CẢM NGHIỆM SỐNG LC - BRENDAN -4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT-A
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- Category: 2. Cảm Nghiệm Sống Lời Chúa
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Mo Nguyen - Dec 21 at 11:14 PM
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT / A 22 DECEMBER 2019
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL (Mt 1: 18-24)
GOD WITH US
A note of foreboding attends the circumstances of Jesus’ birth as told by St Matthew. We, the readers of the Gospel, know that Mary’s pregnancy has come about ‘through the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 1: 18). But no other actor in the drama, including Joseph, knows that at the time. In Jewish culture betrothal required the same fidelity as marriage. Mary’s situation is therefore precarious: she is liable to the severe penalties laid down by the Law of Moses for adultery.
Joseph knows that obedience to the Law requires him to divorce Mary. But, being a ‘righteous person’, he wants to do so in a way that will spare her public shame and the full rigour of the Law. In this he ‘models’ keeping the Law in the way in which Jesus, with supreme authority, will interpret it – where what he calls the ‘weightier matters of the Law’ (justice, mercy and faith [23: 23] have priority.
The angel’s announcement turns everything around. Mary’s pregnancy has not come about through infidelity but through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Her child will carry the same of Israel’s former saviour Josue, but his ‘saving’ role will have to do primarily with reconciliation with God (‘save the people from their sins’).
It will also involve a new sense of God’s presence, reflected in a a second name ‘Emmanuel – God with Us’.
In the presence of Jesus, people will experience the divine saving presence. And after his resurrection, he will continue to be ‘with’ his Church in its communal life and worldwide mission to the end of time (Mt 28: 19-20).
Brendan Byrne, SJ
All Sons & Daughters - God With Us (Official Lyric Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udJjT-LMnIs
Emmanuel-Chúa ở cùng chúng ta: