Let Him Be Born In Your Heart
4th Sunday of Advent
“For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”Ps. 89
Jesus continues to seek shelter in the hearts of people of this century, and just as in times past, He still cannot find a place. This is a verse from a song that holds true. He continues to knock on the door of our hearts, but we need to listen to that voice, full of love, pleading for us to open to enrich and bless us; He comes so that we may have life abundantly.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.”Revelation 3:20
The first step is what He often tells us, even before stating the commandments: LISTEN ISRAEL. If we don’t heed His call, we cannot respond or open our hearts to Him. He cannot enter by force; He cannot enter if we don’t open by faith, and for that, we need to hear His word, His preaching, which He continues to offer us today through His ministers in the Church. FAITH COMES FROM HEARING, through listening to His word (Romans 10:17).
The tragedy is that many turned a deaf ear, preferred darkness, rejected His light and His word, thus they did not receive Him:
“He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”John 1:11ss
But many did not receive Him through faith, and therefore did not accept becoming children of God. They chose to live in darkness, as creatures of this world, depriving themselves of the gifts and blessings that God wanted to give them.
Let this not be our case. Let us be well-prepared in faith to receive Him in our souls so that we may have His divine life and thus become emissaries of His good news, radiating His light wherever we go.
He comes with so much love; He only wants to spare us much suffering, giving meaning to our humanity, which He assumes out of love for us, despite the suffering it entails, to give meaning to our crosses and sufferings and to show us that He is the way that leads us to the Father, teaching us to accept our cross and death and to live as children of God.
He consoles us in our adversities, makes our cross smoother and lighter because He gives us hope that we are only on the way to the fullness of life in the resurrection. LET US RECEIVE HIM WITH JOY AND LIVE AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT.
Readings for the Week
Sunday: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 86-12, 14a, 16/Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29/Rom 16:25-27/Lk 1:26-38
Monday: Vigil: Is 62:1-5/Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29/Acts 13:16-17, 22-25/Mt 1:1-25 or 1:18-25
Night: Is 9:1-6/Ps 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13/Ti 2:11-14/Lk 2:1-14
Dawn: Is 62:11-12/Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12/Ti 3:4-7/Lk 2:15-20
Day: Is 52:7-10/Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6/Heb 1:1-6/Jn 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14
Tuesday: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59/Ps 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc and 17/Mt 10:17-22
Wednesday: 1 Jn 1:1-4/Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12/Jn 20:1a, 2-8
Thursday: 1 Jn 1:5—2:2/Ps 124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8/Mt 2:13-18
Friday: 1 Jn 2:3-11/Ps 96:1-2a, 20-3, 5b-6/Lk 2:22-35
Saturday: 1 Jn 2:12-17/Ps 96:7-8a, 8b-9, 10/Lk 2:36-40
Next Sunday: Sir 3:2-6, 12-14 or Gn 15:1-6; 21:1-3/Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9/Col 3:12-21or 3:12-17 or Heb 11:8, 11-12, 17-19/Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22, 39-40
Observances for the Week
Sunday: 4th Sunday of Advent; Christmas Eve
Monday: The Nativity of the Lord
Tuesday: St. Stephen, First Martyr
Wednesday: St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
Thursday: The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Friday: St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr
Next Sunday: The Holy Family; New Year’s Eve