Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

LECTIONARY
197

FIRST READING

SG 2:8-14

Hark! my lover–here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
My lover speaks; he says to me,
"Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,
and come!
"For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
and come!

"O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely."

PSALM

PS 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21

Response: Exult, you just, in the Lord! Sing to him a new song.

Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.

But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.

GOSPEL

LK 1:39-45

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

Daily Reflection

The two lovers in the first reading of the Song of Songs represent God and the world. The poem expresses the overwhelming joy experienced by the people as God Himself comes to meet them. This joy is seen also in today’s Gospel account of the visitation. Mary rushes to visit her cousin Elizabeth when she hears that she is in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Elizabeth’s unborn son, John the Baptist, leaps for joy even in his mother’s womb in the presence of Mary, who bears in her womb, the Son of God.

This alludes to David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant which contained the presence of God. Elizabeth’s exclamation: “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” is repeated several times each day, the world over, when people pray the ‘Hail Mary’.

In these final days of Advent, do we look forward with the same eagerness and joyful anticipation to celebrate God-with-us?