Liturgy of the Word Fourth Sunday of Advent

LITURGY OF THE WORD FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

HYMN

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

O come, O wisdom from on high, who orders all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show and teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

INTRODUCTION

All sign themselves with the sign of the cross saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Leader: Let us praise God, who fills our hearts and home with peace. Blessed be God for ever.

All respond: Blessed be God for ever.

The Gloria is not sung during Advent.

Leader: Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

READINGS

It is encouraged that someone other than the leader should proclaim the readings of the day from a Bible. Otherwise, daily readings may be found at usccb.org/bible/readings, and audio recordings of the daily readings may be found at usccb.org/bible/readings-audio.cfm.

First reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

Refrain (all together): For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

The promises of the LORD I will sing forever; through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness. For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”; in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

Refrain (all together): For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.”

Refrain (all together): For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father, my God, the Rock, my savior.’ Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm.”

Refrain (all together): For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Second Reading: Romans 16:25-27

Gospel (All stand for the reading of the Gospel. A layperson omits the greeting, “The Lord be with you” and proceeds to “A reading from the holy Gospel According to ….”): Luke 1:26-38

REFLECTION ON THE READINGS

This week we have a reflection from Eathan Johnson, parishioner at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Knottsville:

“The power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35). Something we all truly dislike in life is when someone or something overshadows us and our accomplishments. This Sunday, God is asking us to humble ourselves so he can overshadow us. In the first reading from 2 Samuel, the Lord came to the prophet Nathan and said to King David: “Should you build me a house to dwell in?” (2 Samuel 7:5) God says , “It was I who took you from the pasture…to be commander of my people Israel…and I have destroyed all your enemies before you” (2 Samuel 7:8-9). In other words, God is saying, “I have done all these things and I will do even more for you and for all my people.” God is taking a moment in the story of King David to remind us that all the accomplishments of David, one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament, have only been because of God.

In the Gospel reading from Luke, Gabriel comes to Mary and greets her saying, “Hail, full of grace” (Luke 1:28)! which can also be translated as “Hail, favored one!” First, consider who is giving such a greeting—an angel. We tend to think of angels as peaceful, delicate, human-like beings, but we forget how incredibly powerful angels are. In the Gospel of Matthew when the angel came down from heaven to roll away the stone at the tomb of Jesus, there was an earthquake and the angel’s appearance is described as “like lightning” (Matthew 28:3). Zechariah sees Gabriel, the same angel that appeared to Mary, and “fear came upon him” (Luke 1:12).

Now, let’s consider the greeting that this powerful other-worldly being uses: “Hail, favored one!” You don’t “hail” just anyone—you “hail” royalty. So Mary is royalty, which is highest in honor in a human sense, and also favored by God which is highest in honor in the spiritual sense. An angel has come directly to her and given her this title. She must be the most important human on earth. But in order to conceive Jesus within her womb, something else had to happen to her: the power of the Most High had to overshadow her. Just as Mary conceived Jesus within her womb, we are to conceive Jesus within our hearts, but the only way to do that is to allow the Most High to overshadow us.

Mary is the model of humility for us. She has just been given a title as important as King David’s and yet we hear nothing of the great exploits of Mary. In fact we know little about Mary from Scripture. Most of what we know of Mary is from Sacred Tradition. It was for Mary, and is for us, more than enough to be recognized by God alone.

Are we able to be that humble? Are we satisfied if the only one who knows about our great deeds is God? Or do we seek honor elsewhere and feel the need to be recognized by others? If we worship and honor God in our life, and He chooses to bless us like King David so that our name is known, do we stop at the end of the day and give all that glory and honor back to God? All that we have, all we have done, and all that we are, is from God. So let us be humble and allow Him to overshadow us so that we might be filled more fully with his Holy Spirit.

Additionally, you can also find video reflections from the USCCB on the readings here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/.

Observe a period of silence for reflection on the Word of God. You may want to ask the following questions:

What word or phrase is stirring in your heart? How can you apply this message to your daily life?

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

Leader: Let us give glory to the great God, presenting our needs with trust and confidence.

You or members of your family can be invited to speak out their intercessions, to which all reply, “Lord, hear our prayer.” It would be good to include a prayer for the end of the coronavirus pandemic and a return to public Sunday Eucharist.

Leader: God of infinite mercy, hear the prayers of your people — who give praise for all the good things that come from you, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Response: Amen.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment 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.

ACT OF THANKSGIVING

Make a prayer of thanksgiving. This can be your own personal prayer of thanksgiving, a canticle of praise from scripture, or you may choose one of the following Psalms: Psalm 100; Psalm 113; Psalm 118:1-4, 19-29; Psalm 136; Psalm 150

CONCLUDING RITE

In solidarity with our diocese, here you could include Pope Francis’ prayer to Mary for protection against the coronavirus found at the beginning of the Diocese of Owensboro Prayer Companion.

Leader: May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.

All sign themselves with the cross.

Response: Amen

As an option here, you could add “Let us offer each other the sign of peace,” extending a sign of Christ’s peace to your loved ones by way of a hug, kiss, or whatever would be most appropriate for your situation.

HYMN

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, o come, our Lord of might, who to your tribes on Sinai’s height In ancient times did give the Law in cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

Traditional

Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.