HOMILY FOR FRIDAY 3RD WEEK IN ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B
THEME : The Almighty has done great things for me.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
1 Samuel 1:24-28
Res Psalm 1 Sam 2:1,4-8
Luke 1:46-56
LITURGICAL COLOUR
VIOLET
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the 22nd December of the Advent season Year B.
FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today we hear how Hannah went to the House of God and sought His help, and the Lord answered Hannah’s prayer, that she bore a child for her husband, named Samuel, whom Hannah promised to offer to God as her firstborn child. That child Samuel would go on to become one of the Lord’s greatest and most renowned prophets and also Judge over Israel. The Lord blessed Hannah and Elkanah thereafter, for their trust and faith in Him, as Hannah according to Scripture and tradition, went on to bear many more children for Elkanah, no longer barren but blessed by God. It was truly a great occasion that God helped a woman in distress, who trusted in Him.
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FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
Mary’s great prayer which we have just heard is set within the context of Elizabeth’s visit to her. Her visit was a real blessing for Mary. When Elizabeth greeted Mary, she declared Mary blessed because of the child she had conceived and also because, prior to her conceiving, she had believed the message spoken to her by the angel Gabriel. Mary’s response to this visit of Elizabeth and to the blessing it brought her was to praise God, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’. Her prayer sprung from an event in her life, a visit from her relative. This can be true of our prayer too. Our prayer, like Mary’s, tends to be rooted in our lives. It is often the case that our prayer is rooted in the pain and struggle of our life. We find ourselves in some dark or difficult situation, and we cry to God for help.
CONCLUSION
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary’s prayer teaches us that the blessings that come our way in life can also be an occasion for prayer, not the prayer of petition, but the prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Someone might visit us or we might visit someone, and we sense that something good has come from this meeting, for both of us. Such encounters are real opportunities to give thanks and praise to God. It can be good at the end of our day to look back over the day and to notice the blessings that have come our way in the course of the day and to thank and praise God for them. Whenever we are blessed by someone, in no matter how small a way, it is always the Lord who stands behind such blessing, and it is to him that our praise and thanks is due.
Happy Blessed Day Everyone.
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