December 22, 2020
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy,
our O Antiphon beseeches God,
Who is King of All Nations,
Who unites Gentile and Jew,
to deliver us.
But from what?
The answer lies in the closing phrase of the antiphon: “we whom you formed from the clay of the earth”.
Deliver us from the artificial barriers we have created to separate from and dominate over one another – by nationality, ethnicity, color, gender, social or economic class. We each began as dust and will end that way. May we be humble, mutual and compassionate in the time between.
Consider the gracious humility of Hannah in our first reading today, and of Mary in our Gospel. They are power figures in Salvation History. But their power comes from their utter dependence on and honor to God, their only true King.
There was no fragmentation in the commitment of their entire lives to God. They understood all Creation to belong to the Divine.
King of Kings, deliver us from any such fragmentation. Make us all whole in You.
O King of all nations and keystone of the Church:
come and save us, whom you formed from the dust!
Poetry: The Kingdom of God – by Jessica Powers, an American poet and Carmelite nun
Music: O Ruler of Nations – Michael Hegeman
Lavish Mercy 