It is time to believe

IV Sunday of Advent “C” Luke 1:39-45

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. We are almost there; we are almost ready to celebrate the feast of Christmas. But not just yet! We still have some more waiting to do. In the first week of Advent I suggested that our word for the week was “Blameless.” We are called to be not just perfect, but also without fault, completely perfect. We become blameless in holiness in the love that we share with for one another. The second week of Advent we met John the Baptist. John the one who came before Jesus to prepare the way. The word for week 2 was prepare. We are called to prepare for the birth of Christ not buying presents, decorating the tree and cooking for Christmas dinner. No! we prepare our hearts for welcoming Jesus in our midst. The third week of Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudate means Rejoice! Our word for week 3 was rejoice. As we prepare for the celebration of Advent; we rejoice because we know that he is already here amongst us. Finally, we come to the final week of Advent. What is the word for this week? BELIEVE! In today’s Gospel the last word is believe! “Blest are you who believed” Elizabeth is talking to her cousin the Blessed Mother. Mary obviously was the first to believe. She believed the message of the Angel because of her belief the miracle of the incarnation took place. Because Mary believed, Jesus was born. When the Angel asked Mary to be the mother of God she said yes! What a leap of faith. Mary was willing to be the mother of God, she wasn’t forced she openly agreed to be a part of the birth process. Belief involves a commitment, and it is hard work. To believe is not to believe in something like Santa Claus, believing that he will bring presents to every good girl and boy. To believe isn’t like believing that we are going to have a white Christmas, or that it is going to rain. These beliefs involve no work on our part. We just trust and hope for the best. No, the belief that Elizabeth is talking about involves a commitment on our part, it involves work and cooperation. When Mary believed that she would conceive the child Jesus, she didn’t just sit back. No, as any mother can tell us. Pregnancy is hard work; it involves a change in one’s body and the act of giving birth involves pain and sacrifice. That is the way that we are invited to believe. We are called to believe like Mary and Elizabeth did. Like Mary and Elizabeth, we are asked to take Jesus into our hearts and into our lives. This is symbolized for us in the sacrament of baptism. When we were baptized, we received the light of faith. Baptism involved change and commitment on our part. Like all moments of growth there is the time of gestation. Time for nurturing and strengthening our faith but there comes a time when we are called to give birth, to live and share our faith. We come together today, this last Sunday of Advent to consider Mary, and Mary is not asking us to admire her, we are asked to imitate her. We are called to give birth to Christ in the world today! Here in Mexico City in the year of the Lord 2024! We follow Mary and we allow the word of God to take root in our lives. We nourish the word of God in our lives, but it is never enough to simply be a good follower, we must always commit to sharing our faith with others. Christmas isn’t something that just happens. It isn’t simply a date on the calendar, we can’t take it for granted. Christmas began because Mary believed and that belief spread to Joseph and then Elizabeth and Zechariah. Now 2000 years later it is our turn. It is our turn to believe and make our own contribution so that Jesus once again can become flesh in the world today.