The prophet Micah lived in times of political upheavals and foreign invasions. But even worse than these threats from without, were the corrupting ones from within. Micah railed against the priests and their poor liturgical practices and betrayals of the covenant. He also criticized social injustices: failures of Judah’s kings to protect the poor; the greed of the rich; corruption of the government and the failures of the prophets to speak out against the social and religious sins of the day.
Yet, as we read today, Micah did not give up on, what seemed, a hopeless situation. God’s love would shine through the darkness of the nation’s sins and the powers of its enemies. Sounds like God is facing a big job. What big solutions will God come up with to deal with the monumental needs of the people?
We think big: big homes, big cars, big meals, big computer capabilities, big wardrobes, big sports spectacles (think Super Bowl). If the problems are big and widespread, then God must have a big plan to deal with them – we would reason.
But our God is a God of surprises. God will address an impossible situation in a most unlikely way. Micah tells us God will act small. The Messiah who will deliver the people will not come from a powerful clan, nor from the important city of Jerusalem, but from Bethlehem-Ephrathah, which was the birth place of Jesse, the father of David. Micah doesn’t give the date God’s holy one will come. But he does give an event. “Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne.” So, a child shall be born, one in whom the people can place their trust. Is that God’s solution for the travails of the nation, the birth of a child? God thinks small.
This child will not grow up to be a conquering warrior, but a shepherd king who will gather the scattered people and heal their wounds. Though God will begin this work in a small and surprising way, the coming Messiah’s reach will extend “to the ends of the earth, he shall be peace.”
In Luke we hear how God is going to fulfill the promise. Just as Micah anticipated, God will act in a seeming insignificant way, with the birth of a child. The biblical dictum, “God’s ways are not our ways,” is once again borne out. “For heaven’s sake,” the world’s big thinkers exclaim, “is that God’s solution to our problems – the birth of a child!” I wonder if we shouldn’t approach our daily lives in a similar way: do everyday acts of kindness and compassion in little ways. What kind of change would that bring about in our everyday world? What kind of change would such acts make within us?
The story of how God will address our need continues. Previously the angel announced to the priestly family of Zechariah and Elizabeth that she, in her old age, would bear a son who would become a prophet (Lk 1:10ff). Then Gabriel appeared to Mary with similar news. She would fulfill the longings of Israel and bear a child. As impossible as that news seemed to Mary, she put her trust in God’s Word (Luke 1: 38). The good news of God’s solution to our need comes in a small way – an aged woman and a young virgin will each bear a child. The angel reassures Mary not to be afraid and Mary rushes off to see her kinswoman Elizabeth, whom the angel said was also pregnant.
That’s where today’s story picks up: with the initial meeting of the two women, two very surprised and, in Mary’s case, bewildered women. Mary had much to ponder from what the angel told her: she is “full of grace,” and “the Lord is with you.” Those who will be the beneficiaries of God’s salvific event through Mary, will also be able to say the same thing. We are graced and the Lord is with us. That’s God’s promise in Jesus and God doesn’t go back on God’s promises.
Mary is our model. As impossible as the news the angel brought her sounded, she hears and believes God’s Word. She not only believes what she heard, she acts on it by making the journey to the hill country to be with Elizabeth. Elizabeth “cried out in a loud voice” a blessing to Mary. “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” It’s not only a blessing on Mary’s current state, but a blessing on what Mary has done: she heard the Word of God, believed it and, despite the imponderables, acted upon in.
Which is what we are called to do at our Eucharist: we hear the Word of God, put our trust in it and act on it. God helps us to do that by giving us Christ’s presence in both the Word and the Eucharist. It may seem like a little thing, but that’s how God begins to act in our lives: starts small but, with our consent, accomplishes great things. Elizabeth’s second blessing from Mary is also a blessing for us. “Blessed are you who believe that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” We hear the Word and trust God will accomplish what God has promised today. That has been a familiar theme through Advent. God makes a promise to us and keeps it.
