{"id":2536,"date":"2006-12-24T08:21:50","date_gmt":"2006-12-24T08:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2006\/12\/ave-maria-our-ladys-sunday-in\/"},"modified":"2019-12-21T15:46:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T15:46:55","slug":"ave-maria-our-ladys-sunday-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2006\/12\/ave-maria-our-ladys-sunday-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Ave, Maria \u2014 Our Lady’s Sunday in Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1nativit.jpg\"<\/a>
\nToday is Our Lady\u2019s Sunday in Advent.
\nPope Paul VI, influenced, no doubt, by the ancient practice
\nof the venerable Church of Milan,
\ndesired that the Fourth Sunday of Advent
\nshould become a veritable festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
\nHe wanted to envelop the Christmas mystery
\nin the gentle presence of the Virgin Mother.
\nBy designating the Fourth Sunday of Advent our Lady\u2019s Sunday
\nand by restoring to January 1st
\nits ancient title of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God,
\nPope Paul VI sought to give us the Infant Christ, the Redeemer of the world,
\ncircled round by the tenderness of the Blessed Virgin.
\nThe liturgy celebrates the Virgin Mother
\nbefore Christmas Day and again eight days after it.
\nThis is the Church\u2019s way of teaching us
\nthat the Blessed Virgin Mary is indispensable to every advent of Christ.
\nIf you would welcome Christ, welcome Mary.
\nIf you would receive Christ, seek Mary.
\nIf you would know Christ, know Mary.
\nIf you would love Christ, love Mary.
\nThe Blessed Virgin is present in every part of today\u2019s Mass.
\nThe Introit<\/strong>, for example, is her song before it is ours.
\nIt can only be ours because it was first hers.
\n\u201cSend down dew from above, you heavens,
\nand let the skies pour down upon us the rain we long for, Him, the Just One:
\nmay He, the Saviour, spring from the closed womb of the earth\u201d (Is 45:8).
\nThere is no prayer that does not begin
\nin an intense longing for the dew from above.
\nBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness;
\nthey shall have their fill\u201d (Mt 5:6).<\/p>\n

The Collect<\/strong> is familiar and worn like a thing much loved
\nbecause it is the prayer that, three times each day,
\nconcludes the Little Office of the Incarnation
\nthat we call the Angelus.
\nIt sums up the whole economy of our salvation:
\nthe message of an angel to the Virgin;
\nthe immensity of her \u201cYes\u201d;
\nthe bitter Passion and the Blood outpoured;
\nthe Cross, the Tomb, and the triumph of the Prince of Life.
\nOf all these mysteries, Mary is the mystical portress
\nand the keeper of the gate.
\nThis is why the saints teach that love for Mary
\nis a sure sign of predestination.
\nUnderstand this aphorism as the saints did:
\none who loves Mary
\nis destined to imitate her \u201cYes\u201d
\nand to follow her through the passion and cross of her Son
\ninto the glory of His resurrection.<\/p>\n

What are the labour pains spoken of by the prophet Micah
\nin the First Reading<\/strong>?
\nThe prophet cannot be referring
\nto the miraculous birth of the Son of God.
\nThe continuous tradition of the Church holds
\nthat the Virgin Mother gave birth to her Son
\nwithout loss of her virginity
\nand without the travail common to the daughters of the old Eve.
\nThe Fathers of the Church use the analogy of light passing through glass without breaking it.
\nThe traditional teaching of the Church,
\nupheld by Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas
\nis that the Immaculate Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus
\nwithout the pains of labor.
\nTo the first Eve it was said:
\n\u201cIn pain thou shalt bring forth children\u201d (Gen 3:16).
\nThe new Eve gave birth in a new way to Him who says:
\n\u201cBehold, I make all things new\u201d (Ap 21:5).
\nIt is not the Virgin Mother who brings forth the Messiah in travail;
\nrather, it is Israel, God\u2019s unfaithful spouse who,
\nin the midst of vicissitudes and afflictions,
\nis made ready for the birth of her Consoler, her Redeemer, and her Peace.
\n\u201cAnd He shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord,
\nin the height of the name of the Lord His God: and they shall be converted,
\nfor now He shall be magnified even to the ends of the earth.
\nAnd He shall be our peace\u201d (Mi 5:4\u20135).
\nChrist is our peace, and Mary is the Virgin Mother of our peace.
\nThe mystery of the virgin birth of Our Lord signifies, among other things,
\nthat He who is our peace came peacefully from His Mother\u2019s womb,
\nthat is, ex intacta Virgine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Responsorial Psalm<\/strong> made us repeat,
\n\u201cLet Thy face shine that we may be saved\u201d (Ps 79:3).
\nThe face of Christ began to shine in the face of His Virgin Mother.
\nWho has not noticed the indescribable glow of the expectant mother?
\nMary reflected as in a mirror the divine radiance
\nconcealed beneath her heart.
\nIf you would contemplate the face of Christ,
\nbegin by seeking the face of Mary.
\nThen, through her eyes you will begin to see
\nthe blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus.
\nWherever Mary has appeared and shown the loveliness of her face
\n\u2014 to Juan Diego at Guadalupe, to Catherine Labour\u00e9 at the rue du Bac,
\nto Bernadette at Lourdes, and to the little children of Fatima \u2014
\nit was in order to draw souls to the contemplation of the Face of her Son
\nand, specifically, to His Eucharistic Face.
\nOne who gazes on the Face of Christ is drawn into His priestly prayer.<\/p>\n

