4th Sunday of Advent C

One of the problems about Year C of the liturgical cycle, I often think, is that, when it comes to this time of the year, we tend to get the readings that are left over, the ones, if you like, which A and B didn’t want. On this last Sunday of Advent, for example, A has the story of Joseph and his struggle with Mary’s pregnancy. B has the story of the Annunciation. And poor old C, always at the tail end, is left with the story of the Visitation, not exactly the first scene that comes mind when they think of Christmas. So what are we to make of this story today and what does it have to say to us, especially in relation to our Advent theme of integrity? Well, the key, I think, lies in the answer to a very simple question, which is why Mary went to see Elizabeth in the first place.

As a child I was told that she went because Elizabeth was old and needed help. But I’m afraid I don’t buy that explanation. The much more likely answer, I suggest, lies in the Annunciation story itself and, in particular, in Mary’s question to the angel when he tells her why he has come. ‘But how can this be,’ she says, ‘since I am a virgin.’ Mary does not understand and isn’t afraid to say so. She has a question and is not afraid to ask it. And so the angel gives her a sign. Elizabeth, her elderly cousin, after years of longing for a child, is expecting. And so Mary, willing to do what God asks – yes, but sensible enough to know that not everyone who claims to be an angel comes from god, heads for the hill country of Judah to check things out. And how clever it was of God to send her to Elizabeth, a woman of complete integrity who, as Luke tells us earlier in his Gospel, was worthy in the sight of God and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. Elizabeth, the older woman, was the ideal mentor for Mary, the perfect person to accompany her through this moment in her life, not least because, having been childless for so many years herself, something which was a terrible disgrace in the culture of those days, she knew from personal experience the kind of criticism and gossip Mary could expect in a small village like Nazareth. And so they spent six months together, a vitally important time of prayer and reflection for each of them, and a time which would never have happened had Mary not been willing to ask that crucial question: But how can this be? What is going on here? I need to understand this better; questions which, I would suggest, we all need to be asking about the things of God at this moment in history. So what do I mean by this?

Well, two weeks ago, on the second Sunday of Advent, I put it to you that, if we are to be people of integrity, we must be constantly learning and increasing our knowledge. We live in an age of questions. As we enter a new millennium, the men and women of our time are uncertain about almost everything. Our world is a veritable market-place of truth where each individual is free to peddle his or her own particular version of it. There has never been such uncertainty around questions of what is right and wrong. Millions have lost faith in God. Atheism has become the new religion of the 21st century and even among those who believe in God there is an enormous amount of disillusionment with Churches, organized religion and all that goes with them. Old, traditional ways of thinking no longer make sense to people and as a result the world is desperately searching for new answers to new questions. And what I invite you to see today again is the tremendous potential for good in all this. To ask questions is what leads to knowledge and the really big questions people are asking today about the purpose and meaning of life in our modern world are what will lead them to God. Where there are no questions there can be no growth in knowledge. Questions are what open us up to the truth, except that if the questions the men and women of our time are asking about God are going to lead them to God, then, like Mary in the story of the Visitation, they will need their own Elizabeths to help them. And we are called to be those Elizabeths. So how can this be?

Well, the answer lies in the Eucharistic Prayer we use each week where we ask God to keep us alert in faith to the signs of the times and eager to accept the challenge of the Gospel. We pray for the grace to share the experience of the people of our time – as Elizabeth shared Mary’s experience – so that we can advance together with them on the way to salvation. And the word ‘together’ is of crucial importance here. We can only do for the men and women of our time what Elizabeth did for Mary if we are prepared to enter deeply into their experience. We have to ask the questions they are asking about religion and Churches. We have to be able to feel their disillusionment, their disgust, their complete alienation from all that traditional religion stands for, something which, if we are really honest with ourselves, many of us do feel but are sometimes afraid to express. We have to confront our own deep questions about all these things. We have to get in touch with the little atheist inside each one of us. Because it’s only if we are willing to do this and feel what they feel that we will be able to offer something meaningful when the Marys of today come to us wanting to know ‘how this can be.’

But, of course, we need our own Elizabeths too. And what I invite you to see is that one important form she takes in our lives is our parish. For men and women committed to living lives of faith in the midst of today’s world, the parish community should be that village in the hill country of Judah where, without fear, we can explore together the great questions about God, spirituality, churches and religion, discover together what it means to be men and women of faith today and so prepare ourselves to be Elizabeths to others. It means doing what Mary did and setting out on a journey. It means being pregnant and carrying Jesus for others. But, although I have been here for just a short time, I really believe we can do it.


BIDDING PRAYERS


We begin today by praying for the world of our time. We ask God for the insight we need to recognize how, in the midst of all the doubt and uncertainty which characterizes the age in which we live, God is drawing humanity slowly but surely to himself. We pray especially that the rampant atheism of our age, along with the disillusionment many feel about Churches and religion, will, in time, lead the world to deeper and more authentic ways of thinking about God........Lord hear us

If we are to do for the people of our time what Elizabeth did for Mary in the story of the Visitation, then we must be willing to enter into their experience. We must be willing to confront the questions about God, Churches, religion, morality and so on which surface from deep within us too. Rather than be afraid of them, we must welcome them and see them as stepping stones to deeper truth, and we pray for the grace to do this in our own lives.........Lord hear us

If the atheist in us does not rear his head from time to time, then the God we say we believe in is not the real God, but an idol whom we have created in our own image and likeness. The real God is always far greater than we can understand. Nothing we could ever say about him is adequate. In the end he can only be known by those who go beyond the limits of reason and make a leap of faith. And so we pray for the grace to make this leap and move beyond the limits of human thinking..............Lord hear us

But it is not just as individuals that we are called to confront questions of truth and untruth. And so we pray that, as a parish community gathered around the Word and the Eucharist, we will learn to explore the great questions of our time together and so grow together into deeper and deeper faith. We ask God to give us the courage and generosity we need to do this, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of others, especially the absent children and young people of our parish.......Lord hear us

In the story of the Visitation, Elizabeth pinpoints the source of Mary’s greatness. She believed that the promises made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. But we, too, have received promises. Jesus has promised to be with us until the end of time. He has promised us the Spirit, who, he says, will lead us into the complete truth. And so, at a time when many in the Church are afraid and losing heart, we pray for the grace to believe that these promise, too, will be fulfilled............ Lord hear us

Christmas is very near. At its heart lies the most amazing truth. The God who created everything that exists and who holds it in being has become part of our world and part of our history. He is ‘Emmanuel’ ‘God with us,’ and he has given us everything we have. And so we pray for the grace to recognize him in the coming days in the sudden desire we all have at Christmas to give to others, especially those in need, in a way we simply do not do at other times of the year........Lord hear us