FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

December 20, 2009 Fourth Sunday of Advent

The rosary is one of the church’s most enduring prayers. Someone in the world is probably praying it every moment of the day. It is an endless echoing of the words of the angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth. In today’s Gospel reading we hear the second part of the familiar “Hail Mary” as it was spoken by Elizabeth greeting her cousin Mary. These words can be our greeting to Jesus, who comes soon to us in the glory of Christmas. But first the words call to mind the miracle of Mary, whose faith enabled her to accept the awesome request of God. She is the unattainable inspiration of what all of us strive to say to God’s requests of us: “Let it be done unto me according to your will.”

Deacon Dick Folger