{"id":1740,"date":"2015-12-20T12:57:25","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T17:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1740"},"modified":"2015-12-20T12:57:25","modified_gmt":"2015-12-20T17:57:25","slug":"4th-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-advent-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Advent, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday of Advent, Year C<\/a>
\nMicah 5:1-4a
\nPsalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
\nHebrews 10:5-10
\nLuke 1:39-45
\nDecember 20, 2015<\/p>\n

Today we hear the story of Mary\u2019s visitation to Elizabeth.\u00a0 To understand the context of the story we first need to realize that this story happens immediately <\/strong>after the Annunciation where the Angel Gabriel told Mary she was to be the mother of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Mary could have said no.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Mary could have been prideful for becoming the mother of Jesus.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

What did Mary do?<\/p>\n

At the same time the angel Gabriel told Mary she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus, Gabriel also told Mary that Elizabeth was also with child.<\/p>\n

In response to this, Mary goes to Elizabeth so that they might share their joy together.<\/p>\n

The conception of Jesus in Mary\u2019s womb is clearly a miracle because she had had no relations with a man.\u00a0 Elizabeth\u2019s pregnancy was also an act of God.\u00a0 Elizabeth was advanced in years and had never had any children.\u00a0 The conception of John the Baptist had been announced to Elizabeth\u2019s husband, Zechariah, by an angel.<\/p>\n

So Elizabeth was likely ecstatic to finally have the child she had longed for.\u00a0 When Mary comes to her, Mary would not have looked pregnant since Jesus\u2019 conception just happened.\u00a0 When Elizabeth saw Mary, she could have spoken about the joy of her own pregnancy.\u00a0 She did not.\u00a0 Her reaction, as well as the reaction of John in her womb, was to be joyous that the mother of her Lord had come to her.<\/p>\n

Mary showed great faith when she said Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word<\/em>.\u00a0 Elizabeth showed a great faith in recognizing Jesus in Mary\u2019s womb.<\/p>\n

Both became pregnant through the hand of God. Both had been chosen<\/strong> by God for this role.\u00a0 Why did God choose them?\u00a0 Because God knew the faith they had in their hearts.\u00a0 God knew the concern they had in their hearts for others.<\/p>\n

Because of their faith, good things happened.\u00a0 John the Baptist comes to prepare the way of the Lord<\/em> so that Jesus can come to save us.<\/p>\n

Often, seeing a baby brings joy to people\u2019s hearts.
\nWe see new life and that helps us see the possibility of good things to come.<\/p>\n

In just a few days at Christmas we will see Jesus laying in a manger as a little baby.\u00a0 Our hearts will smile but not just for a moment while we look at baby Jesus.\u00a0 When we see baby Jesus we see hope in one who comes to save us.\u00a0 Jesus will do miracles to reveal his identity as Son of God.\u00a0 Jesus will teach to help us know God\u2019s ways.\u00a0 And, Jesus will die for us and rise, showing us the way to the Father.\u00a0 When we see Jesus, we see hope and we have joy.<\/p>\n

Come Christmas, we will likely see people here for Mass that we seldom see otherwise.\u00a0 There is a special joy about this season that permeates hearts in a way to draw people in.\u00a0 This is a good thing.<\/p>\n

You may see people here that you know but never realized they were Catholic.\u00a0 You may see people you know that fell away from the church and didn\u2019t live a \u201cgood life.\u201d\u00a0 You might be surprised to see them.\u00a0 You might even be shocked to see them here.<\/p>\n

What is the proper response?\u00a0 Well, let me tell you, it doesn\u2019t begin with \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d\u00a0 We want them here.\u00a0 I would suggest our response should begin with, \u201cMerry Christmas, we are glad you are here<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

We want them to feel welcome.\u00a0 We want them to know we would love to have them here each Sunday.\u00a0 To help us do this, we are working to have greeters at every <\/em>door at every <\/em>Mass as people arrive.<\/p>\n

That much being said, it isn\u2019t enough just to welcome them at the door.\u00a0 Even if you aren\u2019t a greeter at the door, we need your help.\u00a0 You will be the ones sitting next to them in the pews.\u00a0 Help them to feel welcome.\u00a0 Help them to know we care for them just as Mary and Elizabeth cared for each other.\u00a0 Help them to know the joy of Christmas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Advent, Year C Micah 5:1-4a Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45 December 20, 2015 Today we hear the story of Mary\u2019s visitation to Elizabeth.\u00a0 To understand the context of the story we first need to realize that this story happens immediately after the Annunciation where the Angel Gabriel told Mary …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Advent, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[62,82],"tags":[148,129],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-s4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1741,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions\/1741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}