St. Luke’s Gospel on the visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, is a rich story of two women who not only share their joy of bearing a child, but are blessed to understand that the sons who they bear will change the world forever. Mary’s son is the King of Peace of which the Prophet Micah writes about in the first reading. St. John the Baptist, Elizabeth’s son, is the precursor of Jesus’ birth as the savior of the world.
Mary makes the journey to Elizabeth because she is the younger of the two, even though she is pregnant with Jesus who is the greater of the two babies to be born. Mary is fulfilling her promise to God when she responded to the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation: “I am the servant of the Lord.” She is the first missionary to offer both her presence and that of Jesus to spiritually touch Elizabeth and St. John. In essence, it is the first meeting of the Christian Community.
As a man, I will never experience what it is like to bear a child inside my body. The closest I have come to it is when I placed my hand on my wife’s womb for each birth of our four children who were kicking inside. It was amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.
That “Leap for Joy” St. John took in his mother’s womb when Elizabeth
heard Mary’s greeting is something I can only imagine. It is no wonder Elizabeth cried out with a loud
voice extoling Mary’s virtues and blessings.
She realized in some way that what Micah and other prophets wrote about
was indeed coming true.
For us, it is a reminder that God has called us by our Baptism to be missionaries using God’s Spirit in being a positive presence to those we meet, no matter what the reason. It teaches us that our purpose is to bring peace into their lives as best we can. In doing so we will also add joy to brighten their day or help them heal whatever is causing them distress during these trying times.
In addition, this Fourth Sunday of Advent calls us to accept the blessedness of Mary who said yes to God’s call of giving birth to Jesus because He would fulfill God’s plan for us. To do this, we need to say yes to God as she did out of faith and trust. It is then that we can be present to those in need as was Jesus, to be true witnesses to our purpose for being created and to be the Christian Community we openly espouse as baptized Catholics.
Take this week prior to Christmas Day this Saturday to choose some ways you can reach out to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow worshippers and strangers. In addition to wishing them well for the holidays, offer your help with something they may need. We do not often hear someone do that. Even if they don’t take you up on it, it will probably brighten up their day that you not only thought enough to ask, but you were actually willing to do it.
May the birth of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, bless you with His Love and Peace!
Reading 1: Micah 5: 1-4a
Reading 2: Hebrews 10: 5-10
Gospel: Luke 1: 39-45
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