4 Sunday of Advent C
Mi 5:1-4a; Heb10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45
Introduction: This is a homily/Scripture reflection in a book, titled: ‘Every Week God Speaks We Respond’, Cycle B, intended to be published in the future by Reverend John Tran Binh Trong.
It was published in Vietnamese in the US 2008 and republished in Viet Nam 2011. To keep the author’s writing style, this homily has not been edited and may not be by a hired hand. However, if readers would like to point out mistake(s) in spelling and grammar and/or to suggest English phrases and expressions, it would be greatly appreciated by the author, whose English is not his mother tongue and who did not live in the US until his adulthood. Passive sentences are used intentionally in this context as to avoid using the first personal pronoun ‘I’ when applicable, that might be associated with any idea of egotism, in accord with the French saying, known as: ‘Le moi est haissable’ (The ego is detestable).
Advent lasts for four weeks, standing for the time the people of the Old Testament waited for the coming of the messiah. Today is the last Sunday to prepare for the coming of the Lord before Christmas. One of the external preparations for Christmas is the selection and exchange of gifts to relatives and friends. The reason for the exchange of gifts at Christmas is God himself initiated the gift idea. Thus, the gifts we give to one another at Christmas should remind us of the greatest Gift God gave us on the first Christmas: that is God gave us his only begotten Son.
Over seven hundred years before, the prophet Micah foretold that a messiah would come from Ephrata, the smallest clan of Judah (Mi 5:1), living at Bethlehem. That was when the angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a Son by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he would sit on the throne of David.
He would rule the house of Jacob and his reign would last forever. At the annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth had conceived her son for six months. That means Elizabeth was expecting a child in three months’ time. Hearing that news, as the scripture tells us: Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste (Lk 1:39) to see Elizabeth. It took about four days to travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem by foot. Mary must have felt it was her duty to visit the elderly and older cousin Elizabeth and offer her help. The Gospel tells us Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months. The three-month period was the time Elizabeth needed Mary’s help.
Scripture does not say to Zechariah and Elizabeth that Mary would be carrying the child Jesus. So how was Elizabeth able to recognize the infant in Mary’s womb as God when Elizabeth cried out: How does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me (Lk 1:43) if she had not been inspired by the Holy Spirit. That is what Scripture today tells us Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:41).
Elizabeth believed in the words of God when she praised Mary’s faith in God’s words. Elizabeth, even though an elderly and older cousin raised her voice to praise her younger cousin Mary as follows: Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled (Lk 1:45). When we pray Hail Mary, we borrow the beautiful words of Elizabeth to praise Mary. Mary’s greeting to Elizabeth prompted the infant John the Baptist still in Elizabeth’s womb to leap for joy at the presence of the infant Jesus still in Mary’s womb.
Today we must pray for the enthusiasm of Elizabeth to welcome the approaching time of visitation of Jesus in Mary’s womb. We pray for the enthusiasm to welcome the Lord into our lives at Christmas. We also pray that we may imitate Mary who went outside her home and travelled to the hill country to visit Elizabeth and to serve her elderly cousin. That is the way we ought to prepare to welcome the Savior on Christmas day. We pray for the grace to go outside our home and ourselves in order to bring the good news of salvation to those who are in need, to those who are hopeless and desperate. We also pray for the expectancy of Mary to expect the coming of the Lord into our lives at Christmas. To prepare ourselves for Christmas is a longing for the Lord to come into our lives in a more profound way. It is a longing to know him in a more personal way that will affect our entire lives.
Prayer for knowing how to prepare to welcome the new born Savior:
Oh, incarnate Word!
To prepare for your coming,
Mary brought you to visit Elisabeth
to share their joy with each other.
Teach us how to prepare ourselves
to bring your love to others
by prayers, words and deeds of encouragement. Amen.
John Tran Binh Trong