Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C, Dec.24,2006

Micah 5:1-4a, Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45 The Fourth Sunday of Advent ends the season of Advent! It happens so quickly this year that we are surprised. The long wait is over for the children and Christmas Eve begins this evening. Our readings, however, keep us in the steady mode of preparing for the mystery of the Word becoming flesh and living among us. We turn to Mary our guide for the last phase of Advent. Today she is hastening with great speed (or care, for the word in Greek means both speed and care) to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth who is already in her sixth month. This is a good conclusion scene for our Advent of 2006. Mary has been given a sign by the angel Gabriel, but it is her concern for her kinswoman that leads her on through the hill country of Judea. She has to go quickly and with caution for the journey is also dangerous. She accomplishes it and embraces Elizabeth who then is filled with the Holy Spirit as the child in her womb dances with joy. Their embrace is a thing to be contemplated, prayed over, and painted. The meeting is beautifully portryaed in the recent film, "The Nativity Story." Mary's innocence and her risky and courageous "Yes" to Gabriel is confirmed by the movement of the two children in their mothers' womb and by the encomium of Elizabeth, "Blessed are you who believed what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." I was reminded of the story of Ruth and the covenant she made with God by embracing Naomi and her belief in Adonai, the Lord and God of Israel. Two women in love with God embrace and the world soon will never be the same. Both women are Spirit filled and one is the bearer of her God. Virgin-Mother and an aging woman have conceived through the mercy and love of God. They responded with their free consent and with faith-filled love. I am thrilled with the narrative and with its interpretations in film and art. It confirms the beauty of divine and human love--an integration we all seek in our friendships and relationships with one another. Yes, both trusted in the fact that with God nothing is impossible. God's word is fulfilled, and, Yes, the Word becomes flesh. Christmas is here. Amen.