Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 19, 2021. Gospel of St. Luke 1:39-45. Theme: Jesus Living in Mary...and in Us!
As we draw closer to Christmas, the liturgy reminds us of the vital and indispensable role that the Blessed Mother had in bringing Jesus into the world. However, unlike most Protestant Christians, we Catholics do not think that Mary was simply a necessary or convenient means to an end and that once Jesus was born and raised her role was over. We do not believe that God simply uses people the way we sometimes do and then discards them once their job is done. We believe that when God chooses someone for a particular mission it is a permanent calling, something that is relevant for all time. Mary’s mission and vocation was to be and to remain the special vessel chosen by God to bring Jesus into the world and to radiate Christ’s powerful presence among others.
Today’s Gospel illustrates this truth. The preborn Jesus, living in Mary, fills Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit and she cries out with joy that she has been blessed to receive a visit from the Mother of God. The unborn John the Baptist somehow recognizes Jesus living in Mary and leaps in his mother’s womb with excitement. Jesus living in Mary touches their lives and their hearts. Like all stories in the Gospels, this one about the Visitation is not just the recounting of an event. It is a lesson meant to teach us that, like Mary, we are called to become living vessels of Christ’s presence and power, although of course in a different way. We are each called to bring him to those we encounter and to radiate his presence in our everyday lives.
The great teacher of faith, St. Augustine, tells us that like Mary we can conceive Jesus in our hearts and become His spiritual dwelling places by obedience to His Word. He bases this teaching on a passage of Luke’s gospel where Jesus says that those who hear the Word of God and live it can be blessed like His mother. Before Mary ever conceived Jesus physically in her womb, she had opened her heart to embracing his Word and placed herself generously at His disposal. And so, by faith she received Jesus within her spiritually, which then enabled her to receive him physically.
We can become like Mary in this regard by forming the practice of reflecting on the Word of God in Scripture, which will then lead us to receiving him into us through the Holy Eucharist. As a matter of fact, this is why the Liturgy of the Word precedes the Liturgy of the Eucharist in our Masses. It’s no accident that the ritual of the Mass was designed this way. And it is actually the very purpose of the homily to take the Scriptures we have heard and help us to ponder them in a way that will open our hearts to receive Christ. If a homily does not in some way help us do this, then no matter how much time a priest or deacon has put into composing it, no matter how much time he spends in speaking it, it has failed in its purpose. Just as the Holy Spirit came down upon Mary and thus made Jesus physically present within her womb, so does the priest call down the Holy Spirit upon our gifts of bread and wine, changing them into the very body and Blood of the Lord. And then, similar to Mary, we receive Him into us and become His living, walking, breathing vessels.
So, it seems to me that if we want to truly prepare for and welcome Jesus this Christmas, we should ask Mary to teach us the way. I am confident that she will show each of us how to open our hearts and lives to her Son, and thus allow Him to be born within us spiritually, to radiate from us, to touch others through us, just as He did through his Blessed Mother at the Visitation.
Notice that Mary did not do anything unusual or extraordinary towards Elizabeth or John to bring about their spiritual experience of Jesus. She simply “rang the doorbell” so to speak, and when it was answered the Holy Spirit took over, and Jesus living in Mary touched both of them.
And that’s how simple it can be for you and for me. In our ordinary everyday life, we can be like Mary with Jesus living within us. We, too, can bring Jesus Christ to a morally sick and spiritually hungry world. We simply need to cherish and nurture our relationship with Him through prayer, through embracing His Word, and through our Eucharistic devotion, so that He can reach out to others through us, blessing and touching those with whom we live, work and socialize.
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Below are two examples of ancient Christian art that illustrate our liturgical reflection. Blessed Mother Mary is our model for Jesus living within us so that he can radiate through us to others. He dwells within us spiritually by faith and most powerfully by the Eucharist.
Jesus Living in Mary's Womb
Jesus Living in Us Through the Eucharist
Prayer to Jesus Living in Mary
O Jesus, living in Mary, come and live in your servants, in the spirit of holiness, in the fullness of your power, in the perfection of your ways, in the truth of your virtues, in the communion of your mysteries. Rule over every adverse power, in your Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen. Jean Jacques Olier, S.S. (1608-1657)
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