December 20, 2025
Saturday of the Third Week of
Advent
Lectionary: 196
Reading
1
The LORD spoke to
Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (see 7c and
10b) Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God's eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
In the sixth
month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122025.cfm
Commentary on
Isaiah 7:10-14
The Gospel today (Luke 1:26-38) will describe the fulfilment
of the prophecy spoken of in today’s First Reading from the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah is speaking to King Ahaz of Judah. Among a number of bad kings, King
Ahaz of Judah comes out as particularly bad. He revived the barbarous custom of
human sacrifice:
He even made his son pass through fire [burnt
his son as an offering], according to the abominable practices of the
nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. (2
Kings 16:3)
He followed other religious customs of the neighbouring
idolatrous religions. When the king of Syria attacked Ahaz’s capital of
Jerusalem, he appealed to the Assyrians:
I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me…
(2 Kings 16:7)
He then took treasures from the Temple, and sent them as a
gift to the Assyrian king. He also made an exact copy of an altar he saw in
Damascus, set it up in the Temple, and moved the bronze altar of the Temple to
one side. On this new altar, he made offerings in the Assyrian manner, which
included throwing blood on the altar.
Ahaz’s reign lasted 16 years and he was succeeded by his son
Hezekiah, whom the Bible speaks of as being one of the best of the kings. His
reign lasted for 29 years, but it was a very trying period for the Jews. During
it, the famous Sennacherib “came down like a wolf on the fold” and laid siege
to Jerusalem, but his whole army was suddenly decimated by some highly
contagious epidemic which swept right through it killing, according to the
Bible account, more than 100,000 soldiers. The siege had to be called off.
All of this, of course, is only indirectly connected with
today’s reading, but it does give some idea of the context in which the
prophecy was made. The reading begins with the Lord (through the mouth of
Isaiah) urging Ahaz to ask for a sign either from God or from Sheol, the place
of the dead. Ahaz, however, declines because he does not want to put his God to
the test. Nevertheless, although God (and especially his prophet, Isaiah) is
clearly not pleased with this rejection of the Lord’s offer, Ahaz will be given
a sign anyway.
The statement is a prophecy, and is very positive in
meaning. It denotes God’s blessing on the Kingdom of Judah and on God’s people.
It is also seen as a messianic prophecy. It promises a king and an heir to
David who will bring salvation to God’s people, who, at this time, are being
attacked by the Syrians on one side, and by the Assyrians on another.
Even though it seems that Isaiah is immediately thinking of
a successor to Ahaz, namely, his son Hezekiah, the formal nature of the
prophecy and symbolic name given to the future heir indicates he was speaking
about a more decisive intervention by God and the establishment of a messianic
kingdom.
The prophecy reads:
Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son
and shall name him Immanuel.
This is clearly meant to be an encouragement to Ahaz about
the future of the kingdom now under siege from so many sides. The original text
does not say explicitly that it is a virgin who will give birth. The Hebrew
word almah simply means a young girl.
However, in Genesis (24:43), ‘almah’ refers to a young woman
about to be married (and hence still a virgin). The pre-Christian Greek
translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint and made by Jews,
translates ‘almah’ as ‘virgin’. It is this version that Matthew uses, and reads
it as indicating that Mary is a virgin when she conceives Jesus.
And of course, from the time of the Gospels, especially with
Matthew who quotes from today’s passage, the prophecy has been understood as
pointing to the birth of Christ, who is Immanuel, ‘God-is-with-us’.
And Matthew will emphasise this at the very end of his Gospel when, just before
leaving his disciples, Jesus in his final instructions promises:
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the
age. (Matt 28:20)
This Child does not only give us God’s blessings, and
miraculous and divine liberation, but through him, God becomes present among
humankind and the promises heard so many times come true:
…I will be your God, and you shall be my people. (Jer
7:23)
We see the beginning of the fulfilment of all this prophecy
in the Gospel, which speaks of Mary’s being invited to be the Mother of the
Saviour who will be both God’s Son and hers. Even Isaiah is not likely to have
dreamt of the implications of all this—when the Word was made flesh and lived
among us as one of us.
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Commentary on
Luke 1:26-38
For us Christians, the heart of today’s Gospel
passage—continuing immediately from yesterday’s text—is a turning point in the
history of the world. It is so even for those who do not know Christ, or who
refuse to believe in his origins.
As the story is told by Luke, Mary must have been truly
alarmed at the words of her unexpected visitor. Her cousin Elizabeth is now
pregnant for six months. The incident is taking place in Nazareth, not exactly
the centre of the earth, or even of Palestine. A future disciple of Jesus will
be heard to say with some cynicism:
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (John
1:46)
Truly, in the eyes of the more sophisticated, Nazareth was
something of a backwater. Yet this is the place God chooses to enter our
world—not Rome, not Athens, not Alexandria, nor any of the other great centres
of power, culture or learning in the world of the time.
The angel Gabriel greets Mary:
Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.
Gabriel is the same angel who spoke to Zechariah. How did
Mary react to such an extraordinary salutation? The Gospel says that she was
“much perplexed”, and well she might be. As a young girl in an obscure little
town, what could the words possibly mean? “Favored one” means that she is being
showered with God’s special grace. It is more something that is happening to
her, than something she already has. The nature of that favour is expressed in
what follows—she is to become the mother of a Son whom she is to call Jesus
(meaning ‘God saves’). He will be a King:
…and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke
1:33)
What really disturbs Mary is that, although she is already
betrothed to Joseph, she is not yet married to him. In other words, she is not
yet intimate with him as his wife. How can she become a mother? It will happen
because the conception will be the work of God:
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you…
The child who is born will be, in a very special way, the
Son of God. He will also, of course, be the son of Mary. In this way we have
the deep mystery of the Incarnation expressed in the language of a story. Jesus
will be, at the same time, someone who is fully divine and fully human. Jesus
will be the unique bridge between God and his creation. He will be human “like
us in all things but sin”. He will also, through his whole life, his words and
actions, be the “splendour of the Father”.
