Recognising and Rejoicing the Lord’s Presence 

HOMILY: Fourth Sunday of Advent

Luke 1:39-45

19 December 2021 

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

Last Tuesday, some teachers of St. Pedro Poveda College came to the parish for the gift-giving of our 130 Day Care children here in Bagumbayan. When the gifts were laid out on the sanctuary in preparation for the event, I noticed that they came in different sizes and packages. Some, unusually bigger than others. Some were wrapped in fancy and colourful paper while others came in basic packaging. Others even had attractive umbrellas on them. I immediately alerted the teachers that there might be a need to specify a system of distribution of the gifts so as to avoid potential chaos with everyone going for the bigger, more attractive packages. We made sure to announce to the recipients that the gifts would not have the same contents and packaging because they had been prepared by different students. Thankfully, we did not have any problems with any of the children nor the parents. Everyone was just so happy to receive a share in the gifts.  

In today’s gospel passage, we hear of the encounter of Mary and Elizabeth after these chosen women received an extraordinary blessing from the Lord. Elizabeth, in her old age was pregnant with “the Great Precursor” and Mary, despite her virginity, was now carrying in her womb, the Savior of the world. We are told of the jubilant response of Elizabeth and her unborn son to Mary’s greeting. “How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:44) You may think this a common reaction of someone who has not seen a relative for a long time but this is actually a remarkable moment in our Christian history. It is the first recorded human acknowledgment of God incarnate! Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognises and celebrates the presence of the Lord in her midst, in the person of the unborn baby Jesus in Mary’s womb. If you were Elizabeth, would you have reacted the same way? Do you think you would have realised that, by virtue of Mary visiting you, Jesus was also visiting you?  Often, recognition and rejoicing at God’s presence elude many of us. We are often reminded that the Lord makes Himself present right here in our midst, and yet we fail to realise it! Perhaps it is because we are focused on the wrong things. Many of us, only notice what is wrong with our lives or perhaps what is wrong with others. “Where have we fixed our eyes?” As they often say, people who are too focused on what they do not have rather than on what they have, are most likely unhappy, discontent and resentful of their life. 

Although a secondary character in the nativity story, Elizabeth has much to teach us about being cognisant of the presence of the Lord in our midst. As I look closely at Elizabeth, I imagined she could have entertained thoughts of envy over Mary’s blessing. She could have chosen to focus on all the reasons why she, herself, would have been “the better choice” to be mother of the Messiah. After all, she was married to a respectable Jewish priest and she was a more mature woman who was more than ready to be a mother, given her many years of longing for a child. Although having been chosen to be John’s mother is blessing enough, she could have asked why was she not chosen to be the mother of the Saviour. Yet none of these thoughts entered her mind. As one Bible commentator puts it: “Elizabeth was so full of the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, so aware of the Lord’s presence, and so open to God’s will, that Elizabeth simply rejoices.” Because of this keen awareness of the divine, she was able to raise a son who could say, “He must increase while I must decrease.” (John 3:30) The grown-up son of Elizabeth insisted that Jesus was greater than himself, that he was not even worthy to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandals.  (John 1:27) John played a crucial part in the revelation of Israel’s Messiah —- rejoicing at his own role in God’s plan of salvation. 

During this Advent Season, we have made a conscious effort to walk on the path of holiness and righteousness so as to hasten the coming of the day of the Lord in our midst; readying our hearts to receive Him at the time of His choosing.  It may not be His great triumphant return as of yet but as Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York suggests beautifully, Jesus can come to us today in the most subtle instances. “Christ comes to us in a very soft, gentle, unassuming and everyday kind of way. He comes in a prayer whispered or a smile exchanged. He comes in bread and wine changed into his very body and blood at Mass. He comes in his word in the Scripture. He comes in the cry of a baby and the countless other helpless individuals who cry out for help. He comes in the meal shared or in a tear dried. He comes in worn rosary beads and in those sacred words of absolution. He comes in forgiveness exchanged and a second chance given. He comes in water poured in baptism or vows exchanged in marriage. He comes in an imperfect Church in a struggling world.” 

As I was preparing this homily, I chanced on a meme showing on one side Santa Claus carrying a sack of presents happily announcing, “I have gifts for everyone!”. On the other side is Jesus wearing His crown of thorns, carrying His cross saying, “I have but one gift but it is enough for everyone.”  Right smack in the centre it said: Jesus can give you the gift of eternal life!  If you had to choose, whose gift would you accept? Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom that like Elizabeth and John the Baptist we, too, may recognise and rejoice at the Lord’s presence in our midst and eagerly accept the gift He offers.  May we have minds and hearts open to see and celebrate the Lord’s presence in our daily lives and not miss Him completely when He comes to visit us.