Fourth Sunday of Advent

Finally we are in the final countdown to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, and today’s Gospel presents two such women. Mary and Elizabeth are bursting with anticipation, with expectation. Mary is a young girl, newly married, with a baby announced by an angel and conceived miraculously. Elizabeth is an older woman, one who thought her chance to have a child had passed. Her baby, conceived naturally, was also announced by an angel. The women know that not just their lives will be changed, but the world will be changed, and then they greet each other, and the baby within Elizabeth –the future John the Baptist- recognizes the presence of the Lord within Mary. Both women –and this is the clue for our Sunday liturgy- proclaims their gratitude to God for working His wonders within them[1].

Perhaps, as a final preparation for Christmas, we can spend a few moments reflecting on the great Gift God has given us and focus on the gratitude we owe Him. We cannot forget that great gift of Christmas is the gift of Jesus. A Christian philosopher –Soren Kierkegaard- told a very interesting parable to help explain this gift.

Once upon a time there was a king who was rich and powerful. The King was very unhappy, though. He wanted a wife to be his queen. Now a political marriage could easily have been arranged with another country but that is not what the King wanted. He wanted someone whom he could love and who could love him. Only real love could fill his empty castle and life. One day the King was riding through the streets of a small village when he came upon the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He immediately fell in love with her. But there was a problem: she was a peasant girl. The problem was that he wanted to win her love, not buy her love.

One of his counselors told him to just command her to be his wife. Any girl, especially a peasant girl, would jump at the opportunity. But the King would not do that. He could not command love. Another counselor told the king to that he should call on the girl as her King, shower her with presents of diamonds and gold, and give her the opportunity to realize that he truly loved her. But the King would not do that. A third counselor told the king to dress as a peasant so she would not be overwhelmed, and gradually reveal his power and position until she was ready to join him in the castle. The king did not like the thought of deceiving her. If their relationship was based on deception, how could she ever love him?

Finally, the King knew what he would do. He renounced his royal robes, his power and authority. He became a peasant in that remote village, living and working and suffering beside the other peasants. After a number of years, he won the heart of the beautiful young girl. He took his new wife to another village in another country, where no one could have guessed who he was. After many years, he became sick, and the wife loved him and cared for him. He died a peasant, but at his funeral the people looked at his wonderful, caring and in many ways extremely beautiful wife and said, “That man married a queen.”

Well, the lesson or moral of this parable is very simple: God is the King. He is the Divine Lover. We are the object of His love. Only God would love so much that He would become one of us to win our love[3].

This is the mystery that excites us. It is the same mystery that excited Mary and Elizabeth. They realized that they had each in their own way been chosen to be vehicles of God’s plan of love. Elizabeth’s son, John the Baptist, would point to this Love become flesh. Jesus, Mary’s son, would be this love. We also have been chosen to be part of this plan by the One who loves us and who calls us to make His Love a reality for others.

Today, my brother, my sister, with deep gratitude we pray: Lord of all love, you have come to us so we can come to you. You have become physical so we can become spiritual. You have embraced us with your Love so we can embrace others with your love. We thank you for choosing us to be part of your plan. We thank you for allowing us to join Mary and Elizabeth in the excitement of your Coming Presence.

We ask you now to give us the strength and the courage to proclaim your Presence with our lives. Amen ■

[1] Sunday 20th December, 2009, 4th Sunday of Advent. Readings: Micah 5:1-4. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved—Ps 79(80):2-3, 15-16, 18-19. Hebrews 10:5-10. Luke 1:39-44.
[3] St. Ireneus, an early doctor of the Church, wrote, «Because of his great love for us, Jesus, the Word of God, became what we are in order to make us what he is himself».

Ilustration: Pieter Bruegbel the Elder, The Peasant Dance (detail)c. 1567, Oil on oak panel, width of detail 39 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)

Madre del Redentor, virgen fecunda,
puerta del cielo siempre abierta,
estrella del mar,
ven a librar al pueblo que tropieza
y se quiere levantar.

