Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 22, 2024
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Micah 5:1-4a
Psalm 80: 2-3, 15-16, 18-19
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45

Today, we conclude with the final Sunday of Advent in which we reflect upon the first coming of Christ as we listen to the words of the Gospel that proclaim that immediately after receiving the message of the Holy Spirit through the Archangel Gabriel and having offered her free and obedient consent to accept God’s Will to become the Mother of His Son, the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Son of God alive in her womb, urgently travels to visit her older cousin Saint Elizabeth.

The Blessed Virgin Mary’s willingness also places her at the heart of God’s Kingdom because immediately after her acceptance of God’s Will, she leaves to assist Elizabeth in her own challenging pregnancy. Service to those in need follows acceptance of God’s will and of our place in God’s plans, instead of us finding a place for God in our plans. The story of the Nativity of Christ teaches us that when we try to make God fit into our plans, we soon find that we cannot offer Him even a spare room in our lives and we ungratefully relegate Him to a stable.

God really does ask us to change our expectations we have for our own lives. One can never follow the call of the Lord with half measures as a bystander or spectator, especially when the Lord reveals Himself fully as Emmanuel — God is with us.

We began Advent with the prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus.” On this fourth Sunday of Advent, God has answered our prayer with the command “Go to Bethlehem.” Bethlehem is the town of David, about which we hear the Prophet Micah profess, “You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.” Christ, the Incarnate Word who has first come to us, has made Himself small that we might more easily go to Him. So, we go to little Bethlehem, the place of the ruins of David’s glorious palace. We find the Christ child in those areas of our lives that have suffered ruin. We find Him there because God will not leave us in ruin.

Our response to His call made in love is to love Him by entering where He has made room for us, the place where we had made no room for Him. Our response made in love is to enter willingly into His plans for the world that begin with Mary’s unconditional and obedient “yes,” a “yes” that begins to blossom with her hastening to Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist who need help.

Through Advent God prepares us for His Son’s coming just as He prepared John the Baptist, Elizabeth, and even the Blessed Mother for His coming — the Incarnate Word — through actions of love and compassion. May His plans soon blossom in our lives with humble love for our neighbor.

The actions of the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, include making Himself small enough to be placed in a manger by His Mother in Bethlehem and one day to be lovingly obedient to save us from our sins and to accept death on a Cross at which His Mother will stand in sorrow. Pope Benedict XVI offered this clarifying insight, “Man, in order to live, needs bread, the fruit of the earth and of his labor. But he does not live by bread alone. He needs nourishment for his soul: he needs meaning that can fill his life. Thus, for the Fathers of the early Church, the manger for the animals became the symbol of the altar, on which lies the Bread which is Christ Himself: the true food for our hearts. Once again, we see how He became small: in the humble appearance of the host, in a small piece of bread, He gives us Himself.”

The Blessed Virgin Mary’s willingness places her at the heart of God’s Kingdom because immediately after her acceptance of God’s Will she leaves to assist Elizabeth in her own challenging pregnancy. Service to those in need follows acceptance of God’s will and of our place in God’s plans. The Blessed Virgin Mary is an example for all of us in discipleship because she sees and lives by the right order of God’s design — God first, others second, and myself third. She helps us to do the same.

The kingdom that God would build is not the kingdom of a warrior-king, but one of the poor, the outcast, the weak, and those who are forgotten; His Kingdom includes each of us if we follow the example of Mary and trust God, say “yes” to Him, and then serve others. It is in our poverty and weakness that God invites us to meet Him. Together, this week again we go to Bethlehem in our own poverty united in our prayer, “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” He shows us His face in the Holy Infant and in everyone who needs God’s love.