Mary is significant in Luke’s gospel. Do you hear a familiar biblical pattern in the narrative about Mary? She hears the Word of God, receives it in faith and acts on it. She is the first disciple in Luke’s Gospel. Still more, she is also the first prophet. After Elizabeth’s blessing she will proclaim her prophetic message in her “Magnificat.” (Lk 1:46-55. Which would be a good hymn to include in today’s celebration.) Finally, she will deliver to the world the Word she has received and proclaimed in her prophecy.
In our tumultuous world it’s hard to believe the prophetic words we hear today. Will there really be a time some day when God will gather all nations, colors and faiths into a peaceable kingdom, as Micah proclaims to us? Will there be, as Mary prophesies, a time when the promise entrusted to Mary comes true? Hard to believe. But it is Advent, isn’t it? It’s our time “to dream the impossible dream,” against all the “facts” to the contrary.
Our liturgy calls us today to believe, trust and wait patiently for God to accomplish what God has promised. Christmas is coming in a few days, when God’s promise will take flesh in Jesus who will give everything he has to assure us that his kingdom of peace and justice will not be denied and will surely come.
Meanwhile, we cannot sit back and do nothing. We must put into practice the hope we have. Mary did not withdraw from the world to treasure the gift she had received. We learn from Mary’s meeting with Elizabeth to go out to meet another in need: share with them a gesture of welcome, care and love. Judging from Mary and Elizabeth’s meeting today such encounters are potential moments of grace, blessing and joy. Before Christmas arrives is there someone I should visit? Bring a peaceable presence? Is this someone I have been avoiding and need to spend a little time with… the elderly, sick, needy pregnant? The time for our response to God’s Word is now.
MARY’S TITLES
Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth gave the Luke an opportunity to relate John the Baptist to Jesus, even before the latter was born. The scene is charged with a very special atmosphere. The two women are about to be mothers and both have been chosen to be a part of God’s plan. The two men have been kept aside. Zechariah had lost the power of speech and Joseph was surprisingly absent. The two women alone occupy centre stage.
Mary has arrived as quickly as she could from Nazaret and becomes the focus of attention for the evangelist. We read only about Mary and her future Son. Her personal profile is shown to us with genuine traits
that are brighter than all the titles and names that will be given to her by future generations, as we move further away from the Gospels.
Mary, “Mother of my Lord.” That is how Elizabeth greeted her, filled with the Holy Spirit. Truly, for all believers in Jesus, Mary is, first and foremost, the Mother of our Lord. Her greatness starts with her Motherhood. The early Christians never separated Mary from Jesus. They became inseparable. “Blessed are you among women,” “and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
Mary is the believer, as Elizabeth had proclaimed. Mary wasn’t great simply because she had become the biological Mother but because “she believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled,” and would become the Mother of the Saviour. Mary knew how to listen to God, and kept His Words in her heart, pondered over them and went back home for the rest of her life in fulfilment of her role as Mother, the believer.
Mary, the evangelizer, offering to everyone God’s salvation that she had received from her own Son. That’s her great mission and service. As the Gospel narrative indicates, Mary evangelizes not only with her gestures and words, but by carrying with her, wherever she goes, Jesus and His Spirit. And this is what makes her a true evangelizer.
Mary, the joy-bearer, as the angel first greeted her, “Rejoice, the Lord is with you;” so she becomes the carrier of the good news.
From then on, Mary becomes the Mother and Mediator of all graces and help.
Mary proclaims the greatness and the Good News of Jesus, the Christ, whom she would always carry with her. For the Church, Mary will always be the joyous model of the Gospel of Salvation.