Ante la admiración de cielo y tierra,
engendraste a tu Santo creador,
y permaneces siempre virgen.

Recibe el saludo del ángel Gabriel,
y ten piedad de nosotros, pecadores ■

De luz nueva se viste la tierra,
porque el Sol que del cielo ha venido,
en la entraña feliz de la Virgen,
de su carne se ha revestido.

El amor hizo nuevas las cosas,
y su Espíritu ha descendido
y la sombra de que todo puede
en la Virgen su luz ha encendido.

Ya la tierra reclama su fruto
y de bodas anuncia alegría;
el Señor que en los cielos habita
se ha ce carne en la Virgen María.

Gloria a Dios, el Señor poderoso,
a su Hijo y Espíritu Santo,
que amoroso nos ha bendecido
y a su reino nos ha destinado ■
de la Liturgia de las Horas

III Domino de Adviento

REGLA PARA EREMITAS*

Para los que vivimos en cualquier parte.
En el mundo o fuera de él
más allá de todo mundo
y en cualquier tiempo

TERCERA PARTE
El Recogimiento

34. El recogimiento es lo esencial de esta Regla. Se entiende por recogimiento la unificación interior de la persona en la Presencia de Dios.

35. Aún cuando no pudiera, por motivo válido, ser observado uno u otro de los artículos de esta Regla, bastará esta tercera parte para cumplir con ella.

36. Vivir de la Presencia de Dios en todo tiempo y lugar y someterle todo.

37. Estos artículos no se refieren, desde luego, a cuanto compete al cristiano en su condición de tal. Presuponen el llamado a la santidad y a la unión con Dios. En cambio apuntan al recogimiento habitual de los que perciben una especial vocación a la contemplación y a la intimidad con el Señor.

38. La Contemplación consiste en atender y adherir a la Presencia de Dios en el fondo, raíz y centro de nuestro ser. Teniendo en cuenta que ésta es una gracia, viva de ella y pídala constantemente. Recuerde que el contemplativo no conoce más o menos que otros, sino que –como decía un cartujo– es capaz de extasiarse donde los demás pasan con indiferencia.

39. La Contemplación no es un camino de conocimiento sino un llamado a una experiencia que trasciende todo camino o proyecto.

40. Disponga de un tiempo infinito para Dios. Practique, asiduamente, la Lectura espiritual.
41. Si, alguna vez, se hallara en un ambiente adverso y descubriera que los más cercanos son los más distantes, convierta todo ello en escuela de Caridad y aprenda a trascender, por lo alto o por lo bajo, las imposiciones de cualquier lugar.

42. No deje de combatir. Sea fiel y constante. Huya de los laberintos. La lucha es siempre saludable. Sea perseverante en las pruebas.

43. Silencio y recogimiento. Solo Dios basta. En un corazón puro no existen más disonancias ni distancias con Dios. Está abierto al Misterio y se halla en conformidad con la Voluntad del Padre. El auténtico silencio es propio de un corazón puro, semejante y unido al Corazón de Dios. Podrá, pues, vivir en un silencio completo cuando descanse sin reparos, como un niño, en el mismo Señor.

44. El silencio consiste, sobre todo, en callar para oír algo siempre más grande. Deje sus análisis y el alud de sus deducciones. Permita que el silencio se manifieste en su interior. Puede estar muy empeñado en todo tipo de actividades y, al mismo tiempo, gozar del silencio, que es patrimonio del alma y expresión de Dios.

45. No cometa agresiones ni abuse de cuanto pasa. Respete y no se apresure a responder o a intervenir en lo que sea. Mira con benevolencia. Todo está a su favor.

46. Libérese de todo lo que no lo atañe. No dependa de personas o de situaciones. Calle las voces que lo lleven a analizar en exceso. Busque su refugio y su auxilio en sólo Dios. Nunca será defraudado.

47. Corazón puro. Unificado en el Señor. Va a Dios por Dios. Dios mismo es su vida. Que la invocación del Nombre de Jesús le recuerde, constantemente, la Presencia del mismo Señor y su unidad interior e intima en Él.

