Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24, 2006

Micah 5: 1-4A

Hebrews 10: 5-10

Luke 1: 39-45

This is a Day for Praise

All throughout Advent, we have heard the proclamation of an immense promise resounding : All flesh will see the glory of God. We have been invited to become receptive and welcoming to the sovereign proximity of God become Man. Today is the last day we have to prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord. Jesus, the Son of the Promise, Son of God and Son of his People, appears in our world. Do we still know how to let ourselves be surprised, to welcome with wonder the Good News of God entering into our human history in being born of a woman?

Elizabeth and Mary, the two mothers in the Gospel scene of today, are depicted as two believers lost in wonder, quick to attribute to God all that is happening. The child in Elizabeths womb leaps for joy and the Holy Spirit inspires her to proclaim the double beatitude of the mother and the child she bears. Blessed is Mary who carries within the Child who saves, the Lord. Blessed is Mary who believed and who consented to the plan of God. In contemplating these two women, we are invited to renew our hearts and to enter into a spirit of praise.

Blessed shall we be if we know how to turn with joy towards the one from whom comes every good gift, in particular the Savior, the gift par excellence the promise of whose coming held an entire population in expectation and hope. Blessed shall we be if we perceive the Lords visit in all that happens to us. Blessed shall we be, if we recognize the face of the Lord in all the faces of those who approach us, who inhabit our daily life. Yes, this day is a day for recognizing the gifts of God, a day for praise, a day for looking from the gifts to the Giver.

—Sr. Sophie Ramond, R.A.