Weekly Bible Study - Isaiah 7:10-14 and Matthew 1:18-24

22 December 2013
4th Sunday of Advent 

Ahaz and Joseph: Two men separated by centuries, worlds apart in religious fervor, but connected in the mysterious ways of God’s plan. Two men searching for assurance in the face of troubling news. Two men emerging from the shadows of salvation history to make way for the Messiah.

Ahaz, king of eighth century Judah, faces political and military disaster. Seeking reassurance that his kingdom will not fall, he is confronted by the prophet Isaiah who reminds him: “Unless your faith is firm, you shall not be firm” (vs. 9). Leaning on Isaiah instead of his own false humility, he is given a sign from God: a son, Hezekiah, a righteous king, to continue the dynasty of David. This is evidence of “Emmanuel,” which means God is with us.

More than 700 years later, Joseph is deeply troubled by the news that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant. Knowing he is not the father, but being an upright man, he refuses to expose her to the full impact of the law and decides to divorce her with a fuss. But Joseph too receives a sign of the Lord’s reassurance, this time in a dream. (In the scriptures, dreams were often used to show how God communicates with us.) Deep within the recesses of his heart, Joseph heard the word of the Lord and acted on it. The gospel writer takes this moment to remind us of the same promise God made to Ahaz: “The Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him 'God is with us'" (Emmanuel).
 
Joseph and Ahaz: Two men, reassured by the same promise from the One God, become a way for God to bring salvation among us. The promise to Ahaz ensures a kingly succession from which would come the Messiah. The promise to Joseph frees Joseph to accept God's word and make a home for the Messiah in our troubled world.

O come, o come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

O Come Thou Wisdom

On December 17 each year, we pray the first of the "O Antiphons," which proclaims Jesus as Wisdom from on High. (Most of us know the O Antiphons from the verses of the advent hymn, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel.")

But what does it mean that Jesus is Wisdom?

Wisdom, in the Bible, is personified as a woman ("Sophia," which is Greek for "Wisdom") who is God's companion in creation. She crafted all things in the beginning and is the "master artisan" of the universe, together with the laws that govern nature and civilized humankind.

When God set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
When he fixed the foundations of earth,
then was I beside him as artisan;
I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
Playing over the whole of his earth. (Prov 8:29-31) 

She is also the one who gives herself as a feast for all who desire to become wise, just as Jesus came into the world in a feeding trough and gave us himself to eat and drink:

Come to me, all who desire me,

and be filled with my fruits.

You will remember me as sweeter than honey,

better to have than the honeycomb.
Those who eat of me will hunger still,

those who drink of me will thirst for more. (Sir 24:19-21)

Later Wisdom writers show Sophia/Wisdom as the Jewish Law, so that following the Torah was seen as the way to find Wisdom. Referring to Wisdom, the author Ben Sira writes:

All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God.
(Sir 24:23)

In all these ways and more, Jesus is Wisdom and Word of God made flesh (John 1). Year Four of the Biblical School students spend ten weeks exploring these ways of thinking about God's Wisdom, and its completion in the incarnation of Jesus, the Word made flesh.

O Come Let Us Adore!

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011)

Weekly Bible Study - Matthew 11:2-11

15 December 2013
3rd Sunday of Advent    

“What did you go out to see?” Jesus asks his followers in today's gospel. When we look for Jesus, what do we "go out to see"?

Do we go to find Jesus in the tiny, everyday miracle moments of our lives? Do we witness Jesus in the loving and kind acts of people reaching out to each other? Do we experience his peace when we forgive someone or ask for their forgiveness? Do we hear him speak to us in his Sacred Word and embrace us in his Eucharistic gift to us?

As we prepare to celebrate his coming to earth in innocence and humility, will we recognize the One who takes upon himself our salvation?

We know that John the Baptist did not live long enough to witness Jesus' giving of himself for us on the cross. John didn't get to see the empty tomb. Instead, beginning early in the time of Jesus' ministry, John is imprisoned and then executed like a criminal.

Like John, we don't always get to see how our efforts might lead others to Jesus. At times, we, too, are asked simply to offer ourselves in testimony to our Lord, maybe never knowing the healing, forgiveness or positive effect our actions may have on others. But like John, may we make straight pathways for the Lord’s coming in our world.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

Our Surprising God: An Advent Reflection

"Indeed the Lord has come into the world, but he came in a way no one expected: as a vulnerable child; born of insignificant parents; humbly, in an unexpected place (a cave and a stable).

"If we want to experience the Lord coming into our lives today, our own particular history, we have to be open to him coming in the same way: in unexpected ways and through unexpected people."

... Venerable "Solanus was an unexpected instrument of God's grace. No one expected that a simple Capuchin friar answering the door, a simple priest, would be such a powerful instrument for God's grace, healing and power entering into the world. But then no one would have expected an insignificant virgin from Nazareth to be the mother of God who becomes flesh. Nor did anyone expect that the smelly shepherds on the outskirts of Bethlehem would be the first to announce the news of God become flesh."

Fr. Larry Webber, OFM Cap.

Director of the Solanus Casey Center

Detroit, MI

To read Fr. Larry's entire Advent Reflection, click here.To learn more about Venerable Solanus Casey, click here.