Christmas Eve gives us the beautiful canticle of Zechariah (the Benedictus), the father of John the Baptist, upon his naming John and being freed to speak (Lk 1:67-79).  Filled with the Holy Spirit, he speaks of the coming of the Savior that God had promised and for which the Chosen People had waited for so long.  He closes by speaking of his own son as a prophet preparing the way for the Savior.   His closing sentence appears above.  To some extent or another we all dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.  In darkness due to our sins which obscure truth and hurt us in our receptiveness to grace.  In the shadow of death because one day we will go the way of all men.  The light of truth is Christ!  The one who walks with us through the dark valley is the breaking dawn we so long to see.  He is the one through whom the only true and lasting peace can be attained.  Zechariah anticipates the birth of the child who effects and fulfills all of this.  We do the same.  The emanation that Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds saw coming from the manger is the Light of the World.  Let us reflect that light always so that many will come to the stable.

On December 23rd we once more repeated a gospel (Lk 1:39-47) from a few days before.  Mary, having heard from the angel of her cousin’s pregnancy, quickly goes to visit her.  Upon entering Elizabeth’s house, Mary says a word of greeting to which her cousin, in the Holy Spirit, responds that her unborn child leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.  Elizabeth calls Mary and her child blessed and she credits her for believing the Lord’s proclamation to her would come to pass.  Elizabeth’s words to Mary (above) convey the attitude of humility that we should have when calling upon Jesus’ mother for her intercession.  How should it be that she comes to us, unworthy as we are?  Why does she desire to plead for us to her Son?  In the unique role set aside for Mary from all eternity, she was to become daughter of the Father, mother of the Son, and spouse of the Holy Spirit.  Her freely chosen “Fiat!” upon the Annunciation sealed this destiny for her.  Much joy and much heartache followed — more than we can ever understand.  When her Son, on the cross, gave her to John as his mother, He gave her to us all.  As the New Eve, obeying where the first woman disobeyed, Mary became the spiritual mother of all people.  As the perfect mother, she wants to help us, to intercede for us, to plead for us, and to point us to her Son.  We come as dirty, unkempt, and naughty children to a mother who cleans us up, provides instruction and reproof by example, and then presents our real needs (which may not be the same as our request — mother knows best what we need) to her Son.  What great power she has been granted by God to advocate on our behalf!  Let us always treat the mother with the honor that is demanded by the fourth commandment.  And let us never hesitate to run to her in our every need.

We are graced this day with the inspired Magnificat of Mary (Lk 1:46-56) during her first conversation with Elizabeth.  It is a beautiful canticle that exalts the Lord for what He has just done for His people.  Mary also emphasizes that humility is our proper disposition and will be rewarded; the haughty will not receive mercy but rather they will be scattered and receive nothing.  The last sentence tells us that Mary stayed with her cousin for three months before returning home.  Mary’s first reaction to the Annunciation and now to Elizabeth’s greeting is humility.  She acknowledges the blessings she has received but knows to attribute it to God alone.  She is a willing and, even more so, enthusiastic participant in God’s plan of salvation, desiring only to do His will perfectly.  What a model for those of every age!  Acknowledging that all good things come from God, we imitate the perfect human person.  Submitting to the Lord’s will in complete faith, not necessarily knowing what is in store for us, conforms us to this model of perfect virtue.  Invoking Mary’s intercession is a powerful way to move towards greater conformity to God’s will for us.  We don’t want to be the mighty that the Lord throws down, the proud that are scattered, or the rich who are sent away empty.  Rather, apparently paradoxically, it is humility that lifts us up, unites us, and brings ultimate satisfaction (in this world and the next).

