “the wife of Uriah,” whom David had murdered after the king had slept with his wife. A somewhat interesting family history for the Lord . . . in many ways a lot like our own!
Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed. Let not the foreigner say, when he would join himself to the LORD, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, Loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants– Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Is 56:1-3a, 6-8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121622.cfm
A house of prayer for all peoples . . . what a vision for Advent . . . what a vision for the church, where everyone can come and be joyful. For the Lord does not exclude anyone from God’s people. Maybe good Pope Saint John XXIII had this passage in mind when he said, "I never met a person I couldn't pray with."
