Year B
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Images
A Message of Joy
Points to note
Some say that the waiting time of Advent is a bit
like the expectations one encounter at the time of pregnancy, just that it is
four weeks rather than nine months.
Today, we hear of the story of how the pregnancy of all pregnancies
started.
There have been depictions of the Annunciation by
many artists but most are set in a ornate room with tiled floors and paintings
on the wall. One must remember that most
of these paintings were commissioned by rich patrons and those paintings on the
wall were probably the artist’s advertisement billboards
I always, though, imagine the event to take place in a small humble house with mud floors and barren walls. The virgin is unassumingly dressed in house clothes rather than in an embroidered dress. Jesus was the message but it was not a message of liberation for the wealthy and powerful but for the poor and the burdened in society.
In this time of celebrations, it has always been
customary in the Church to turn her prayers and attention to those who has not
been fortunate to revel in festivities that many of us have been used to.
Liturgy
Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the handmaid of the Lord:
let what you have said be
done to me. Alleluia!
Gospel
This is the final Sunday of
Advent, the last before Christmas.
Remind the children that there are four Sundays in Advent and that
Christmas is round the corner. The last
of the Advent wreath candles will be lit today.
The Lord be with you.
All: And also with your spirit.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel
according to St Matthew
All: Glory to you O Lord
(Lk 1:26-38)
The angel Gabriel was sent by
God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named
Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said
to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply
disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but
the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour.
Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He
will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give
him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for
ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this
come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the
angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.
And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too:
your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she
whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible
to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be
done to me.’ And the angel left her.
This is the Good News of the Lord
Dialogue
What was the story about? It is a
well-known story with which most children with basic catechism should be
familiar. Take them through the story
and what happened. Focus on the message
of the angel and that it was a message of joy.
Discuss how they would have felt if they have been told that the Saviour
of the World is to be born. Discuss
why. What does it mean that a Saviour is
coming? Leave it at conceptual level if
the children are unable to translate it into real terms.
Imagine the scene.
Ask the children to use their
imagination to see how the scene looked like.
Do they imagine a room like the one they have at home? Discuss the reality of the room that Mary was
in – it was the home of a poor carpenter.
Was it a rich man’s house? Ask
the children to describe a poor man’s house.
It will be interesting to see if any of them have ever been in a poor
person’s house.
What would the message of the coming of a Saviour
mean to poor people? Explore what poorer people would be
expecting from a Saviour. Would it
include freedom from physical hunger as well as spiritual ones?
Explain
to the children that we call Christmas the season of peace and goodwill and that
it should also include
·
freedom
from wars that is faced by many Christians who are fleeing their homes in some
countries
·
freedom
to pray and celebrate Christmas the way they want to but are stopped by various
people & governments
·
freedom
from hunger and malnutrition that plagues many people even in rich countries
·
freedom
to pursue education and opportunities for life, especially for girls in some
places
·
freedom
to travel wherever they want to be and be with their loved ones this Christmas
While
the children may not be able to do much with the above problems, they would be
able to stay with these people in their prayers, just as Jesus will be with
them in their longing.
