FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
As we find ourselves in this last week of the Advent season, the Gospel leads us to the two women who anticipated the coming of the Messiah in a very profound and personal way: Mary and Elizabeth. Mary is truly the Lady of Advent because she waited for the arrival of the Messiah in a very intimate and personal way in her womb. Mary’s womb was in itself the exact locus of the whole Advent season. Her cousin, Elizabeth, also anticipated the coming of Christ in a profound way by bearing the Precursor, John the Baptist, who would pave the way for the mission of Christ.
The main question that must be asked of us as we draw near to the end of Advent is: Are we ready to receive the Lord anew in our lives, or are we already prepared to have Christ be born again in our lives or in our own person? I mentioned in one of my Advent homilies that in this season of Advent, we find ourselves at the bedside of Mary, joining her as we keep vigil for the birth of Her Son. We surround her at her bedside and as she anticipates the birth of her son, we also await his birth in a new way in our lives. But before that can ever happen, before Christ can truly be born again in the mangers of our persons, we must also find ourselves ready to prepare for him. These four Sundays of Advent are our own extended preparation. In Advent, we are like busy hosts, anticipating for a visitor. And just like when we expect a visitor to come to our homes, we do the best that we can to clean our house, to do away with the clutter, and prepare a good meal. Advent is our time to clean the house of our being, to keep the clutter of our lives and relationships away, so that when our visitor comes, we indeed are truly ready to receive him with confidence and joy. There is usually a sense of embarrassment when a visitor comes unexpectedly in our homes and things are not arranged accordingly. The good thing about the coming of Christ is that we are informed beforehand — it’s not a surprise; it’s not a blind date; we are given so much time to prepare so there is no excuse or reason not to find ourselves ready. The problem sometimes is that people get so caught up with other things – gifts and parties during this season – and end up forgetting the very reason and essence of the celebration itself. It is like being invited to a party and you greet and talk to almost everyone except to the host.
The big difference between expecting others as guests and anticipating Jesus as our guest is that others do not really stay long – usually after dinner and dessert, they start leaving – but with Christ he stays permanently if we allow him to do so because He is the Emmanuel “God is with Us.” He is not just a guest for Christmas or for special occasions like Lent or Easter, but rather He is ever with us. What we truly celebrate in this Advent and eventually during Christmas is the God who is already with Us, but we do so in different stages because we can never contain the joy and full meaning of that desire of God to truly become intimate with us by embracing our humanity. That is why we have to do it in seasons or in cycles.
Is our house ready for the Lord? I mean the house of our being, our very persons? Are we done getting rid of the mess and clutter in our lives so that we can confidently receive him anew? The hope is that as we decorate our homes with all those beautiful, bright ornaments and trappings of the season, we also pay special attention to our own interior preparation – that is, making sure that our hearts and spirit will be as bright and radiant with love and peace and even brighter than those external decorations that we adorn our homes and surroundings.
– Fr. Cary