This weekend the Church celebrates the fourth and last Sunday of Advent 2025. For its first reading, this weekend’s liturgy offers a reading from the first section of the Book of Isaiah. This reading refers to King Ahaz of the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah. Ahaz reigned in the last third of the eighth century before Christ. To be kind, he is not regarded as having been a remarkably successful king. Prompting Isaiah’s interest in Ahaz, or in any king, was not necessarily the monarch’s obvious power and renown, but rather the fact that the king first and foremost was, or should be, the servant of God. Urged to be loyal and devoted, Ahaz was promised a sign of God’s favor. It was the birth of a son whose mother was Ahaz’s young bride, a virgin. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans provides the second reading. Introducing himself, Paul firmly states that he is an apostle, called by the Lord to proclaim the Gospel. Above and beyond everything, he insisted, he was God’s servant. For its last reading, the Church presents a section from the Gospel of Matthew. Only two of the four Gospels, both synoptics, recount the birth of Jesus. Matthew is one of these Gospels. Luke is the other. This weekend’s reading recalls the conception of Jesus. It says clearly, as Luke states, that Jesus had no earthly father, but the Lord was the son of Mary, a human being. In this story, Joseph is concerned – to say the least. He first, understandably, wonders if his betrothed has been unfaithful to him. How else could Mary have become pregnant? An angel, Gabriel, one of God’s messengers, relieves Joseph’s mind by revealing that the unborn child is in fact the Son of God. It is more than simply a chronicle of the conception and birth of Jesus, divine though these events may have been. The coming of the Messiah is a sign, perfect and penultimate, of God’s everlasting love for humankind. God never fails, is never absent from His people.  Reflection This weekend the Church calls us to observe the last Sunday of Advent. The season of Advent is the careful and focused period preceding Christmas. In our culture, it is a time to surround ourselves with Christmas symbols. A symbol frequently seen is the red bird. Why? Many ancient Christmas symbols refer not to the Lord’s birth but to the death of Christ. Holly and wreathes recall the crown of thorns. Red represents the Lord’s blood, shed during the crucifixion. An old symbol is a bird, plentiful in the Holy Land at the time of Christ. Its feathers were dingy. It could not sing. It was seen as a pest, but not by Jesus. He did not force the little bird away. Sensing love and acceptance despite their ugliness and worthlessness, these birds surrounded Jesus, grateful, comfortable, secure. Following Christ to Calvary, loyal to the end, they landed beneath the cross. A drop of the Lord’s precious blood fell upon one of the birds, and the bird became the most beautiful of all birds, brilliantly red, touched by Christ. At Christmas, Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world. Jesus died for us on Calvary, an act of perfect love. He asks, in return, for our honest, total love, nothing more, nothing less – a love uncompromisingly offered to everyone whom the Lord loves, or every other human, however ugly. If a person accepts Jesus, and follows Jesus, that person will be touched by Jesus and become beautiful before all in holiness and charity, a testament to the redeeming Savior, born of Mary in Betlehem, as beautiful as the red bird, touched and blessed by the blood of Jesus on Calvary. READINGS Sunday: Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalms 24:1-3, 4ab, 5-6; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24 Monday: 1 Samuel 1:24-28; (Responsorial Psalm) 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd; Luke 1:46-56 Tuesday: Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10, 14; Luke 1:57-66 Wednesday: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29; Luke 1:67-79 Thursday: Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalms 98:1-6; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 Friday: Acts of the Apostles 6:8-10, 7:54-59; Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc and 17; Matthew 10:17-22 Saturday: 1 John 1:1-4; Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; John 20:1a, 2-8 The post God Makes Each of Us Beloved Through His Son’s Birth and Death appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less