Reflecting on Luke 1:39-45

Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem, Israel

Today’s Gospel, the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, tells us that Mary, a woman alone and with child, made a seventy-mile journey from Galilee to Ein Karem, in the hill country of Judea.  Today a Catholic church stands at that site. Its many paintings depict Elizabeth and Mary, and other women of their time, as they went about the sacred business of keeping alive their religious traditions.  It is surely the most “feminine” church in Christendom.

When Mary, now the ark of the covenant, the carrier of the Savior, arrives at her cousin’s home, she sings her Magnificat.  What seems to be most on her mind, curiously, is not the news of her astonishing pregnancy, or even that her aged cousin is now with child.  Instead, she wants to talk about God’s power to lift up the lowly and to fill the hungry with good things.

What did she see on that dangerous road that brought God’s justice to mind?  Did she see the executed Jews, whom the Romans crucified along well-traveled paths as reminders of the “pax Romana”?  Did she see widows and orphans crying for food, cast far away from the safety nets of husbands and fathers?  The unborn John sensed the presence of the true Prince of Peace, and jumped for joy when the tiny embryo arrived in the house.  That should end any discussion of when life begins.

There leaped a little child in the ancient womb.  And there leaped a little hope in every ancient tomb.

(from The Visit by the Medical Missionary Sisters)

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

Do you remember a time when you were so excited about your good news that you rushed to find a loved one so that you could share it?

Reflecting on Philippians 4:4-7

Here’s a prescription for you from St. Paul: stop worrying.  Yes, he’s talking to you.  Stop it!

St. Paul

But what does he know about anxiety, right?  When he cataloged his sufferings in 2 Cor. 11:23-27 he gave the following list: three shipwrecks, five beatings with a lash, three beatings with rods, and stonings which left him near death.  And he couldn’t even mention the three imprisonments and a near-fatal snake bite that occurred in the years after he wrote that letter.   And it all ended in Rome, where, according to an ancient tradition of the Church, he was caught in Nero’s net and beheaded.

And this is the man who wrote to his beloved friends in Philippi―while he was imprisoned in chains in Ephesus!―to have no anxiety about anything, but to approach everything with prayer and supplication.   He ended this section with the assurance that if we live our lives this way we will be covered with the peace that passes all understanding.

How did he do it?  He must have been terrified of the pain of being executed.  In places he prayed for the strength to stand firm under torture.  And yet he was able to say to his dear friends at Philippi, the first church founded on European soil, Rejoice!  In fact, he said it twice:  Rejoice!  Rejoice!

Hence the rose candle for this Gaudete (rejoice!) Sunday.  We can somehow hear St. Paul calling to us from his eternal place of peace and everlasting joy:  have no anxiety about anything.  The Lord is near.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What worries are you willing to put aside so that you can experience true peace?

Painting, Valentin de Boulogne or Nicolas Tournier, 16th Century, Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, Texas

Reflecting on Luke 3:1-6

We are now in Cycle C, the year of Luke, the magnificent writer and historian.  Notice how he places his story in its exact historical context by naming the year, the emperor, the governor, the tetrarchs and the high priests.  Into this civil and religious timeline steps John the Baptist, whom Luke has told us is Jesus’ own cousin.  We find him on the banks of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance and reminding his audience of the long ago prophecies of a time of great return.

When emperors and kings visited their provinces it required a lot of advance construction work on the part of the

John the Baptist

recipients of the visit.  Rough places that would clog imperial processions had to be made smooth.  Winding roads had to be made straight so that the royal entourage could pass easily.  Those are the kinds of projects today’s readings are talking about―getting rid of whatever is standing in the way of our encounter with God.  It makes you wonder if maybe these Advent days are going to be about smashing down the roadblocks to our own hard hearts.

I’ll bet you know someone―maybe it’s you―who’s been asking questions about coming back to church.  Whatever the roadblocks that have been keeping so many away, this season is the perfect time to open wide the doors of forgiveness and restored relationships in Christ.  Come, Lord Jesus, make safe the return of all who seek You.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What kind of roadblocks do you think are keeping baptized people away from returning to the Church?

Reflecting on Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Well, we made it.  This time last year we were all reeling from the stomach-churning stock market dips and ominous job market.  We are all changed now.  Many of us are unemployed, many are underemployed, and all of us know that our best health insurance is to not get sick.  But we made it, and with the comforting scent of evergreens and violet/rose candles we settle in to the dark, sacred weeks of Advent that mark the new liturgical year.

I’ll tell you a secret.  This is the season most pastors I’ve known most love.  Those thirty-four weeks of Ordinary Time, with its endless greens and difficult preaching challenges, are finally behind them.  Liturgists start looking longingly at the Advent decorations in the closet around mid-October.  And those of us in the pews feel a certain relief, a blessed time-out, when we come into the church on this first Sunday and relax into its beautiful colors and scents, and the minor keys of Advent carols.

The events Jesus talks about today may have already happened way back in the year 70 AD when the Roman army laid siege to Jerusalem.  He certainly is also warning about the end of the world, and the day when he will come again in glory.  Maybe he’s talking about both.  Either way, after all the Advents of my life, I’ve decided to trust in the God who tells us, in the most-oft repeated phrase in Scripture, to be not afraid.  That’s my new year’s resolution.

Sharing God’s Word at Home:

What anxieties in your life are you willing to put aside for these four weeks of Advent?