Sunday, December 18, 2011

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B 2Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16 / Psalm 89 / Romans 16:25-27/ Luke 1:26-38

THEME: IN YOUR WILL IS OUR PEACE





Gradually the season of Advent is coming to an end. Today we begin the second aspect of the Advent Season which focuses on the coming of Christ at Christmas. We are reminded that Christ is the fulfillment of the promise God made to David.




In the first reading, David who is presented to us as a shepherd king has been given rest by God from all his enemies and has fortified his reign. Human as he was, David thought he should reciprocate this gracious gift of God to him. He complains to the prophet Nathan, “… see now, I am living in a house made of cedar, but the Ark of God stays in a tent” (2 Samuel 7:2). David had the good will but God proved to him that good will is not enough but doing God’s will is what matters. Sometimes we want to place our priorities or plans over and above God’s. Yet, He always has good plans for us. This makes the words of the prophet Jeremiah true, “ For surely I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” ( Jeremiah 29:11).




David was thinking of building a physical structure for God’s dwelling but God had already thought of a dynasty; an eternal covenant with David. We are invited to cooperate with God’s will and he will in turn fulfill our eternal destiny (the example of Mary) and as Dante puts it, “In your will Lord is our peace.”
Not only did God assure David of a dynasty, but freedom from his enemies from generations to generations. God recounts to David his (David) humble beginning and reminded him that what was impossible with men namely a shepherd boy becoming a king of the chosen people is possible with God. All that God demands of us is a total submission of our will to Him





The Ark of God for which David wanted to build a house for and for which God contended that He does not dwell in houses made of human hands was fulfilled in Mary in the Gospel reading of today. Mary becomes that new Tabernacle made not by human hands but by God himself. In the same way this aspect of God is fulfilled in each one of us today. We are the living temples of God. God wishes to dwell in us this Christmas and forever. Jesus takes flesh in us each time we worthily receive the Eucharist. Do you have a room in your heart for Jesus?





The Gospel reading of today already set the tone for the Nativity. The story is about the Annunciation of the Birth of Christ. What the first reading lacked the Gospel provided. In the first reading, David had a goodwill but Mary in the Gospel reading had both good will and submission of such a will to God.




No decision in all the history of humanity can compare in drama and import with the one she was asked to make. The Fathers of the Church liked to picture all of humankind hanging on her answer, begging her to assent. The circumstances were hardly reassuring. She was just a young teenager. She believed God wanted her to remain a virgin, even in marriage. Moreover, as a faithful monotheistic Jew, she could not possibly understand a proposal involving three divine Persons; the angel´s considerate "explanation", that the "Holy Spirit" would "come upon her" amounted to a non-explanation. But none of these human factors was decisive. That she came through in spite of them stems from four fundamental attitudes. She has unlimited trust in whatever God wills. She does not demand that first she must ´understand´; she accepts that God´s ways, even in their human ramifications, necessarily surpass us; She has no preconceived personal plans that are non-negotiable and to which God´s plan must be adjusted; To know and do his will is the hinge on which her life turns.





Therefore she said: "I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say". And the Son of God –himself obedient to his Father´s plan– began to inhabit her womb. God became one of us. Our human nature was raised to a new, incomparable dignity. It is the high point of history. This little girl did more for us than all the other great lights of humanity combine (CCC 461-464; 479-486).





This Christmas, we all need to be very clear about the fact that what we do to make it special is simply nothing compared with what God has done. Christmas is his work, not ours. It is his coming, for our salvation. If we focus mainly on the externals – that we and our families and friends provide – then we have missed the point of Christmas. If we make those externals – in these last days of preparation, and in the days of Christmas – so many multi-colored reminders of the loving kindness of the Christ Child who comes among us with his mysterious but totally real presence, then we will be able to approach it all with the deep sense of need and of anticipation that is the condition for genuine, personal encounter with him. Why not propose to inject into our shopping, or cooking, or delivering gifts, or sending cards… spirituality, a lived intentionality? "I am going to do this now so that it will lead those I am doing it for to experience God´s saving love". Then all those ´chores´ can become a spiritual preparation for Christmas.




And recognizing that it is God who gives gifts to us (rather than the reverse), we could ask him that, as his special gift this Christmas, we might learn the fundamental dispositions necessary to become his ´co-workers´ (1Corinthians 3:9), like Mary. Always be prepared to shelve your own plans, if it seems God wants something else. Ready to accept his word –mediated to me through the Church – even when I do not fully ‘understand’ or ‘it does not make sense to me’.




We are again told that immediately Mary said yes to the Angel, the Angel left her. It is significant for us to know that each one of us has a Guardian Angel waiting upon us. Our Guardian Angels are the carriers of our destiny. Day and night, they, like watch men are waiting upon us to say ‘yes’ to God and God’s promises will be fulfilled in our lives. But each time we say ‘no’ to them because we choose to do our own will. Your guardian Angel is still knocking at your door to communicate to you the fulfillment of God’s promises concerning your life.




In conclusion, God saves. David wanted to do something for the Lord: build him a house. He had not understood that it is always God who always provides our needs and wants, not we for God. It is we who are needy. God has no needs. We cannot do him any favours, even if in our moments of greater generosity we tend to think of ourselves as doing just that. In ways often less clear, but sometimes more painful, than the prophet Nathan´s word, he takes care of teaching us this. Our salvation is always his initiative, always totally gratuitous, and always surpasses human logic. Salvation does not come from man; because unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor labour in vain (Psalm 127:1).

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