FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT: ACCEPTANCE
“My heart is tuned and ready
For songs the angels sing
A household that is peaceful
Is my gift for the King.”
-June Masters Bacher
This fourth week of Advent has to do with acceptance. How can we best light the candle of acceptance? First of all, in our own hearts, let us each remember that God’s gift of love is a personal gift for each one. No one else can receive the gift for you. No one else can experience the gift for you the acceptance and gratitude for this wonderful gift. You alone can light the candle of acceptance in your own heart. We must each say to ourselves, “There is born to me this day, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. God so loved me that He gave His only begotten Son, that I, believing in Him might not perish but have eternal life. Thanks be to God for Him most beautiful gift of Christ the Savior to me.”
With acceptance, we take a real part in the unfolding Nativity drama. Together with Mary, we say “Yes” to God to receiving Jesus in our hearts and homes. We join the angelic choir that proclaims,”Glory to God in the highest and peace to all men.” Together with the shepherds, we kneel in homage before the little Babe in the manger.
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Reading: Luke 1:39-45
In the sixth month 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 favored. 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 favor. 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 the throne of his ancestor David. He will rule over the House of Jacob forever 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 the 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.
Responsory:
Leader: Your light will come, Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.
All: Your light will come, Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.
Leader: You will see His glory within you.
All: Your light will come, Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.
Leader: Glory be to the Father…
All: As it was in the beginning…
Intercessions:
Leader: Jesus is Lord, born of the Virgin Mary. Let us pray to Him: COME INTO OUR HEARTS, LORD JESUS!
Leader: Mary received You into her heart.
All: Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus!
Leader: That we may love your Father as Mary does.
All: Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus!
Leader: So that we may be more like You.
All: Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus!
Leader: So that we may recognize You in everyone.
All: Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus!
Leader: So that we may love others more.
All: Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus!
Leader: O Mary, you were the first to receive Jesus into your heart. Pray to God for us that we may be as ready as you were to listen to God’s word and to receive His Son into our hearts.
All: Amen.
Our Father in heaven…
Closing Prayer: Lovely Lady, dressed in blue
Teach me how to pray
God was just your little boy
So you know the way.
- Mary Dixon Thayer
Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
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