Scripture Reflections for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

“everything we say about the Blessed Virgin Mary in some way relates to and is verified by Christ and thus pertains to the mystery of the Incarnation”

“Let us resolve...that we will never be afraid to ask for an explanation, never be afraid to explore deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God’s love for us, and never be afraid to say, to whatever it is that God asks of us, ‘Let it be to me as you have said’.”

“only in giving ourselves, to and for others that we can be sufficiently open and vulnerable to receive the gift of God. Can you see yourself in this tension?”

“Mary contains the women of the bible as Jesus contains all priesthood and prophecy, and true kingship. She neither demands or refuses child or husband. She accepts the gifts she is given and she rejoices in God her saviour.”

“The immaculate conception means that our Lady was completely freed by Christ’s grace from sin, so that there was nothing to hold her back from God’s will, no sin to object to God’s plan and choice. Grace makes her too free for all that.”

“I have often wondered to myself how Mary knew that it was Gabriel who was appearing to her. It becomes clear from a comparison with the Book of Daniel, the only other book of the Bible which names Gabriel, in two appearances. That invites us to put them together.”

“Believers hand over to God, what is impossible, what is unclear, what is painful, realizing that God will do what we cannot do. In the end, surrender is trust.”

“Mary's story is often seen as a testament to the power of faith, strength and the capacity for individuals to play a crucial role in unfolding a greater plan”

“God is not trying to put you down, suppress you but God is trying to elevate you to a place where you could go on your own”

“It is God who brought us here through our fore parents. It is God who gave us the ability to work, earn and develop this nation. We must extend the generosity and the welcome to others. Extend our helping hand and make them stand on their feet.”

“God who opted to alter the project of David reminds us that we are not on earth to do things for Him, but to reflect and build on what He is doing for us, in us, and through us.”

“God enters through the smallest foothold: a baby born to a poor teenage girl in an obscure part of the world. God can create in us an open heart if we offer up the smallest bit of room.”

“We could say that the sanctuary-nature of Christ, who is both House of David and House of God, is being communicated to Mary by association. As such, Our Mother is a type and icon of the Church, which also shares the sanctuary-nature of her Lord”

“It is up to each of us to determine what we are able to do locally, nationally and globally. What matters, in the long run, is the sum of our total efforts on behalf of the common good and Earth itself.”

“The story of the birth of Jesus is one of hope in adverse conditions”

“at the heart of this story lies the struggle of a young girl trying to come to terms with the impact it would have on her life to be chosen by God”

“There can be no building which is a fit dwelling for the creator of the heavens and the earth nor would such a building in itself automatically guarantee his presence among His people”

“If we truly want what Jesus wants of us, we become members of his body on his terms, not ours. It is not something we do for God, but something he does for us.”

“Any encounter with the living God is disturbing, because God does not come to plump up the pillows behind our head and make us more comfortable where we are. God comes to invite, to challenge, to show us more love and truth than we thought we could cope with.”

“Mary is very often a silent presence in the Gospels. When she does speak, we are conscious of the great and powerful quietude from which her words come. It is the silence of the one who pondered in her heart the things she saw and heard.”

“This is Jesus who, yes, is the fulfillment of the Torah, yes is the fulfillment of the Temple, yes is the fulfillment of all the longings of the prophets...and perhaps above all is the new and definitive David, the king, the king who has come”

“The providential God, true to his promises is the Lord of history. The unfolding of his design, however, might not be what we expect and certainly will not be on the time table that we expect but in an attitude of hopeful anticipation we wait for its fulfillment.”

“the real House of David now we understand was meant to be the body of his son in which God would be pleased to dwell and into which he would invite the whole world”

“we who are in Christ we are called upon to...bring the reign of love into every aspect of life. That's the message, the kingly message we receive on this final Sunday of Advent”

“David's kingdom would be fulfilled in Christ his distant descendant and then the promise made to David and to Solomon about the Temple, fulfilled not in the ordinary, cultural, historical sense...but fulfilled mystically in Mary who becomes herself the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the Temple of the Word of God”

“It's a great paradox, the paradoxical drama of the Bible, we become more powerful when we render the ego powerless”