Sunday December 18, 2022

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DISCOVER TODAY: God who is with us already loves us fully and unconditionally, whether or not we deserve it.

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Good News Reflection for:

Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 18, 2022

Today’s Prayer:

Praised be to You, my Lord, for Your loving designs for the whole human race. Make me humble and patient to let myself be conquered by You, with docility and joy. Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
gnm.org/SaintQuotes/

Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 7:10-14
Ps 24:1-6 (with 7c & 10b)
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-24
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121822.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2022-12-18-usccb-daily-mass-readings

The love that comes from God who is with us

Love is the theme of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. A good definition of love is in the name that we see in the first reading and again when the prophecy is fulfilled in the Gospel reading: Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” To have love is to have “God with us”. To give love is to give God who is with us.

Have you ever felt like you’ve run out of love to give? Well, that’s quite impossible! We might run out of patience; we might get tired of giving more love than we receive from others, but God who is love is always with us.

When we feel empty from loving someone who doesn’t equally love us back, or when we reach the point of despising someone who repeatedly hurts us, this is when we need to ask God for a supernatural ability to love with his love. This prayer always works! It’s how we become effective evangelizers as distributors of his love.

When we give God’s love to those who are unpleasant to love, we’re revealing to them God who is with us.

We all have people in our lives who fail to be Christ to us. They don’t love us like God wants them to love us. So we need to remind ourselves that our happiness is not dependent upon how they treat us. God is with us! We need to call upon Emmanuel. God who is with us already loves us fully and unconditionally, whether or not we deserve it.

When we’re looking for others to love us more than they do, we feel unloved, but if we keep our eyes on Jesus, his love fills in all the gaps.

Emmanuel. It’s a name for Jesus that we should use year-round.

As you finish preparing for the celebration of Christmas, focus on Emmanuel. Sing to Emmanuel. Pray to Emmanuel. This sign, this reminder, this name is God’s personal Christmas gift to you.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
Are you loved enough? What will you do this week (as a Christmas gift for yourself) to become more aware of God’s love for you? Here’s an idea: Go to the nativity display at your church and look at the manger. Write on a small piece of paper the names of those who fail to love you sufficiently. Place it in the manger and, if it has straw or hay, take a piece of it (or take a flower petal or leaf from a nearby plant) as a reminder that Emmanuel was born to give you more than enough love.

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received from God? Why did it make you feel loved?

For more on this, go to our Faith Booster: “God’s desire for you” @ https://wordbytes.org/faith-booster-minis/gods-desire-for-you/

© 2022 by Terry A. Modica

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