FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
20 DECEMBER 2015
Saint
Luke tells us that Mary traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of
Judah. We might wonder why Mary is in
such a hurry to undertake this long journey from Galilee in the north to Judah
in the south. Is she eager to get out of
a small town to avoid the gossip about her becoming pregnant before
marriage? Is she anxious to provide
support for a cousin who had never been able to conceive a child? Or does she need to receive much needed
support from her more mature and much older cousin? Once they spend time together, what do they
talk about? Does Mary discuss how she
always looked up to Elizabeth? Does
Elizabeth point out that she had always seen something special in her younger
cousin?
We will
never know the answers to these questions.
However, we do know the theological message. Mary has heard the message of the Angel, as
did her cousin’s husband in the temple.
Unlike Zechariah who could not bring himself to respond in faith, Mary
responded to the Angel’s message and obeys with fervor and zeal. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the
Incarnate Word of God has taken flesh in her womb. Now she acts on that Word. Becoming the first disciple, she goes in
haste to spread the Good News of Salvation.
That is what disciples do: unable
to contain their joy at hearing the Good News, they go in haste to spread it.
Elizabeth
is the recipient of the Good News which Mary brings her. Centuries before, King David had danced
before the Ark of the Covenant carried through this same hill country into his
new capital of Jerusalem. Now, the
infant in her wombs dances for joy, because Mary, the living Ark of the
Covenant, brings the Son of God in her womb.
Centuries before David, Esau and Jacob had wrestled with each other in
Rebecca’s womb, foreshadowing their eventual fighting as twin brothers. Now, John the Baptist foreshadows his role as
the one who points to the Messiah.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth says the words of the Hail
Mary: “Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She praises,
not because of anything Mary has done, but because of her relationship with
Christ. She praises Mary, because she
had the courage to believe that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be
fulfilled.
On this
last Sunday before Christmas, we too gather as disciples. At this Mass, we can learn a great deal from
Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother.
Like Mary, we have listened to the Word of God and will respond by
praising and thanking God in the Eucharistic Prayer. Fed by the Bread come down from Heaven, we
too are strengthened to act on that Word.
Carrying the Lord in our bodies as Mary had done, we will be sent forth
from this Mass to go in haste to prepare for Christmas.
If anyone
can teach us how to go in haste joyfully toward Christmas, the children in our
midst provide powerful examples. They
cannot wait for Christmas! They cannot
hide their joy! Once we reflect on the
ways in which Mary and Elizabeth became instruments of God’s will, we too hurry
toward Christmas to deliver the long awaited news that the darkness which
envelopes this world will not last. As
the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, once Christ had accepted the body
prepared for him, he followed the will of the Father and brought peace and
reconciliation to the world. His one
time and perfect sacrifice of himself accomplished what countless sacrifices in
the temple could never accomplish. Like
Mary and Elizabeth, we too can learn to know God’s will and make present the
miracle of Christmas peace. Imitating
Christ’s example of doing the Father’s will, we can be instruments of God’s
peace and joy. Then God can use us,
little though we are, like the little town of Bethlehem. This is our Christmas gift to the Babe. Do not wait.
Do it now. Using the words of “What
Child is this,” we sing “Haste, haste, to bring him laud.”
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