4th
SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Readings:
Micah 5:1-4
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45
"Blessed are you who
believed
that the Lord’s word would come true."
We are already in the fourth Sunday of Advent, the
last Sunday of our final preparations for the birthday of our Lord. Indeed,
Christmas is but just around the corner. We can already feel the touch of it,
and everybody seems to be at his best joyful mood. This puts our disposition at
its best too, to recapture once more the spirit of that unforgettable event of
the visitation. In the gospel of Luke, we learn that the visitation narrative
is, among others, a great encounter
of faith and life. Today's gospel, then, gives us the following points for
reflection.
1. The visitation is an encounter of two great
mothers. Our gospel today opens, thus: "Mary then set out for a town in
the Hills of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” With
this, it seems that at the outset, Luke
portrays the visitation as an encounter; and this encounter happens first and
foremost to the two future mothers: Mary and Elizabeth. What transpires at this
encounter is strikingly evangelical. Both the person of Mary and the person of
Elizabeth speak of it, and it is important to note its message carefully.
Mary takes the initiative to visit Elizabeth. What
motivates her .to take that three-day
journey from Nazareth to the Hills of Judah is her great joy. It is said that "joy
is not complete until it is shared with another soul.” And this is
precisely the case of Mary. The blessing of the annunciation is a blessing of
joy. Look. It started with joy – “Rejoice, 0 highly favored daughter!"
- and so, it must be completed with jjoy. But this can only happen when Mary
shares it with another soul, with another person, with another worthy person at
that. This person is no other than Elizabeth, her old cousin, whom God has
chosen to be the sign that the mystery of the Incarnation is indeed to
happen: "Behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth has conceived a son. She who
was thought to be sterile is already in her sixth month.
For nothing is impossible with God."
But aside
from this unspeakable joy, Mary's thoughtfulness and concern must have moved
her, too. The mere thought of the old Elizabeth begetting a son upsets Mary so
much. Elizabeth is quite too old for this and it would mean twice difficult for
her. So Mary comes to her cousin’s assistance. She comes at her service. And
she comes to serve her with joy.
"How is it that the mother of my Lord
comes to me?” Elizabeth’s reaction is quite a mixture of wonder, honor and
humility. She is surprised with Mary's visit, but feels dignified too with her
presence. But such wonder and honor is also mixed with that feeling of
unworthiness to have been visited by the mother of "my Lord".
Here, Elizabeth shares the role of her son, John. She recognizes not only the mother
but also the son in his mother's womb as her Lord. Hence,
even as early as this encounter, we are hinted that Elizabeth has already
recognized and given due respect to Mary’s divine motherhood.
Thus, "Elizabeth was filled with Holy
Spirit and, giving a loud cry, said, ‘You are most blessed among women..."
This could be the sum-total of Elizabeth's mixed feelings and reactions. And
again, the overwhelming feeling that sums it all is the feeling of joy. Like
Mary’s reaction after the angel's visit to her, Elizabeth is also filled with
joy upon Mary’s visit unto her. Like Mary's, it is joy amidst wonder and
surprise. Like Mary's, it is joy amidst the feeling of unworthiness and
lowliness. But above all, like Mary's, such kind of joy is a holy joy. It comes
from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit filling her very self. In fact, because
of this, Elizabeth could not help but outburst in a loud cry of praise.
In short, what we see in this encounter is a
mutual experience of joy. Mary shares her joy. Elizabeth receives that joy. Joy
offered and joy accepted is joy completed.
2. But the visitation is not only an encounter of
the two mothers. It is also the encounter of the two great sons in their
respective wombs. In fact, it is their first encounter, which pre-pictures or
pre-portrays, or better prefigures, their real encounter in the world. And like
the encounter of their mothers, the encounter of Jesus and John is no less than
an encounter of joy.
"The moment your greeting sounded in my
ears, the baby with me suddenly leapt for joy.” At this very stage, John
shows himself as the herald of the Christ. It would be at this similar fashion
that John would point out to Christ and proclaim to the people: "There
is the Lamb of God" (Jn 1:36). And with that, the joy of John, which
he first experienced with his mother is no longer their exclusive joy, but a
great joy to the world…for indeed, the Lord has come!
3. Faith and religion is an encounter of joy. And
for that matter, Christianity is an encounter of joy. It is and must be an
encounter of joy because, first, it is an
encounter between God and man. From God’s unfathomable divinity, he unveils
himself to man so that, by Incarnation, God breaks and puts an end to that
false concept of a distant God. Our God is the true Emmanuel whom the prophets
have 1ong enunciated in their prophecies. He is the God-with-us because
he becomes one like us and he dwells among us. Thus, a distant God is not the
God of Christianity. And he who looks at God from a distance or perhaps
considers God looking at us from a distance cannot experience the real joy of a
divine-human encounter.
Second, faith and religion - and Christianity in
particular - is and must be an encounter of joy because that basic experience
of divine-human encounter necessarily leads us to an authentic man-to-man
encounter. As joy is no complete when unshared, real joy brought about by this
God-man encounter cannot but outburst into the world of the living. No one will
tell nor teach us to do it. Real joy naturally overflows to others, for real
joy is nothing else but the abundance of grace in the heart. Thus, no one can
ever contain it all by himself, no one can ever be that selfish as to deny it
from others. For such reason, it is redemptive by nature. In many ways, it is salvific. It saves man from the slavery of
selfishness, greed, envy, and all other forms of sin and malice. It saves him
from the false belief that salvation is attained through total isolation,
self-inflicted punishment and self-imposed
sadness.