Homily: Solemnity, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings:  Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56

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A warm welcome this morning to the members of our own Marian Servants of the Word Incarnate, who have gathered here today on this most special day, their Day of Commitment. And how fitting that we should celebrate their commitment as Marian Servants today, on the Solemnity of the Assumption. For Mary, the lowly servant of God who proclaimed the greatness of the Lord, was raised to new heights and glorified.

Yes, indeed, the Almighty has done great things for her. And now, in the eternal presence of Father, Son and Spirit, she continues to do God’s work – she lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things, and challenges us all to join her in God’s work in the world.

Some years ago, Diane and I spent a week in Venice. We visited the Frari Basilica, just so we could see Titian’s amazing painting of the Assumption. It's a three-tiered painting: the Apostles below, gazing up in awe; Mary in the center, looking equally astonished, being lifted up and surrounded by angels; and above it all, the Father, with a crown for the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Believe me, just to see that painting was worth the airfare, for it reminds us of the greatness of today’s solemnity. (I've always considered it the greatest of all paintings.)

Titian's "Assumption of the Virgin" (Click to enlarge)

The Assumption, though, wasn’t officially declared a dogma of faith until Pope Pius XII did so on November 1, 1950. Even so, this dogma of Mary’s assumption into heaven wasn’t something new; it simply confirmed long-held beliefs regarding the uniqueness of Mary.

In the Eastern Church we find homilies on the Assumption, or the “Dormition” as it’s called in the East, dating back to the fifth century. And in the Byzantine Catholic rite there’s a beautiful prayer that echoes this anticipation of resurrection:

“In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.”

The Church, then, has long been celebrated Mary’s singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection by which she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when her earthly life had ended. For us the Assumption offers a glimpse of what we can expect of our own resurrection on the last day; for it is the destiny of all those in Christ. As St. Paul tells us in our 2^nd reading, we shall be raised up from the dead with a glorified body like that of Christ Himself to experience complete and perfect union with God.

In a sense, though, Mary’s body is extraordinarily special; for Mary, conceived without sin, carried in her body the Incarnate Body of God Himself. As the Council of Ephesus confirmed, as the Mother of Jesus Christ, she is also the Mother of God. Yes, these two are joined not only as mother and Child, but also in a mystical, mysterious way, so that when her life on earth was ended, God glorified her, both body and soul.

We see the implications of this in our first reading, from the Book of Revelation, a passage chosen not for its literal meaning, for still for more than a mere convenience of words. We recognize Mary as the woman clothed with the sun, with a crown of twelve stars, and with the moon under her feet -- as one who is above all creation.

Although this passage certainly applies to the Church, still Mary is Mother many times over -- Mother of God, Mother of us all, and Mother of the Church -- the symbol of what we all should be.

Today, then, we celebrate Mary as Theotokos, the God-bearer, the Mother of God, and Our heavenly Mother. But she’s more than that. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, she’s also our sister. As the perfect disciple, she’s our model, our model of how to live the Christian life, our model of faith and hope.

Theotokos

She is among "the first-fruits" that Paul refers to, the first fruits of "all those who belong to Jesus" and who share in His triumph. We see her in this role most clearly in today's Gospel passage from Luke.

The young Mary, now Mother of the Incarnate God, is told by Gabriel of her aging relative’s pregnancy. In a humble act of love, Mary makes the difficult journey from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth.

Mary, servant and first disciple, is greeted by her kinswoman, Elizabeth: “Blessed are you among women...” Not to be outdone, Elizabeth’s son, John, “leaped in her womb” at Mary’s greeting.

"Blessed are you among women..."

Mary responds in humility and acknowledges the grace that fills the whole scene: her Son is the reason for the leaping with joy.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior” [Lk 1:46-47].

All three, Mary, Elizabeth, and John, are filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise of a Savior.

How fitting for us today, that the world’s Savior was greeted first by a child in the womb, an unborn infant who responded to the Holy Spirit’s revelation of the King of Kings. Mary, then, filled with the Spirit and full of grace, the first and best of Jesus’ disciples, receives wholeheartedly the beauty and bounty of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we, too, experience God’s indwelling presence, his kingdom; for through the Spirit God reigns within each of us. 

Think of the scene – this encounter of two gifted women almost overwhelmed by the love of God, a scene that offers us a glimpse of how our God visits us in the ordinariness of our lives.

