nunblog

In today's liturgy, the first reading (the story of Hannah dedicating her toddler son Samuel to the Lord's service) is just a preparation for the Responsorial Psalm. In a way, it is the Responsorial which is the real first reading, deliberately mirroring the Gospel (Mary's Magnificat). And both the Response and the Gospel today are the triumphant songs of women praising God for turning the world's usual order upside down and making impossible things come about.
It's a theme that will be dear to St. Paul ("God has turned the wisdom of this world into folly"; "God chose the things that are not to confound the things that are, so that no human being might boast before God").
I have to admit that I don't usually think in those terms, or in line with this rather significant biblical message. These last days of Advent offer yet another opportunity for me to "be transformed by the renewal of my mind," so that I will "have the mind of Christ."
(Doesn't St. Paul say it so well?)