In these last days of the holy season of Advent, we commemorate the feast day of Pope Urban V, who served as pope in the 14th century. A Benedictine monk, he continued to follow the rule of St Benedict even when he was pope, living a very modest simple life. He had served as abbot of the influential monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. He was exiled to Avignon in France for most of his papacy. He worked to try to unite the Churches of the West and the East, but failed to achieve that goal. In this challenging era, he worked for Church reform and the restoration of monasteries and churches. He was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1870.
In our Gospel today from Luke, we hear how Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, receives the announcement of the upcoming birth of his son by the Angel. This announcement summoned fear and disbelief in Zechariah. He was made mute due to this disbelief. How different this is to the way Mary accepted God’s will for her and trusted God’s word at the announcement from the Angel, which we will hear in our Gospel tomorrow at daily Mass. We pray the the Lord continue to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Savior during these last days of Advent.
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