Homily: 4th Sunday of Advent 2015 - 4 Advent Lessons from the Visitation

Now, on the threshold of Christmas, all four candles of the Advent wreath are lit. We’ve looked to several important biblical figures this Advent.  On the first Sunday of Advent, we listened to Christ himself, urging us to remain vigilant for his coming. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsing with anxiety, and worldliness, and drunkenness,” he said.  The last two weeks we have considered the person and message of St. John the Baptist. In order to prepare for Christ’s coming he urged us to repent, to make straight our paths, to open our minds and hearts to the change and the transformation God wants for us—to realign our priorities with those of the Most High.

On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we look to the example of the Blessed Mother.  We do this, not just because Mary has an unforgettable role in the birth and life of Jesus, but because we hold Mary as the model of how to prepare for the birth of Christ. She in many ways is the personification of Advent waiting and Advent preparation. Her whole life, from the moment of her immaculate conception, was in preparation of the coming of the Messiah.

So, on this fourth Advent Sunday 2015, we retrace the footsteps Mary took on that first Advent, entering in to Mary’s response of faith that her response might become our response, so that our joy this Christmas, might resemble her joy that first Christmas.

So, I propose four Advent lessons today, for this fourth Sunday of Advent, taken from our Gospel, as we continue to prepare our hearts and minds and souls for the great feast of Christ’s birth.

First, upon hearing that her elderly cousin had conceived in her old age, how did Mary respond? Mary left “in haste” to help. Even though Mary just had a life changing experience, God was intervening in her life in an unprecedented way, Mary left the comfort of her home in Nazareth, in haste.  She detected a need, and she acted without fearful hesitation.

There’s lesson number one: when we detect a need, we are to act in haste.  Whether it’s a change we need to make in our own life, or if we hear how a neighbor needs our help, we are to act in haste.  We don’t put off for tomorrow, what should be done today. 

Someone once said, the devil’s favorite day is “tomorrow” because he tells us, “you can always change, tomorrow. You can always quit drinking tomorrow. You can always visit your lonely neighbor tomorrow.” And what happens? When we say we are going to change, tomorrow, the change rarely comes. The fire of inspiration starts to die away.  Procrastination rarely serves God. So Advent lesson number one: if something needs to change in our life, we need to make that change, in haste.

Secondly, think of what the journey from Nazareth to Judea meant for Mary.  Elizabeth and Zechariah weren’t just a drive across town.  They lived in the hill country of Judea—about 60 miles from Nazareth—through bandit infested hill country.  A difficult journey for anyone, especially for a teenage mother traveling by herself.

But anxiety did not hinder the blessed Mother from making the charitable visitation. Mary was concerned that Elizabeth’s pregnancy would be difficult for she was advanced in years.  So, prompted by love and charity, she put Elizabeth’s needs ahead of her own.

Again, Mary had her own problems: she was with child, she was betrothed to Joseph but carrying a child that was not his.  She could have stayed home and figured about how she was going to explain her pregnancy to her parents, let alone her fiancé. How was she going to provide for her child if Joseph divorced her, as was his right?  She could have stayed at home feeling sorry for herself.  At least Elizabeth had a husband, and a home. 

Here’s lesson number two: Mary teaches us to look beyond our own problems and worries to the needs of others. If I’m overly concerned about myself, I might miss out on those opportunities God gives me to help others. Mary had a number of reasons to justify staying home, but true charity pierces through the excuses.  Mary’s journey teaches us that charity isn’t always easy, nor does charity stop just because I have my own problems. So lesson number two: stop making excuses not to engage in charity.

Next, as Mary traveled those 60 miles from Nazareth to the Judean hill country, she was only newly pregnant.  Jesus would still only have been the tiniest of human embryos, 2 cells, 4 cells, 16 cells--well before a tiny infant would develop feet to kick within her womb. Not having the physical signs of pregnancy, Mary knew of her pregnancy only through faith. And no doubt, as she traveled, she meditated upon the words of the Archangel, and how all the prophecies of the Old Testament were converging in her. 

As we travel through Advent, we like Mary traveling to Elizabeth are meant to be meditating on the promises of Holy Scripture. Every day of Advent we should be meditating on the Scriptures, particularly the prophets.  For it was through the prophets that God communicated his promise of a savior.  So, if we can’t get to daily Mass to hear the words of the prophets, we should be doing some sort of personal daily meditation in order to deepen our understanding and appreciation of Jesus’ saving birth. St. John Chrysostom said, “the Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should merely enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.” 

So there is our third lesson: as she traveled, Mary meditated upon the Scriptures that she had engraved into her heart. And so as we travel through Advent, ensure that you are meditating on some scripture every day.

Finally, upon reaching her destination, we see how Mary brought incredible joy to her cousin. Having left in haste, having put the needs of another before her own, having meditated on the word of God, Mary must have been bursting with joy over the good news that the long awaited for Messiah, the Savior, was to be born. 

The lesson?  We are meant to follow Mary’s example of spreading Good News joyfully. We are to be excited about Jesus and excited about our faith.  The cause of our joy this Christmas are not the gifts that Santa brings, but the gift that God has already given in Jesus Christ.  He is the cause of our joy.

“Joy,” Mother Theresa said, “is the net by which you catch souls.” There are souls out there, neighbors, family members, people who have left the Church, that can only be brought to God by witnessing our joy.

“A joyful heart, Mother Theresa explained, “is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love for God and for neighbor.” So our final advent lesson today: Mary shows us that during Advent we are meant to prepare our hearts in such a way that we discover new joy through our faith.  Daily prayer, daily self-sacrificing charity, daily meditation: these things cause our hearts to catch fire with love and joy.

I think of that wonderful Christmas song, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come…Let every heart prepare him room.”  Why are we not as joyful as we should be, why are we not bursting with joy in the Lord, why are we as not as effective evangelists as we should be…we all too often have not prepared our hearts and made room in our hearts as fully as we should for the Lord. 

So, in these final Advent days, may Mary continue to teach us how to prepare our hearts for the Lord, that following her example of faith, we may share her joy this Christmas, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.