48. Encuentre el misterio del desierto en su proprio interior y en cuanto eventualmente lo circunda.

49. Toda desolación o prueba podrá conducirlo, si así lo quiere, al Misterio de Cristo.

50. Es propio del solitario estar con el Señor en su Agonía. Ofrezca y consagre las horas y el sufrimiento consciente de su fecundidad ■

* Fray Alberto E. Justo, O.P.

Indeed, an essential function of genuine beauty, as emphasized by Plato, is that it gives man a healthy “shock”, it draws him out of himself, wrenches him away from resignation and from being content with the humdrum – it even makes him suffer, piercing him like a dart, but in so doing it “reawakens” him, opening afresh the eyes of his heart and mind, giving him wings, carrying him aloft. Dostoevsky’s words that I am about to quote are bold and paradoxical, but they invite reflection. He says this: “Man can live without science, he can live without bread, but without beauty he could no longer live, because there would no longer be anything to do to the world. The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here.” The painter Georges Braque echoes this sentiment: “Art is meant to disturb, science reassures.” Beauty pulls us up short, but in so doing it reminds us of our final destiny, it sets us back on our path, fills us with new hope, gives us the courage to live to the full the unique gift of life. The quest for beauty that I am describing here is clearly not about escaping into the irrational or into mere aestheticism ■ BENEDICT XVI, MEETING WITH ARTISTS, Sistine Chapel, Saturday, 21 November 2009

VISUAL THEOLOGY

Embroidery with the Annunciation, mid-15th centuryNetherlandish. Silk and metallic threads on linen, 8 1/4 x 7 5/8 in. (21 x 19.5 cm), Gift of Lois and Anthony Blumka, in memory of Victoria Blumka, 1990 (1990.330), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) ■ In the corner of an interior room, the Virgin kneels before a prie-dieu on which her prayerbook rests. The angel Gabriel descends at the left, greeting her with the announcement of the forthcoming birth of Jesus—the words stitched into a scroll-like pattern above the Virgin's head: "Ave [Maria] gratia plena dominus tecum" ("Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee"; Luke 1:28). This embroidery, originally part of an on orphrey (a decorative band on priestly vestments) or an altar frontal, is virtually intact. The selvages at the left and right are preserved, and the top and bottom have been trimmed only slightly. With its remarkably vibrant tones and shimmering silk threads, the scene can be appreciated much like a contemporary panel painting, a medium with which it shares many compositional and iconographic elements. This work exemplifies the celebrated or nué technique of Netherlandish embroidery, in which the gold not only provides a glittering appearance but also adds to the rich three-dimensionality of the pictorial surface. The setting, a modest domestic interior, reflects the trend in fifteenth-century Netherlandish imagery of locating religious experience, even the Annunciation, in the home.

Third Sunday of Advent

What should we do?” they asked the prophet John, the Baptist. “What should we do?” is the same question that we to ask to ourselves today, the third Sunday of Advent season[1].

And John the Baptist told them that going through the motions of religion would not be good enough: Their lives had to change. They needed to care for the poor and the hungry. The tax collectors were told to be honest. The soldiers were told to stop hounding people. Everyone was told to live his or her life sincerely, honestly, compassionately, with a pure and clean heart.

What should we do? How should we react to this burning within us, this presence of Jesus? Well, my brother, my sister, the exercise of Advent is to place ourselves in the days before the Lord.

I ask myself that question this Advent because the presence of Christ means more to me than ever before in my life. I am sure most of you also feel the same way. So, what should we do? What should I do?

First of all, we have to stop acting as though worshiping God was a boring routine, a chore that had to be completed to get into heaven. We worship God because we need Him, not because He needs us. We are united to Him to protect us from the moral diseases of our society. More than that, better than that, we are united to Him because we really love the Lord.

