Friday, December 24th
Scripture
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16
Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Luke 1:67-79
Reflection
I have made a covenant with my chosen one. Psalm 89:4
The covenant between God and David stood firm, even when David broke the promise of mutual love. God forgave him and kept the promise to be with David wherever he went, to protect him and his progeny forever. And David praised God in prayerful song, “The promises of the Lord I will sing forever . . . for you said, ‘My love is established forever.’”
We believe that God loves each of us in the same way that he loved David, and the ultimate proof of that love is that God became one of us in the Incarnation, and in his living among us. Love begets love and a commitment to mutual love is a covenant—a promise reciprocated—not out of duty but out of love. Two people make a commitment to love each other in sickness and in health. The promise is born of love which summons a love response and in that exchange the covenant is strengthened.
Tomorrow we celebrate love incarnate—Jesus, Son of Mary and Joseph and of God, human and divine, born in poverty, to show us the way to live and to love in unexpected and incomprehensible ways. God keeps the promise to be with us always and forever.
Prayer
God of love, thank you for your forever love and for Jesus, who shows us how to love.
May I find the humility and the courage to walk in God’s ways.
Personal Challenge
I will find a way to love at least one person today and thus re-ignite the covenant I made through the faith of my parents in Baptism.
Sister Maria Hill, CSJ
Brookfield, IL
