Reflections on the Word

2 Samuel 7:5, 8b-12, 14a, 16;  Romans 16:25-27;  Luke 1:26-38.

December 18, 2011

Fourth week of Advent Cycle B

Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak

“Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you.”  What a greeting, who wouldn’t be perplexed just as Mary was troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 

The messenger knows something about Mary that she does not know about herself.  That at her center is an abundant, overflowing Spirit.  The angel sees Mary’s ultimate identity more clearly than she herself does.  Mary is after all very young, about 14 or 15 years of age.

During Advent we celebrate with the Holy Anawim, those lowly ones who waited patiently for the Messiah to come, with faithfulness and hope.  Mary goes to these people, Elizabeth being one, who will help her discern this message and call.  Elizabeth calls her blessed, thus affirming Mary and her yes. 

When Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, says, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  Mary is filled with awe and understanding and replies with the great song of the Magnificat, “for the Almighty has done great things for me, holy is God’s name.”

This quote, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, caught my eye as I was walking past the Cancer Center Gift Shop in Providence Hospital Cancer Center.  “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”   What lies within us is God.  And with that grace we can face life and the calls we receive.

As human beings we begin our lives knowing this truth.  If you watch babies, they are filled with joy and love.  It has been noted that babies smile 300 times a day, while those who are 60 or older smile 3 times a day.  What has changed in our lives to make the difference?  What do babies know instinctively that we have perhaps forgotten?

We know that life itself throws good and awful things at us.  And it is hard to remember that God is with us when we face the troubles of life like unemployment, divorce, deportation, losing our home to foreclosure, caring for a sick one, facing our own or someone else’s death.  Instead of Emmanuel, God-is-with-us, we feel abandoned.

That is when we need angels to tell us who we are and that God is with us, through everything.  Angels come in different shapes and sizes, like good friends, or mentors, a small child, or just a passing acquaintance. These people help us discern where God is and how God is acting in our lives.  Then we can respond like Mary with courage and openness. 

We sometimes think these kinds of calls are for special people only and let ourselves off the hook.  But God calls us all, in one way or another.  We can turn away or respond positively. 

Perhaps the message on this Sunday of Advent is that we are all called to be bearers of the Messiah, Emmanuel, who lives among us.  Our joy and mission is to recognize him in the persons and events of our lives. 

Let us then walk in the presence of God with hope in our hearts, and an abundant, overflowing Spirit.