REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 12/21/21 (Tuesday)

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Blessed Tuesday of the 4th Week of Advent! In our gospel reading, our Mother Mary travelled to see her cousin, St. Elizabeth. When St. Elizabeth saw the Blessed Virgin Mary bearing a child, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. With joy, she recognized her unworthiness, and she praised Jesus by saying, "and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" She was joyful because she knew from the depths of her heart that her Savior came to save her from her sins. The example of St. Elizabeth shows us that true humility leads to praising God with joy as we see our unworthiness due to sins. 

When we commit sins in our lives, we may experience sorrow. This can be a gift from God for us to see that we should not offend Him by our sins which will lead us to humility. Unfortunately, there may be moments in our lives when we dwell on our sadness for a long period of time. We may be afraid to do good and persevere because we may think we will always fail, and we may choose to simply walk away from the road to holiness. But, this can be a temptation for us not to see the purpose of God as to why He allowed us to fall. When we become attached to our sadness, we may not see that we have weakness for us to acknowledge that we should not be guilty of pride, and we need to always depend on God in order to live a virtuous life. 

The Lord is inviting us to praise Him with joy as we admit our brokenness. It's not because we enjoy committing bad works, but it's because we know that if we trust in Him, He will be our shield who will protect us against temptations. He will grant us the grace to love Him more by keeping His commandments and by not desiring to speak evil or do wrong. We should rejoice because even when we make mistakes, as long as we humble ourselves before Him, He will give us victory over spiritual death. Christmas is coming closer. May we always rejoice because our Savior has come, and He will grant us our eternal reward after persevering in many battles and trials of our lives. 

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May God bless us and may He grant us the gift of joy as we recognize our weaknesses. May He free us from sin and bring us salvation. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic