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(Mic.5:1-4 or Rm.8:28-30;\xa0\xa0 Ps.13:6,Is.61:9;\xa0\xa0 Mt.1:1-16,18-23 Note:\xa0 I shall treat of both first readings) \xa0 \u201cIt is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.\u201d \xa0 \u201cGod is with us,\u201d brothers and sisters, and how has He chosen to come among us but through a woman, but through a virgin found with child?\xa0 And this Virgin daughter of Israel from \u201cBethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah\u201d \u2013 she the humblest of the chosen people, the meekest servant of our race \u2013 has been thus greatly blessed \u201caccording to His decree,\u201d for she is the first whom God \u201cpredestined to share the image of His Son.\u201d\xa0 She is the first of Christians prepared and called by the Lord, and now \u201cin turn glorified\u201d in His presence.\xa0 It is her birth, it is her role in our salvation we celebrate today, for by her complicity with the will of God \u201cnow His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; He shall be peace.\u201d The fact that \u201cGod makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called\u201d is evident both in the situation of Mary\u2019s life as Mother of the Lord and in the very fact of her call itself.\xa0 First of all, God chooses this woman, this humble creature of the chosen race of His most humble creation to participate with Him in bringing His Son and His salvation into the world.\xa0 The lengthy genealogy at the start of our gospel also bears witness to the very human nature of Jesus, whose \u201cfamily record\u201d can indeed be traced so precisely, and among whose ancestors are many who were far less perfect than He \u2013 including a prostitute, an adulterer, and evil kings.\xa0 God chooses to come through man, through a woman, to make quite real His redemptive power over the sins of our race, to put flesh to the eternal Word of the Father. And in the particular situations of Mary\u2019s life, we see how difficulties, how \u201cbitterness,\u201d if you will, is turned to sweetness, too, for we note that Joseph was prepared to divorce his yet-to-be wife when found with child, and we know that the prophet tells us a sword shall pierce her heart as well as her Son\u2019s; but that notwithstanding, and indeed through that cross she bears with Him, she shall find the glorification promised all children of the Most High.\xa0 She certainly shares now in the fruits of His redemption. And we also share in these same fruits, brothers and sisters.\xa0 We are likewise predestined and called and justified and glorified if we make ourselves as obedient as our Mother in the faith.\xa0 He \u201cwhose origin is from of old\u201d is with us now, too, and so we should \u201csing of the Lord, \u2018He has been good to me\u2019\u201d as we \u201crejoice in [His] salvation\u201d at work within us, a salvation whose coming was prepared in the birth of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit brought to us through she who shares our own flesh. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Carie Fortney. Muisc by Carie Fortney; used by permission. ******* O LORD, through the Blessed Virgin Mary you have sent your only Son to save us from our sins \u2013 may He be always with us. YHWH, your Son has come among us through the Virgin Mary, to be with us and save us from our sins.\xa0 May we welcome Him into our lives as has Mary, as has Joseph, and so find ourselves led to glory with you.\xa0 In you do we trust; let us sing of your salvation. So humbly Jesus has come to us, through a humble virgin, a child called by you to share His image, to encompass Him with devotion that she might bear Him to us \u2013 and He has allowed Himself to be made so humble, to be found in her womb as a child of our race.\xa0 He has come to this place, O LORD, as the leaven of peace and truth that the darkness which surrounds us might be dispelled by His majestic presence.\xa0 O let His glory reach to the ends of the earth! By the Holy Spirit, Mary has conceived and served to bring Christ to us.\xa0 Prepare us, O LORD, as you have prepared her to fulfill your Word among us.