Advent Daily Devotionals - Blessed are You - 4th Dec

BLESSED ARE YOU

4^th of December 2018

Readings of the Day:

Reading 1, Isaiah 11:1-10

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 72:1, 7-8, 12-13, 17

Gospel, Luke 10:21-24

First Reading, Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot will spring from the stock of Jesse, a new shoot will grow from his roots.

On him will rest the spirit of Yahweh, the spirit of wisdom and insight, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and fear of Yahweh: his inspiration will lie in fearing Yahweh. His judgement will not be by appearances, his verdict not given on hearsay.

He will judge the weak with integrity and give fair sentence for the humblest in the land. He will strike the country with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips bring death to the wicked. Uprightness will be the belt around his waist, and constancy the belt about his hips.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the panther lie down with the kid, calf, lion and fat-stock beast together, with a little boy to lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like the ox. The infant will play over the den of the adder; the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair. No hurt, no harm will be done on all my holy mountain, for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. That day, the root of Jesse, standing as a signal for the peoples, will be sought out by the nations and its home will be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 72:1, 7-8, 12-13, 17

 [Of Solomon] God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, the son of the king with your own saving justice,

In his days uprightness shall flourish, and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.

His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the limits of the earth.

For he rescues the needy who calls to him, and the poor who has no one to help.

He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the needy from death.

May his name be blessed for ever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed.

Gospel, Luke 10:21-24

Just at this time, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it has pleased you to do.

Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'

Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them by themselves, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.'

Writer’s Reflection:

How truly, BLESSED are you!

Do you realise how incredible it is that God has revealed Himself to us? This is what sets us apart from everyone else! In no other religion has God come down to clothe Himself so fully with humanity, in order to suffer and die for our sake, and to rise again. Do you ever think, if God didn’t come, we wouldn’t know him in the personal way that we do? We might be able to work out that He exists, but how would we know that he is Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Love Itself? That he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God. Not only would we not know Him, we would not have the supreme gifts that we can now enjoy.  A life of grace, all the sacraments, especially the Eucharist wherein Jesus comes to us physically to sustain us until we can come to Him in Heaven. We have the Holy Catholic Church, and everything that the Church guided by the Holy Spirit gives us. He has come and shown us that His Goodness is eternal and beyond anything we can imagine. Quite literally, EVERYTHING we have received ultimately comes from Him - our life is a blessing!

How can this not fill us with joy?! It even fills Jesus with joy; the joy of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is present in a soul there is true joy and miracles begin to happen. In the first reading we hear of a prophecy about Jesus coming into the world on whom the Spirit of God rests, and all the wonderful things that He ultimately accomplishes. In the Gospel, Jesus Himself speaks, “filled with joy by the Spirit”, and He glorifies God. Whilst we have not seen Jesus with our own eyes like the disciples, we have been blessed in our hearts through the knowledge revealed to us from the truth of the Gospel's. In our moments of doubt; we should never forget Jesus’ words to St Thomas in John 20:29; “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” – where He is directly speaking to each one of us. Truly, we too are blessed by our faith, and are blessed to have been made partakers in this divine life. As such, we too should be filled with the Holy Spirit, and rejoice in glorifying God for all He has given us. 

Jesus’ example is one to follow and put into practice as much as possible this Advent season. We all suffer at times from a lack of joy; whether it’s a bad day or a really hard trial we are going through- our life is full of seasons. But to have true joy, we need to open our hearts to receive it, as it is a gift given to us from the Holy Spirit. He alone is able to give us joy AT ALL TIMES; for He turns our gaze on God, and all that God is and has done for us. The more we contemplate the truth of God and what He has given and done, the more we will love Him, and the more we will be filled with His Spirit - the source of true joy. The open-hearted are truly joyful. It’s a win-win situation!

So, BLESSED ARE YOU whom God has loved and revealed Himself to! Let us never cease blessing Him in return!

Prayer Reflection:

Blessed are You, my God for revealing the truth of Your existence.

Blessed are You for assuming humanity and dying and rising for my salvation.

Blessed are You for giving me faith, hope and love and all the virtues.

Blessed are You for all the gifts you have given me, most especially Yourself.

Blessed are You for all of creation and for the gift of my own life.

May I use it to serve you in everything I do!

Writer's Bio: Luca McQuillan

Hey :) My name is Luca and I am half Scottish/Hungarian. I study Catholic theology and my aim is to work for the salvation of souls in whatever way God asks of me. I love adventures in any shape or form, travelling, people, art, rollerblading, climbing, swimming and even studying among many other things. Most recently I spent the past year in the St Andrew’s community in Aberdeen, Scotland.

My message to any readers would be, to live life to the full! By this you glorify God! “The glory of God is man fully alive” (CCC 294). God gave you this precious gift and there’s so much you can do if you abandon everything to Him. There is great truth in Jesus words “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

Your life is full when it is lived for God, and this pleases him greatly – so don’t let anything hold you back!! :D