MARY SHOWS US HOW TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT. YEAR C.
December 24, 2006.
(First Reading: Micah 5:1-4a) (Second Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10)
(Gospel Reading: Luke 1:39-45)

MARY SHOWS US HOW TO
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS.

We may want to allow Mary to show us how to celebrate Christmas. The gospel reading today describes how Mary celebrates the coming of her Son into the world:

- Christmas is the time for Mary to be blessed by the Lord. Mary is blessed by Elizabeth: "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled" (Luke 1:45). Mary is blessed because she consented that Jesus take flesh in her, so that Jesus may also take flesh in all human beings. Mary believed that the Son of God could be incarnated in her womb, and so it happened.

Jesus, in Mary's womb, was already interacting with his fellow human beings, he was a cause of joy to Elizabeth, to the unborn John, and to Mary herself. Jesus was a blessing to the people around him, even from Mary's womb. Therefore the first one to be blessed by the presence of the Son of God was Mary herself. Mary not only believed that the Son of God had come to the world, she felt Him in her body.

Like Mary, we need to be blessed this Christmas not only by our belief that Jesus is among us, but by our ability to feel his presence in our body, in our society, in our world. We need to feel his presence by carrying out God's will to bring justice, peace, and respect for human dignity to a world which is plagued by wars, injustice, and oppression.

- Christmas is an occasion for Mary to proclaim: "The Mighty One has done great things for me" (Luke 1:49). Mary, the humble handmaid, the lowly servant of the Lord becomes the mother of God, the mother of humankind. Who could have ever thought that Mary, a humble young woman of Nazareth, could become the Mother of God?

We human beings, this Christmas, need to regain the power to turn our weaknesses into strength, our chains into freedom, our sorrows into joy.
By following the example of Mary, this Christmas, those who suffer injustice will have the courage to bring about justice, those who suffer dispossession will have the determination to take back what belongs to them, those who are oppressed will lift themselves up to retake their liberty, those who live under subhuman conditions will have the strength to reclaim their human dignity. For the poor are the chosen ones of God to restore the world to the order intended by God, an order based on justice, peace and respect for human dignity (1).

- Mary remains in the company of her Son at Christmas time and always. Since Jesus took flesh in Mary, He will always remain in her, and she in Him. It is obvious that a pregnant mother is with her child all the time while the child is in her womb; for Mary, her Son always remained in her even after His birth, just as He is in every human being forever. Just as Mary remains in Christ, so will all the suffering children of God, all those who await their redemption from the injustices and oppression of the world.

We, human beings need to remain in Jesus this Christmas and always. Christmas will make sense only if we receive Christ into our life, if we make Christ part of our being not only at Christmas time but at all times.

Mary shows us that Christmas is the time when we must welcome into ourselves all those who walk along this "vale of tears", all those who await the redemption of our world.

- For Mary the birth of the Lord (Christmas) is always effective, it always has the power to transform the world. Mary reaffirms her commitment to collaborate with God in the birth of Jesus, to collaborate in the mighty works of God who "has scattered the arrogant in their conceit ,... has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly, ... has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty" (Luke 1:51-53). Because of Christmas, Mary can partake in the effective powers of the Lord.

We human beings, this Christmas, need to make ours the proven effectiveness of the Lord's might which is always in us if we commit ourselves, like Mary, to collaborating in the works of the Lord. This Christmas we need to collaborate with Jesus in casting down the oppressors from their positions of global domination, in bringing an end to the destruction of men by men, in filling the starving children of the world with all the good things their human dignity requires, in lifting up all those who suffer exploitation at the hands of their fellow human beings.

This Christmas is the time to rejoice with Mary for she has shown us the way to celebrate the birth of her Son.
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Footnote
(1) The ones who can bring an end to the injustices and abuses against the poor are the poor themselves and those who suffer at the sight of the injustices and abuses against any human being. Whereas those who promote injustice and inequality are certainly satisfied with the status quo.