Unbeknownst to Joseph, out of the blue, archangel came to Mary, who was betrothed to him, and archangel Gabriel made the Annunciation that Mary was chosen by God as His most favored one, namely, full of grace for being the Immaculate Conception, to serve Him as the Theotokos (the Mother of God), as it was His will to impregnate her with His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to fulfill his messianic promise made during the time of the Old Testament (Luke 1:26-37). And Mar accepted this will of God on her with her fiat, serving His will as His handmaid (Luke 1:38). And this is reflected in the First Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary. During the Annunciation, Gabriel also informed Mary that her older relative, who had been thought to be barren, had already been pregnant (Luke 1:36).
With great joy for Elizabeth, Mary hurried to visit
her, though she had go through very rough road on hilly and rocky places (Luke
1:39). Obviously, Mary just could not contain her joy for Elizabeth. And this
is the background of the Gospel Reading of Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C,
Luke 1:39-45, known as the Visitation, as in the Second Joyful Mystery of the
Holy Rosary.
So why do we read the Lucan Gospel narrative of
Visitation (Luke 1:38-45) on the last Sunday of Advent (Cycle C)? In less than
a week, we are to welcome the incarnated Christ born of Mary.
Let’s see how the Gospel narrative unfolds.
Mary finally made it to the house of Elizabeth and
Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth (Luke 1:40).
Then, what happened?
The growing baby in the womb of Elizabeth responded
also to Mary by leaping inside the womb, and Elizabeth felt that (Luke 1:41). The
baby inside Elizabeth’s womb was John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25; 57-63). This
means that the baby inside Elizabeth’s womb recognized not only Mary but the
growing baby inside her womb, just as his mother, Elizabeth, recognized this
baby inside Mary’s womb as the Lord.
So, Elizabeth said:
Most
blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how
does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at
the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb
leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the
Lord would be fulfilled (Luke 1:42-45).
As her baby inside her womb recognized the
incarnated Christ inside Mary’s womb, Elizabeth, too, saw the Christ in Mary’s
womb. No, Elizabeth did not leap for joy of seeing Christ, but she first
blessed Mary’s womb and the one inside, saying, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb”(Luke 1:42). Then, she called the one inside Mary’s womb, “my Lord” (Luke 1:43). Elizabeth saw the
hidden baby inside Mary’s womb as the Lord (Κυρίου/Kyriou),
this New Testament Greek word corresponds to אֲדֹנָי /Adonai in the Old Testament Hebrew. And it is related to
this Hebrew tetragram: יהוה /YHWH.
And this tegragram contains הוה/hawah,
which means “to be, or to become”. So, Elizabeth did not just called the baby
growing inside Mary’s womb, “Lord”, but as a Jewish woman, she could have been
thinking that this baby in Mary’s womb to come out is to become – to come out
as the Christ, corresponding to how archangel Gabriel described him to Mary
first:
He
will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will
give him the throne of David his father, there will be no end (Luke 1:32-33).
The baby conceived and growing in Mary’s womb is to
become great and to be called Son of the Most High the everlasting Davidic
King.
How did Elizabeth know that the baby inside Mary’s womb was not just a baby but the Lord?
It was because Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit (Luke 1:41). And consequently, the baby inside Elizabeth’s womb, John
the Baptist, was also filled with the Holy Spirit already before birth, though
archangel Gabriel told Elizabeth that her son would be filled with the Holy
Spirit from birth (Luke 1:15).
Because the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and
knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8) and enables us to see as God does with a gift of
prophesy (1 Corinthians 12:10), being Holy-Spirit-filled, both Elizabeth and
her son, John the Baptist, inside her womb, were able to see the baby growing
in the womb of Mary as the Lord, Adonai,
YHWH, namely, God. Because the Holy Spirit also gives us faith (1 Corinthians
12:9), which ascertains what we hope for and enables us to see what cannot be
seen by physical eyes (i.e. Hebrews 11:1), being filled with the Holy Spirit,
both Elizabeth and John the Baptist in her womb were able to see the incarnated
Christ even though he was still hidden in Mary’s womb. Given the divine nature of the Holy Spirit, in
a way, this is like how Peter, helped by the Father, was able to identify Jesus
as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:17).
