Lk. 1:39-45
One day, a spiritual master and his disciple were walking through the desert. As they were walking, the master picked up a stick that was lying on the ground. He walked a few steps further and planted the stick into the ground. Then he instructed the disciple to water it every day and to report the progress. Given the location, the disciple had to walk a long distance in the hot sun for hours to fulfil the task. He continued the mission for two years until he saw green life sprouting. Again, he carried on for another two more years till he found the fruit growing. Then the disciple called the master to see the sapling that had grown. The master saw the fruit and became contented. He collected the fruit and brought it to the monastery to distribute to the fellow monks. They asked him: “What kind of fruit is this? Then he told them, “It is the fruit of obedience.”
We are on the last Sunday of Advent. We have been preparing to receive Jesus into our hearts by reflecting on prophecies and people concerned with the Christmas event. The first Sunday, we mediated on the Second Coming of Jesus. On the second and third Sunday, we contemplated the importance of our personal conversion to receiving Jesus into our hearts through the words of John the Baptist. Today we are invited to make this advent journey along with the blessed virgin Mary, who prepared herself more personally than anyone else and also prepared others for the same.
In the second reading, which is taken from the letter to the Hebrews, concerning the perfect sacrifice that Christ offered for the entire humanity, I have come to do your will, O God. (Heb. 10:9) This verse refers to Christ’s perfect sacrifice at Calvary and how we were saved as a result of his perfect obedience. He offered a perfect sacrifice through his perfect obedience for the disobedience of all humanity. Similarly, the blessed virgin Mary, who is the Second Eve, becomes an icon of perfect obedience. Thus, she fulfils the most important mission in salvation history by being a perfect collaborator with her son.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38) From this moment, Mary, the second Eve, begins her journey of obedience. The angel Gabriel reveals to Mary the marvel that God has done to her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was known as barren, conceived in her old age. This Good News was a sign for the virgin Mary. As we read in the gospel, Mary went to meet Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea in haste. Reading this, we may wonder, why did Mary go in haste? Was it to make sure of what the angel Gabriel told her concerning Elizabeth, and also to believe in her future destiny of being the mother of the Son of God? If this is the case, Mary could very well have told the angel Gabriel that she would only give her fiat if she visited Elizbeth and was convinced of the Good News in her life.However, she did not ask for any signs to believe in the Word of God. She believed what the angel Gabriel announced to her without a shadow of doubt. Her journey to visit Elizabeth, in fact, was a mission given by God to serve Elizbeth, who isolated herself from the rest of the world because of shame. Thus, she was sent to assist her cousin. From this episode of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, we need to decipher the depth of Mary’s obedience.
It is the Holy Spirit who testifies to the greatness of Mary’s obedience. In the presence of Mary, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and said: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk.1:42) Elizabeth borrows a verse from the book of Judges, the praise attributed to Jael (Jud.5: 24-27), the praise attributed to Judith (Jdt.13:18) and praises her: “Blessed are you among women…” (Lk.1:42) We see both Jael and Judith liberate the people of Israel from their enemies by remaining open to the Word of God and also obeying what the Lord commanded them to do. Likewise, Mary accepts God’s will through her perfect obedience and brings forth the Son of God to the world. She thus becomes a channel of God’s salvation to the new Israel.
She remained obedient to Abba Father all through her life. When she offers Jesus in the temple, she comes to know God’s will through the prophet Simeon that a sword would pierce her soul. Anyhow, she accepts this hard prophecy with great humility and obedience. When she discovers the boy Jesus in the temple after three days of being missing, she surrenders herself to God’s will, which is revealed in Jesus’ words, “… I must be in my Father’s house.”(Lk.2: 49) At the wedding feast of Cana, she took the shame of that family on herself and recommended that family to her son. However, Jesus tells her in an indirect way that her time had not yet come and she had to wait. She obeys her son’s command with humility and tells the servant to do whatever he tells them to.
At the end, her time had come on the calvary. He entrusted John to his mother and Mary to his beloved disciple. Entrusting his mother to his beloved disciple was not out of his fear for his widowed mother, who became an orphan after his death. Jesus knew for sure that the faithful handmade of the Lord didn’t need anyone’s aid but his disciples, because they didn’t have his physical presence anymore. Thus, she was commissioned to become the mother of all his disciples, who radiate the presence of Jesus. She took up this responsibility of being the spiritual mother of all his disciples with great commitment. In the absence of Jesus, it is she who prepares the disciples for the Pentecost experience. Her apparitions in different parts of the world, such as Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, etc. to fulfil this mission that her son entrusted to her. As we shortly celebrate the great day of Christmas, let us respond to God’s will with our fiat like the blessed virgin Mary and continue our faith journey.