Fourth Sunday of Advent - 2025 - Year A

Reflection on the Gospel

Matthew 1:18-24

A fundamental conviction is expressed in Christian piety by the role given to Mary the Mother of Jesus. From earliest times Mary has typified the perfected Church of the end-time.

When Christians have asked themselves whether it is really possible that the redemption should be completed in the world by people themselves so unredeemed as yet, the veneration of the Immaculate Conception or total sinlessness of Mary, attributed to the foreseen merits of her Son, was a symbolic answer to that question. This doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was a way of saying that through Jesus Christ God has brought about a new and untainted creation, his bride Mary or his bride the Church, uncontaminated by the leaven of past evil, a special and merciful divine intervention.

Similarly, when Christians asked themselves whether the heavenly goal was really attainable, the answer was expressed in the veneration of the Assumption of Mary into heaven, "body and soul," to be reunited to Christ her Son, a symbol of hope and reassurance to the whole struggling Church which she represents.

This had already been foreshadowed in the Book of Revelation (11:19; 12:1ff.) in the vision of "the portent in heaven, the woman clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars and having the moon under her feet." Probably written originally about the people Israel as the mother of the Messiah, this passage was soon applied both to Mary and the Church, because these both bring forth the Messiah into a world struggling with the forces of evil.

Mary as the true model of faith is held up as a symbol of hope for each of us as we travel on to our own destiny.

The First, Second and Gospel readings are taken from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops Daily Readings website. Father William's reflections are considered to be personal, intellectual property. Attribution is to be given to Fr. William S. Faix, OSA, if his reflections are copied and/or used.