December 20, 2009 Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5:1-4; Heb. 10:5-10; Lk. 1:39-45 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/nab/122009.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Carrying Jesus within herself, Mary sets out on a journey from Nazareth to the hill country of Judaea, anticipating that final journey that Jesus will make from Nazareth to his death in Jerusalem. Elizabeth then, like the prophets of old and like Mary, is filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaims God’s word, “Blessed are you among women,” echoing Gabriel’s greeting to Mary. Then she pronounces a second blessing on Mary, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”   Mary believes in the word of God that has been spoken to her, and acts on that word in her journey to Elizabeth. Mary is truly the “Mother of the Church,” a pilgrim church called to believe God’s word and to follow it in its own journeys.   Mary and Elizabeth sing because they have been given a new life to share. Each sings because that which nature and the world have named as barren is suddenly filled with life -- life that will, in its own time, shake the foundations of a world that has absolutely no idea what is going on.   These two women rejoice, and we are called to rejoice with them, for one reason and one reason only: because God loves us enough to act. Their joy, and ours, is deeply rooted and real. Their song, and ours, is sung only because God loves us enough to come to us-to the most barren, the most unnoticed, the very least of us-and to plant in us, and in our world, God's own life, God's own hope, and God's own promises of peace.   Still, what God wants to do to you, to each of you, this Christmas, is exactly what he did for Mary and Elizabeth. God wants to put into your hearts, and into your lives, hope and joy. Real hope -- the kind that isn't for sale and doesn't wear out; and real joy -- the joy that begins deep inside. And God wants each of us, like Mary, to bear within us, and to carry to those around us, no one other than the Lord of life. That's what God wants.   Why does God choose what is ordinary to carry the radiance of the divine? Might it be so that the glory is not given to the common vessel that holds it, but redounds to God where it belongs? Or might it be that we mistake what is loud and flashy for what is truly marvellous? Whatever the case, God’s choices recounted in today’s readings should encourage all of us. The mystery of the Incarnation comes to ordinary people living ordinary lives. All that is required is openness to do God’s will, willingness to respond to God’s call.   <<   Previous: Third Sunday of Advent  |   Next: Christmas >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year C)