Dec. 19th - Fourth Sunday of Advent

(Mic 5:1-4; Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45)

Many Catholics are familiar with the story of Mary coming to greet Elizabeth – a scene known as “the Visitation.” Mary, newly pregnant after accepting the angel’s announcement that she would bear the “Son of the Most High” who would “reign over the house of Jacob forever,” ignores the demands of her own situation and travels in haste to assist her older relative Elizabeth, who is six months along in her pregnancy. Despite all the things that had to be on her mind, including the astonishing news that she was to bear the Messiah, Mary’s first action was to serve. Then there is Elizabeth. At six months, most mothers would be aware of sudden movements in the womb. But Elizabeth, on hearing Mary’s greeting, responds to the movement of the Holy Spirit, interpreting her child’s stirring as a leap of joy. And she perceives why. Mary is the one “who is to give birth” to him who “shall be peace,” in the prophet Micah’s words. She is the one “who believed that what was spoken to [her] by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Filled with the Holy Spirit, she greets Mary as “blessed among women” because of the child Mary carries. Mary’s visit is, for Elizabeth, a personal privilege, a pure joy: The mother of her Lord has come to her.

• Why do you think that Mary went to help Elizabeth? What are some ways you can be of service to your family this last week of Advent?
• There must have been many concerns that Mary had on her mind even as she decided to go “to the hill country in haste” to visit Elizabeth. How do you think Mary dealt with her concerns? How do you deal with similar concerns in your own life?
• This last week before Christmas is often very busy and very stressful. We can tend to become short-tempered, worried, and even a bit overwhelmed. What’s one thing you could do this week to help you relieve some of your stress and be more fully present to your friends and family?
• Sunday’s first reading from Micah begins with an address to the city of Bethlehem - Ephrathah as being too small to be of much notice, yet from it is to come the Messiah. The Lord can bring great things out of humble, unnoticed sources. Share an event in your life that, while seeming insignificant at the time, God used to make an enormous difference.