{"id":337950,"date":"2016-12-18T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T22:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/?p=337950"},"modified":"2016-12-18T16:15:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T22:15:45","slug":"sunday-says-podcast-december-18-2016-mass-readings-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/sunday-says-podcast-december-18-2016-mass-readings-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Says Podcast – December 18, 2016 Mass Readings and Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday of Advent<\/h2>\n

Sunday December 18, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n

Lectionary: 10 (NAB Translation<\/b><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Reading 1<\/b><\/p>\n

Isaiah 7:10-14<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s first reading from the book of Isaiah is a prophecy of the Messiah as the Immanuel- meaning “God is with us.”\u00a0 This prophecy was given by Isaiah to King Ahaz as a form of reassurance at a time in history when it looked as if Israel was going to be conquered by the Assyrians, a menacing superpower to the north.\u00a0 The prophecy, predicting that a woman (a maiden or virgin) \u2026”will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel,”\u00a0 was seen as fulfilled in the story of the coming of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Responsorial Psalm<\/b><\/p>\n

Psalm 24:1-6<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The response for this week’s Psalm echoes the thoughts of the first reading:\u00a0 “Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.”<\/p>\n

Reading 2<\/b><\/p>\n

Romans 1:1-7<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s second reading from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans, we see the heart of the Christmas message.\u00a0 In the opening verses of this letter St. Paul gives us a brief summary of Paul’s purpose and mission which is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Here he makes reference to the Old Testament Scriptures which predicted Christ’s coming and then proclaims both His divinity– “Son of God,” and his humanity — ” as a descendant of David.”\u00a0 St. Paul makes a point to say that this message belongs to all people, including the pagans, which is one of the reasons he is sending this letter to Rome.<\/p>\n

Gospel<\/b><\/p>\n

Matthew 1:18-24<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

This week’s gospel from St. Matthew gives us a view of the nativity story from the perspective of Joseph.\u00a0 In this passage we see the reason why Saint Joseph is considered the Church’s patron.\u00a0 Despite the unusual circumstances of Christ’s birth which were likely to give rise to scandal since Mary and Joseph were not yet married- St. Joseph obeyed the angel and went so far as to be the protector of Jesus Christ and his Mother.\u00a0 This was a gift of God who gave to Mary not only a companion for her life, but also the responsibility to be the guardian of the Son of God and the head of the divine house of the Holy Family.\u00a0\u00a0 According to Pope Leo XIII, “Now, the divine house that Joseph governed with the authority of a father contained the beginnings of the newborn Church…These are the reasons why the blessed Patriarch looks over the Church since the multitude of Christians have been entrusted to him”.<\/p>\n

\n

Reflection question from Bishop V\u00e1squez<\/b><\/p>\n

Gospel meditation<\/b><\/p>\n

What do you think of when you hear that Joseph was righteous? A righteous person is not only a person who follows the law but, most importantly, a righteous person is one who strives for holiness while maintaining an active relationship with God. Today, we focus on the coming birth of Jesus, and the important salvific titles of Son of David, God with us (Emmanuel), and God saves (Jesus) that remind us that God is present and acting. However, let\u2019s return to righteous Joseph. It is because Joseph is close to God that he heard and followed God\u2019s word delivered through the angel. Are we growing in our relationship with God? Do we listen to and follow God\u2019s Word in our daily lives? God is with us. Are we with God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday of Advent Sunday December 18, 2016 Lectionary: 10 (NAB Translation) Reading 1 Isaiah 7:10-14 This week\u2019s first reading from the book of Isaiah is a prophecy of the Messiah as the Immanuel- meaning “God is with us.”\u00a0 This prophecy was given by Isaiah to King Ahaz as a form of reassurance at a… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4,258],"tags":[384,215,55,51,37,330,266,101,131,491],"class_list":{"0":"post-337950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-sundaysays","8":"tag-advent","9":"tag-bible","10":"tag-catholic-2","11":"tag-catholicism","12":"tag-gospel","13":"tag-jesus","14":"tag-liturgy-of-the-word","15":"tag-mary","16":"tag-mass","17":"tag-scripture","18":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":188668,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/sunday-says-podcast-december-20-2015-mass-readings-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":337950,"position":0},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – December 20, 2015 Mass Readings and Reflections","author":"Steve Scott","date":"December 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Fourth Sunday in Advent Sunday December 20, 2015 Lectionary: 12 (NAB Translation) Welcome to the Sunday Says podcast for December 20, 2015, the fourth Sunday of Advent.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for joining us as we break open the Word of God to prepare our hearts and minds for this Sunday\u2019s Mass.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sunday Says"","block_context":{"text":"Sunday Says","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/sundaysays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":330603,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/sunday-says-podcast-december-4-2016-mass-readings-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":337950,"position":1},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – December 4, 2016 Mass Readings and Reflections","author":"Steve Scott","date":"December 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Second Sunday of Advent Sunday December 4, 2016 Lectionary: 4 (NAB Translation) Reading 1 Isaiah 11:1-10 This week\u2019s first reading from the book of Isaiah is a prophecy of the Messiah as the One who will descend as a branch from the root of Jesse in the lineage of King\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ACNM"","block_context":{"text":"ACNM","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunday Says","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo1-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42878,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/sunday-says-podcast-december-8-2013-mass-readings-reflections-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":337950,"position":2},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast \u2013 December 15, 2013 Mass Readings and Reflections","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"December 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[powerpress] \u00a0 Third Sunday of Advent December 15, 2013 (Jerusalem Bible Translation) Lectionary: 7 (New American Bible Translation) Gaudete! - Rejoice! 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