Day 5: Mary Hidden in Advent-Abraham

   
  Please remember that I am posting the lessons one day in advance of the day we actually do them. So, for example, tomorrow, December 5th, we will do the lesson on Abraham that follows.  I hope next year to start right on the First Sunday of Advent, so I will be developing 33 or 34 lessons.  This year, we will need to skip a few, but I'll make a note on the days I think are most expendable.  Praying that your Advent is continuing to be joyful and holy!
 
Day 5:  Abraham

     Read The Jesse Tree pp. 20-22.  Hang ornament (stars).
     God makes a covenant with Abraham, telling him that he will bless all nations through him and that he will make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Abraham believes God.  God blesses Abraham with a son, Isaac.

     Scripture reference:  Genesis 18:1-15 (birth of Isaac)

     Comment:  Abraham is known as our father in faith, because it was through his faith that the Savior would come for all nations and peoples.  Abraham believed in God's promise and it was fulfilled.  Likewise, and in an even greater way, Mary believed in God's promise and became our Mother in faith. Her faith and trust in God led her to answer the angel, "Let it be done to me according to God's Word."  When she said this the Holy Spirit came upon her and Jesus Christ entered into her womb.  She is His Mother and through Him she is our Mother, too.  

Related Title:  Mary, Mother of the Church

     She is our mother—the mother of our life [Jesus], the mother of our redemption [Jesus], the mother of our light [Jesus]. As the apostle [St. Paul] says of our Lord, “He became for us, by God’s power, our wisdom and justice, our holiness and redemption.” [Mary] then, as mother of Christ, is the mother of our wisdom and justice, of our holiness and redemption. She is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Our birth from her is better, for from her is born our holiness, our wisdom, our justice, our sanctification, our redemption.   St. Aelred of Rievaulx

Prayer from the Association of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church to you we recommend ourselves and the entire Church.
Guide and assist our Holy Father and our Bishops in their apostolic mission, and aid all who help them in their work.
Mother of the Church!
Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope and love! You were given to us as a mother by your Divine Son at the moment of his redeeming death.
Remember us your children, support our prayers to God.
Preserve our Faith, strengthen our Hope, increase our Charity.

Read more about the title Mary, Mother of the Church here.
Fr. Andrew Apostoli writes about Mary, the New Eve and Mary, Mother of the Church in this article, from which the above quote from St. Aelred is excerpted.