4Th Sunday of Advent

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth proclaims this to Mary in Luke’s Gospel. This amazing expression provides the foundation of one of our most familiar Catholic prayers. The "Hail Mary"  As we await Christmas, pray the Hail Mary, ponder each line, giving praise to our Lord and asking the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God.
 
The coming of Christ is close at hand, all the Advent candles are burning.  Christmas is so near we can almost touch it. 
 
Our first reading from Micah serves as a preview of the nativity story. Bethlehem and Mary, and the entire world await the gift of the Lord.  God does wonders, often through the most ordinary places and people, like Bethlehem, like Mary, like you and me!  God invites us to move forward from this Advent; and allow our Advent journey to join our lives with His.
 
In the anticipation of the coming of Christ, the Gospel shifts our attention from the ministry of John the Baptist from last week, to the events that preceded John’s birth. The story of John the Baptist and his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah  joins the birth of John the Baptist with Jesus, connecting John to our Messiah.
 
This Gospel gives us unique insight into Jesus and John’s mothers:  Mary and Elizabeth, not only trusted the Lord, but placed their very lives in God’s hands. Mary, in a remarkable commitment to God, consents to bear Jesus despite all of the suffering, and complications that this decision will bring.  Her life would could have been much less complicated if she had simply refused.  But Mary agreed and we hear in the verse just before our Gospel reading today:
 
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her."
 
Mary said this after hearing that Elizabeth too, was with child. Mary’s immediate reaction after her encounter with the angel Gabriel is to embark on a long a difficult journey to be with Elizabeth.  On Mary’s arrival, Elizabeth greets her with great joy!  The child within her womb jumps with joy when he hears Mary’s voice.  These faithful women willingly accept the roles that they and their unborn children will play in God's plan for salvation. If we were to continue to read the verses that follow in Luke's Gospel, we hear Mary respond to Elizabeth's greeting with her song of praise, the Magnificat.
 
Mary and Elizabeth are truly models for us, models of how we are called to prepare and serve our Lord.  Mary’s first reaction after consenting to follow God's will, is to serve. We are also called by God, called to listen to His voice, to hear where He is calling us and have courage like Mary to agree and follow the path that he sets before us. 
 
God has a unique journey for us all!  God beckons us to listen closely to Him, to act boldly and join Him on a journey of faith.  This past week, a group from our tithing committee and I were privileged to visit and see firsthand the ministries we support as a community of faith.  We visited, Matthew’s Closet, Sister Regis Food Cupboard, St. Andrew’s Food cupboard and several others. This was a wonderful Advent experience!  We encountered those serving and those being served in these wonderful ministries.  We were asked to pass along sincere thanks from all these organizations we support with food, tithing funds, and volunteers.  All of these ministries said they didn't know what they would do without your support, your prayers, and all you do. I was very humbled by this visit.  There are so many people in our community doing so much to help those in need.  Our team was thanked repeatedly, but we emphasized: - it's not us! This is only possible, by the love and support of our parish family, a famiily that seeks always to listen to the Lord!
 
In our complex and troubled world, it may seem like there is nothing we can do, nothing that will make a difference. But we can and we are!  As we heard from Fr. Jeff last weekend, we can all do little things, things within our grasp and our capability.  When these little acts are put together they can make a tremendous difference, the actions of God working through all of us.  God wants to touch our lives, He desires to enrich them. He wants us to join with Him, to use the gifts He has given us, to make our lives fuller and fuller for those we serve.  Our lives are truly richer when we reach out to those in need. We are called to help those who are struggling, those who need of our love and care!
 
Last week 250 gift bags were packed and delivered for refugees at Mary’s Place and others went to our Penfield Hope families. Our Gift of the Magi program culminated  a week ago with a large group of parishioners taking the many gifts we collected here at St. Joseph's  to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.  I would like to thank everyone who helped with this Christmas collection!  We had such a wonderful outpouring of gifts. Also a special thank you to the many people, who used their cars and trucks to help transport our gifts downtown, we had 2 trucks and many car loads full.  During our delivery at Our Lady of Americas I was privileged to  talk with Sr. Julia our partner there. She was so taken with the generosity of our parish.  She said that without St. Joseph's support she doesn’t  know what she would do.  What you do does make a difference and is very much appreciated and needed!
 
Mary and Elizabeth are important models for us.  These faithful women listened and acted on God's word despite the cost. They let God lead them in their journey of faith. We are called now,  in these final days of Advent to reflect on our own journey.  Our faith journey,  like our lives, will have unexpected twists and turns, sorrows and joys. As we see these 4 advent candles burning know that Christ wants to light our way. Let us make time to ponder as Mary did. Ponder what God is asking of each of us. 
Let us pray together, the prayer Elizabeth and Mary gave us::

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.