Luke 1:39-45

Micah 5:1-4a

Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

Hebrews 10:5-10

Luke 1:39-45

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste

to a town of Judah, 

where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb, 

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, 

cried out in a loud voice and said, 

“Blessed are you among women, 

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?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, 

the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, Shepherd of Israel, rouse your power and come to save us. Lord of Hosts, look down from heaven and see us in our need. Take care of us and make us strong in your love and grace. Give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Mother of My Lord: When Elizabeth responded to Mary’s greeting, she was inspired to refer to Mary with an important title. She calls Mary the “Mother of my Lord.” On the one hand, this title recognizes Mary as the Queen Mother. In ancient Israel and Judah, the King’s mother was the queen and not his wife. We see this in 1 Kings 2:19-20, when Solomon sits his mother, Bathsheba, at his right hand and promises to give her whatever she asks for. And so, “Mother of my Lord” can mean “Mother of my King.” On the other hand, “Lord” is a title that can refer to God. And so, Elizabeth is also saying, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that Mary is the “Mother of God.” Mary, then, is the Queen Mother of the New Israel and sits enthroned, body and soul, at her Son’s right hand in heaven and intercedes for us, her children.

2. Micah and the Rise of the New King: In the First Reading, the prophet Micah speaks about the future Davidic Messiah. “He will be born in Bethlehem (5:20), feed the family of Israel as a faithful shepherd (5:4), magnify his greatness to the ends of the earth (5:4), and protect God’s people with the support of allied shepherds and princes (5:5-6)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Minor Prophets, 106). Bethlehem was the hometown of David, about five miles south of Jerusalem. Ephrathah was the area around Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19; Ruth 4:11). Micah’s prophecy says that the one who is to be ruler in Israel has ancient origins. It could mean that this ruler’s roots are in David or something more mysterious. In either case, Jesus fulfills this prophecy. Jesus is a son of David (Matthew 1:1), born to Mary in time, and the eternally begotten Son of God the Father (John 8:58). Micah foretells both the destruction of David’s Kingdom in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians and its future restoration when a woman gives birth: “The Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne.” Another translation has “when she who has labor pains has brought forth.” The fulfillment of this can be seen in Mary’s suffering at the foot of the Cross. She suffered as she saw her son, Jesus, die in agony on the Cross, and suffered as her son gave her as mother to his disciples.

3. Jesus’ Sacrificial Offering: The Second Reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews, emphasizes Christ’s coming into the world. Christ existed as a divine Person before assuming our human nature in the Incarnation and being born in the Nativity. The Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus fulfilled Psalm 40, which holds that obediential sacrifice is better than animal sacrifice: “Our Second Reading is saying that the reason for the Incarnation … is so that Christ may come to Israel and offer his body once for all, a definitive sacrifice that will put an end to all animal sacrifice and change the covenant economy from one focused on external observances (animal sacrifices, etc.) to one focused on obedience to God’s will from the depths of the heart” (Bergsma, Word of the Lord: Year C, 33). Jesus’ entire life – his conception, his birth, his coming into the world – is entirely ordered to the sacrifice of the Cross and the establishment of the New Covenant.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have given me the ultimate example of faithful obedience. You offered yourself in sacrificial love and renewed the world marred by sin. Purify the sacrificial offering I make of my life today and present it to the Father.

Living the Word of God: As the new year approaches, what are some of my resolutions? Can I bring up this topic in conversations with my employees so that we all are seeking to improve? Where do I see opportunities to grow spiritually? Am I focused on the “one thing necessary”? Am I ready to “choose the better part” like Mary, the sister of Lazarus?