From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2013
Today is the fourth and last Sunday of the advent season. The fourth candle is lit on this day along with the first three. It is the Angel’s candle, reminding us of the heavenly hosts that proclaimed Christ’s arrival with “Behold, I bring unto you good tiding of great joy!”
In her New York Times bestsellers Going Rogue and America by Heart, Sarah Palin raises a challenge that unlike previous days when the greeting “Merry Christmas” , today this has been replaced by the supposedly less offensive “Happy Holidays”.
Good Tidings and Great Joy should therefore enable us to revisit our traditional roots and the true meaning of Christmas. It is a call to action to readers to defend and openly celebrate the joys of their Christianity, and to say to one another, “Merry Christmas!”
The first reading is taken from Is 7:10-14. The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”
Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.
House of David is used here as an example because David had gained a measure of peace in his reign. David was embarrassed that he lived in a fine, solidly built house while God’s “house” remained a tent.
The second reading is taken from Rom 1:1-7. This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. Although Paul chose this word slave, the vast majority of English translations prefer the word “servant.”
Paul uses the Greek original of Romans contains the word doulos, which means “slave.” It was used to refer to someone who was owned by a master. The Message captures the sense of the Greek by having Paul identify himself as “a devoted slave of Jesus Christ.” Like Paul, you and I are slaves of Christ. We need to serve him in all things, and discovering what it means to live in the freedom of his grace.
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is from Mt 1:18-24. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002