Reading this Gospel narrative on Fourth Sunday of
Advent on Cycle C, you ask yourself, “Am I filled with the Holy Spirit,
therefore, is my faith growing stronger, to see the incarnated Christ even
though he has not arrived and made his first theophany yet? “ With theophany,
the invisible God can be seen by human eyes. But, we do not have to wait until
the first theophany at the human birth of the incarnated Christ, if we have
been filled with the Holy Spirit, as Elizabeth was when Mary visited her, to
see the apocalyptic Christ before his visible and tangible revelation in
theophany. The Holy Spirit enables us to believe and hope, and therefore, we
can see the Christ, even though he is not yet seeable to human eyes. Being
Catholic, if you truly see the very Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist (in the species of the Eucharistic bread and wine) and
therefore believe so, then, you can certainly see in your eyes of faith how the
incarnated Christ is getting ready to come out of Mary’s womb. By the power of
the Holy Spirit, we can see the incarnated Christ in Mary’s womb as we see a
growing baby in mother’s womb through a sonogram. Then, our anticipatory joy to
welcome him at his arrival in our hearts on the predawn Christmas morning will
magnify greatly. And such a magnified joy of Elizabeth was expressed in her
benediction to Mary, her womb, and of course, the fruit of her womb, the Lord
as the incarnated Christ. And her son in her womb, John the Baptist expressed
his magnified joy by leaping.
In a way, as reflected by Fr. Author Bautista of
Holy Child Jesus Parish in Chicago, the incarnated Christ, who is on his way
and soon to arrive in our hearts – in less than a week from today - is like Mary traveling in haste on a long
challenging road, with rocky hills and dangers by being attacked by wild beasts
in the Gospel Reading (Luke 1:39-45). Mary did not mind these discouraging
factors at all as she was so happy for Elizabeth. She was determined to see and
give her full support to Elizabeth. This is a great example of how Jesus’ new
commandment (Mandatum Novum): Love
one another (John 13:34) applies to us.
Jesus’ new commandment of love is a reflection of his
caring love for us (John 13:34), and by observing this commandment in light of
what Jesus has said in Matthew 22:39//Mark 12;13//Luke 10:27, on the greatest
commandment, juxtaposing Leviticus 19:18 (horizontal love of each other ) to
Deuteronomy 6:5 (vertical love of ours to God). So, Christ, now having been
incarnated upon the Annunciation (Luke 1:31; cf John 1:1, 14) in Mary’s womb,
he is about to make his first theophany to us. Because he existed before all
ages, as we say in our Creed, Christ sure have come unimaginably a long way,
because he loves us (John 13:34), as sent by the Father (John 3:16). And the
way Mary went to see Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45) is also like how Christ is coming
a long way, even before his incarnation, just for us.
This is love.
Furthermore, the primary option for the First
Reading of December 21 (Song of Songs 2:8-14) reflects how his love for us gets
him going and going a long way to be with us, as reflected by the way Mary
travelled to be with Elizabeth out of her love (Luke 1:39-45) in rather a
romantic way.
Yes, this is an eros
aspect of love, the driving force for agape,
as Pope Benedict XVI reflected in his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love). So, we shall not reduce this
reading from Song of Songs 2 to a mere romantic story.
Now think of the incarnated Christ, who has been
coming an immeasurably long way to be with us, as our Immanuel, which literally
means, “God with us”, and the incarnation of the Theos-Logos (God-Word) (John 1:1, 14, as reflected in the Gospel
Reading of Christmas Day: John 1:1-18) in Mary’s womb, was the last mile stone
on Christ’s journey to come to us, long before being born of Mary. Remember,
God had already planned to send him way back when Adam and Eve committed the
Original Sin (i.e. Genesis 3:15). And pre-incarnated Christ had existed (i.e.
