DAILY- HOMILY

December 18, 2014

Thursday 3rd Week of Advent 

(O Adonai)  

Jer 23: 5-8 / Ps 72: 1-2, 12-13, 18-19 / Mt 1: 18-25 

Reading: Jer 23: 5-8

Yahweh further says, "The day is coming when I will raise up a king who is David's righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness. That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called Yahweh-our-justice!" "The days are coming," says Yahweh, "when people shall no longer swear by Yahweh as the living God who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Rather, they will swear by Yahweh as the living God who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where he had driven them, to live again in their own land!" 

Gospel: Mt 1:18-25

This is how Jesus Christ was born. Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her. While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins." All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel which means: God-with-us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and he took his wife to his home. So she gave birth to a son and he had not had marital relations with her. Joseph gave him the name of Jesus.

Reflection:

     We cannot underplay the role of both Mary and Joseph in our salvation history. What a leap of faith it was for Mary, who was a very young girl at that time of the angel's visit, to accept an illogical message that she was pregnant even without relations with a man!  She knew deep in her heart that this was part of God's divine plan and that she was chosen to have an integral part in it. Even Joseph had his share of shock with the visit of the angel of God in his dream! Despite his natural reaction of planning to divorce Mary, he ungrudgingly and willingly obeyed and brought Mary home as his wife and gave the name of Jesus to his son. We cannot imagine how our salvation history would pan out if either Mary or Joseph had doubts about the message of the angel and refused to follow! We, too, need to be humble and empty ourselves of our own plans, of our own desires which are not aligned to God's will and plan for our lives. Have we ever heard God speak to us through the Holy Spirit and call us to do something, yet we delay since we think it is impossible, or because what He is asking us to do is difficult and outside of our comfort zone? Maybe we are not following God's call because we feel we are not capable of doing it. God only wants what is best for us, so delaying in taking action on His call will mean delay in achieving success.

Prayer Requests:

We pray ...

... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn

... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary

... for families who are in need of healing

     * healing and recovery of Susan Sy, Sy Hap Sai and Eufrocina Navarro

... for world peace and reconciliation

... thanksgiving and special intentions - Beny Sy

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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