Fourth Sunday of Advent Dec 19-20

Advent -- An Open Door -- A Year of Mercy!
We are on the cusp, the threshold of the of Christ’s coming! This time of year is filled with excitement and always holds so much promise for us! The promise of a real encounter with Emanuel, God with us! As we near the end of Advent, our time for preparation is almost complete! We as a human family always celebrate the birth of a child, the wonderment, the anticipation, and the promise! How much more should we anticipate the birth of Jesus the Christ child! Christ walking with us, here as human and divine!
As we complete our Advent preparation, we are in essence opening a new door as individuals and a faith community in our journey, a door that opens to God, a door filled with mercy and love. As we receive this mercy and love from God we are also called to reflect God’s mercy in our lives to others. To consider what it truly means to live out mercy in our lives. A mercy that Pope Francis calls us to in Advent season and throughout the year.
This week’s Gospel question was: “Mary opens the door and Elizabeth and Mary greet one another with joy and hospitality. How can we follow their example and open doors in our own lives and prepare to receive our Lord and Savior at Christmas? How can we follow their example, to mercifully welcome all, our family, fellow worshippers, the outcast and all the people of God? “
Mary and Elizabeth serve as models, wonderful examples and guides of how we are called to be open to God working in our lives. They gave of their entire self, body and soul to God! They put their lives in the service of God, truly demonstrating faithfulness, forgiveness and mercy. We are called to emulate their faith and commitment. How have we prepared ourselves to receive Christ in this Advent season? Let us use the time left in Advent to reflect on the lives of these great women and prepare our hearts for the Lord.
In the reading from Micah hear that God often brings forth glory from the unexpected, from people and places we least expect. Micah tells us the savior will come from an insignificant village rather than from a royal city. Underscoring that the power of this new ruler will come from God and not man. Jesus is the new David, our shepherd, one who shepherds us with mercy and love and does not need worldly power. We also reflect on Mary, a young woman not from power or wealth, but yet she becomes the mother of God. This is great news for us, we need not be wealthy, the most successful, or the best by worldly standards, God wants us as we are. God uses the unexpected, the outcast, the ordinary to achieve His purpose! God needs us all, just as He needed Mary. This underscores the theme found in all our readings today that from humble beginnings divinity arises in our world! If we truly embrace this, then we need to question how we interact with and judge people. Sometimes it is hard when we encounter those who aren’t like us or have different ideas.
When have we encountered setbacks in our lives, encountered people who disagree with us, or who dislike us? How do we respond when that happens? Have we listened God calling us to open a door to forgiveness, love and mercy in our lives, how often have we ignored God’s voice within us?
In the Gospel, we hear a story about the visit between Elizabeth and Mary which is like no other. Here we are able to see an encounter between two women of God. Mary travels and goes to offer support and love to Elizabeth. As Elizabeth opens the door for Mary, her child leaps in her womb at the recognition of God in their resence! Elizabeth on her part offers Mary sincere hospitality and in return she is blessed by the presence of the Lord. Mary gives herself over to Elizabeth in love and support. If we were to continue to read the verses that follow in Luke's Gospel, we would hear how Mary responds to Elizabeth's greeting. She responds with her song of praise, the Magnificat. Both Mary and Elizabeth recall and echo God's history of showing favor upon His people. God uses these faith filled women as examples of how He asks us to respond.
Elizabeth, in the Gospel challenges us, when she says to Mary “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled" Are we listening to the Lord with humility like Mary was? Are listening to what the Lord is asking of us today? Mary and Elizabeth’s story still resonate with us today because they held within their very persons, and within their hearts and minds, God’s promise of new life. Today our world needs God’s new life so much! A world in which justice, forgiveness and mercy reign. God needs us all to act with courage, faithfulness, and mercy as individuals and as a church.
As we complete our Advent preparation the Lord is seeking to use and transform each of us to enrich ourselves and the Church. To help us to live out the mission of Christ in mercy and understanding seeking to reconcile ourselves to God and one another and to especially reach out to those who are poor, homeless, sick, dying and all in need of our care.
In every generation God asks all people to say yes to Christ. We all carry the light of Christ within ourselves. Will we say yes to God? Will we truly let the light of Christ shine from us into the dark places of this world? Are we a people, who are will to putting their lives in the service of God and truly demonstrating forgiveness and mercy? God may not ask us to lead his people out of slavery or to bear a child for him. But he might ask us to do something which could be more difficult for us:

He might ask us to be more loving in our lives, to show more mercy, to think before we condemn people who are different from us and then to be more patient and tolerant of those people. To think before we shut someone out of our lives and then to seek reconciliation when we fall out with friends or family.
I hope that when we say yes, we say yes to whatever it is God is asking of us. I also pray that we might join with Mary saying:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”