Fourth Sunday of Advent
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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