Like yesterday, we again find ourselves hearing a gospel (Lk 1:39-45) repeated within the span of less than two weeks.  Mary, having heard from the angel of her cousin’s pregnancy, quickly goes to visit her.  Upon entering Elizabeth’s house, Mary says a word of greeting to which her cousin, in the Holy Spirit, responds that her unborn child leaped for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.  Elizabeth calls Mary and her child blessed (see above) and she credits her for believing the Lord’s proclamation to her would come to pass.  Catholics are very familiar with the phrase that headlines this post.  It is an integral part of the Hail Mary prayer, the whole first half of which is taken from Luke’s first chapter.  Elizabeth’s insight through the Holy Spirit are words meant for all people of all times.  Is it any wonder Catholics give Mary the highest honor among all human persons?  We do so because the Father did so.  Her exalted status completely comes because of what God did for her: from all eternity she was designated to be the pure, untainted mother of the redeemer.  It is shameful that she has become a source of division among Christians when all she wishes to do is unite all mankind in love for her Son.  The last words of hers recorded in the gospels point to Jesus and instruct us: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).  This woman, this queen mother, this person set aside by God, desires to bring all of her children together (what was addressed to John the Evangelist, “behold your mother” [Jn 19:26] was meant for all of us).  Let us continue to beseech Mary, Mother of All Christians, for the elusive unity that the Lord so desires.

For the second time in less than two weeks we hear the announcement of the Son of God becoming incarnate (Lk 1:26-38).  The angel Gabriel visits the virgin Mary of Nazareth greeting her as “full of grace.”  Mary, troubled by these words, hears Gabriel go on to tell her the words above and that she is to be the mother of an everlasting king.  Not understanding how she could become a mother as a vowed virgin, Mary is told that it is by the Holy Spirit that she will conceive.  She is also told of the miraculous pregnancy of an elderly relative.  Mary responds with complete abandonment to the word the angel delivered after which the heavenly messenger departs.  Our hope and only desire should be to be able to replace Mary’s name with our names.  First the call to “not be afraid.”  This reminds of the importance Pope John Paul’s placed on these words: they were his first words as pontiff and a theme he returned to throughout his reign.  Why be afraid?  If we are not in God’s favor, if the life of grace is extinguished in us through our own definitive break with the Lord, we should be very afraid.  But this is not a paralyzing fear if we understand the depth of God’s mercy.  Like the father of the prodigal son, God not only waits for us to return but is ready to run out and meet us on the road back to help us along the rest of the way.  The confessional is the medicine box where we meet the Lord and can hear from the priest, acting in the person of Christ, the words of absolution.  And the graces that come from this sacrament and all the other sacraments serve to strengthen us to resist temptation and avoid sin in the future, so we must have the firm purpose of amendment to see this through.  When we are in right relationship with God then there is no reason to fear anything the world can throw at us: “[N]either death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,nor future things, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).  Then we can hope to hear the words: “Well done, my good and faithful servant….Come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25:21).

Only Luke (1:5-25) tells the story of the annunciation of John the Baptist’s conception, beginning his gospel with details of the event.  Zechariah, a priest, was chosen to burn incense in the temple sanctuary.  During the ceremony he is visited by the angel Gabriel.  The celestial being tells him that the prayers of he and his wife have been heard and they are to have a child (to be named John) despite their advanced years.  The child will prepare the people and bring many to the Lord.  Zechariah wonders how this can happen since his wife, Elizabeth, is beyond childbearing age.  Gabriel reproves him for his doubt and strikes him mute until the child is born.  Zechariah comes out unable to speak so the crowd knows he had a vision.  When Elizabeth conceives a child she is compelled to say the words above.  Now we know that it is no disgrace if, through no fault of their own, a husband and wife cannot conceive a child.  In fact, like with Elizabeth and Zechariah, the Lord likely has something special in mind for those in this state who remain faithful.  True disgrace, on the other hand, comes with sin.  Dis-grace.  Any sin diminishes the life of grace in us.  The holy couple of this gospel are described as “righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly” (v. 6).  Would it be that the same be attributed to us.  Let us be completely open to God’s grace (Mary, the perfect human person, is our exemplar) by eliminating sin in our lives through regular prayer, spiritual direction (with a person, through reading, or ideally both), and frequent recourse to the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

