Fr. Joseph Krupp of Michigan reflects on the promises made to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel for this reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:31-33).
These Bible verses are from the Gospel of Luke, one of the three synoptic Gospels.
They are part of the story of the Annunciation, when the Virgin Mary was told by the archangel Gabriel that she would conceive and bear the Messiah.
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Also known as Luke the Evangelist, Luke is widely regarded as the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, according to Christian website Overviewbible.com.
Luke wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else — even more than the apostle Paul, that site notes.
He lived during the first century and "he also likely had direct access to the apostles and other accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry," the site also indicates.
Luke's Gospel has the most complete story of the events leading up to and directly after the birth of Jesus Christ.
These words from the archangel are "a mighty promise from a mighty being," Fr. Joseph Krupp told Fox News Digital.
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Krupp is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan. He serves as dean within the diocese and for the last 26 years has served in a large number of parishes.
He is also the host of the "Joe in Black Ministries" podcast.
"Gabriel, one of the most powerful created beings in the universe, appears to a seemingly insignificant little girl who lived in a tiny village in conquered territory," said Krupp.
And while the archangel told Mary many things that day, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is an appropriate time to reflect on when Mary was told that her Son's kingdom would have no end.
"I think of this verse, because I know something you know but Mary didn’t," said Krupp.
"Thirty-four years after this perfect being spoke these hopeful words, Mary stood at the foot of a cross and watched him being torn to pieces," he said.
"Beyond the obvious horror of watching your Only Son being tortured to death, we simply have to think about The Promise made by the angel," Krupp said.
Gabriel said that Jesus would live forever and rule forever — "yet here He is being killed."
"Our faith tells us that in that moment, Mary chose to believe what God promised over what she was seeing with her own eyes," he said. "What a grace."
Everyone, said Krupp, has their own crosses in life, "most of them much less horrifying than this."
He added, "We try so desperately to hold in our hearts the promises of God, but we struggle because so much of what we see contradicts it. We stand at the foot of the cross in our lives. We see ourselves caving into sin over and over again."
Said Krupp, "We long to love God as He deserves and we fail at it. We get discouraged by our sin and hurt ourselves, others and our relationship with God."
In these moments before these crosses, "we are invited to ask Our Mother to stand with us and help us to believe what God promises over what we see," said Krupp.
"We ask her to pray for us, that we would trust God’s promise over all things," he said.
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"We ask God for the grace to remember the manger when we stand at the cross."
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