HOMILIES - THE FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT - SUNDAY Download This Homily
December 22, 2013
4th Sunday of Advent
Daily Mass Reading - Audio
BORN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
This passage brings to us the good news of the announcement of the birth of Jesus. The key point here is that Jesus will be born of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of his birth is to be the Saviour of the world. One idea we have to forthrightly get rid of from our minds is that this passage does not mention that he is born to be King, which is a later addition. He is born of the Holy Spirit to be the Saviour of the world. What does it mean? What is the importance of being born of the Holy Spirit? What is the meaning of being Saviour?
In the Old Testament we find that it was the Holy Spirit who taught the prophets what to say and how to act. It was the Holy Spirit who taught the prophets what to say; it was the Holy Spirit who taught men of God what to do; it was the Holy Spirit who, throughout the ages and the generations, brought God’s truth to men. So then, Jesus is the one person who brings God’s truth to men.
Hence, the passage means the following:
1. Jesus is the person who can tell us who God is. In Jesus we see the love, the compassion, the mercy, the seeking heart, the purity of God as nowhere else in this entire world. With the coming of Jesus the time of guessing is over, and we have the certainty of knowing the true God. Jesus could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
2. He is the one person who can tell us who a human person actually is. He is the ideal man (human person). Whoever sees Jesus, sees who and what a human person has to be, how he or she should relate to God and with others, what his or her aim in life should be, what means one may take in attaining fulfillment of one’s life, etc.
3. Jesus is the one who can lead us to this true God. Jesus opens people eyes to the truth. People are blinded by their own ignorance; they are led astray by their own prejudices; their minds and eyes are darkened by their own sins and their own passions. Jesus can open our eyes until we are able to see the truth.
4. Jesus brings God’s life-giving and creating power. Jesus can awaken us from our slumber, lethargy and inertia. He alone can bring order into our disorderly life.
5. Jesus can breathe life into our dead nature just as the dry bones in the book of Ezekiel came back to life when they heard the word of the Lord (Ezekiel 37:1–14). Even if we are dead in sin, Jesus can bring us back to life.
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