Matthew’s (1:18-25) rendering of the Christmas story is brief and focuses on Joseph.  Joseph finds out that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant.  He decided to divorce her quietly so as not to put her to shame when an angel appears to him in a dream to tell him that she is with child by the Holy Spirit.  The child is to be called Jesus because He has come to save humanity.  Matthew adds that this fulfills a prophecy of Isaiah regarding a virgin bearing a child name Emmanuel, the meaning from which we get our headline.  Joseph then takes Mary into his home, with the author noting that Joseph did not have relations with Mary before the birth of Jesus.  How blessed was this holy couple to have the Lord in their midst, “God with us,” in Mary’s womb, the first tabernacle!  How blessed were Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John when Mary stayed with them for six months!  How blessed were the shepherds and Magi who did homage to Jesus in His infancy!  How blessed were Simeon and Anna when visited by the Holy Family in the temple!  And how blessed are we that we still have God with us in Jesus in Word and Eucharist!  We recall the words of Jesus’ fellow travelers to Him on that road: “Stay with us” (Lk 24:29).  And He has.  Let us never lock the doors to Christ through grave sin that closes off the life of grace.  Rather, as Pope John Paul exhorted, let us “Open wide the doors [of our hearts] to Christ!”  Amen, alleluia.

The second part of Advent begins with Matthew’s (1:1-17) genealogy of Jesus, starting with Abraham, going fourteen generations to David, fourteen more generations to the Babylonian exile, and a last fourteen generations to Jesus.  Anyone familiar with the Old Testament knows that there are a few heroes in these lists but many more who were quite sinful, often reprehensible, and at times downright evil.  The women listed have their own interesting stories, but all give evidence that the lineage continues regardless of the circumstances of the conception of the child who becomes Jesus’ forebear.  God’s plan will not be foiled, even when He is defied by people who attempt to circumvent or willfully defy His will in favor of their own.  For us, we can be confident that the Lord always pursues us and is always able to make things right even when we go terribly wrong.  The “Hound of Heaven” does not let up in this life.  May we never be so discouraged by past sins or current vices to think that God cannot work with us to get us back to His plan.  And when we allow Him to do so, who knows how He will use our conversion to bring others back to Him as well.

As preparation for Christmas continues, John the Baptist is again featured in the gospel (Lk 3:10-18).  Crowds, and specifically tax collectors and soldiers, ask John how they should respond to his message.  He gives practical advice to all.  Then they wonder if John is the Messiah.  John answers in no uncertain terms that he is not, but he does tell them that the Christ will be coming to baptize with the Holy Spirit, gather the wheat, and burn the chaff.  The question that was on the lips of many of John’s hearers must be ours today.  We hear the Word and we must respond.  But how?  Our daily prayer, our constant pleading, must be to be disposed in such a way as to clearly hear and to faithfully follow the Lord’s will for us.  We must strive to be in perfect imitation of Christ and thus perfect union with God.  In a season when we call for peace on earth we must always remember that it truly does “begin with me.”

Yesterday we continued to read about John the Baptist (Mt 17:9a, 10-13).  Jesus, with His disciples on the way down from the mountain after the Transfiguration, is asked why it is said that Elijah must come first.  He explains that Elijah is to restore all things and that he has already come.  Per the headline, he was not recognized and thus treated badly.  Jesus says He will suffer the same fate.  Then they understood that Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist.  What was true then is true now.  Not only is Jesus, Son of God, Savior, widely not recognized (either explicitly or by the way individuals behave and society has developed) today, but those who herald the Messiah are often persecuted in their role as evangelizers.  The message is unrecognized and thus rejected because it does not comport with modern ways of thinking and behaving.  Because of this, those who heed Jesus’ call to make Him known to the world are regularly ignored, ridiculed, despised, and even harmed.  Sin and vice cloud the eyes of the soul to the reality of the Truth, making it unrecognizable and even undesirable (good becomes evil) to those steeped in sin.  In a day and age in which evil seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, where crime and terror are on our front pages daily, where atrocities and senseless violence are becoming the sad norm, our prayer must become more intense, reform of our lives must not be pushed back another moment, and our example of authentic Christian living is desperately needed.