In this simple scene we see how God, the Presence that holds us up, remains with us in all our human activities. As Paul reminded the philosophers of Athens: 

“In Him we live and move and have our being” [Acts 17:28]. 

It’s through these daily, ordinary encounters with God, that you and I experience God’s tender mercies.

As our model of faith and hope, Mary shows us all how to live as God’s humble servant. She accepted her mission with uncompromising faith and obedience. She acted with unwavering trust because she believed God would fulfill the Word he had spoken. Her great hymn of praise echoes the song of Hannah and proclaims the favor of the Lord: God exalts the lowly and he fills the hungry.

What a gift God has given us in Mary!

And so, today, as we experience God’s indwelling presence in the Eucharist, let’s ask Mary, our Mother, to intercede for us, so that, through the Holy Spirit, we might receive the Body and Blood of her Son worthily, all for the Glory of God.

Homily: Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Readings: Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Ps 40; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38

It's especially fitting today, in the midst of Lent, that we should celebrate this wonderful Marian solemnity, the Annunciation of the Lord.

"Mary, full of grace" [Lk 1:28] the angel exclaimed, and that's exactly what he meant. Mary is literally full of God's grace, so full there's no room for any sin within her. And how could it be otherwise? For God incarnate must enter the world via a spotless vessel, born of woman but a woman without sin.

"Hail, Mary, full of grace..."

Here Mary reminds us how to celebrate Lent. She's the perfect Lenten figure because on this day she anticipates the Paschal Mystery. Without her fiat, without her declaration of faith, without the word of Mary, the Word of God could not be Emmanuel, God with us.

What did the angel tell her? 

"You shall conceive and bear a son...the Son of the Most High" [Lk 1:31-32].

And Mary agreed: 

"Let it be done to me according to your word" [Lk 1:38].

With this, Jesus is not simply in her thoughts and hopes, in her prayers and yearnings. He is in her flesh. His flesh is her flesh. Hers is His. She waits only to see His face and offer Him to the world. She knows she is blessed, for she told us...

"...He has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name" [Lk 1:48-49].

Words we too should pray every day, because God has done great things for us well. He has given us His Son, a Son who in complete humility takes on our flesh, redeems us through His passion and death, and defeats death through His Resurrection. Christ's redemption of the world requires the consent of Mary.

Brothers and sisters, we are created in and for love. Had God imposed His will on us, we couldn't share His divine life, which is freedom. If Jesus were incarnate Himself, without the free consent of Mary, it would not be true love. Through her love of Jesus, Mary is the first disciple, and the one who lived discipleship to the fullest. Jesus told us clearly what it means to be a disciple:

"Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother...the ones who listen to the word of God and act on it" [Mk 3:35; Lk 8:21]

The Visitation

This is Mary: she who hears God's word and acts. We see it throughout Luke's gospel. What does she do after the Annunciation? She visits her kinswoman, Elizabeth, who was with child. Elizabeth was old and needed the help of her young relative. Mary's first act as Jesus' mother is to carry him, not for herself, but for someone in need. No wonder that when Mary greeted Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb.

Mary, the perfect disciple, follows Jesus. She is blessed, not only because she bore God's Son, but also because she is the prime example of those who listen to the word of God and keep it. She follows Jesus all the way to the Cross, and beyond. She remains faithful even after her Son's death, listening to the Lord, joining the apostles in prayer, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Just as Jesus came to Mary in poverty and human weakness, He comes to us today, not in glory, but in helplessness.

Just as He came to Mary as a powerless infant, Jesus comes to us in the hungry and thirsty, in the stranger, in the lonely, in the sick and dying, in the confused and troubled, in the addicted and the imprisoned. Again in her Magnificat she sings:

"He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty...for he has remembered his promise of mercy" [Lk 1:51-55]

The trouble is, today God chooses to feed the hungry not with miraculous manna from heaven, but through us. The hungers of humanity cry out to us: hunger for bread, hunger for justice, hunger for love, hunger for truth, hunger for God. The cry is more than a human cry; it is God's Word calling to us.

I can't tell you what God is calling you to do, for God works differently through each of us. But I can assure you He's not telling you to do nothing; for we are Jesus' disciples, in imitation of Mary, only if we listen to his word and act on it.

Lent, then, is a time for action. How did Jesus put it? 

"Repent and believe in the Gospel" [Mk 1:15].

