Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (12//21/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1: 29)

The images of Elizabeth and Mary as expectant women are perfect for this fourth Sunday of Advent. What joyful expectation they each must have felt at the miracle taking place within them and births that were coming soon. It is hard to imagine the experience of their hope filled hearts.

Elizabeth was bearing a child in her old age because nothing is impossible with God! In her blessing she is being rescued from being barren, the worst label a woman could have. Her sense of being blessed must have been overwhelming.

Mary’s expectancy is even more of a miracle. She has conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and will be giving birth to the Son of God. Nothing like this had ever happened before, but she believes and places herself at the service of her God. How overwhelming it must have been for her to be so close to God, so one with her God.

As we stand before these two women today, we are reminded that we too, by nature of our baptism in Christ Jesus, are called to live in joyful, expectant wonder at the God who lives in us and is birthed into the world through our faithful service of the Lord. A miracle is taking place in us at this very moment. The God we seek is here. He is among us and in us. This is the reality we celebrate and claim as real in the celebration of the Eucharist.

Knowing we are so close to God and one with him as Mary was is beyond comprehension. To enter into the fullness of the “Eternal Now” is a mystical union with God beyond words and as transforming for us as was the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. This is the holy place we enter when we take the words of today’s gospel addressed to Mary and realize that they are also addressed to each of us; “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

I suggest taking this phrase and repeating it over and over slowly in a quiet place, so that it may move from our minds into our hearts so that the blessing it describes may become a reality that we experience in the present moment. Rest there and allow the Spirit to be born in you. You will be changed in that sacred encounter, the Lord will be birthed in you and through you into the world. You will then be proclaiming with Mary in her Magnificat, “My being proclaims the goodness of the Lord.” (Luke 1:46)

May the Lord bless you and may you know that you are blessed in the Lord, that the Lord is with you and that you are full of his grace! Let us pray this week for this blessing for ourselves and all peoples.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo