Gospel Acclamation: Fourth Sunday of Advent

The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.

These words come from Isaiah 7:14 but are applied directly to Jesus in Matthew 1:23. Isaiah meant the words as a prophetic sign, and of course, those prophetic signs operate on many different levels, most of which are not evident to the prophet and his contemporaries. Isaiah likely never imaged how his words would ultimately be fulfilled by God incarnate, coming among us Himself to save us from our sins and open the way to Heaven.

Jesus is truly Emmanuel, God-with-us. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the only-begotten Son of the Father, has become a human being, a tiny baby, in fact, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He has laid aside His glory to embrace suffering. He has become poor that we might become rich. Out of His infinite love, He has given Himself up for our salvation. He entered into our human condition in everything except sin so that He could make us God's beloved children, people of the New Covenant, and temples of the living God.

Gospel Acclamation: Third Sunday of Advent

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

Our Gospel acclamation today comes from Isaiah 61:1. It is the beginning of a passage about a year of favor from God, a time when the brokenhearted will be healed, captives freed, and mourners comforted. The prophet is to proclaim joy and peace and love, and the people will worship God.

Jesus takes these words as His own at His baptism in the Jordan river. He is the fulfillment of this prophecy. He is anointed directly by the Holy Spirit, Who descends upon Him like a dove, and He enters into His public ministry to bring glad tidings to the poor.

Now Jesus passes this duty on to us. We, too, have been anointed by the Spirit. When we are baptized and confirmed, we become vessels of God. His indwelling presence is within us, and His grace fills us. We are called and commissioned to bring glad tidings to the poor, to tell people the good news of the Gospel, to introduce them to God, to proclaim His love for all of us, and to guide them on the path to God. We are to cooperate with our Lord in this important work as the Spirit of the Lord rests upon us, guiding us and filling us with His gifts.

Gospel Acclamation: Second Sunday of Advent

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths: all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

In today's Gospel, we hear about John the Baptist and his proclamation of Isaiah's prophetic message. John and Isaiah both call us to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths. But how do we do this?

First, we pray. This does not mean just mumbling a few prayers now and then but really opening the heart and mind to God and connecting with Him. Prayer is about intimacy with God. It is, as we read in the Catechism, “the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” (#2559). It is, as St. Thérèse of Lisieux so beautifully remarked, “a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” In prayer, we make straight the path of God right into our lives and minds and hearts and souls.

Second, we receive the sacraments. We go to Confession and lay down our sins before God with contrite hearts. We receive the Eucharist with devotion, greeting our Lord with joy when He comes to us and allowing Him to burn away our venial sins in the fire of His love and strengthen us against mortal sins.

Third, we read and study the Scriptures. We listen closely to what God has to say to us in His Word, and then we make that message our own, embracing it, meditating on it, and putting it into practice.

Fourth, we do penance. We deny ourselves some things that are good so that we are ready to accept things that are better. The things of this world, even when they are good, can become a distraction. They can draw our minds and hearts away from God. So we deliberately set them aside so that we can focus on God first and foremost and then enjoy everything else in proper order and with gratitude.

Thus, we can prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths so that we can be ready to greet Him at Christmas, to embrace the salvation He brings, and one day, to joyously see Him face-to-face in Heaven.

Gospel Acclamation: First Sunday in Advent

Show us Lord, Your love; and grant us Your salvation.

As we begin the season of Advent, a season of waiting, reflection, and repentance, today's Gospel acclamation offers us a prayer that we can use throughout our Advent meditations.

As we ask our Lord to show us His love and grant us His salvation, we should open our hearts to receive both that love and that salvation. We should also remember that God wants to shower us in His love. In fact, He does so at every moment just by keeping us in existence. He does that because He loves us.

What's more, in 1 Timothy 2:4, we read that God “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” We can be certain, then, that God will give us every bit of grace we need to be saved. He wants us home in Heaven with Him for all eternity.

Let us pray, then, throughout this Advent, that we can open our eyes to see God's love, our minds to know it, and our hearts to experience it. And let us pray that we will embrace the salvation that our Lord so lovingly holds out to us and prepare our souls for a full immersion in His love in Heaven.

Gospel Acclamation: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!

Jesus is the ultimate Davidic king, the fulfillment of the covenant oath God swore to David that a king would arise from his line, a king who would reign forever. The Davidic kingdom would return in more glory than David himself could ever imagine, for it would be the Kingdom of God.

This is what we proclaim in today's Gospel acclamation on Christ the King Sunday. Jesus comes in the name of the Lord, for He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He comes to unite us to the Trinity through grace and through the indwelling presence of God in our souls.

So we proclaim Him blessed as He blesses us, and we proclaim the kingdom of God that has come, is coming, and will come definitively at the end of time.

Gospel Acclamation: Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to reflect on the last things. We are encouraged to think about our own death and judgment, which are inevitable and may come unexpectedly. We are asked to meditate on the end of the world, which is also inevitable, and no one knows when it will arrive.

Therefore, we must be prepared. We must live in such as way as to be ready to go at a moment's notice whenever our Lord comes for us, whether that be our own death or the end times. This means constant prayer, reception of the sacraments, especially confession and the Eucharist, and a longing for God's will, no matter what it may be.

This acclamation also invites us to face the future with confidence. We are to stand up and raise our heads. We are to look forward with eagerness to the coming of our Lord, for He brings our redemption with Him. This is a very good thing, and we should be longing for our Lord to come, watching and waiting with attention and joy and love.

Gospel Acclamation: Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead; to Him be glory and power, forever and ever.

Today's Gospel Acclamation is prime example of praise. Jesus is the firstborn of the dead. He is risen from the dead. He lives and will always live. And He will bring us to eternal life and resurrection with Him.

What does it mean to give Jesus glory and power? He has those already. We cannot add anything to them. Yet we can and must recognize and admit Jesus' glory and power. We must acknowledge His divinity and open ourselves to His work in our minds, hearts, and lives. We must embrace Him in His glory and power. We must tell others of that glory and power in our words and in our lives.

How often do our prayers turn to praise? Are we too busy asking God for what we want? As important as petitions are, we should always strive to begin and end our prayers with praise and expressions of love for God, Who has surrounded us with His love. Today's acclamation can provide an example and a starting point for our own praise as we turn our minds to how wonderful our God really is.