Fourth Sunday of Advent

Mass Readings

• First Reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
• Responsorial Psalm Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29
• Second Reading Romans 16:25-27
• Gospel Luke 1:26-38

Open the Mass Readings on USCCB.org →

Step Into the Story

Around 1000 B.C. David took Jerusalem, made it his capital and built himself a palace of cedar with help from Hiram, king of Tyre. Then his conscience pricked him: he lived in cedar while the Ark of God sat in a tent. Through the prophet Nathan, God turns the offer around. David will not build God a house; God will build David a house, a dynasty forever. David’s line ruled Judah for about four centuries, until Babylon ended it in 586 B.C. Then the throne sat empty, and the promise waited.

1. c. 1000 B.C.David takes Jerusalem
2. 586 B.C.Babylon burns Jerusalem
3. 40 B.C.Rome names Herod king
4. 27 B.C.Octavian becomes Augustus
5. This week’s scene: c. 6 B.C.Gabriel comes to Nazareth

Travel north from that empty throne, some ninety miles, to Galilee, likely around 6 B.C., in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Herod the Great, an Idumean and no son of David, sits on the throne in Jerusalem. In Nazareth the house of David survives in Joseph, a village craftsman. Walk the narrow lanes between plain stone houses. Smell the wood smoke and the olive oil. Hear the scrape of a hand mill grinding the day’s grain.

Stop at a doorway. Inside is a young woman betrothed to Joseph, of no account to anyone in Jerusalem. Wait at the threshold. A messenger is coming who will speak of thrones and an endless kingdom, and a thousand years of promise will hang on a single word from her.

Encounter the Lord

Go back to Nazareth. The angel has said the impossible: the Son of the Most High, the throne of David, a child conceived by the Holy Spirit. Watch Mary. She asks one honest question, listens, and then says, “May it be done to me according to your word.”

David once wanted to build God a house. God promised instead to build David’s house forever. Here that promise comes true in the most hidden way, in the womb of a young woman who said yes. Christ comes into the world through humility and trust, and that is how He wants to come into your heart.

This week, pray the Angelus once a day. Before Christmas, make one act of trust, saying yes to something God is asking that you have been putting off.

Know Your Faith

The Annunciation

The Father willed that the Incarnation be preceded by the free assent of the mother He had chosen (CCC 488). Her virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative (CCC 503). The Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify her womb, so that she conceived the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own (CCC 485).

The Son of David

Jesus accepted the title of Messiah, the “Son of David,” though with reservations, because many understood it in too human a sense (CCC 439).

The Obedience of Faith

To obey in faith is to submit freely to the word God has spoken (CCC 144). The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies this obedience of faith (CCC 148).

Mary’s Yes Made Our Own

In the Hail Mary we abandon ourselves, with Mary, to God’s will (CCC 2677). Pray it daily this week.