Reflections on Scripture | Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel
Luke 1:39-45

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

Reflection

Those involved in this mysterious birth of God into the world were unique, and they seem mostly to be open to signs and wonders, and they pondered them rather than rejected them.

So those words that Elizabeth says, Blessed are you who believed, is the words that God is saying to you and to me in this mysterious unfolding. We pray for faith, trust, surrender, acceptance. As strange and wonderful as these pregnancies were to these women, so is the mystery of God dwelling in our hearts. Give us wisdom. Keep us from doubt.

Closing Prayer

Father, signs and wonders are the way you work, even now with each of us. Give us a kind of intention of opening ourselves always to something that we don't understand, and also the mysterious gift of curiosity and wondering what it might mean. So many signs are given to us over and over, and we let them slip by. Bless us with attention to all that is happening to us. Create for us a reflective life. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross