THANK YOU, LORD! 

December 22, Wednesday

FOURTH WEEK IN ADVENT

 

Today is a celebration of thanks to the Lord, who does great things to humble people who trust in God. In the Old Testament Hannah gives thanks to God because he has given her a son. She dedicates him to God. Samuel will be a very great prophet of the Lord. And Mary, a young, humble, unassuming girl boldly sings out her joy and thanks to God who will upset the world’s values through Jesus, the Son to be born from her. With Hannah and Mary we sing out our joy and thanks to God.

 

First Reading: Isaiah 1:24-28

This Decree, therefore, of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    the Strong One of Israel:
“This is it! I’ll get my oppressors off my back.
    I’ll get back at my enemies.
I’ll give you the back of my hand,
    purge the junk from your life, clean you up.
I’ll set honest judges and wise counsellors among you
    just like it was back in the beginning.
Then you’ll be renamed
    City-That-Treats-People-Right, the True-Blue City.”
God’s right ways will put Zion right again.
    God’s right actions will restore her penitents.
But it’s curtains for rebels and God-traitors,
    a dead end for those who walk out on God.
“Your dalliances in those oak grove shrines
    will leave you looking mighty foolish,
All that fooling around in god and goddess gardens
    that you thought was the latest thing.
You’ll end up like an oak tree
    with all its leaves falling off,
Like an un-watered garden,
    withered and brown.
‘The Big Man’ will turn out to be dead bark and twigs,
    and his ‘work,’ the spark that starts the fire
That exposes man and work both
    as nothing but cinders and smoke.”

 

Gospel: Luke 1:46-56

And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;
    I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
    on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
    scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
    beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.

 

Prayer

God of the little ones,
with Mary we rejoice and give you thanks
that you let Jesus Christ become one of us
and let him bring us the dignity
of your sons and daughters.
May we live up to that dignity
and to the joy that says
that we are deeply loved by you.
Like you, may we also learn to care
for all that is little and brittle
and bring your justice to the poor
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

The Almighty has done great things for me

“The Almighty has done great things for me,” sang the Blessed Mother during her visitation to Elizabeth. People who have placed their trust in God, especially those who have no one else in the world to lean on, have often identified with this song of this poor, young, unmarried pregnant woman!

Mary sang her hymn of gratitude and joy not at a time when she was in the comforts and securities of her family but when she was most uncertain of her future. Her proposed marriage was at stake and was facing the ignominy of being pregnant out of wedlock. What else was required to cause a nervous breakdown for a teenager? What the Blessed Mother exhibits in the magnificat is her stupendous reliance on God’s mighty providence.

Mary’s magnificat is more than a hymn of thanksgiving, for us it serves as a creed that reiterates our faith in the divine plan. The Church’s Liturgy of Hours included the magnificat in its daily prayer as a constant reminder to reassure ourselves of God’s concern and love for his ‘lowly servant.’ All what it requires is the humility to surrender before the plan of God to witness the ‘great things the almighty’ does in our lives.

The song of Mary narrates the mighty works of God one after another and rejoices over them. We read: He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones: We continue to sing these verses aloud, for this is our life testimony. It is true that at a time of illnesses, or when you realise that you are thrown out of your job, or when you have no ways to pay your rentals; when you fall out of a relationship – then, how easily do we succumb to fear and frustration! Like the disciples in the middle of the sea, caught in the storm, we cry and panic over the impending disasters.

But the voice of Jesus consoles us: “Courage, it’s I, do not be afraid” (Mt. 14:27). Let not our human weakness pull us back to despair, for notwithstanding the pains of this life, we know “the Lord is with us” – Emmanuel – and it’s our turn to sing with Mary our Magnificat.

 

Video available on Youtube: The Almighty has done great things for me