John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16-17), as the Wisdom (i.e. Proverbs 8:22-31), as well
as, the Word (Theos-Logos)(John 1:1),
as the source of life (i.e. John 1:4), before the Creation, before all ages.
Given this Chiristological truth, Christ has been on an unimaginably long
journey just to dwell among us in the human flesh of Jesus (i.e. John 1:14) –
to come into our hearts in less than a week. And in the First Reading (Micah
5:1-4a), this is also reflected: Christ’s origin is from of old, from ancient
times (Micah 5:1b).
According to the First Reading (Micah 5:1-4a), the
way the incarnated Christ came, historically, about 2,000 years ago, was that
he was born of a woman (i.e. Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem-Ephrathah (Micah 5:1-2)
to be our shepherd by the strengths of the Lord and by the majestic name of the
Lord (Micah 5:3), to bring peace and security in all over the world (i.e. Psalm
98:3), as being peace himself (Micah 5:4a). So, as a prophet for the
post-exilic hope, Micah had already foreseen the incarnated Christ as the King
of the Universe, as well as the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6).
For this, Christ also came to us as the necessary
sacrifice, according to the Law.
The Second Reading (Hebrews 10:5-10) points our
attention to the Holy Week, especially, to the Paschal Triduum, reminding why
God the Father is sending His only begotten Son, as Christ to us, incarnated in
the human flesh, through the womb of Mary. Because of the incarnation, Christ
can offer himself as the ultimate Levitical sacrifice once for all.
Ever since receiving the Law on Mount Sinai during
Exodus, the Israelites had been practicing the Levitical sacrifices, according
to the Law (Leviticus 1-7). But, this did not save them. Thus, the old
covenant, represented by the Law, needs to be renewed and fulfilled by the new
covenant, which is represented by the blood of the incarnated Christ (Luke
22:20). For this, the incarnated Christ, who is coming soon, needs to become
the ultimate Levitical sacrifice once-for-all, as it is in the will of God
(Hebrews 10:7, 9; Matthew 26:29; Psalm 40:9).
And, this is the greatest love, agape per excellence, for Christ to come to lay down his life to
save us (John 10:11; 15:13). To show this greatest love for us, Christ has been
on his way ever since before all ages, by the incarnation in the human flesh so
that he can lay down his life as the ultimate Levitical sacrifice to save us.
Do you see this, while already the incarnated Christ
is still hidden in Mary’s womb?
The arrival and the initial theophany of Christ, as
incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, born of Mary, is imminently drawing
near to us, as he is about to finish his unfathomably long journey to dwell
among us, ever since before all ages. He is considered as the sun, the sun of
justice (Malachi 3:20). Just as sunrise draws nearer and nearer, the predawn
darkness gives its way to the increasing morning light, signaling that the sun
will rise very soon. So, we lit the fourth Advent Candle, today, in addition to
three other Advent Candles, making the sanctuary lighter than before.
When you see the horizon in the east in the predawn
darkness, do you already see the sun, which is soon to rise?
Likewise, do you see the incarnated Christ, who is
to be born of Mary very soon, though he is still hidden inside the womb of Mary
– as Elizabeth and John the Baptist noticed, as filled with the Holy Spirit
(though John was supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit upon his birth
(Luke 1:15))?
If so, do you see that this incarnated Christ seen
in your eyes of faith is to be born as the ultimate Levitical sacrifice, on the
Cross, so that peace and security prevail, as prophesized in Micah 5:4a?
The bottom line to see all of these is that we must
have our Advent preparation filled with the Holy Spirit (i.e. Luke 1:41).
Otherwise, we would not even know who John the Baptist is and even who Jesus
really is, as Jesus would lament (Matthew 11:16-19, as read on Friday of Second
Week of Advent).
Through the Holy Spirit, we can see as God sees, for
it is what the spiritual gift of prophesy enables us (i.e. 1 Corinthians
12:10).
Do you see what is not seen as God sees? If you let
the Holy Spirit fill you before the arrival of the incarnated Christ, you will.
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