Sunday is the fourth and last of the Sundays of the Advent season, reminding us all that Christmas is coming very soon and Advent is already ending. It seems that it was just yesterday that Advent started, doesn’t it? But the reality is that time passes on, and sometimes really quickly before we realize how much time has actually passed. A good question to ask ourselves now is, how has our Advent journey been so far? Has it been meaningful and fruitful for us? Has it been good in preparing ourselves for the upcoming celebration of the Nativity or the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Or have we instead been preparing ourselves for Christmas in the wrong way?
We do not have to look far; we just need to open our eyes and see everything all around us. Virtually everywhere in the world, with very fews exceptions, Christmas celebrations and festivities have been all around us for weeks or even months. Yet, in most of all those festivities and celebrations, something and someone is conspicuously missing from all the celebrations. Ironically, the One Who is missing is exactly the One for Whom the celebrations of Christmas are intended to honor. Christmas is indeed about Christ first and foremost. It marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Son of God, was born into this world, revealing God’s perfect and enduring love, manifested, and personified, becoming tangible and approachable by us.
We have reached the fourth Sunday of Advent. It is a time of hope, and Mary is now the focus of all human expectation. She has been chosen by God. God has looked upon the earth with mercy and set his eyes on the woman of Nazareth. Advent is thus a particularly Marian season, and how natural it is to live it with our eyes set on the blessed Mother! The desires in Mary’s heart are both simple and strong. She already dreams of enfolding the Child in the deepest affections of her heart.
We know that the woman chosen to bring light into the world conceives Jesus by the working of the Holy Spirit. Everything was prepared from all eternity, God has always thought of Mary: from the first, before the beginning of the earth(Prov 8:23). Filling her with his grace, He destines her to a holiness unique among creatures. By raising Mary above all creation, even above the angels, God has given us all a gift.
MARY WAS THE FIRST PERSON on earth to know that the Redeemer had come. Her personal Advent, the first in history, began when the angel spoke to her in the solitude of her home: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:31-32). Mary does not hesitate. The maiden of Nazareth lives attentive to the divine will, in an attitude of listening. The angel comes into her life, conveys the divine message and finds an immediate response: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”. “Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38). And at the enchantment of this response, the Word became flesh.
Thus, Mary’s Advent began. “Let it be done to me” is the expression of a heart in which God finds his home. With that word, Fiat, “Be it done”, Mary has made us brothers and sisters of God and heirs to his glory. Blessed art thou! This is an expression that sums up a whole life. We too can repeat many times “fiat,” “let it be done,” in thousands of different ways. Looking at Mary, we learn from her how to obey God. She listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn’t fully understand and asks about what she doesn’t know. Then she gives herself completely to doing the divine will … Isn’t that marvelous? Mary Most Holy, our teacher in all we do, shows us here that obedience to God is not vain, and does not obscure our conscience; it moves us intimately to discover the “freedom of the children of God” (cf. Rom 8:21).
Mary is an exquisite model of fidelity and abandonment to God’s redemptive plan.
During these final days of Advent, Mary’s words give voice to the desires in our heart. “Let it be done to me” is a prayer that prepares us to be a dwelling place worthy of the Savior. When we seek to imitate her, Mary looks at us as God looked at her, a humble young girl of Nazareth, insignificant in the world’s eyes but chosen and precious to God.
AFTER THE CONVERSATION with the archangel Gabriel, Mary is neither frightened nor self-absorbed. Amid the excitement in her soul on learning all that God has done for her, she makes plans to take care of her pregnant cousin. That is what Mary’s Advent is like: when she hears the news, she leaves for Elizabeth’s house, without worrying about other things, even though she too is pregnant and has many tasks to do before the arrival of her Son.
Mary has learned daily to take care of others. This is what makes her happiest. Hers is an active waiting for the Messiah, made up of kindness for those around her. Mary shows us the path for Advent: first of all to listen attentively to God’s voice, and then to open ourselves to the concerns of others in order to serve with joy. The scene of the Visitation also expresses the beauty of the greeting. Wherever there is reciprocal acceptance, listening, making room for another, God is there, as well as the joy that comes from him. As we contemplate Our Lady’s humble self-giving, we ask for her intercession, as good children to help us so that the Lord Jesus, when he comes at Christmas, may find in us a heart that is well disposed. We want to live these days like the blessed virgin Mary, who in that first Advent was led by God’s surprises to serve those at her side.
Come O Come Emmanuel!
