Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT - 21.12.03 Mic 5,1-4; Hb 10,5-10; Lk 1,39-44 Advent: as experencing pardon & peace Moving
towards an encounter. Today’s
Gospel presents the Visitation of
Mary with her much older cousin Elizabeth. In the story, much more is going on
than one expectant mother visiting another: both - Mary and Elizabeth- say Yes
to God, are made part of God’s plan, believe that what God has promised will
be fulfilled, and both are filled with the Holy Spirit and are caught up in
God’s plan to send a Saviour and bring forgiveness to our world. The story is
told in such a way that two unborn children
also come to an encounter and indeed communicate: the God-Emmanuel, which
means ‘God is: with us - dwells among us - is truly like us’, and another
child who even in the womb of its mother is already proclaiming the coming of
the Lord, a child who in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy. In this amazing
encounter, everything happens in the presence of the Lord and in a mysterious
communion with God: hidden in Mary’s womb, the Lord is already there. Mary is
called ‘blessed among all women’ and ‘the mother of my Lord’... It seems
to me that every time we pray ‘the Hail Mary’, the above nuances come alive:
not only we recall the Annunciation, but also are caught in the encounter with
our ‘God-is- with-us, Emmanuel. The
words of the ‘Hail Mary’, reflect the event of the Visitation, but also
allow us to be caught up in the presence of the unseen & unfathomable God,
as we pray: ‘blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus’. Then as if knowing
that we long to be caught in our Saviour’s unconditional forgiveness, we ask
Mary to pray for us: pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. We
acknowledge our need of pardon and peace. Reflecting
on an encounter.
During Advent, we give ourselves the opportunity of
meeting our Lord in the sacrament of reconciliation. This experience is
itself an encounter. In it, we are called to enter into the loving communion
with Father Son & Spirit. After reflecting on, and acknowledging, our
sinfulness, we hear the comforting words of the absolution: ‘though the
ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace’. As we are caught
in the encounter with our Saving Lord, we are lost in a mystery of communion: we
realize that we are there with the people with whom we have been in conflict
with. We see them as people who -rightly or wrongly- have hurt us and we have
hurt them. Still we come seeking to give & receive forgiveness &
reconciliation, while at the same time seeking God’s own pardon and peace.
Caught in this mystery of communion we stop hurting and begin experiencing the
healing strength of our Saviour, who brings us in close contact with whose who
have hurt us. We are no longer in confrontation with them; amazingly they are no
longer in a position to hurt us. It’s as if they are just as we are sinners, -
in need to give & receive
pardon and peace, - in need to give and receive the greatest gift of all: the
gift of self. Notice that the very word “for-give” (in French ‘par-don’,
in Italian or Spanish ‘per-dono’) has got to do with giving the best gift of
all, the gift par excellence, the gift of self! And so this year, let Advent
bring a deeper awareness of our Saviour’s own longing in the words: ‘come to
me all of you who are hurting & overburdened, and I will give you rest’.
This year, may our forgiving Saviour, give us his pardon and peace, as an
ability to give and receive forgiveness, and at the same time as receiving
unconditional forgiveness from our God. Then the communion with God & one
another is achieved; then the Christmas message of peace on earth &
good-will to all is realized; then may God give us pardon & peace. ______________________________________ |
