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Fourth Sunday of Advent

Readings of the Day 
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In today's reading, we see Mary travelling to the hill country
in haste where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted her
cousin Elizabeth.  After hearing Mary's voice, the infant
in Elizabeth's womb leaped.   Filled with the Holy
Spirit, Elizabeth cried out to Mary in a joyful voice, blessing her,
and humbly asking, "...how does this happen to me, that the
mother of my Lord should come to me?"  We see a message of
gratitude, love and welcome in this short gospel reading.  
Elizabeth celebrates a kind story that had wrapped itself around her,
as we are reminded by Padraig O Tuama in Daily Prayer with the
Corrymeela Community (Day 3).  Elizabeth would soon bear her own
long-awaited child.  This beloved child, who would grow up to be
John the Baptist, would prepare people's hearts to receive our
Lord Jesus Christ.

This reading compels us to ask how we express our gratitude, love and
welcome especially to those most in need as Elizabeth did in receiving
her cousin Mary.  How do we open our hearts to receive and
practice the love that Jesus taught?   Pope Francis reminds
us in Fratelli Tutti that human beings cannot live, develop, and find
fulfillment except "In the sincere gift of self to
others."  Nor can they fully know themselves apart from an
encounter with other persons. If we are to follow the example of
Elizabeth, the preaching of John the Baptist and the teaching of
Jesus, we know that such encounters - moments of agape love and
welcome - must occur without regard to our differences. In fact,
to practice the radical love that Jesus taught and become full humans
as Pope Francis teaches, we must choose love over fear, care over
comfort and welcome those we encounter in the most vulnerable
situations in our communities and at our borders. 

Anna Marie Gallagher is Executive Director of the Catholic Legal
Immigration Network (CLINIC).




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