This kind of discipleship is not without cost. "A sword shall pierce your heart," Mary was told - just as it must pierce the heart of every true disciple. But like Mary we can take comfort in God's presence within us. As Jesus told us, if we love Him and keep His word, His Father will love us and they will come and make their home with us.

Christ within us. Christ all around us. Christ leading us. We need only murmur with Mary, "Whatever you say, Lord," and then do it.

Homily: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Readings: Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Psalm 45; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56
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Many years ago, back in my Navy days, I was sitting alone in a restaurant in Keelung, Taiwan. It was Christmas Eve, but you wouldn’t have known it – no Christmas decorations, no crèche, no last-minute shoppers, not even the secular symbols of reindeer or snowmen. It was just another bleak December evening in this country of few Christians.

Keelung Night Market

The restaurant was fairly crowded and so a young Chinese couple asked if they could join me at my table. Of course I agreed. They wanted to practice their English and so we talked as I picked at my rice and pork.In those days Navy chaplains gave out pocket-sized copies of the New Testament and Psalms. One was sticking out of my shirt pocket and the young woman asked if it were a dictionary. I think she wanted a copy. "No," I replied, “It’s a copy of the New Testament, a book of Christian Scripture.”

Well…that generated a blank look. So I asked if they were Buddhists. They said their parents were but that they weren’t believers. Then the woman said, “Can you explain it, tell us about it?”

Have you ever tried to explain Christianity to someone who knows absolutely nothing about it, nothing of Jesus Christ and His saving work? Where to begin to tell these two well-intentioned people about our faith? I suppose I could have started with Abraham and Moses and David, but that would take hours.

For some reason, maybe because it was Christmas, I instead went back to Nazareth, to the greatest event in human history, to that day when Mary gave her consent to God to become His Mother.

After brief stops in Nazareth and Bethlehem, I went on, struggling to tell them something of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, something of the Gospel and the gift of faith. I told them of the Holy Spirit, and about the universal, Catholic Church founded by Jesus, and its mission to make disciples of all nations, even Taiwan.

But throughout it all, I found myself coming back to Mary, the Mother of God, this unique woman who always points to Jesus and by doing so has inspired and brought faith to so many; for she is humanity’s greatest advocate. Throughout her life, again and again, she pondered in her heart the mysteries of the Incarnation; and as St. John reminds us, in total faith and remarkable strength of character, “She stood by the Cross of Jesus” [Jn 19:25].

Yes, her life of faith, fullness of grace, and perfect discipleship is bracketed by two miraculous events, two of God’s gifts to Mary and to all of humanity.

Her life on earth began with the Immaculate Conception, when she was brought into being with a perfect, sinless soul – for the vessel that will carry and nourish our divine Savior must be perfect.

And that earthly life ended with the Assumption, when her body too was brought into perfection, into God’s heavenly presence. After all, how can this body, this body that gave flesh and blood to God Incarnate…how can this body suffer corruption?

Telling all this to my young Taiwanese couple while struggling to eat with chopsticks is no easy task. And so to reward me they bought me a beer. I repaid them by giving them my New Testament. As I left them I hoped that my weak attempt at evangelization might have yielded some fruit. But that’s the Holy Spirit’s job.

Later, walking back to the ship through a soaking rain, I remembered that I had used a holy card as a bookmark in that little New Testament. On one side was that beautiful painting of the Assumption by Titian, a painting that hangs today in the Frari Basilica in Venice. On the other were the words of the Magnificat, Mary’s prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

Titian's Assumption behind the Frari's Main Altar (Venice)

Yes, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – today’s solemnity.

Although the Assumption wasn’t officially declared a dogma of faith until 1950 by Pope Pius XII, it was a common and accepted belief within the entire Church for centuries. Indeed, we find homilies on the Assumption, or the “Dormition” as it is often called in the Eastern Church, dating to the fifth century.

The Assumption celebrates Mary’s singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection by which she was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory when the course of her life was finished. Why did God do this for her? With partial understanding, we can say that Christ has a unique relationship with the body and soul of Mary, for her body held the Incarnate Body of God Himself.  And so, when her life on earth ended, God glorified Mary, both body and soul.

We see implications of this in our first reading, from the Book of Revelation, where Mary is seen as the "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" [Rev 12:1] – as one who is above all of creation. She’s also depicted as a mother, which she is, many times over: Mother of God, Mother of the Church, Mother of us all.

