A New
Presentation for Sunday's Liturgy God
has a purpose for your life! December
18, 2005
4th Sunday of Advent Click here
to download: (English
- 2.97MB) Flash Presentation
The original version,along
with other very useful materials for pastoral agents and Christians in
general can be found at: http://ciudadredonda.org
Glory
to God who is able to give you
the strength to live according to the Good News
about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This Good News is now proclaimed to all.
May you accept this Good News
and may the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction
by the Celebrant
A.
Servant of the Lord
To what extent are we available to God and do we see what he wants to
do in us and through us? Today we are shown the marvelous example of
Mary. Even if she did not see clearly all it implied, she accepted her
mission to become the mother of the Savior. Jesus wants to be born in
our world through us too, with our cooperation. We too have to say our
Yes to God and to his plans with us and with the world. Let us say our
Yes with Jesus and Mary.
B.
Reliable
Words from God and Mary
How reliable are our words? How often do we keep our promises? Many
times in the past God had promised to bring joy and happiness and freedom
to his people. He kept his word and promise in a way surpassing by far
what people expected: he sent his own Son as one of us: God's Son, yes,
but also the son of a human mother. A few days from now, on Christmas,
we shall celebrate how God gave us Jesus. Today we hear an angel announcing
to Mary that God would keep his word through her, and Mary gave her
word that she would cooperate with God's plan. Like her and with Jesus
may we also say our Yes to God here in this eucharist.
Penitential
Act
Our indifference
and our refusals
have been obstacles to God's plans.
Let us ask the Lord to forgive us. (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, with you and with Mary
we want to be open to the word of God:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, with you and with Mary
we are willing to face the risks
of committing ourselves to God and to people:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, from you and from Mary
we want to learn to serve:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In your mercy, Lord,
speak to us your word of forgiveness
and make us respond to your words of life.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening
Prayer
Let
us pray to our Father
that we may be receptive to the coming of his Son (PAUSE)
God, who are the Most High Lord of all,
you have a surprising preference
for people who are small and humble
and who expect everything from you.
You chose Mary, the unassuming virgin from Nazareth,
to become the mother of your Son Jesus.
Through your Holy Spirit
make us aware of the poverty of our hearts,
that we may be open to you and welcome you,
be ready, like Mary, to serve you and your plans,
and expect everything from you.
Come to us and give yourself to us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading Introduction: A
house that will stand forever
David proposes to build for God the
house of a temple. But God chooses the house of the dynasty of David,
from which a Savior would be born for his people.
First
Reading: 2nd
Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16
When the king had
settled in his palace and Yahweh had rid him of all his surrounding
enemies, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, I live in a house
of cedar but the ark of God is housed in a tent." Nathan replied,
"Do as it seems fit to you for Yahweh is with you."
But that very night,
Yahweh's word came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, this
is what Yahweh says: Are you able to build a house for me to live in?
Now you will tell my servant David, this is what Yahweh of hosts says:
"I took you from the pasture, from tending the sheep, to make you
commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went,
cutting down all your enemies before you. Now I will make your name
great as the name of the great ones on earth. I will provide a place
for my people Israel and plant them that they may live there in peace.
They shall no longer be harassed, nor shall wicked men oppress them
as before. From the time when I appointed judges over my people Israel
it is only to you that I have given rest from all your enemies. Yahweh
also tells you that he will build you a house.
"Your house
and your reign shall last forever before me, and your throne shall be
forever firm.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29
R.
(2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness. R.
(2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.” R.
(2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.” R.
(2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Second
Reading Introduction:
God
shows himself in Jesus Christ
With Paul, let us praise God,
who remained hidden for a long time, but now, in his wisdom, has shown
himself in Jesus Christ. This is the Good News to be preached to all.
Second
Reading: Romans
16:25-27
Glory to him who
is able to give you strength, according to the Good News I proclaim,
announcing Christ Jesus.
Now is revealed
the mysterious plan kept hidden for long ages in the past.
