fourth advent (not completed)

4th Sunday in advent




Good morning everyone, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday in Advent. This Sunday is called peace Sunday; yes the prince of peace is coming to give us eternal and spiritual peace. His peace brings life, way and truth to all. His peace brings light to the world and anyone who walks in the light of Christ will never see darkness. He will be given unending life and happiness.

Today’s gospel speaks about the visitation of our blessed Virgin to her relative Elizabeth in a Judean hill country. Before Her visitation, the annunciation of the Lord happens. The angel Gabriel comes to our Blessed Virgin Mary and announces the glad tiding saying, “Hail Mary, full of grace and the Lord is with you”. When Mary heard the angel’s greeting, she was confused and was perplexed saying to herself, ‘what sort of greeting this might be”. The confusion happened not because she did not want to become the handmaid of the Lord or carry out divine mission; it is because she was humbling herself before the Lord.

Humility is a virtue that connects us with God. Because of humility, we begin to love God more and more and we come to know that He is looking after us twenty-four seven.
When Mary was confused and was hesitating, the angel Gabriel said, ‘Do not be afraid Mary… God is with you”. She continued saying, “how is it possible, I the lowly person will become the mother of God. And I am Virgin…” The angel said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you. By the power of God, you will become virgin mother”.
As Mary listened to the words of the Angel, she completely surrendered herself to God saying, ‘I am the handmaid of God, let it be done according to His will”.
The response of Mary reminds us of the wise man who asked Jesus, ‘Master, we have all the ten commandments and which is the best of all?” Jesus said, “The first commandment is love your God with all your hearts, with all your strengths, with all your body, mind and spirit…”
Yes, Mary loved God with all her mind, body and soul and thus God elevated her to become the mother of God.
When we love God with who we are, we will become bearers of Christ our Lord. We will become His mothers, His brothers, His sisters and we will become Christ’s messengers.
In today’s gospel, we heard the story of the visitation of Mary. As she received the good news of becoming the mother of God, Mary did not become housebound instead the gospel says, “Mary arose in those days and she hurried to the hill country of Judea where she met with her relative Elizabeth.

Here we may recall the second commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “The second commandment is love your neighbor as yourself”. Yes, Mary who experienced the love of God began to help others. She rushed all the way to Judean hill country to help Elizabeth.
Elizabeth who saw Mary recognized the presence of God and began to praise her saying, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.
Here we understand how the first part of the Hail Mary prayer was coined or formed. The angel said, “ Hail Mary full of grace and the Lord is with thee”. Then Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. Then the Holy Catholic Church added the second part of the prayer saying, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…now and the hour of our death”.
As we meditate upon the annunciation and the visitation of our Blessed Mary, the one person who comes into our mind is Blessed Mother Theresa. (continued)