LET GO, AND LET GOD
“… Let it be done to me according to your word”
You are working in a garden on a beautiful sunlit morning pulling out dandelions. Suddenly, you drop to your knees and discover beauty in the unique coloring, beauty in the intricate design, beauty even in the strange smell. Suddenly the dandelion is transformed. You know it’s more than just an ugly yellow weed; it’s a little bit of the wonder and the glory of God. Suddenly, you can appreciate in a whole new way the pietistic phrase, “Let go and let God.” Suddenly you can hear yourself saying, “Let it be! Let it be! Let it be!”
You watch your child marching to the marriage altar and, suddenly, no longer do you see messy rooms; no longer do you remember late, anxious nights; no longer do you hear angry shouting. Suddenly you realize that in your experience of parenting you have encountered something of the Divine Love — that intense, irrational love which nothing can shut out. And your child is transformed before your eyes so completely that you now see him or her in a whole new way. And suddenly, you can hear yourself saying, “Let it be!”
You come to Church regularly for years. Over-an-over again, you listen to the same old stories, sing the same old hymns, say the same old prayers, and your spirit becomes sleepy and dull and lifeless. But one day it happens! Suddenly, one Sunday, you experience a breakthrough: God is the God of history; His Kingdom will come! Suddenly your lifeless old spirit is transformed into a powerhouse of outlandish faith and hope; suddenly your sleepy old spirit comes alive and you can hear yourself saying from every fiber of your being, “Let go and let God! … Let it be! Let it be! Let it be!”
A certain pastor was the victim of a prolonged illness. During the period, the parish secretary regularly posted an update of the pastor’s condition on the Church’s sidewalk bulletin board. “Pastor critical” was the first message. “Pastor off critical list” read the second. And so on until, one day, when the pastor’s recovery seemed almost complete, persons walking past the Church were startled by the announcement, “God Is Good – Pastor Better!”
In terms of our spiritual health, no matter how good we may think we are at knowing what to do with our lives, no matter how good we may think we are at knowing how to grow into complete, whole persons, God is better! And “Let go and let God” means to trust in that reality; to say without reservation and in total humility, “Let it be … Thy Will be done.”
BELIEVING WOMEN
After she received the call of God announcing to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, Mary sets out on her way alone. A new life, at the service of her son, Jesus, begins for her. She moves quickly, with determination. She feels the need to share her joy with her cousin Elizabeth and to put herself at her service in the last months of her pregnancy.
The meeting of the two mothers is an unusual scene. There are no males present. Only two simple women, with no rank or relevance in the Jewish religion. Mary carries Jesus along with her everywhere and Elizabeth full of a prophetic spirit dares to bless her cousin without being a priest.
Mary enters the house of Zechariah but does not go to him. She goes directly to greet Elizabeth. Of the content of the greeting we know nothing, except that the salutation filled the house with overflowing joy. It is the joy Mary experiences since she heard the voice of the angel: “Rejoice, you who are highly favored!”.
Elizabeth could not contain her surprise and her joy. As soon as she heard the greeting of Mary, she feels the movements of the creature she carries in her womb and interprets them as “leaping for joy”. Then she blesses Mary exclaiming “in a loud voice”: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear.”
At no time does she address Mary by her name. She regards her totally identified with her mission: she is the mother of her Lord. She sees her as a believing woman, in whom the plans of God will be fulfilled.
What surprises her most is the behavior of Mary. She has not come to show her dignity as mother of the Messiah. She is not there to be served but to serve. Elizabeth cannot get over her astonishment: “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Quite a number of women do not live in peace in the Church. Indifference and unease keep growing in some. They suffer when they see that in spite of being the first to collaborate in many areas, they are hardly counted on to think of , decide , and promote the progress of the Church. This situation is hurting all of us.
The weight of centuries of history, controlled and dominated by males, prevents us from realizing how impoverished the Church is by dispensing with a more effective presence of women. We may not listen to them, but God can raise believing women, full of a prophetic spirit who can infect us with joy and give the Church a more human face. They will be a blessing. They will teach us to follow Jesus with more ardor and fidelity.