Mary, the chosen daughter of Israel
Gospel Reflection 
Here in the Philippines, we have the practice of offering nine days (December 16 to 24) of masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary leading to the celebration of the birth of our lord, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to the Jews:
“You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept testimony from a human being,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
John was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John’s.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.”
Here in the Philippines, we have the practice of offering nine days (December 16 to 24) of masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary leading to the celebration of the birth of our lord, Jesus Christ.
We call this simbang gabi, for the nightly masses, or misa de aguinaldo (gift mass) for dawn masses. On the 24th, the midnight mass is called misa de gallo (rooster's mass), to greet the birthday of Christ, more like the mañanita that we traditionally do to wake the person up on his/her birthday, at dawn.
During the nine days, we reflect on the virtues of Mary in our attempt to remind ourselves that we should imitate Mary so that we too would be worthy to face our Lord Jesus Christ; to prepare ourselves, so to speak, in greeting our dearest Lord on his birthday in order to express our gratitude for the love that we received from Him.
Today is the first day of our aguinaldo masses and our theme for today is Mary, the chosen daughter of Israel.
In our first reading (taken from Friday of the third week of advent), the Prophet Isaiah is reminding us that we should do what is right and just, we should follow the commands of the Lord if we want to truly experience the goodness of the Lord. This is for everybody, not just for a chosen few, as Isaiah said, "The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord... them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer..."
So what is it that we should do for us to be welcomed in the holy mountain of our Lord?
Our gospel for today would tell us, believe. Believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the chosen one of God, that he is the Son of God, sent to redeem the world. And if we truly believe, it is not a matter of simply saying that you believe, but we should live out this belief.
Christ himself pointed this out in our Gospel today, that it is not simply the testimony of man that would reveal the truth of his being sent by the Father, rather, it is his works, "the works that the Father" gave him to accomplish.
Mary, her life has been a living testament of God's goodness to mankind. She was indeed the chosen daughter of God because her love for God and her humility allowed her to live out the desire of God for her, to be God's vessel in his desire to save mankind. She was chosen by God and for this she was prepared to be a true living testament of God's promise of salvation.
It is the same for us. Our living out the Gospel values, the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, this would testify on the goodness of God towards his creation, towards his people, towards those who believe in him, and I reckon, even those who do not believe in him.
Our living out God's love for all in loving our neighbor, especially those who are in need and those we find hard to love, are the actions that would strongly testify of God's love for all.
As we prepare ourselves for the coming celebration of the birth of God's love for all mankind, let us pray that our love for God would be strengthened and would be more authentic so that we too would become true, genuine living witnesses of the truth that is Christ, just like Mary.
During the nine days, we reflect on the virtues of Mary in our attempt to remind ourselves that we should imitate Mary so that we too would be worthy to face our Lord Jesus Christ; to prepare ourselves, so to speak, in greeting our dearest Lord on his birthday in order to express our gratitude for the love that we received from Him.
Today is the first day of our aguinaldo masses and our theme for today is Mary, the chosen daughter of Israel.
In our first reading (taken from Friday of the third week of advent), the Prophet Isaiah is reminding us that we should do what is right and just, we should follow the commands of the Lord if we want to truly experience the goodness of the Lord. This is for everybody, not just for a chosen few, as Isaiah said, "The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord... them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer..."
So what is it that we should do for us to be welcomed in the holy mountain of our Lord?
Our gospel for today would tell us, believe. Believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the chosen one of God, that he is the Son of God, sent to redeem the world. And if we truly believe, it is not a matter of simply saying that you believe, but we should live out this belief.
Christ himself pointed this out in our Gospel today, that it is not simply the testimony of man that would reveal the truth of his being sent by the Father, rather, it is his works, "the works that the Father" gave him to accomplish.
Mary, her life has been a living testament of God's goodness to mankind. She was indeed the chosen daughter of God because her love for God and her humility allowed her to live out the desire of God for her, to be God's vessel in his desire to save mankind. She was chosen by God and for this she was prepared to be a true living testament of God's promise of salvation.
It is the same for us. Our living out the Gospel values, the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, this would testify on the goodness of God towards his creation, towards his people, towards those who believe in him, and I reckon, even those who do not believe in him.
Our living out God's love for all in loving our neighbor, especially those who are in need and those we find hard to love, are the actions that would strongly testify of God's love for all.
As we prepare ourselves for the coming celebration of the birth of God's love for all mankind, let us pray that our love for God would be strengthened and would be more authentic so that we too would become true, genuine living witnesses of the truth that is Christ, just like Mary.
Photo by DDP | Unsplash
Comments
Post a Comment