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Reflections on Today’s Gospel

First Published: 2023 December 24

Draft 2

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It’s a strange set of readings, especially when we look at the readings that we have had for the past few weeks. The first reading, as expected, is a reading from the Old Testament. Unlike most of the other readings, today’s does not come from one of the explicitly prophetic books. Instead, we have an excerpt1 from the Second Book of Samuel. We follow David, who wants to build the Ark of the Covenant a better dwelling place.

Of course, as Catholics, we know that the Ark was a foreshadowing of Mary, who carried the Christ into the world.2 And so, it’s only fitting that the Gospel today focus on Mary. In particular, we see one thread continuing from the time of David the king to the time of Christ the King: The Almighty’s angels. The Angel Gabriel delivers messages both to David and to Mary. And so, in the final hours before Christmas3, I think it’s good to reflect on what Mary said to the Angel of the Most High, “may it be done unto me according to your word.”4 The Pater Noster may be the perfect form of prayer, but Mary’s Fiat5 is bound to be a close second. David wanted to build a fitting home for the Ark, but did not know what to ask.

Daily Reflection:

Draft 1

It’s the fourth Sunday of Advent, and it almost feels like Christmas.9 Today’s readings were pretty standard “be ready for Christmas” readings. The first reading comes from the Second book of Samuel, where we see David trying to pay homage to his Lord. He looks around, realizing that he lives in a beautiful home, while the Lord is being kept in a tent. The prophet of the day10 assures him that the Lord will appreciate any efforts that Daniel puts forth.

The Lord, however, comes to Nathan in a dream,11 and tells him to tell Daniel not to build a temple. More than that, though, the Lord says that he will establish an eternal kingdom from David’s descendants. As Catholics, we know what that kingdom is, and who the heir is. The Gospel, of course, makes that explicit.

The angel12 Gabriel13 comes to Mary. Importantly, he is the same angel who came to Daniel to interpret his visions. It’s something that very rarely comes up in homilies that I’ve heard, probably for some good reason.

Of course, one reason could very easily just be that the Ave Maria14 is allegedly a very unpopular prayer among Protestants.15 The fact that the opening line comes directly from an angel16 of the Lord should, in theory, help assuage concerns about the prayer. Then again, I don’t know if anyone attending Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent17 needs to be convinced that Mary is a good and holy person, worthy of admiration.18

Advent in general, as the priest today reminded us, is a season focused on Mary. It feels a little strange to me that we only really care about the last month of Mary’s pregnancy, but I suppose that otherwise we’d have to start Advent as soon as Easter ended.19 I’m sure there’s something to think about in the fact that we only really talk about Christ as a newborn child and as a thirty three year old. It is a little strange to think that, were I Christ, nothing that I’ve really done with my life so far would have been recorded.

Post writing note: I’m not really happy with the musing right now, for all that I don’t really know what else there is to reflect on in the readings. Maybe I should come back to this in a little bit?

  1. I mean technically like 5 excerpts, given that the reading comes in many parts↩︎

  2. Ok, so here’s my inane question for the day: Christ means anointed. Is there a historical moment where He was anointed? I guess the only biblical scene I can think of is when he’s bathed in funerary oils, but that might not be what people are talking about↩︎

  3. personally, I’ve already been to Christmas Mass, so I guess it’s already Christmas for me↩︎

  4. Luke 1: 38 B↩︎

  5. I do love that the best way to figure out a prayer’s name is just to take the opening word or words from its Latin text↩︎

  6. him on grand piano, me on guitar↩︎

  7. year↩︎

  8. or, after posting the musing, at least↩︎

  9. the joke being that today is Christmas Eve (though arguably eve implies sunsetting, which may or may not be a part of the actual requirement here)↩︎

  10. Nathan↩︎

  11. We skip through different chapters in the book, so some of the message is left up to implication, rather than outright stated today↩︎

  12. archangel, technically, or maybe Archangel. Angelic divisions have never been clear to me↩︎

  13. literally: “G-d is my strength” or “G-d is strong”↩︎

  14. I do love that so many Catholic things are just named from the first few words of the Latin (the incipit, if you want to sound fancy). It’s fun then how often the same holds true when we translate into English (ex. The Our Father, the Glory Be, the Hail Mary, the Angelus (which I guess we don’t translate))↩︎

  15. I say allegedly because I’ve never heard accusations that I can remember↩︎

  16. literally messenger↩︎

  17. especially when that’s also the same day as, but a liturgically distinct day from, Christmas Eve↩︎

  18. I think veneration is the ok one and adoration isn’t but I’m not 100 percent sure and don’t really want to look it up↩︎

  19. or even before, most years↩︎

On Family Recipes Christmas 2023