In a great leap of faith and trust in the angel’s message,
Mary says ‘Yes’:
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word.
For us Christians, the moment of that ‘Yes’ is a turning
point in the history of the world—as it is also even for those who do not know
Christ or who refuse to believe in his origins. It is the moment of
Incarnation, when the Word became flesh and began to live among us as one of
us. The world would never be the same. In a way, this is a more important
moment than Christmas, but it is understandable that we should tend to
celebrate more the visible presence of God in Jesus at Bethlehem.
Mary had yet to learn what that ‘Yes’ involved, but it was
given unconditionally and it was never withdrawn. Through a life of trials and
tribulations, of which we can know surely only a fraction, right up to those
terrible moments as she stood beneath the cross and saw her only Son die in
agony and shame as a public criminal, she never once withdrew that ‘Yes’.
There is a clear message there for us. We too have been
called in our own special way to give birth to Jesus in our lives and in our
environment. We too have been called to say ‘Yes’—an unconditional ‘Yes’ to
following Jesus. Now is the time for us to renew that pledge with Mary’s help
and example.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/a1220g/
Saturday,
December 20, 2025
3rd Week of
Advent
Opening Prayer
God of the poor and the humble, we
thank You today for choosing Mary as the Virgin Mother of Jesus, Your Son.
Her faith and willing service opened the way to Your new
world.
Dispose us to seek Your will and to cooperate with Your plans
that we too, like Mary, may give to the world its Savior Jesus Christ, Your Son
and our Lord.
Gospel Reading – Luke 1: 26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was
sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a
man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
He went in and said to her,
“Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favor! The Lord is with you.” She was deeply
disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but
the angel said to her, “Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favor. Look!
You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name Him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will
give Him the throne of His ancestor David; He will rule over the
House of Jacob for ever and His
reign will have no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “But
how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?”' The angel
answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of
God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has
conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,
for nothing is impossible to God.”
Mary said, “You see before you
the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.” And the angel left
her.
Reflection
•
The visit of the angel to Mary reminds us of the
visit of God to different women of the Old Testament: Sarah, mother of Isaac
(Gen 18: 9-15), Anne, mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1: 9-18), the mother of Samson
(Judg 13: 2-5). All of them announced the birth of a son with an important
mission in God’s plan.
•
The account begins with the expression “in the sixth month.” It is the sixth
month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth. The need of Elizabeth, a woman advanced in
age who is expecting her first son with the risk of delivery, is the background
of this entire story. Elizabeth is mentioned at the beginning (Lk 1:26) and at
the end of the visit of the angel (Lk 1: 36, 39).
•
The angel says, “Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s
favor, the Lord is with you!”
Similar words were said also to Moses
(Ex 3: 12), to Jeremiah (Jer 1: 8), to Gideon (Judg 6: 12) and to others with
an important mission in God’s plan. Mary is surprised at the greeting and tries
to understand the significance of these words. She is practical. She wants to
understand. She does not accept just any invitation.
•
The angel answers: “Do not be afraid!” Just as
it happened in the visit of the angel to Zechariah, the first greeting of God
is always: “Do not be afraid!” Immediately
the angel recalls the promises of the past which will be fulfilled thanks to
the son who will be born and who is to receive the name of Jesus. He will be
called the Son of the Most High and in Him the Kingdom of God will be realized.
This is the explanation of the angel in such a way that Mary is not afraid.
•
Mary is aware of the mission which she is about
to receive, but she continues to be practical. She does not allow herself to be
drawn by the greatness of the offer and knows her condition. She examines the
offer through criteria which she has available. Humanly speaking, it was not
possible: “But how can this come about? I have no knowledge of man.”
•
The angel explains that the Holy Spirit, present
in God’s Word since the creation (Gen 1: 2), is able to realize things which
seem impossible. This is why the Holy One who will be born of Mary will be
called Son of God. The miracle
repeats itself right up to today. When the Word of God is accepted by us,
something new happens, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit! Something new
and surprising such as a son born of a virgin or a son born to a woman of
advanced age, like Elizabeth, whom all said was barren, that she could not have
children! And the angel adds, “See, your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age,
has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth
month, for nothing is impossible with God.”
•
The response of the angel clarifies everything
for Mary, and she surrenders: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be
done to me according to your word.” Mary uses for herself the title of a
servant, Handmaid of the Lord. This title from Isaiah represents the mission of
the people not as a privilege, but rather as a service to other people (Is 42:1-9; 49:3-6). Later Jesus will
define His mission as a service: “I have not come to be served, but to serve!”
(Mt 20: 28). He learned from his Mother!
Reflection
What struck you the most in the visit
of the angel Gabriel to Mary?
• Jesus praises his Mother when He says: “Blessed
are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” (Lk 11: 28). How does Mary relate
to the Word of God during the visit of the angel?
Concluding Prayer
To Yahweh belong the earth and all it
contains, the world and all who live there; it is He who laid its foundations
on the seas, on the flowing waters fixed it firm. (Ps 24: 1-2)
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