Fourth Sunday of Advent
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Lk. 1:41
Here’s a question for you:
Why, out of all the women since the beginning of time, did God choose Mary to be the recipient of his most intimate of gifts? What was it about her that made her so appealing and so bewitching?
We usually refer to Mary as being “full of grace.” But the Greek word that Luke used literally means “favored to the greatest possible degree.” One author claims that “It was the strongest word Luke could use to show how much God loved Mary and prepared her.”
But, why her?
What was it about this peasant girl that so attracted and enticed God? What was it about her that caused God to jump for joy and shout out to his angels: “There she is! That’s the one I choose above all the others!”
What was it about this simple, uneducated teenager that made God so excited he had to make contact. And so God excitedly sent his messenger, Gabriel, to announce to her the “good news of great joy.”
Perhaps it’s because Mary was a prototype.
She was a “being” person rather than a “doer.” She was a “who-I-am” rather than a “what-I-do” type. She was a listener rather than a noise-maker.
The most admired American type of person is just the opposite. We like the classic “go-getter,” the over-achiever. “Do-ers” get applause. “Be-ers” don’t. Consequently, we emphasize success and achievement.
In fact, with the advent of social media, we’re almost addicted now to telling it all on Facebook and Instagram, and all the rest. Look-at-me. See what I’ve done. Check out my profile. Oooh and ahhh over my status. Wow over my next picture.
That wasn’t Mary.
She embraced simplicity. She experienced deep joy through being alone with the Lord in meditation. She was maybe the first contemplative, the first of those religious communities like the Trappists and the Poor Clares and others that spend the majority of their day in quiet prayer – something many of us would consider “useless.”
Mary was a listener.
She was perhaps one of the original believers in the value of the simple lifestyle. For example, when you look closely at her life, you notice that she wasn’t a preacher. She wasn’t an evangelizer. She wasn’t an activist.
Instead, Mary chose to perhaps be among the first to embrace the message later adopted by Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”
Be present. Be open. Be available. Be receptive. Be quiet. That’s the kind of person Mary was. And it was that collection of gifts that most likely enticed God.
Advent is a time in the Church year to emphasize these same qualities. It’s a time dedicated to balance, to evening out all our busy-ness and fretful activity, to finding some rest in the midst of the holiday frenzy that accompanies Christmas.
Advent beckons to us all: call time out on the field, find some quiet, and allow the word “reflect” to replace the demand to “get busy.” The gospel of Luke recommends that we especially reflect on the person of Mary – the archetypal Christian, the summation of what the word “disciple” truly means: a listener.
Mary is the ultimate receiver of the divine in her life. She is the person who makes room for the Spirit to dwell within her – that same Spirit that caused Elizabeth to announce with wonder “Blessed are you among women … Blessed are you that believed; that same Spirit who will cause each of us to become pregnant with a Child who desperately wants to “dwell among us” – if only, like Mary, we make room.
Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.
