In wrapping up the second week of Advent, we add to our concentration on prayer life by thanking God the Father for His faithfulness, mercy and love.
Scripture for meditation: Genesis 3:14-15
Then the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at His heel.”
Christ states: Luke 4:18-21
“The spirit of the Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me. He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll He gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on Him. Then He began by saying to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Pope Benedict XVI explains:
Jesus Christ goes Adam’s route, but in reverse. In contrast to Adam, He is really “like God”…Because He does not go the route of power, but that of love, He can descend into the depths of Adam’s lie, into the depths of death, and there raise up truth and life. Thus Christ is the new Adam, with whom humankind begins anew…His arms, spread out on the cross, are an open invitation to relationship, which is continually offered to us. The cross, the place of His obedience, is the true tree of life. Christ is the antitype of the serpent…From this tree there comes not the word of temptation, but that of redeeming love, the word of obedience, which the obedient God Himself used, thus offering us His obedience as a context for freedom. [To accept this tree of life] means to accept the love of God, which is our truth…
-‘In the Beginning…’ A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall’ by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Our Sunday visitor Publishing, 1990
Prayer: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Holy God, we praise Thy Name! Lord of all, we bow before Thee! All on earth Thy scepter claim, All in heaven above adore Thee!
Infinite Thy vast domain, everlasting is Thy reign. Hark the loud celestial hymn, angel choirs above are raising; Cherubim and Seraphim, in unceasing chorus praising. Fill the heavens with sweet accord: Holy, holy, holy Lord! Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, three we name thee, while in essence only one, undivided God we claim thee; and adoring bend the knee, while we own the mystery! (Ignaz Franz,1719-1790)
My thoughts: It is a great gift to know that we have a Father who remains faithful to His promises. When man first sinned and fell from grace, God promised that from a woman, a savior would come who would crush the head of Satan. Jesus fulfilled that promise, and today we have the promise of everlasting life. Let us take time to “bend the knee” and offer profound praise to our most loving Father.
Our prayer to God: I know you recognize our prayer today as the hymn “Holy God We Praise Thy Name.” If you sing it a few times in a row, it will get stuck in your head. Imagine spending a day singing praise to God! I can’t think of a better way to get through the day, can you?
Don’t forget the Christmas Novena! Fifteen times today for your special intention!
Don’t forget the Christmas Novena! Fifteen times today for your special intention!
Christmas Novena
Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires(mention request here).
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.
Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires(mention request here).
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.
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