{"id":1518,"date":"2014-12-21T12:19:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T17:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2014-12-21T12:19:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-21T17:19:03","slug":"4th-sunday-in-advent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-in-advent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday in Advent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday in Advent, Year B<\/a>
\n2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
\nRomans 16:25-27
\nLuke 1:26-38
\nDecember 21, 2014<\/p>\n

Today we hear about King David and Mary, two people very much interested in doing God\u2019s Will but come from two very different perspectives.\u00a0 God made them both great.<\/p>\n

David was chosen by God to be king.\u00a0 Saul was the first king but he was not a good king.\u00a0 David was not perfect but a much better king than Saul.\u00a0 David knew he needed the Lord\u2019s help.\u00a0 David knew how much the Lord had done for him.\u00a0 He had a great palace while God dealt in the Ark in a simple tent.<\/p>\n

For David, it seemed obvious to him that he needed to build a magnificent house for the Lord.\u00a0 Even though it seemed obvious, always wanting to do what God wanted, David asked Nathan the prophet what he thought.\u00a0 He too thought it a great idea but both David and Nathan were thinking in human terms.<\/p>\n

That night, the Lord spoke though Nathan to say no, it is not for David to be my house.\u00a0 It will be David\u2019s heir.\u00a0 David listens and follows God\u2019s Will.<\/p>\n

David is proactive about what he does and eager to act.\u00a0 We see a different way in Mary.\u00a0 Mary too was made great by the Lord but she was not looking to do anything great.\u00a0 The angel Gabriel appears to Mary in a small town called Nazareth to tell her that she has chosen to be the mother of Jesus, the heir that was promised to David long ago.<\/p>\n

Mary is dismayed by Gabriel\u2019s appearance.\u00a0 Who is she that an angel would appear to her?\u00a0 When told she is to be the mother of Jesus, she questions<\/em> how this can be since she has had no relations with a man.<\/p>\n

Her question is not a statement of doubt.\u00a0 It is a question based on biology.\u00a0 She knows for a woman to become pregnant, she must be with a man.<\/p>\n

Gabriel\u2019s answer?\u00a0 It is by the Holy Spirit that she will conceive.\u00a0 In terms of biology, this is no answer.\u00a0 Mary does not demand a biological answer.\u00a0 An answer of faith is enough for her.<\/p>\n

We have questions.\u00a0 We seek answers.\u00a0 Does this mean we doubt our faith?\u00a0 We are taught doubt is a bad thing but we need to make a distinction of what leads us to question.\u00a0 What are we willing to accept as an answer?\u00a0 Do we ask from a human perspective or faith?<\/p>\n

Our questions almost always start from a human perspective because our questions normally come what goes on in our human lives.\u00a0 Do we demand answers that answer our questions in a human way or do we accept answers of faith?<\/p>\n

Mary accepted an answer of faith.<\/p>\n

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in his Summa Theologiae<\/em>, \u201cTo one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.\u00a0 To one without faith, no explanation is possible!\u201d<\/p>\n

Being people of faith means realizing that we aren\u2019t going to have all the answers.\u00a0 Being people of faith means we are willing to trust in God when we don\u2019t have the answers.<\/p>\n

How do we ask the question?<\/p>\n

David was headstrong and eager to do God\u2019s Will.\u00a0 Sometimes he got ahead of God\u2019s plan but was always willing to do God\u2019s will.\u00a0 Mary was quiet and sought a simple live but gave herself to God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

Do you see some of David in you?\u00a0 Do you see some of Mary in you?<\/p>\n

We probably need some of both.\u00a0 We need courage and confidence to act but we must first always see the Lord\u2019s will.\u00a0 May we always profess as Mary did, \u201cBehold I am the handmaid of the Lord.\u00a0 May it be done to be according to your word.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday in Advent, Year B 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 December 21, 2014 Today we hear about King David and Mary, two people very much interested in doing God\u2019s Will but come from two very different perspectives.\u00a0 God made them both great. David was chosen by God to be …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday in Advent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-ou","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1519,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}