December 20, 2009
The Fourth Sunday of Advent
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace. Micah 5:3-4a
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. Luke 1:43-45
Piety
Parents make a difference in our world. Rich parents can spoil a child. Bright parents can influence education. Athletic parents give rise to healthy children. For better or for worse parents make a difference to all of us. Children do a lot to find themselves. They try to be different than their parents often enough so that they are surprised to hear themselves sounding like their parents. There is energy at work in family relationships that would make it almost seem we have to be like our parents. Chips off the old block are too close for comfort. Show the parents and we can discover the child. Show the child and we can see a lot about parents. Parents have a right to worry about the impression their children make. It is too true for comfort that we are extensions of our parents. It almost seems we have to work at it to really be different. Children reflect more than they intend to of the piety of their parents. Saints are reflections of Christ in each age. We adjust Christ to the age we are living in without even being aware of what we are doing. Christ and Mary are parents of our Spiritual Lives. Parents give us in their goodness our first insights into who Christ is in our world today. The mutual love of parents and children are the first lessons in what it means to be part of the family of God. Piety is how we belong to the family of Jesus.
Study
We study what Christ meant when he said; “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocaust and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” Christ came to do the will of his Father. It is written on the hearts of children to do the will of their parents. The fourth commandment of God is written on our hearts. Without being taught, we know it is important to honor our parents. A good parent teaches children how to share the responsibility of choices. We learn by the good example of parents what mistakes are even as we learn by our mistakes to respect the advice of parents.
Action
Mary traveled in haste to be with her cousin Elizabeth after the message of the angel. She went filled with joy to be with her elder cousin in the last trimester of the difficult birth an older woman would have. What an incredible confirmation Mary received from her cousin about the rightness of her ‘yes” to the angel. Compliments from friends affirm choices we make in our lives. When we hear good news about family and friends how quick are we to offer our congratulations? How quickly do I respond to what I see of the goodness of others?
