Daily Reflection for Monday, December 20, 2021
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Monday’s readings at this link:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122021.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14
Responsorial: Psalm 24:1-6
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
Our reflection on Monday’s readings:
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28
What does it take to get your attention? My husband is a sound sleeper, but if I start baking or cooking when I’m fighting insomnia, the strange smells wake him without fail. I can sleep through destructive thunderstorms and blaring sirens, but a stirring child sends me bolt upright.
God sent the angel Gabriel to deliver news and capture Mary’s attention. Scripture doesn’t say the visit happened in the middle of the night, but that’s how I’ve always imagined it. Henry Ossawa Tanner’s 1898 painting, The Annunciation*, shows teenage Mary with her hands clasped on top of her rumpled bedclothes. Her bare toes peek out from under her robes, pointing at a large lump in her worn rug. Gabriel doesn’t have a halo or wings but is painted as a tall shaft of bright light. You’ve likely seen other paintings or imagined the scene much differently.
“Hail, full of grace!” is a familiar part of the Hail Mary, but that phrasing might not call out to you. Here is the same verse from several other translations of the bible:
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
“You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”
“Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you.”
God’s infinite love reaches us in infinite ways. He calls to us with blaring sirens and bright lights, and he whispers our names gently in lonely, restless hours of uncertainty. How is God trying to get your attention today?
Remain open to God’s greetings, blessings, and the sense of peace that flows from knowing He is with you. If you’re struggling to connect, fear not.
“God is at home. It’s we who have gone out for a walk.” —Meister Eckhart.
May God’s Peace Be with You,
Trina Wurst
* https://artondemand.philamuseum.org/detail/461460/tanner-the-annunciation-1898