Father Bill says...Fourth Sunday of Advent

to: all of my friends
from: Father Bill Muench

Happy Christmas – my prayer is that the love and peace of Christ’s birth will fill your hearts and homes. May this be a sacred and joyful time for your family.

I want to share with you a Christmas prayer from the Brothers at Weston Priory:

Child of Bethlehem – house of bread;
Man of Jerusalem – city of peace;
you have loved us
without limit or condition;
in our greatness and in our misery,
in our folly and in our virtue;
may your hand be always upon us
and may your heart be within us,
so that we too may become
bread and peace for one another.

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the story of the Visitation – the angel Gabriel told Mary that her cousin, Elizabeth, is also pregnant – this is a surprise since she has not had any children – and the Gospel adds that Elizabeth is “in her old age” – in those days – 2,000 years ago – life expectancy was around 50 years old – so being in your forties was considered “old” – in those days women were married and began having a family at 16 years of age.

So here is Mary – at 16 – coming to visit Elizabeth in her forties – both pregnant. We can only imagine the conversation between these two women – one young and, by the way, unmarried – the other older – and both preparing for child birth for the first time.

This Sunday’s Gospel story from Luke’s Gospel indicates that as Mary arrived to visit - Elizabeth realized something special about her cousin Mary – and she greets Mary with the words that we have made into a prayer, “Blest are you among women and blest is the fruit of your womb.” And also, “Blest is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.”

Elizabeth helps Mary to learn to trust even more deeply the mysterious ways of God – the mystery of saying “yes” to God – in each vocation in life – a time to decide – a time to say “yes” to the call of the Lord – whatever the vocation - whether a religious calling as a priest or Sister – or the vocation of marriage – or the acceptance of the single state in life – each vocation needs God to strengthen our decision – our saying “yes” to the Lord – a decision and dedication to what we believe is God’s will for us.

And the lesson of the relationships of life, the friendships that unite us to others in such a special way. Each of us have certain persons in our lives – when we see them – our heart skips a beat with delight – makes us laugh even on difficult days – they have strong arms and a soft heart. And each of us needs someone who will guide us and greet us and show us how valuable we are – so give thanks to God today for those wonderful friends and loved ones – and ask God for the grace that the sound of your voice will be a source of delight for others. We, too, carry the mysterious power of God’s life within us, which enables us to be a source of blessing for others. We are meant to be companions to one another – a sources of joy and wisdom.

LET US PRAY

Almighty God – help me to prepare properly for the celebration of the Birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ – open my heart and fill me with the joy of Christmas – the joy and peace that Jesus brought into this world – and help me to be the kind of person that will bring that joy and spirit to other. This is my prayer. Amen.

Please join me as we say together the Lord’s Prayer.