But as a disciple of Jesus Christ, she’s also our Sister. And as the perfect disciple, she’s our model, our model of how to live the Christian life, our model of faith and hope. She is among "the first-fruits" [1 Cor 15:20] that Paul refers to, the first-fruits of "all who are called to belong to Jesus" [Rom 1:6] and who share in His triumph. 

We see her in her role as disciple most clearly in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. What a remarkable scene! The young Mary, now Mother of the Incarnate God, is told by Gabriel of her aged cousin’s pregnancy; and in a humble act of love, she leaves in haste and makes the difficult journey from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth.

Yes, Mary is a true disciple, a fact that Elizabeth points out when she greets her: “Most blessed are you among women...”  An inspired Elizabeth, recognizing who has come to visit her, continued, “…and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” [Lk 1:42-43] But the Spirit’s not through, for John leaped in Elizabeth’s womb at Mary’s greeting.

Mary acknowledged the divine grace that filled the whole scene: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior” [Lk 1:46-47]. All three, Mary, Elizabeth and John, greeted one another filled with the Holy Spirit, and filled too with thanksgiving and joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise to give a Savior to all of creation.

How fitting a reminder to us today that Jesus Christ was greeted first by a baby in the womb, an unborn infant who pointed to His coming as the Holy Spirit revealed the presence of the King to be born. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, the gift that enables us to know and experience the indwelling presence of God and the power of his kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the way in which God reigns within each of us. And so Mary, filled with the Spirit and full of grace, joyfully receives the gift of God’s presence.

From this you and I learn that God visits us in the everyday experiences of our lives, encounters steeped in God’s love. We also come to realize that God remains with us in all our human activities, for He is the presence that holds us up. As St. Paul reminds us, “In Him we live and move and have our being” [Acts 17:28].

And it is through these divine encounters, these everyday meetings with God and His people, that we are saved by God’s tender mercies. As our model of faith and hope, Mary shows us all this and more. She accepted her mission with uncompromising faith and obedience. She acted with unwavering trust because she believed that God would fulfill the Word He had spoken.

Her great hymn of praise proclaims the favor of the Lord: He has "lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things” [Lk 1:52-53]. And He does so through us. The Holy Spirit is ever ready to renew faith and hope in God's promises and to make us strong in love for God and our neighbor. Yes, Mary is our model in this too, especially in this age of violence and hatred, an age that celebrates the culture of death.

Let us, like Mary, be the vessels that carry God’s love, God's life into the world. For her Son came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly” [Jn 10:10].

Let’s thank Mary, our Mother, for her fiat, for her acceptance of God’s presence within her, so that today, through the Holy Spirit, we too might receive within us the Body and Blood of her Son, all for the Glory of the Father.

Homily: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - January 1

Readings: Num 6:22-27; Ps 67; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2:16-21

Theotokos

1,600 years ago at the Council of Ephesus (431) the Church gave Mary a title: Theotokos, which means God-bearer. In bestowing this title on Mary, the Church confirmed that, as the Mother of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, she is truly the Mother of God. This is the feast we celebrate today: the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

Her title has its Scriptural roots in the story we all know – the story Luke tells in those early chapters of his Gospel.  We’re all familiar with it. The Annunciation by the archangel Gabriel in Nazareth, and how the young Mary agreed to bear the Son of God, the Savior of the World. Yes, Luke describes Mary’s role vividly and leaves us with words we can never forget: “Let it be done to me according to your word” [Lk 1:38].

And then Mary, filled with the Spirit and carrying the Son of God in her womb, leaves immediately to make the long trek to Judea to visit Elizabeth. By visiting Elizabeth Mary really visits all of us. She carries Jesus to young and old, to the unborn John and to his aging parents. She carries the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. And she proclaims this wonderful news in her song of praise and thanksgiving, the Magnificat:

“He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation…He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” [Lk 1:50, 52-53].

Yes, Mary, the first Christian evangelist, spreads the Good News, telling the world of God’s mercy and justice. And thanks to Luke and the Holy Spirit we receive this Word of God.

The Shepherds of Bethlehem

Because it’s the living Word of God, you and I are truly present there in the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth listening to Mary as she praises God and thanks Him not just for herself, but for all of us. We are there, just as we are present months later in the rolling hills outside of Bethlehem. When the angelic host appear to the shepherds, we are there among them to hear the Good News proclaimed from heaven itself.

Indeed, this is exactly what the angel reveals. Listen to his words, the words you’ve heard so many times:

“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you Good News of a great joy which will come to all people” [Lk 2:10].

