Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C Luke 1,39-45

Preparations for Christmas are at their peak, and everyone, according to their means, procures what is needed for the Christmas table, under the tree, or in the apartment to celebrate the Lord’s birth as dignified as possible.

During this rush, the Church gives us the Gospel of how Mary visited her relative. Elizabeth lived in a small town in mountainous Judea, 130 km from Nazareth. As the evangelist writes, this journey was hurried and lasted three days. Subsequently, he describes the meeting of the two women, which contains probably the most beautiful sentences uttered by Elizabeth to Mary: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your life. What did I do to deserve the mother of my Lord coming to me? As soon as your greeting sounded in my ears, the child in my womb trembled with joy. And blessed is she who believed that what the Lord had told her would be fulfilled.

It is generally assumed that Elizabeth meant the opposite case with this statement when the angel announced to her husband Zacharias that he, too, would have a son, but he did not believe him. For this reason, he pronounced God’s punishment on him when he announced to him: I am Gabriel. I stand before God and am sent to speak to you and tell you this glad tidying. But you will be dumb and unable to speak until the day this happens because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. Elizabeth must have been thinking of her husband’s unbelief, of the angel’s voice when he praises Mary, who reacted differently from him: Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord had told her would be fulfilled. Then Mary, filled with unspeakable joy, exclaimed: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior because he looked at the humiliation of his servant. Behold, from now on, all generations will bless me.

Just before Christmas, it is necessary to listen to the Gospel, proclaiming that the blessed is the person with faith. This is because, at that time, people’s hearts were overloaded with pre-Christmas worries when they forgot the most important thing: to prepare them for the birth of the Lord and renew their faith. A look at Mary shows us how. She believed in God. Attention! Not that she just believed in him, but believed in him! She believed long ago that God exists, Zacharias also believed in it, because otherwise he would not have prayed so fervently. Believing in God is not difficult. Too many people believe it exists because if they think with common sense, they know that the vast universe, called cosmos – order, must have been planned, realized, and organized by someone wise, infinite, and omnipotent. They call him God and believe in his existence. However, our point is not to renew our faith in God before Christmas, but to do what Zacharias and Mary could not do – to believe in him.

Trusting God is much more difficult because it requires believing that everything He has announced to us will come true. Mary thought that the Son of God would become a man in her virgin womb because he needed a human body: a mouth to speak about his Father; he needed human hands so that he could help heal and open the eyes of the blind, touch the ears of the deaf, the tongue of the dumb and raise the dead. He requires a human back to be whipped by people and a human head to have a crown of thorns stuck into it. He requires a human body to be nailed to the cross, and he also needs a human heart to be pierced with a spear and thus shed the last drop of blood. The team proves obedience to the Father even unto death and elevates people to be sons and daughters of God.

This is what we should be trying to do before Christmas so that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we believe that the heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave his Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Blessed is everyone who believes in God, like Mary, and unhappy will be everyone who does not believe in him, like Zechariah.

In Lermontov’s poem Demon, the devil promised the beautiful girl Tamara that she would get better if she kissed him, that she would no longer seduce people and lead them to destruction. Tamara believes she wants to save a lot of people like this, but she dies because the devil’s embrace is deadly. Nevertheless, she is saved because she had a good intention. The devil deceives a person, but when he has a good intention, he has a love of goodness that sanctifies his actions.

Before Christmas, let’s ask Mary, with a request that is dearest to her, that we love only God, and we ask her to help us believe in him as she does. In this faith, let us expect the joyful birth of His Son in our hearts.