Second, we have to stop ridicule ourselves, thinking that we are not good enough or no worthy to proclaim Jesus Christ. So many of us do this. Many of you drop your children off for religious education or youth ministry and let the parish usurp the role of parents as first teachers in the ways of the faith. Many of you say, “Who am I to speak about God to my children? I have not always been a good Christian.” Allow me to remind you who you are. You are children of God, created in His Image and Likeness and redeemed by His Blood. You are people whom God loves. And just as a loving Father or Mother looks at their children and sees that spouse they love so much, God looks at your children and sees you and sees me, people He loves so very much.

What else do we need to do to proclaim the Presence of the Lord? John the Baptist makes it clear that we proclaim the Kingdom in the way we treat others. You, my parishioners, have been wonderful in the way that you have reached out to the poor of our parish area. Whenever there is a special collection, you are generous. These are important ways of ushering the Messiah into people’s life.

We also need to be compassionate and forgiving. We may forget all sorts of things, but we always remember hurt feeling, nasty words, and unjustified attacks. Many people who have hurt us want to come back into our lives. Cards or gifts are often their way of saying, “Please let me back in.” Indeed we proclaim the Lord’s Presence in our lives and in our world by letting go of the past and letting God’s love and compassion and forgiveness.

My brother, my sister, Christmas is upon us. How can we prepare the world for the Kingdom of God? We should rejoice. We should live our lives in the joy of the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, always, I say it again, rejoice! Paul’s words to the Philippians in our second reading, and the Rose Candle and Vestments for this Sunday, remind us that we are people of joy. We need to provide others with examples of our joy. That is how we can help others prepare for the Kingdom. After all, joy is catching ■

[1] Sunday 13th December, 2009, 3rd Sunday of Advent. Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-18. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel—Isaiah 12:2-6. Philippians 4:4-7. Luke 3:10-18 [St Lucy].

Ilustration: M. Chagall, Solitude (1933), Particular Colection.

Salve, Madre!
En la tierra de mis amores
te saludan los cantos que alza el amor.
¡Reina de nuestras almas, flor de las flores!
muestra aquí de tu gloria los resplandores;
que en el cielo tan sólo te aman mejor.

Virgen santa, Virgen pura,
vida, esperanza y dulzura
del alma que en ti confía.
Madre de Dios, Madre mía.

Mientras mi vida alentare,
todo mi amor para ti;
y aunque tu amor me olvidare,
Virgen santa, Madre mía,
aunque tu amor me olvidare,
tú no te olvides de mí ■

La Inmaculada Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María

Posiblemente no hay en todo el Evangelio página más bella que aquella en la que San Lucas narra el encuentro entre el Arcángel y la virgen de Nazaret, pasaje que escuchamos hoy en el evangelio y que nos cuenta el principio de la extraordinaria aventura de Jesús en la tierra. La Redención era necesaria y necesitaba una colaboración muy especial: la de la Virgen María.

El brazo poderoso de Dios no ha querido nunca limitar la libertad del genero humano, justo por eso es que un ángel llega a Nazaret a solicitar la conformidad de la persona elegida para iniciar los pasos de la Salvación. Es en el momento en que María dice que sí cuando comienza todo. Nos parece –¡después de tantos siglos de fe cristiana- impensable que la adolescente de Nazaret hubiera dicho que no. Pero esa posibilidad existía, pues de no ser así el discurso del ángel hubiera sido de otra forma.

La primera consecuencia de ello es que la relación entre Dios y el hombre es libre, de libertad. El Señor no usa de su fuerza para dirigir al hombre por donde Él quiere. De hecho, a muchos de nosotros no nos importaría que Dios nos dirigiera de tal forma que no hubiera posibilidad de ir al contrario de su Voluntad. Con ello tendríamos asegurado nuestro fin último y deseado. Pero ese dirigismo sin opción restaría nuestra libertad y el diseño que Dios quiso para nosotros. Es este un mundo de hombres y mujeres libres, significada tardíamente –aunque jubilosamente- por la humana Declaración de los Derechos Humanos y abierta por Dios desde el mismo momento de la creación del hombre.

