Fourth Sunday of Advent (Lk. 1:26-28) “Seeing with the Eyes of Faith”
Fourth Sunday of Advent (Lk. 1:26-28) “Seeing with the Eyes of Faith”
Perspective, many times perspective makes all the difference. What I see versus what you see can be distinct. Many times, it depends on where each of us is in life.
Very often people send us pictures on our cell phones. Maybe the picture we receive is of a scenic place where someone is on vacation. We also might receive a picture of something that is broken that needs to be fixed. Maybe it is a car that has been in an accident. When we receive these pictures, we might want to verify what we see.
We might decide to vacation in the same spot as our friends. When we see for ourselves what the pictures show, we might say about the vacation spot that this is much more magnificent than I ever thought it would be. When we look at the car repair that needs to be done up close, we might find that the damage isn’t all that bad. The anxiety that we felt was misplaced. Or we may see a much bigger problem than the picture showed.
Mary is a symbol of what Advent is all about. She is held up as an example of faithfulness, but how did she see her life? Mary, tradition has it, was picked out before she was ever born to be the mother of Jesus. According to what we know we would have to say that she was raised in a religious home. She had two devout parents. She inherited her religious faith from them. As the story goes, when she was about fourteen years old, she became pregnant. The pregnancy was something that she wasn’t asking for, but it was something that she accepted. She was a disciple of Jesus from that point forward which shaped her entire life.
If we were honest, we would have to say that this whole story can make us uncomfortable. We don’t believe in arranged marriages in our culture. We believe that we should have the freedom to choose our vocation in life. Many also say that religious faith should be something we decide about. Quite often we have all heard the statement from people who grew up in a church, “I had religion shoved down my throat.” We sense resentment in these words. So, we may agonize over whether we should make the young learn about matters of faith. Now that is one way to look at it but there is another perspective.
Another way to look at things is the way Mary probably did. We can say that our life is a gift. God has a plan for each person. We are about discerning the Lord’s designs for us. When we look at things from this perspective, we believe that cooperating with God will lead to satisfaction in life.
Faith filled people try to read the signs which show them the way that God wants them to go. In no way is this an exact science, but such people search for God’s will for their lives, anyway. When we look for God’s designs, we might say that God placed us in a religious home for a reason. We might feel that we were exposed to Christianity when we were young because divine providence. And we look for other revelations as our faith-life unfolds.
How do we know if we are moving in the right direction? If our choices lead to a life that is hopeful, we are probably choosing the right course. If our decisions point to a path that develops our potential, we are probably cooperating with God. If we are extending mercy and accepting it, we are most certainly doing what God would want.
When we look at the Blessed Virgin’s life, we could ask what would have happened if she hadn’t moved where the Spirit prompted her to go? She probably would have lived a good life. But she would have been just another woman who lived in a small village in Palestine in the 1st century.
Because she was open to God’s prompting, we believe that she became a leader in the early church. She wasn’t just the mother of Jesus, but she became a force for change in the world. Her influence is still felt two thousand years later. Her holiness continues to spill over into our world.
God chose Mary. She rejoiced in being chosen. God chooses each one of us. Is that a burden or a blessing. Everything depends on how we choose to view things.
Reflection Questions:
Am I happy I follow Jesus? How did I become Christian?
What signs has God sent my way? Do I always recognize what the Lord is saying?
Dear Parishioners,
We have a lot of religious celebrations in a few short days during the last part of the Advent Season and the first days of Christmas. I feel like the Advent-Christmas rush has been just that this year. I did not have time to step back and enjoy things the way I like to with only three weeks of Advent.
My spiritual plan to address this will be something that I have used every year. The Christmas Creche’ will not come down the day after Christmas. The Christmas music will not stop on December 26th. I will try to prolong the Christmas Season for as long as possible. This makes these dark winter days more tolerable.
If I cannot slow down before Christmas. I will slow down after Christmas at least for a few days. I would encourage all of you to do the same.
I thank everyone who helped plan and carry out the liturgies the last few weeks. We all were uplifted by what we experienced. The hard work was worth it.
May Our Lady Pray for us this Christmas Season.
Fr. Mark