This isn’t a message just for a few shepherds. No, it’s the Good News of Jesus Christ, a message for all people. As Mary proclaimed, all of this happened according to God’s promise “to Abraham and to his descendants forever” [Lk 1:55].

We, brothers and sisters, are these descendants of Abraham, our father in faith; for God promised him that he would be the father of a multitude of nations. It’s a universal promise, a catholic promise. And because we are there with Mary, the shepherds and Abraham, this revelation places a demand on us. Just as the shepherds went on to glorify and praise God for all they had heard and seen, we too are called to do the same.

It’s really not something we should put off; for throughout these first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, we detect a sense of urgency. When Gabriel reveals that Elizabeth will also bear a son, Luke tells us that Mary set off in haste [Lk 1:39].

Mary and Elizabeth

Our Blessed Mother didn’t delay in carrying out this dual mission of hers. For not only was she the God-bearer, the carrier of the Good News deep within her, but she also carried God’s love to someone in need. Both acts were of such importance that neither could be delayed.

Yes, Mary set off in haste; but she wasn’t the only one. How did Luke describe the shepherds’ response in the passage we just heard?

“The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” [Lk 2:16].

Moved by what they had seen and what they had heard from the angels, they could do no less. How blessed they must have thought themselves, for they would be the first to set eyes on the Messiah so long awaited by God’s people. Is it any wonder that they left “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them” [Lk 2:20]?

We too have received the Good News, brothers and sisters. We are all called to carry it to others, not in word alone, but in deed as well. Yes, Mary is the God-bearer who brought Our Lord into the world and presented Him as the Father’s gift to all of humanity. The shepherds of Bethlehem received that gift with joy and willingly and openly carried it to others.

What a remarkable gift it is! It’s a gift of love, arising from God’s hope that we will turn from our sinfulness and accept Him into our hearts. It’s a gift of divine forgiveness, of His outrageous mercy, a gift that will trump the power of sin and overcome all hatred, violence, revenge, addiction…It’s a gift of Jesus Christ Himself, a gift we receive in a most special way.

When we receive the Eucharist today, when we receive the Real Presence, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, you and I also become God-bearers, carriers of this gift. But what will we do with it? Will it change us, as it changed Mary, as it changed the shepherds?

Just as Mary carried Jesus to the world, we are called to carry Him to all the others in our lives. As the shepherds proclaimed the Good News of salvation, we are called to proclaim this message of hope to a world too often sunk in despair.

As we look forward to the beginning of a new year, let’s learn from both Mary and the shepherds, and follow their example. Worshiping here together on the vigil of this feast of Mary, the Mother of God, let’s join her in a prayer for peace: peace in the world; peace in our country; peace in our cities and communities. Pray for peace in our homes; but most importantly, pray for peace in our hearts. Pray that the darkness of sin will be overcome in this world and that the light of love — the way of Mary’s Son — will take hold in our hearts and the hearts of all.

Homily: Wednesday, December 21

Readings: Zeph 3:14-18a; Ps 33; Lk 1:39-45

Is everyone joyful? I don’t know; there are some grumpy looking faces out there.

Now, I don’t expect you to leap for joy as John the Baptist did in his mother’s womb. But maybe a joyful smile…That’s better.

Because in case you didn’t notice, they’re almost over. No, I’m not talking about the political commercials; we’ve got another 10 months of those to suffer through. And you know they’re only going to get worse. And neither am I talking about the remaining shopping days before Christmas.

I’m talking about the days of Advent. They’re almost over. And as we approach the day of Christ’s coming, Christmas Day, we should be increasingly joyful.



Did you notice how everyone in today’s Gospel passage from Luke is just bursting with joy? Tiny John the Baptist, still in his mother’s womb, leaps for joy.

And Elizabeth is so filled with joy and the Holy Spirit that she cries joyfully, greeting the mother of her Lord. She didn’t just say, “Oh, hi, Mary.” No, she cried out to the rooftops so that all the neighbors would hear her, and not only the neighbors but the hosts of heaven as well.

And Mary herself, as she will exclaim moments later in her Magnificat [Lk 1:46-55], “my soul rejoices in God my Savior.” Yes, this Visitation by Mary, and by Jesus, is one of those “rosary moments” as my mother used to call them. Actually, it’s a very special rosary moment, because it is not only one of the joyful mysteries, the Visitation, but it’s the source of the words of the prayer that’s prayed more than any other.