By the will of the eternal God it is brought to light, through the prophetic
books, and all nations shall believe the faith proclaimed to them.
Glory to God, who alone is wise, through Christ Jesus, for ever! Amen.
GospelIntroduction:
Your
will for me be done God's plans are fulfilled
where people, in all humility like Mary, receive God on his own terms.
Gospel
Reading: Luke
1:26-38
In
the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee
called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin who was betrothed to
a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin's name was
Mary.
The angel came
to her and said, "Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you."
Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could
mean.
But the angel said, "Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly
on you. You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus.
He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule
over the people of Jacob forever and his reign shall have no end."
Then Mary said
to the angel, "How can this be if I am a virgin?" And the
angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the holy child
to be born shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth
is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a
child, and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible."
Then Mary said,
"I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have
said." And the angel left her.
Commentary
WITH
a week before the birth we flip backwards in time to the moment
of the Incarnation when Jesus is conceived in Mary. The Holy Spirit
came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her…and
now the holy child to be born will be called Son of God. The birth
moment draws near. This child was conceived in freedom, in obedience
to the Word of God and that Word will soon become flesh in history.
How is this to be for us this year? We must ask for the courage
to obey and to bring forth the Word in our flesh.
Let us open our
hearts to the Lord Jesus that he may live in us and stay with us. Let
us say: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
- Lord, feel at home in your Church, that it may be open to you in the
poor and that those who seek you may find in it your forgiveness, your
life and truth and joy, we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
- Lord, feel at home with priests and religious, that they may live
up to the word once given to you and that they render you humble service
in the people you have entrusted to their care, we pray: R/ Lord,
make your home in us.
- Lord, feel at home in our world, that peoples and cultures may understand
one another, seek peace together and promote justice and love, we pray:
R/ Lord, make your home in us.
- Lord, feel at home in our families, unite them in fidelity and tenderness,
guide parents to raise their children toward your own mature adulthood,
we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
- Lord, feel at home in our communities, where we welcome everyone in
need, where we serve one another with joy and make you visible by our
untiring love. we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
Lord, it is good to be with you, to be aware that you live among us.
Like Mary, may we not keep you for ourselves but take you to others,
that they may know and love you, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer
over the Gifts
Faithful
God,
we are aware of our limitations
and the insufficiency of these gifts
we bring before you.
May our very poverty dispose you
to fill our empty hearts
with the wisdom of your Holy Spirit
and with the presence of him
whom we expect with great longing,
your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
Soon we will pray
in the eucharistic prayer that by the power of the Holy Spirit bread
and wine may become Jesus himself. By the same Holy Spirit, may Jesus
be born also in our hearts and in our world.
Invitation
to the Lord's Prayer
By
the power of the Holy Spirit
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary
and we have become God's children.
Let us pray with him the prayer of Jesus
to our Father in heaven : R/ Our Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver us, Lord,
from our pride in our own achievements
which closes us to your gifts.
Keep us from building for you
splendid buildings in which to confine you,
that you may choose us, your people,
rather than a building of stone
as your home in which you want to live
through him whom we expect with joy and hope,
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
R/ For the kingdom..
Invitation
to Communion
This
is Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Most High
born by the power of the Holy Spirit
of the virgin-mother Mary.
Happy are we to receive him.
R/ Lord,
I am not worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
God
our Father,
you fill the hungry with good things
and send the self-satisfied away empty.
In this eucharist you have filled us
with the word and the bread of life
of your Son Jesus Christ.
Make us hunger now for his coming
in the hearts and the homes of all.
Fill us with his spirit of service
and self-forgetting love,
that through us he may become near to people.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Christmas
is now very near.
With the Blessed Virgin Mary
we wait for the Lord's coming.
With her we say:
We are the Lord's servants;
we want to do his will
and to give his Son for all to share.
May almighty God bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go
in peace and live in the joy
of knowing that the Lord is near. R/ Thanks be to God.
In
the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee
called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin who was betrothed to
a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin's name was
Mary.