Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jeremiah 23,5-8
Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country. In his days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name he will be called, 'Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice.' " 'So, look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer say, "As Yahweh lives who brought the Israelites out of Egypt," but, "As Yahweh lives who led back and brought home the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the north and all the countries to which he had driven them, to live on their own soil." '
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After having given a stern warning to the leaders of Isarel who caring only for themselves have betrayed the flock, the Lord assures his people through the voice of his prophet that he himself will come down to gather his flock and bring them to pasture from which they have been driven. "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch." At Christmas, the prophet's proclamation reaches its fulfilment. The days of which Jeremiah speaks are also our days. It is in our confused time that the Lord will give the world a "branch" who will reign over the earth with authority and establish justice and righteousness. The Son of God himself has been sent to earth. He appears as a child, truly a "branch" who does not impose himself with outer strength or any attributes of human power. He is forced to be born in a cave outside of the city and laid in a manger, as Matthew's Gospel reminds us today (1:18-24). The strength of this branch comes entirely from the boundless love that drove him to come down from heaven and gather a people with whom he can start the new kingdom of God on earth. HOs kingdom is not like the one of the powerful of the earth who oppress people. The Lord reigns in the human hearts, that is he frees from within the hearts from the innumerable slavery that make life sad and bitter. He visits every generation. The Lord keeps knocking to enter our hearts: his birth renews them, widens them, makes them strong with love, and illuminates them so they can travel to the periphery of our world. A heart renewed by Christmas can give birth to a new earth, a new history, a new justice and a more lasting peace.