Sunday, December 21, 2008AD
4th Sunday of Advent
Sunday of the Virgin Birth
Mary of
The Fourth Sunday of Advent is the Sunday to pause and reflect on our Blessed Mother’s Virgin Birth. (Last year,
We hear the story of the Annunciation today. Vatican II said that the two principal titles attributed to Mary are accented in this Gospel, viz., Mary, the Mother of God, and Mary, the first disciple of Jesus to hear God’s Word, keep it in her heart.
Mary’s response to the mandate of the Archangel Gabriel indicates her (God-given) act of faith in which she consents to the call to discipleship and to give birth to the Son of God Most High. Mary surrendered, let go and trusted that God’s Word to her would be fulfilled with her words, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your Word.”
The stress upon the Virgin Birth by both St Matthew and St Luke indicates not only the uniqueness of the Birth of this Child. It indicates that Mary’s Virginity indicated a sufficiency with God for her.
The image of the Annunciation to Mary, so popular for such a long time, is an image of Mary at prayer. The image indicates an attitude of watchful waiting for God in her heart and mind and life. Despite the routine of her life, Mary (and Joseph) had to be people who responded to God’s Call to each of us (no exceptions) to slow down, to be silent, to let go and trust God in every scenario.
Clearly, our Blessed Mother must have followed through with her words. One theologian averred that certainly (lest we ever forget) parents are the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith and hope. Values are caught, not taught. A big reason why Jesus turned out as well as He did was that He had experienced such exemplary religious formation from Mary and Joseph.
In different times and settings, God calls each of us to the same challenges. God’s Grace (the Holy Spirit) prompts us to agree to be servants of the Lord in our lives, different than Mary, and yet, similar.
We live today in a world dominated by the media (which dumbs down and hypes up news for us) on the evening news, if we even bother to watch. We live in a world that has bought into the middle-class, materialistic mirage that just so long as I have what I want and need, then, my life is fulfilled. We live in a world in which we assumed that military and violent solutions to real problems are a natural resource for people, just so long as one throws in the Name of Jesus every once in a while. In many respects, these very days, we are paying the price for so much of this. Check the papers, the evening news or your computer.
In the twentieth century, Mohandas Gandhi saw Jesus as an avatar of the Infinite and caught what Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on the Mount. However, he never was baptized because he felt that most of us did not take discipleship of Gospel non-violence seriously enough, in large numbers, to warrant Gandhi’s baptism into Christ Jesus. He said that each person should become, with God’s Help, the type of person that we want to see as our world. He said that, if the whole world lived by an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, eventually, the world would be populated by blind people who could not eat corn on the cob. He said that the only religion that does not get the non-violent implications of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Christianity itself. Gandhi did not mince words.
In the 21st century, with God’s Help, we can challenge Gandhi’s accusation by following the example of Mary of Nazareth. God had a plan for her that was creative, life-enhancing, expansive, and abundant. With God’s Grace, Mary said yes to the plan.
