Advent Reflection #4

This was the fourth Sunday in Advent, which means ... wait ... nnnnoooo!.... Christmas is this coming Friday ... I am not ready yet ... aaahhh! So much to do, so much to get ready, still some shopping, parties to go to, presents to wrap, family to avoid or fight with, etc. etc. Did this sound familiar? Let me help a little. Let me sing a little song for you, it is an old Simon and Garfunkel song, if you know it sing along;
"Slow down you move too fast,
ya' got to make the morning last,
just trippin' down the cobblestones,
doodit an doodoo
feelin' groovy!"

There how is that? Did it help? No? Okay, let's do something else, the song had it partly right, slow down, and now let's add "pray"; and believe it or not I do not accept the lame excuse that you are too busy to pray, that is just a cop out for a lack of faith that prayer does any good. There how does that feel? Merry Christmas!!

This week's Scriptures, (Micah 5:2-5a, Luke 1:47-55, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45), (I combined the readings from Luke to provide some continuity), all point to the impending birth of Jesus, Of course they also, (the Gospel lesson and the prophetic), refer to the virgin birth. The Prophet Micah was not the first to prophesy about the virgin birth, neither was Isaiah, or any other of the prophets, minor or major.

In Genesis, when God is expounding on the consequences to mankind, from Adam and Eve's fall to sin, God pronounces that it would be "the seed of a woman that will crush the head of the serpent", (my paraphrase), seeing as how Women do not have the "seed", God was prophesying the virgin birth.

In Bible times the young girls were considered of age to be married when they were 13or 14. So let's say that, because Mary was betrothed to Joseph, she was about 14 years old. In walks the angel Gabriel and announces God's plan to save the world, through you a 14 year old girl. Phew, heavy duty! Mary could not have understood everything that Gabriel told her, I mean how does she get pregnant without being with a man? What will everybody say? Seriously how is this going to happen? These questions and probably a few more had to be bouncing around inside of her. Well, maybe later they were, because Mary responded with the most amazing words that a human being, has ever said to God. In Luke 1:38, she says "...may it be done to me according to your word." Absolutely amazing, her simple acceptance of the Lord's Word. Obedience, simple obedience. The open heart of obedience is all the Lord ever looks for. Because of Mary's simple obedience to the Lord's word she literally carried the presence of the Lord in her body. Except for the obvious physical difference we are just like Mary, in that, due to our obedience we also carry the presence of the Lord.

I need to paraphrase a statement from St. Francis, he said that "we give birth to Jesus when we do any act of kindness to another in obedience to what the Lord has commanded us." We are like Mary, we "carry" Jesus, the presence of the Lord through the Holy Spirit indwelling us. So when we turn our attention to Him and we rely on Him in our struggles we give birth to Him. When we pray for someone else, we give birth to Him. When we pass on an encouraging word we give birth to Him. I think you get the idea.

So as you rush around "to get everything done", remember who you are carrying, and the opportunity you have to give birth.