Advent Parish Retreat
Scripture Reading for Monday December 6th 2004
Symbol = Light
Luke 1:26 - 38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee
called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House
of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, “Rejoice,
so highly favored! The Lord is with you.” She was deeply disturbed by these
words and asked herself what this greeting could man, but the angel said to her,
“Mary do not be afraid; you have won God’s favor. Listen! You are to conceive
and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and be called the
Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor
David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have
no end.” Mary said to the angel, “But how can this come about, since I am a
virgin?” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel answered, “and the
power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will
be holy and be called the Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth
has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren
is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.” “I am the
handmaid of the Lord,” said Mary, “let what you have said be done to me.”