The Second Reading<\/strong> gave us that prayer
\nat the very moment of His conception.
\n\u201cWhen Christ came into the world, He said:
\n\u2018Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not,
\nbut a body Thou hast fitted to Me:
\nHolocausts for sin did not please Thee.
\nThen said I: Behold I come . . . to do Thy will, O God\u201d (Heb 10:7\u20139).
\nThis is the priestly entrance of Christ into the world.
\nThe womb of the Virgin Mary is the pure temple
\nin which the Incarnate Word offers His first prayer to the Father.
\nIf you would enter into the prayer of Christ, priest and victim,
\nseek him in the virginal temple of his Mother.
\nAlready, in Mary\u2019s womb,
\nthe offering of the body of Jesus Christ was made once and for all.
\nThe sacrifice of the Cross is the completion
\nof the offering begun at the very instant of Jesus\u2019 conception in Mary\u2019s womb.
\nFrom the moment of the incarnation
\nMary was intimately associated to the oblation of her Son
\nas priest and victim,
\nHer presence at the cross was the continuation of a divine liturgy
\nthat began beneath her heart in the temple of her womb.
\nThis is why the Church continues to commemorate the Blessed Virgin Mary
\nat the very heart of every Mass.
\nThe Virgin Mother is inseparable from the offering and sacrifice of the Son.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel<\/strong> of the Visitation,
\nthe Virgin Mary is the tabernacle of the hidden Christ.
\nPope John Paul II wrote these unforgettable words:
\n\u201cWhen at the Visitation,
\nshe bore in her womb the Word made flesh,
\nshe became in some way a \u2018tabernacle\u2019 \u2014 the first \u2018tabernacle\u2019 in history \u2014
\nin which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze,
\nallowed Himself to be adored by Elizabeth,
\nradiating His light as it were
\nthrough the eyes and voice of Mary\u201d (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, art. 55).
\nElizabeth, seized by this \u201cEucharistic\u201d moment unique in history cries out: \u201cBlessed art thou among women,
\nand blessed is the fruit of thy womb\u201d (Lk 1:42).
\nToday, the Church prepares to live her own \u201cEucharistic moment\u201d
\nby taking up Elizabeth\u2019s cry
\nat the moment of the offering of the bread and wine.<\/p>\n

The liturgy completes Elizabeth\u2019s words
\nwith the salutation of the Angel Gabriel,
\n\u201cHail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee\u201d (Lk 1:28).
\nIt is extremely significant
\nthat the most ancient liturgical use of the Ave Maria
\nis in the Offertory<\/strong> of this Mass of the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
\nThe melody that clothes it is of an artistry so chaste and, at the same time,
\nso jubilant, that it reveals something of what the angels in heaven
\nmust sing ceaselessly before their Queen.
\nIt is out of the liturgy that the Ave Maria passed
\ninto the ceaseless prayer of believers,
\nnotably in the sweet repetition of the rosary.<\/p>\n

The Prayer Over the Offerings<\/strong> will suggest a typology between
\nthe womb of the Virgin Mary and the altar:
\n\u201cLet that same Spirit, O Lord,
\nwho by His power didst fill the womb of blessed Mary
\nsanctify also the gifts placed upon Thy altar.\u201d
\nAgain, the Church intimates that the liturgy of the Cross
\nand the liturgy of every Mass
\nbegan in the temple of Mary\u2019s virginal womb.
\nThe fruitfulness of our participation in the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice
\nwill be proportionate to our abiding in Mary.<\/p>\n

The Communion Chant<\/strong> will repeat Isaiah\u2019s glorious prophecy:
\n\u201cBehold, a virgin shall be with child,
\nand shall bear a son,
\nand His name shall be called Emmanuel\u201d (Is 7:14).
\nEmmanuel.
\nThe pedagogy of the Church makes us repeat this name
\nover and over during the Communion procession.
\nHe who will come in this Eucharistic Advent is Emmanuel, God\u2013with\u2013us.
\nEMMANUEL<\/strong> is the word that, between the end of this Mass and the First Vespers of Christmas, will echo in the ear of our hearts
\nand linger like fragrant incense in the air.
\nNo other name of Christ inspires such confidence.
\nNo other name promises such peace.
\nGod is with us
\nbecause God was with Mary.
\nAbide in Mary
\nand God will abide in you.
\nThis, my friends, is the secret of a blessed Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Our Lady\u2019s Sunday in Advent. Pope Paul VI, influenced, no doubt, by the ancient practice of the venerable Church of Milan, desired that the Fourth Sunday of Advent should become a veritable festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He wanted to envelop the Christmas mystery in the gentle presence of the Virgin Mother. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,18,14,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-2006","category-advent-liturgy","category-blessed-virgin-mary","category-homilies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-EU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21973,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions\/21973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}