We have been awakened to the prospect of Christ’s coming on the First Sunday of Advent. On the Second Sunday of Advent, we were reminded that we had some work to do – the work to prepare the way of Christ to come to our hearts, by John the Baptist. So, we have gotten rid of ups (mountains) and downs (valleys), all these ruggedness in our hearts. So, we have been working diligently with a vigilant hope. Then, on the Third Sunday of Advent, sensing the nearness of Christ in his coming, our hearts grew with anticipatory joy, making us even more diligent in fine-tuning our preparatory work and heightening our vigilance to witness the moment of theophany at his arrival. So, now, finally, on this last Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday before the Nativity, what are we to reflect on?
Given the imminence of Christ’s arrival, it is the
Sunday to reflect how he actually comes about through Mary (Gospel Reading) and
through the Davidic royal lineage (First Reading) as the incarnated Logos-Theos (Word-God).
The First Reading (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16)
offers some important Christological insights about the Son to be born of Mary,
while the Gospel Reading (Luke 1:26-38) describes how this Christ has been conceived
in the womb of Mary and how she responded to this. The Second Reading (Romans
16:25-27) describes what Christ, who is wisdom, brings upon his arrival – to
strengthen us to live according to the Good News of his, to live a life of
faith, through the revelation of a long-kept mystery, namely, the Paschal
Mystery of Christ.
What bridges the First Reading and the Gospel
Reading is Isaiah 9:5-6, while the Gospel Reading is to fulfill Isaiah 7:14 as
to initiate the fulfillment process of Genesis 3:15.
About 1,000 years before the birth of Christ, God
first revealed to Nathan, prophet in service of David, that it is God who
builds the house of David into the mighty kingdom of peace to last forever,
rather than David to build the house of God (2 Samuel 7:5-16). In fact, God is
more specific about how He will build the house of David, the Davidic kingdom
into the great power over the world, with which all the wicked are conquered,
through the offspring of David, namely, Christ coming out of the David’s
lineage (2 Samuel 7:12-13). So, it makes sense to see the name of Jesus, the
Christ, in Matthew 1:6-16, in the lineage of David.
God’s revelation of His plan to bring Christ out of
the David’s lineage and to build his Kingdom in 2 Samuel 7:5-16 is also
reflected Isaiah 9:1-6 in Isaiah 7:13-20, echoing Genesis 3:15. The
establishment of the house of David as his Kingdom by his offspring, Christ,
will bring permanent peace, as all the wicked enemies are conquered as to
defeat the source of all the evils, Satan. So, nearly 1,000 years before the
arrival of Christ in Bethlehem, God the Father, who has sent Christ the Son,
already gave this prophetic vision to Nathan to tell David. And, more than 700
years before the coming of Christ, Isaiah prophesized the coming of Christ and what
he will bring in line of what is told to David through Nathan.
Now, the Gospel Reading (Luke 1:26-38) describes how
what was revealed to David through Nathan, by God the Father on Christ the Son,
nearly 1,000 years before finally made known to Mary through Angel Gabriel’s
Annunciation and how she responded with her fiat; ”Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according
to your word”(Luke 1:38).
The Gospel text (Luke 1:26-38) is also read for the
Solemn feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), for the feast of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (December
12), and Solemn feast of the Annunciation (March 25), in addition for the 4th
Sunday of Advent on Cycle B. This is because this text is more than the
annunciation of the birth of the incarnated Christ but also about Mary, the
Mother of Christ, the Theotokos.
Because God had His special eyes on her, even before
her conception, even before the time, as Blessed Pope Pius IX indicates in Ineffable Deus to establish the dogma of
the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Angel Gabriel told Mary that she has special
favor (grace) in her, and God has been with her always (Luke 1:28). This is
what makes Mary “gratia plena”, impervious
to evil effects of the Original Sin. And, this qualified Mary to conceive the
incarnated Christ in her womb so that Christ, the Son of God, comes to us in
the unblemished human flesh of Jesus to redeem us, as prophesized.
It is also important to note how Angel Gabriel tells
what her Son will bring about (Luke 1:32-33) in connection to prophesies in the
Old Testament. Though it was too much for Mary to comprehend, Angel Gabriel
told her that the Son already conceived in her womb, though she is virgin, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, is destined to be the great Davidic King, as
prophesized in 2 Samuel 7:12-16, Isaiah 7:13-20, Isaiah 9:6-9, and Isaiah
11:1-16.
All this great annunciation of the Son of God being
conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit certainly overwhelmed her,
an unexpected virgin. So, her verbal response to all this is,” How can this be, since I have no
relations with a man?”(Luke 1:34).
And, these are the words of Angel Gabriel to respond
to Mary’s wonder:
The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth,
your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth
month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God
(Luke 1:35-37).
Mary was reminded that it is possible with God even
it is impossible to the humans to help her accept the new reality of her
conceiving the Son of God, as the redeemer in the form of the great Davidic king, fulfilling the aforementioned
Old Testament prophecies. Also, she was told of the surprised pregnancy of
Elizabeth, who had been barren for years. For God, as He wills so, the virgin
conceives, and a barren conceives, too. And, the son that Elizabeth conceives
is to prepare the way of Christ (Luke 1:13-17; Matthew 3:1-12//Mark 1:1-9//Luke
3:1-18; John 1:19-28).
All Mary needed was that it is what God wills not
only upon her but also upon Israel and beyond. At that point, perhaps, Mary has
felt a sense of great responsibility beyond herself, sensing that she has been
made pregnant with the Son of God for the sake of salvation of the humankind,
who have been lost since the Original Sin. But, being reminded and knowing that
God is with her (Luke 1:28), Mary responds with her words of fiat, “May it be done to me” as she accepts God’s
will to serve Him as His “handmaid”(Luke 1:38).
Imagine, if Mary were not “gratia plena” by the Immaculate Conception, Satan could have
affected her mind to reject the incarnated Christ in her womb, going against
God’s will on her to be Christ’s mother. If that had been the case, Mary could
have obtained self-induced abortion because it was “unplanned pregnancy” and
against her will.
Just as David accepted God’s plan for him, which is
not that he build the house of God, Temple, but rather to let God build the
house of David into the great permanent kingdom through his offspring, Christ,
Mary, a descendant of the Levites, accepted God’s plan for her to serve as
Christ’s mother. Both David and Mary had to give up their own plans to
accommodate God’s plan for them.
What about us? Are we always readily able to accept
and accommodate and adapt God’s plan for us, even though it means to give up
our own plans for ourselves?
If we reject God’s plan but to stick with our own
plans for ourselves, we may “abort” God’s salvific plan that is meant through
us.
Are we willing to let God the Father bring Christ
through us and let Christ build the Kingdom with us? Do we have our fiats to
this, before we will celebrate the arrival of the incarnated Christ? If not,
all that great Paschal Mystery will not be revealed to us.
Angelus
Domini nuntiavit Mariae; Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
Ecce
ancilla Domini. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Et
Verbum caro factum est. Et habitavit in nobis.
Sancta
Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
The
angel of the Lord has declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Behold,
the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.
And
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death.
Amen.
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