HOMILY FOR 4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT IN YEAR B

1. 2Sam 7: 1-5,8-12,14,16

2. Romans 16: 25-27

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

                    " Mothers and brothers of Christ"

Today's celebration of the Mass commemorates the Fourth Sunday of Advent. And so today's gospel presents Mary and her initiation to the first Christmas. Seeing her faith during the annunciation, this helps us to prepare properly for Christmas. Let us pay attention to what happened to the conversation between Mary and the angel Gabriel.

Mary listens. The angel announces that the Messiah will be born in her and she listens. Her greatness comes through her faithful listening. Mary listens, asks for clarification and finally accepts to be the servant of the Lord.

Prayer, in the first place, is a listening. We can ask questions but the answers will come through listening. It is not only with God that we need a listening attitude. If there are difficulties with members of our family, it is often because we do not know how to listen. We are ready with our answer but we have not understood yet the question.

Mary accepts, Mary is deeply disturbed even by the initial greeting of the angel. But the angel Gabriel showers her with assurance that everything will be alright. " Do not be afraid... The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;  hence the holy offspring to be born will be called the Son of God," (v.35). These words of assurance eventually brought Mary to turn her negative emotion to a humble word of acceptance.

Mary believes. Her faith was humble and hence she first believes and only then reasons upon it and so the angel said to her: " Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age; she who was thought to be sterile is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God," (vv.36-37). The important words in this sentence are the words, ' nothing is impossible with God.'

Mary obeys. Her obedience is risk-taking when she says, " Let it be done according to your word," (v.38). Her obedience is loving. She loves God and hence trusts in Him and obeys. She kept on saying, ' yes' to God until the end of her earthly life to be the Mother of God.

It once happened that some nursery kids were preparing a Christmas play. Little Cynthia did not like the part she was assigned to play. She wanted to change parts with her friend Monica. When the teacher asked her why, she answered, " Because it is easier to be an angel than to be the mother of Christ." The little girl is certainly right. To be the mother of Christ is no light matter. Yet difficult as it sounds, that is exactly what we are all called to be. In fact, we could say that even though Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in his real desire is to be born in the hearts of believers, to be-reproduced by believers.

We all understand that mother of Christ is a title we usually reserved for Mary. But Mary is the Mother of Christ in two senses. She is the mother of Christ in the physical sense that she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him. This is unrepeatable event and an honor that no other human being could share with her. But she is also mother of Christ in a spiritual sense. In a spiritual sense the role of being mother of Christ is available to all Christians. We all, men, women and children, can and should become mothers of Christ. The idea of Christians called to be mothers of Christ is very common among Christian mystics. The Dominican priest mystic, Meister Eckhart, said that God made the human soul for her to bear the divine Son, and that when this birth happens it give God greater pleasure than the creation of heaven and earth.

Brothers and sisters, let's ask ourselves this question, what is the spiritual motherhood of Christ and how does it happen? For the answer we need to go right back to Jesus himself.

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, " Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." Jesus responded to the one told Him this, " Who is my mother, and who are my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" ( Matthew 12: 46-50)

This simply indicates that  (a) Jesus expects his followers to be not only brothers and sisters but his mothers as well, and (b) the way to be the mother of Jesus is by doing the will of God. Spiritual motherhood of Christ is attained by saying yes to God, even when God appears to demand from us what is humanly impossible, like asking Mary to be a virgin mother. To become mothers of Christ we need to make the prayer of Mary our own: " Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" ( Luke 1:38).

This prayer of Mary has been known as the world's greatest prayer. It is the prayer that brought God down from heaven to dwell in the soul and body of a lowly young woman. It is the prayer that brought the greatest even in human history, God becoming human in Jesus. It is a prayer that changed forever the course of human history some 2000 years ago. This prayer is so very different from what has been called the world's most common prayer, the prayer in which we try to get God to do our will. The world's most common prayer says, " My will be done," whereas the world greatest prayer says, " Thy will be done."

In this context we can accept that, little Cynthia was right. It is not easy to be the mother of Christ. But in today's gospel Mary shows us how. It is in hearing God's word and saying yes to God even when God's will seems to go against all our plans and hopes for the future. As Christmas draws near, Mary reminds us that the best Christmas, in fact the only true Christmas, is that Christ be born not in the little town of Bethlehem but in the inner sanctuary of our hearts.

Related Posts:

Tweet