En los asuntos de la libertad el hombre es contradictorio. Muchos no la quieren. A los más les produce miedo. Y el miedo a la libertad engendra muchos errores. Pero la libertad es también una de las facultades más nobles del hombre. Su capacidad libre de decisión le hace grande. Será bueno o malo por el uso de su libertad. No podrá responsabilizar de sus pecados a nadie. Pero tampoco nadie podría borrarle el enorme mérito de hacer el bien libremente. Solo la omnipotente justicia de Dios puede haber previsto esa libertad total de su criatura.

La Santísima Virgen fue libre para asumir su camino y admitir con alegría la presencia en su seno del Salvador del Mundo. Desde ese momento la historia de Cristo está ligada a la joven de Nazaret. De ahí puede entenderse con toda facilidad la importancia del culto cristiano a la Santísima Virgen. En Adviento estamos en situación de vigilia esperando la venida de Jesús y hemos de alentar, con toda nuestra fuerza, que cuando Jesús vuelva por segunda vez todos sus seguidores estemos unidos en la caridad ■

Ilustración: Alessandro Allori, La Anunciación, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes (Francia)

Tota pulchra es, Maria
et macula originalis non est in te.
Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol.
Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.

You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain [of sin] is not in you.
Your clothing is white as snow, and your face is like the sun.
You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain [of sin] is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you give honour to our people.
You are all beautiful, Mary.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Pure. Whole. Intact. Entire. Spotless. Stainless. Sinless. Unsoiled. Unblemished. Uncorrupted. Immaculate![1]

First of all, let’s be sure we know whose conception we are celebrating today. It is Mary’s Immaculate Conception that we celebrate, not Jesus’. Some people come to Church today thinking that it is the feast of Jesus’ Immaculate Conception, but it is Mary’s. This feast celebrates that Mary was freed from sin from the first moment of her existence, from the first moment of her conception.

Also, our liturgical calendar is consistent with our theology. Today [December 8] is Mary’s conception; nine months from today we will celebrate her birthday, September 8. Likewise, we celebrate Jesus’ conception on March 25, with the feast of the Annunciation which we just heard in the Gospel; and, then, we celebrate his birthday nine months later, December 25.

Mary, the blessed mother of God, is full of grace from the first moment of her conception. She is full of God’s life, full of His love. Her perfection begins in the womb of her mother, St. Ann. Indeed God preserved her goodness so that she would have no stain of sin from the start and thus no imperfections. Mary is perfect, she always said yes to God, yes to Christ, I mean, she was conceived and raised in order to be ready for when the angel Gabriel appeared to her with a most profound message. He reveals God’s Plan that she will be the mother of the Savior of the world.

When Gabriel appeared to Mary, she was a teenager…about 14 or 16 years old. What a tremendous request God makes of Mary through the angel! And, Mary said yes! May it be done to me according to your word[2]. Words that indeed are an invitation to meditate, to pray and to give thanks. Why? Well, because God could have chosen any way for his Son to come into the world, and yet, He chose a woman…He chose Mary to be the instrument of Salvation. He chose her to be the perfect vessel through whom Christ would come to us. This is the clue for our celebration.

On this feast, we see God’s Wisdom because He began her perfection from the very beginning. Mary had to be perfect, her womb had to be the perfectly pure vessel for Christ, how blessed is she to be the Ark of the Covenant! And of course Holy Scripture confirms this by saying that Mary “is most blessed among women”.

Mary, my brother, my sister, is the perfect model for us. She is the example because she always said yes to Christ. It is because of her yes to God’s Plan that Salvation entered the world. Everything we have in Christ, everything we have in our faith, comes to us through Mary. Today we thank God for her. The best way for us to say thank you is in this Eucharist. In a few minutes, we will have union with God through Mary. Thanks be to God, we have the Eucharist... through Mary.

It would be especially appropriate for us today to give her some kind of honor and veneration, in so doing, we are not praising Mary; we praise God alone and Mary is not God. Rather, we praise God for her and honor her. We thank God that she said yes her whole life to Christ. We thank God for her, and ask her to pray for us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death ■
[1] Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Readings: Gen. 3:9-15, 20; Eph. 1:3-6, 11-2; Lk. 1:26-38.