4th Sunday of Advent
Dec. 20, 2015
Luke 1: 39-45
Renewal of Profession
Christian Brothers, Iona College, N.R.
At this Saturday vigil Mass, in the presence of about 25 layfolk regularly attending and some of the local Christian Brothers, one of the student brothers from Africa renewed his temporary vows.
“At the moment the
sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy”
(Luke 1: 44).
The Virgin Mary has
just had her own visitation, the appearance of Archangel Gabriel to her to
invite her to become mother of the savior.
She’s declared herself the Lord’s humble handmaid, ready to do whatever
he asks. The angel has given her a sign
that the Lord’s Word is good; her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth is 6 months
pregnant.
(Luke never tells
us how old Elizabeth is, only [3x] that she’s “advanced in years.” In the 1st century, that may have meant she
was in her mid- or late 40s. No
reflection on present company—especially since I’m right up there with you!)
Immediately Mary
goes to visit Elizabeth. She goes
bearing her Son in her womb; she is already Theotokos—“God-bearer,”
the beloved title of the Eastern Churches for her. Furthermore, the Son of God
in her womb is already an active presence among humanity, recognized by both
holy Elizabeth and her unborn son (who will be named John and nicknamed “the
Baptist”).
Elizabeth responds
to Mary’s presence with words of praise for both Mary and the One who will be
named Jesus after his birth, and with wonderment that “the mother of my Lord
should come to me” (1:43). Elizabeth has
already experienced the wonder, the miracle, of a completely unexpected
pregnancy, one beyond the normal course of nature. Now she marvels that her Lord should come
directly to her.
The wonder of the
incarnation of God’s only-begotten Son is that he should come to us at
all. In no other religion is God so
personal, so close, literally so down-to-earth!
The book of Proverbs speaks of divine Wisdom’s “delight in the children
of men” (8:31); Jesus, the Wisdom of God in person, delights to come to us, to
share our humanity and restore us to the place in the heavenly household that
we had forfeited by sin. God delights to
be among us! Elizabeth was surprised, and
perhaps we too are surprised. But after
the incarnation and after the gift of the Holy Eucharist, how can we be
surprised that God wants to be with us?
Furthermore, isn’t another name for Jesus Emmanuel?
Unborn John the
Baptist recognizes the presence of his unborn Lord in Mary’s womb and “leaps
for joy.” God-with-us is cause for
joy! The God who delights to be among us
brings us joy, brings us pleasure in his company. The God who sings to us of his love for us in
the Song of Songs invites our own loving response. The female persona, representing Israel,
exclaims, “I sought him whom my heart loves” (3:1). The Song cites the mutual excitement of the lovers
in such verses as: “Hark! my lover!—here
he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills” (Song 2:8)—a
verse that may be in the back of Luke’s mind as he portrays Mary’s visit to the
hill country of Judah; and “Let me see you, let me hear your voice, for your
voice is sweet, and you are lovely” (3:14).
Advent is a season
of joyful anticipation of God’s coming to be with us and thru his union with us
to save us. Last Sunday was Gaudete
Sunday: rejoice, for the Lord is near! In a few days we’ll be singing “Joy to the
World.”
And in a few
minutes we’ll have the joy of Bro. Paul’s renewing of his temporary vows as a
Christian Brother; the joy of witnessing his response to God’s personal love
for him thru a commitment to live for God and to love God and his neighbor in
the special calling of being a brother.
I’m not familiar with
the particulars of the Brothers’ Constitutions, of course. Our SDB Constitutions commit us to be “signs
and bearers of God’s love for young people, especially those who are poor”
(art. 2). I imagine that the Brothers
have some similar ideal, whether it’s verbalized or not. In terms of today’s gospel reading, Bro. Paul
is committing himself to be like the Virgin Mary, to bear Christ to the young
or whomever the Congregation will send him to, and to be a living sign of God’s
loving presence to them.
All of us,
brothers, are signs of God’s love for his Church thru the way we live like the
poor, chaste, and obedient Christ; thru our practice of Christ’s love for young
people in our schools and other institutions, and Christ’s love for our
brothers in community. We can’t carry
Jesus in our wombs like Mary, but we can like her carry him in our hearts—that
applies to all us here tonite, not just the religious. St. Augustine famously says that Mary
conceived him in her heart before ever she conceived him in the womb;[1]
indeed, if she hadn’t had God in her heart, she couldn’t have said, “Be it done
to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
So, Paul, you will travel like Mary—perhaps not in haste, perhaps not
into any hills—but certainly to the houses of God’s people, i.e., to the places
where they dwell and are waiting for God to come to them. You will be God’s presence to them,
incarnated in your words and actions and in your heart.
Whatever the
particulars of your future mission might be—education or catechesis in some
form, I suppose—it will be your mission to bring joy with you. You may not make people literally leap for
joy like John in Elizabeth’s womb—altho I’ve heard something about African
liturgies; but you must make their hearts and minds leap for joy, bring joyful
smiles to their faces—not because they’ve met you but because they’ve met Jesus
whom you carry with you.
“A sad saint is a
sorry saint,” says St. Francis de Sales.
Joyful Christianity is a hallmark of Pope Francis, one of the qualities
that makes him so universally appealing.
His 1st major message to the Church was the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, “The Joy of the
Gospel.” The word joy appears in some form 107x in that message. If the Gospel doesn’t make us joyful, how can
we expect people to be attracted to it?
If we religious aren’t joyful in our vocation, how can we expect young
people to want to join us in this way of following Jesus? If we aren’t filled with joy (even when life
presents us with inevitable challenges in community, in the apostolate, in our
health, in our relations with the wider world), then we’re in the wrong
vocation—because God has created us for happiness. You, Paul, must be a witness to that among
your brothers, among the young, among everyone wherever God will lead you.
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