The Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, as we eagerly awaiting the
celebration of the Lord’s Birth, we cry out to him, “Lord, make us turn to you;
let us see your face and shall be saved” (Psalm 80:4). Can there be any greater
desire within the human heart than to look upon the face of God? But how can we
see his face? Where are we to look? We need simply look to Bethlehem.
Through his prophet Micah, the Lord
God declared long ago that from Bethlehem “shall come forth for me one who is
to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times” (Micah
5:1). Which ruler can this be if not Jesus of Nazareth, the one to whom we cry
out, “O shepherd of Israel, hearken, from your throne upon the cherubim, shine
forth” (Psalm 80:2). Yes, it is he: the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity,
the only begotten Son of God, without beginning or end, who, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, was incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is
why Elizabeth exclaims, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my
Lord should come to me” (Luke 1:43)?
Within the womb of his mother, the
infant John the Baptist “leaped for joy” (Luke 1:44). He did so because he
recognized in his kinsman the God who roused his power and came to save us (cf.
Psalm 80:3). Though he could not yet speak, he needed to fulfill his mission
and point the way to the Messiah.
In this leaping – which was
something more than a normal kick -within his mother’s womb, Saint Augustine of
Hippo noticed something very profound. He said:
We
see instances of leaping not only in children but even in animals, although
certainly not for any faith or religion or rational recognition of someone
coming. But this case stands out as utterly uncommon and new, because it took
place in a womb, and at the coming of her who was to bring forth the Savior of
humankind. Therefore this leaping, this greeting, so to speak, offered to the
mother of the Lord is miraculous. It is to be reckoned among the great signs.
It was not effected by human means by the infant, but by divine means in the
infant, as miracles are usually wrought.[1]
What makes this leaping of Saint
John worthy to be ranked among the great signs?
To understand the importance of
both Elizabeth’s words and the Baptist’s leaping, we need to recall that “the
New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the
New.”[2]
“When Luke’s account of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is read in light of the Old
Testament story of David bringing the Ark up to Jerusalem, several striking
parallels emerge:[3]
The
glory of the Lord and the cloud cover the Tabernacle (containing the Ark) and “overshadow” (episkiazo) them (cf. Exodus 40:34-35, cf. v. 3); The Holy Spirit
comes upon Mary and the power of the Most High “overshadows” (episkiazo)
her (cf. Luke 1:35).
David
“arose and went” to the hill country
of Judah to bring up “the ark of God”
(cf. II Samuel 6:2); Mary “arose and went”
into the hill country of Judah to
visit Elizabeth (cf. Luke 1:39).
David
admits his unworthiness to receive the Ark by exclaiming, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” (cf. II
Samuel 6:9); Elizabeth admits her unworthiness to receive Mary by exclaiming:
“And why is this granted to me, that the
mother of my Lord should come to me?”
(cf. Luke 1:43).
David
“leaped” before the Ark as it was
brought in “with shouting” (cf. II
Samuel 6:15-16); John “leaped” in
Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice and Elizabeth cried “with a loud shout” (cf. Luke 1:41-42).
The
Ark remained in the hill country, in the house of Obed-Edom, “three months” (cf. II Samuel 6:11); Mary
remained in the hill country, in Elizabeth’s house, “three months” (cf. Luke 1:56).
Considering these various
similarities together, “the most plausible explanation is also the simplest: In
both the annunciation and the visitation, Luke is depicting Mary as the new
Ark.”[4]
The first Ark was the dwelling
place of God on earth where he allowed his glory to seen in the great cloud
(cf. Exodus 40:34). “There I will meet you,” said the Lord God to Moses, “and
from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark
of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in
commandment for the people of Israel” (cf. Exodus 25:22). Within the ark were
placed the tablets of the Ten Commandments, some of the manna from the desert,
and the rod of Aaron, the high priest (cf. Exodus 25:16; Exodus 16:34-35;
Numbers 17:10). In a similar – and greater – way, the Holy Spirit descended
upon the new ark, Mary of Nazareth, “the sacred vessel for the ‘Word’ made
flesh, the ‘Bread of Life,’ and the true ‘high priest.’” (cf. John 1:14; John
6:51; Hebrews 4:14).[5] No
longer do we need to look upon the glory of God in a cloud; now we can look
upon the very Face of God to see his glory.
Is this not the great mystery which
we will soon celebrate at Christmas, the tremendous mystery that in the
Incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth the eternal God has taken upon himself a human
Face? Truly, “if we now use the word ‘God,’ it is no longer a reality known
only from afar. We know the Face of God: it is that of the Son, who came to
bring the heavenly realities closer to us and to the earth.”[6]
The Baptist leaped, and Elizabeth shouted, because they knew that in that Holy
Child the strength of God had come to “give us new life” (cf. Micah 5:3; Psalm
80:19).
In these last days of Advent, it
remains for us “not merely to be taken here and there in life; not to be
satisfied with what everyone else thinks and says and does.” Rather, it remains
for us “to probe God and to seek God. Not letting the question about God
dissolve in souls; desiring what is greater, desiring to know him – his Face.”[7]
As we prepare, then, to look upon
his Face in that of the Holy Child, “let us entrust
our heart to Mary, Ark of the New and Eternal Covenant, so that she may make it
worthy to receive God’s visit in the mystery of his Birth.”[8]
“Let us ask Mary, Mother of God, to help us to welcome her Son, and, in him,
true peace. Let us ask her to sharpen our perception so that we may recognize …
the face of Christ, the heart of peace!”[9]
Amen.
[1] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Letter i187.23.
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 129.
[3] Brant
Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of
Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah (New York: Image, 2018), 57.
[4] Ibid., 59.
[5] Ibid., 63.
[6] Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience Address, 3 January
2007.
[7] Ibid., Homily, 1 April
2007.
[8] Ibid., Angelus Address,
23 December 2012.
[9] Ibid., Homily, 1 January
2007.
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