Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year B)

  II Sam 7.1-5, 8-12, 14, 16;   Rom 16.25-27;   Luke 1.26-38

WHAT CAN I OFFER TO THE LORD?

During Advent, we have been preparing to meet Christ in some of the many different ways He comes to us.  Today, the scripture readings call us to prepare to meet Him in even more unexpected ways. In what ways can we offer ourselves to him?

In today’s first reading, after having achieved a lot for himself and the kingdom of Israel, King David wanted to build a Temple for the Lord. It did not seem fitting that the presence of God identified with the ark of the covenant, should have to dwell in a mere tent.

King David’s adviser, Nathan the prophet was consulted. At first, he endorsed the king’s idea, but that very night, we are told in the Second Book of Samuel, that God intervened to prevent the plan.

 David must have felt more than a twinge of annoyance that God himself had seized the initiative and announced, through Nathan, that he would provide a House of Prayer when he had established the People of Israel more firmly in their land with one of his offspring.

The Temple would not be built until King Solomon’s reign – God’s time.  It would be built according to the Divine plan, not the faulty schemes of flawed human beings.  King David had to accept – perhaps at first with regret – that he would not be the architect of God’s house.

Today, while family values decline, people are driven by a desire to live in a beautiful, sumptuous, extended, or technologically more up-to-date house yet far away from what we call home. The liturgy is telling us that all the initiatives come from God and not me or DIY “do it yourself” syndrome.  

The Gospel of today, the Annunciation is deeply familiar, almost ingrained in our consciousness.  Often we repeat Mary’s fiat: “Be it unto me according to thy Word.”  Understandably, we picture Mary and meditate on the purity of her heart, the total obedience, the unquestioning trust, which the gospel and religious artists through the centuries have portrayed.  She is held up to us as a role model whom we should imitate in so far as we can, burdened as we are by sin.  

Perhaps, though, we sometimes focus on Mary’s response at the expense of reflecting on God’s initiative. “The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin.” God took the initiative – this is clear. God chose Our Lady.

 To us she is “the highest honor of our race”, but to her family and neighbors, she was no doubt an unremarkable young woman. With theological reflection and the help of the Church’s tradition, we can begin to glimpse the divine logic of the virginal conception of Our Lord.  

But to Saint Joseph, this was surely unexpected and, at first, a crisis rather than a blessing. Today, the scripture readings call us to prepare to meet Him in even more unexpected ways.   It is good and right to seek to imitate Our Lady’s virtues and of St. Joseph’s, but we should follow them most closely in their ability to recognize that the initiative is God’s.

 In a way it is reasonably easy to focus on the process of saying “yes” to God: preparing ourselves to obey, steeling ourselves to do something we would prefer not to, cultivating flexibility so that we are willing to change our plans to accommodate God’s requests.  

How sad it would be if having done all these excellent things, and standing ready to give our fiat, we then failed to notice the initiative of the Father at work, the coming of Christ, the stirrings of the Spirit. Therefore, on this last Sunday in Advent, let us pray for Our Lady’s gifts of humility and discernment.  

Humility to accept that God’s way is always the best.  Discernment to tell when God is breaking into our lives.  When God takes the initiative, may he grant us the grace of an immediate, willing, and loving response: “Let it be to me as you have said.”God’s time is the best.

Fr Joseph Osho