4th Sunday of Advent

We’re nearly there. Today is:

The 4th Sunday of Advent

O root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples: before you Kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer

Time to light the fourth candle:

Gospel — Luke 1:39–45

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

Comment:

I love this scene. Elizabeth is six months pregnant. Mary, after being told by the Angel Gabriel that, not only was she herself going to be the Mother of God, but that her cousin Elizabeth had in her old age, had miraculously conceived, because “nothing is impossible with God”. What wonderful news for Mary, who set off straight away to visit her. She would have known how sad Elizabeth and Zachary had been, how near they they had come to giving up hope of ever having a child and must now have been so happy for them. Mary stayed and helped Elizabeth and Zachary until John was born. Maybe she helped with the cooking , the cleaning, the preparations for baby to be born. What a gorgeous human detail for us.

Help me to be always willing to serve, Lord.

Something else:

I came across a mad thing a few weeks ago:

Someone posted this message:

“This year, I’m going to gift someone with the Twelve days of Christmas….I’ll begin on Tuesday Dec 14th so the last day will fall on Christmas Day. “

I have said this before, and probably all of my readers know this , but the Twelve Days of Christmas starts on Dec 25th and begins the Christmas season, which ends on Jan 6th with the Feast of The Kings (Epiphany).

Now wouldn’t it be lovely to wish everyone Happy Christmas for those twelve days? I have tried this and even in Church get people telling me it’s over now. And when I say Happy Christmas when everyone else is wishing me a Happy New Year, mostly they think I’ve lost the plot and got confused.

We keep the season, too, by having many little Christmases during the twelve days. We have to with our large family.

Anyway, enough of me ranting on.

Let me know how you keep the season.