Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
St. Matthew's genealogy of Christ compresses sacred history into a short form in the context of the people who comprise that history.
And that is a history of sin, but also a history of hope.
Because on the one hand...
The real point of the genealogy is that God made a promise and kept it.
He made a covenant with Abraham and renewed it with Moses and with David.
And the promises that God made to his people, while they were fulfilled in Abraham...
Abraham having reached the promised land and the Jews being delivered from Egypt and brought back to it.
And David being king and conquering his enemies and all the other events and fulfillments that took place in the Old Testament.
The real object of the promise is salvation.
And that salvation comes through Christ Jesus.
Another point of the...
The genealogy is that while God kept his promises, his people did not.
And so in the background of this genealogy is the mystery of iniquity and sin.
But that in spite of that iniquity and sin, in spite of the fact that while God kept renewing his promises and his people kept failing to keep their promises...
In the end, divine providence has the greater sway.
It overcomes all things.
It overcomes all sinfulness.
It overcomes even infidelity.
In spite of the fact that his people very often didn't follow directions, his ultimate plan was fulfilled.
Today we begin the last part of the Advent season.
We enter into the sort of novena in preparation for Christmas.
And we...
We have our own memories of our own past and unfulfilled promises.
We remember the providence of God in our own lives that sometimes we corresponded to and sometimes did not.
But we look forward with greater hope because God is always faithful to his promises.
And while we spend these last...
Moments of Advent preparing for Christmas, we ask for the grace to be more faithful to the inspirations and movements of the Holy Spirit that we are given each day.
Knowing that in spite of ourselves and in spite of the circumstances we face, that God is always with us.
And that if we only remain faithful, his promises in us will be fulfilled.
That is what we wait for and what we hope for.
We hope for the coming of Christ, not just at Christmas, but at each moment of our lives in the mystery of his grace and in his second coming, which is inevitable.
And we wish to be prepared for that most of all.
May we have our Lady's grace in our hearts this day and always so that we can fulfill our promises to God who has been faithful to his promises.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.