Earlier in this same 1st chapter of Luke, the archangel Gabriel gives us the opening words of that prayer: “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…” And then Elizabeth, as if completing the archangel’s thoughts, adds, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”

Yes, Mary, this woman-child, still in her teens, is blessed. Elizabeth knows it. The unborn infant, John, knows it. And Mary, too, knows it, for she praises God saying: “From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”

Yes, today we are surrounded by and immersed in joy and blessing not only in Scripture, the Liturgy of the Word, but in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where Christ comes to us, in communion, becoming one with us. This Eucharistic coming is just like His first coming 2,000 years ago and just like His coming on the last day. For He is here – Emmanuel – God with us. As the prophet Zephaniah said in our Old Testament reading, "The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior..." [Zeph 3:17] Can there be a better reason for joy?

Not only is Mary blessed, but we too are blessed; for the Father has given us the same gift He gave Mary: the gift of a Savior who opened the gates of heaven for us. Through the Eucharist, He lets us take that gift within us, making us, like Mary, God-bearers.

And so, today, in these last few days before the actual Christmas season begins, take time to pray, fast a bit, repent at the sacrament of reconciliation, read the Bible. Take time just to be joyfully still in God’s presence. Make these last days of Advent special days. Make them days of preparation, days to prepare ourselves to receive and acknowledge the Father’s wondrous gift of salvation.

Let’s do as Jesus instructed and, like that other Mary, choose the better part and not be so busy about the details of hospitality that we neglect to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to His words. [See Lk 10:38-42]

And let’s pray that the Holy Spirit inspire us and fill us with joy and the boldness we need to proclaim the message of the Lord's visitation and redemption to all we encounter this day.

St. Peter reminded the first Christians, that we all possess God’s prophetic message. We should, Peter said, keep our attention fixed on it, “as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts." [2 Pet 1:19]

Come, Lord Jesus!

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Reading: Lk 1:39-45
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If I had to choose a favorite scene from the Gospels, it might very well be the one depicted in today’s reading from Luke, the brief story of Mary’s arrival at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah, what we call the Visitation. At first glance these seven short verses seem to tell us very little, other than providing us with a nice heartwarming and pious story. For most of us, that’s probably the end of it; and we go on without giving these events a second thought. But the Holy Spirit didn’t inspire Luke and his fellow evangelists simply to relate pleasant stories. No, He had a definite purpose – and it’s a purpose you and I can begin to discern when we plumb the depths of meaning present in this brief passage.

Perhaps the best way to begin is to picture the scene in our mind’s eye. It’s a scene that artists, including virtually all the great masters, have tried to depict. But, you know, they all seem to miss something. Mary and Elizabeth are usually depicted very formally as if they were ladies in waiting at some Renaissance court. Interestingly, such formality is totally absent from the scene described by Luke.

To begin with, Mary and Elizabeth were Jews, women steeped in the exuberance of their Semitic culture. When they laughed, they laughed joyfully. When they cried, the tears flowed in torrents. And when they mourned, they wailed. They didn’t hide their emotions behind a facade of respectable restraint. In fact, I have seen only one painting that depicts the scene as Luke describes it. I don’t know the artist’s name because it’s an unsigned illustration in, of all places, an old St. Joseph’s Sunday Missal. (I've included it above.) It shows the older Elizabeth, standing at her doorstep, her arms spread wide in greeting with a huge smile spread across her face. How does Luke describe it? “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb…’”

These words weren’t whispered. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, shouted them out to heaven itself. Maybe the world didn’t hear her, but I’ll bet her neighbors in that tiny village did…and so did the angels worshiping at the Father’s throne. Thanks to that same Holy Spirit, Elizabeth knows who it is that visits her…and she is overwhelmed by the revelation. Her joy tempered by humility, she asks her young cousin a question. Although it goes unanswered, the answer is there, right before us in the person of Mary.

When she embraces Mary, Elizabeth knows instantly that everything has changed — that everything her people have longed for -- freedom, forgiveness, salvation – is now alive among them. In a world where women could not legally testify, Elizabeth became God’s witness, testifying to the truth. “But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Who indeed? Quite simply, Elizabeth is the mother of the prophet; but she is also someone in need. For one day, in that land of high plateaus and rugged valleys, the one who was barren became fruitful dispelling the emptiness of her life.

