4th Sunday of Advent (Fr. Simham)

MARY FOR ADVENT

Dear friends, this Fourth Sunday of Advent belongs to Mary. This is so because Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus, necessarily involves the motherhood of Mary. However, the story of that birth is reserved for Midnight Mass, while today’s gospel tells us how Mary prepared for that wonderful event by accepting the message of an angel, and saying yes to God’s will.

The focus of our attention today is:

‘How Mary prepared herself for this event’. Friends, her preparation for this event was totally from that of others. Let me give an example. Last year I went to bless the wedding of my niece. When I reached home, I saw all the members of my family being busy preparing for the wedding. Only two days left. All the family and friends were divided into groups. One group in-charge of food. Another group in-charge of welcoming the guests and their transport. Another group in-charge of accommodation of Guests and looking after their needs. Another group in-charge of putting up the Pandal and illuminating the house and decorating it. All were busy doing their bit in preparation for the wedding. And there was this girl (my niece) Cecilia (Sisily) walking up and down the stairs, sometimes helping others with few things and most of the time sitting all alone. I asked her “Sisily! Are you ready? She said “Yes, Uncle! I am getting there.”

Friends, I share this with you because, there was difference between the preparation of the family and all the different groups for the event and the preparation the bride for it. She might have been be sitting all alone but she was preparing. And her preparation was different. You may ask me ‘What was that difference or what is that difference? See, all the others were preparing for an event but the girl or the bride was preparing for a life. For all the others who worked to decorate or accommodate or cook, once the function is over and everything goes well. That is it. Their job is done. But for the girl the life away from parents, living with new people in a new environment begins with that. Her saying

“yes!” means a lifelong commitment to him. Her preparation was more of letting go of old ties or bonds or attachments (of the family) and preparing to let in the new relationship with the husband and with the in-laws.

This I think is also the essential difference between the preparations of John the Baptist and Isaiah during this advent and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Isaiah and John the Baptist prophesied and prepared people for an event; the coming of the Messiah. Whereas for Mary, having been already prepared by God from eternity and by her Immaculate conception, and having said

‘yes’ to god through the angel it was a period of patient waiting for God to reveal himself in his son and discerning what is her role in his plan. It is not so much ‘he is coming get ready’, but what it meant was ‘he is in you be conscious’. He is in you as zygote, as an embryo, as a fetus and a baby. How you are going to relate to him.

All the mothers here, you know what it means to conceive and carry a child in your womb. Those nine months or ten months would have been most unforgettable days for you in your life. It would have been a time of joy that you were carrying a new life within you. Every single movement of the Fetus you felt as a mother you would have rejoiced for having become a life-giver. For some it would been a time of tension not knowing what to do what not to do; what to eat what not to eat.

But overall it is a time of waiting. Even though we live in an age of fast food and fast mails, life giving process is a slow one. It takes nine or ten months for the baby to be born. You cannot hurry through the things. Baby is so near yet so far. You need to wait patiently for nine or ten months. But I am sure it is a joyful waiting.

I think this is what Advent is all about. Advent is all about waiting. It’s about finding joy in longing. It’s about waiting for the unexpected to become the expected. It’s about anticipating the fulfilment of our desires. It’s about finally opening our hearts and allowing them to become a crib for the Newborn King.

Mary understood this waiting. She understood the longing and anticipation. She waited for the unexpected to become the expected. When angel appeared before her, proclaiming her graciousness and entrusting her with a mission like none other neither before nor since in human history. Her response was to open her heart and it indeed became a crib for the Newborn King.

Thus she stands as a model to all of us in this advent. To build a crib for him in our hearts before we build it in our church or homes. Amen.

Fr. Showreelu Simham