When the archangel reveals this to Mary, she doesn’t hesitate. For Elizabeth was old and would need support and assistance during the final months of her pregnancy. Driven by love, with no regard for her own needs or even the slightest tinge of pride in her new status as Mother of God’s only Son, Mary leaves at once to care for Elizabeth. And this was no stroll down the block. The journey from Nazareth in Galilee to the little village in the hill country was a long and perilous one, a trek of several days.

So what are we to make of Mary, this young girl, probably no more than 15 years old, who would undertake such a selfless act of charity? Why does Luke include this incident in his Gospel? Because Mary is presented to us as a model, as the one who hears God’s Word, embraces it, and carries it out in her life. Conceived without sin and filled with God’s grace, her every act is in total accordance with God’s Will.

We see this first in her response to the good news of the archangel Gabriel, a response that God seeks from each of us. The Father didn’t command Mary to bear His Son. Rather, Mary is given a choice. And God awaits her answer. Not only God, but the whole world, the entire span of human history, awaits Mary’s answer.

For in that decisive moment, God places the salvation of the human race, past, present and future, in the tiny hands of this simple, teenage Jewish girl. She need utter only one word to embrace the living Word of God in her womb. Her response, a response straight from the heart, brings a sigh of joy from all creation: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” It is a choice of total abandonment to God’s Will. As Elizabeth proclaims, “Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.”

Yes, Mary is the woman who has trusted, who has believed, who said “Yes” to God’s Word and acted on it. On her visit to Elizabeth she carries Christ not for herself, but for a world in need. And fittingly, given the plague of abortion that has spread across our planet, the first person to greet her as Mother of God is an unborn baby, John the Baptist, who leaped for joy in his mother’s womb when Mary first arrived.

Here in the hill country of Judea, in the boondocks of this insignificant corner of the Roman Empire, two surprising babies met and danced to the beat of their mothers’ joy. In an extraordinary moment, two pregnant women — one at the beginning of her life and the other moving towards its end – greeted each other in joy and wonder. And so, what do Mary and Elizabeth offer us in these final days of advent?

In our world, where women and children are too often abused and discarded, these two holy women remind us that our bodies are temples. Through their witness we are reminded that we, too, are blessed — that God is with us, no matter how barren or forsaken we might feel. Elizabeth shows us how to stand unafraid in the barrenness of the world and wait joyfully for the coming of the Lord.

Yes, they show us how to wait for Christ. Not only for His second coming, but for His constant coming every day – His coming as He first came to us, in poverty and powerlessness. This is not pious rhetoric, but the Word of God. Jesus comes to us in the hungry, the thirsty; in the homeless stranger; in the sick and the shackled. Mary saw that even before Her Son proclaimed it. In her Magnificat, her song of joy, Mary rejoices that God has “looked with favor on His lowly servant.” He “has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things.”

The problem is, God fills the hungry not with miraculous manna from heaven, but through us. And the hungers of the human family cry out to us: hunger for bread; hunger for freedom from persecution; hunger for peace; hunger for God. Their cry is more than a human cry; it is a cry from the Gospel itself, from the Word of God.

His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Jn2:5

As Jesus’ disciples, to model ourselves on Mary we must listen to that Word and act on it in the circumstances in which God places us. One thing is certain: God is not telling us to do nothing. Discipleship isn’t easy. It doesn’t come cheap. It demands that we, like Mary, become bearers of Jesus, carrying Him to those in need. And like Mary, God gives us a choice. The same choice made by the Apostles when they heard Jesus say, “Come, follow me.”

For us, it is a choice founded on the certainty of God’s promise of eternal life. It is a choice founded on faith and on hope, a hope of expectation, the hope of Jesus’ return, His second coming when He comes in power and glory. This is the other Advent that we celebrate today.

The question for us, then, is will we, like Mary, make that choice? Can we set aside our willful natures and abandon ourselves to living according to God’s loving will? The good news is in the promise of Jesus, given to the Apostles at the Last Supper: “Whoever loves me will keep my Word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

So, you see, Christ wants to dwell within each of us, to make us God-bearers, so, just like Mary, we can carry Him to others. With Christ deep within us, and seeing Christ all around us in others, our lives can become a ceaseless Advent, a visible sign to the world of His love and His final coming. We need only join with Mary’s voice and say, “Whatever you want, Lord,” and then do what he tells us. And it’s never too late, for He continues to call us to Him all the days of our lives. As Gabriel told Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God.”