{"id":4162,"date":"2015-12-20T17:52:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T01:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=4162"},"modified":"2016-10-19T13:21:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T20:21:03","slug":"mature-faith-and-the-visitation-homily-for-the-fourth-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/mature-faith-and-the-visitation-homily-for-the-fourth-sunday-of-advent","title":{"rendered":"Mature Faith and the Visitation – Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

The Visitation<\/em> by Lorenzo Monaco<\/p><\/div>\n

I remember when Brenda was pregnant with each of our four kids,
\nhow she would often talk with other women who were also pregnant.
\nThere\u2019s a bond that forms between mothers.
\nOnly they understand what it\u2019s like
\nto carry a living being within themselves.
\nOnly they understand the cravings, the anxieties, the joys.
\nThey learn from each other, commiserate with each other,
\nreassure each other.
\nAnd that bond doesn\u2019t end after the babies are born.
\nIt continues as the children get their first teeth, get out of diapers,
\nstart school, make their first communion, go on their first date,
\nget their first job, get married, and have children of their own.<\/p>\n

As we stand on the threshold of Christmas,
\nthe Scriptures present us with a meeting between two expectant women.
\nLike all mothers, they share a common bond.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re also connected in several unique ways.
\nOne of these women is too old to be pregnant,
\nthe other is too young.<\/p>\n

Their sons will grow up at the same time,
\nthey will speak God\u2019s word,
\nand they will both be killed.<\/p>\n

The younger woman, Mary, has traveled in haste,
\neager to see her older relative Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

What happens when they meet is an important example for all of us
\nin these last days of preparation before Christmas.<\/p>\n

But before we get to that, it is important to understand who Elizabeth is.
\nShe is a faithful Israelite, descended from Moses\u2019 brother Aaron.
\nHer husband is Zechariah, a priest from the division of Abijah.
\nHe and Elizabeth are both \u201cadvanced in years.\u201d
\nAnd like other significant Israelite women of the past\u2014
\nSarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah\u2014
\nElizabeth is barren.
\nShe hasn\u2019t been able to have children.<\/p>\n

But despite their age,
\nElizabeth and Zechariah have continued to pray for a child,
\nuntil one day, when Zechariah is serving his turn as priest,
\nan angel of the Lord tells him that their prayers have been answered.
\nThey\u2019re going to have a son.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth and Zechariah represent Israel\u2019s faithfulness.
\nAfter years of not getting what they wanted, they still had hope.
\nTheir struggles and difficulties have given them a mature faith.
\nIt is not perfect faith\u2014Zechariah at first doubted the angel\u2019s message.
\nBut it is a mature faith.<\/p>\n

In his book\u00a0Sacred Fire<\/a>,<\/em>
\nFr. Ron Rolheiser describes the mark of a mature Christian.<\/p>\n

\"SacredHe says there are many signs of what it means to be a mature disciple,
\nbut in order to understand mature faith concretely,
\nhe takes the image of blessing as the mark
\nof a deeply mature disciple of Jesus.<\/p>\n

The mature Christian, he says, blesses others and blesses the world,
\njust as God does and Jesus did.<\/p>\n

And now as we turn to the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary,
\nwe can see the important example it is for all of us.
\nBecause this is exactly what Elizabeth does when she meets Mary.
\n\u201cBlessed are you,\u201d she says, \u201cand blessed is the fruit of your womb.\u201d
\n\u201cBlessed are you who believed
\nthat what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth blesses Mary.<\/p>\n

But this incident is more than an older woman blessing a younger woman.
\nThis is the Old Covenant blessing the New Covenant.
\nElizabeth, Zechariah, and their son John the Baptist represent
\nthe mature faith of Israel,
\na faith that has been tested through the centuries.<\/p>\n

The chosen people have undergone slavery in Egypt,
\nexile in Babylon, and occupation by Romans.
\nTheir faith has not been perfect.
\nThey have worshipped the golden calf,
\ncomplained to Moses in the desert,
\nand turned to foreign gods.<\/p>\n

But through their struggles and failings,
\ntheir faith continued to deepen and mature.<\/p>\n

And it is with this mature faith that Elizabeth meets Mary.
\nImperfect faith meets perfect faith and blesses it.
\nFaith does not need to be perfect to bless.<\/p>\n

In these last days before Christmas,
\nwe can follow the example of Elizabeth and bless others.<\/p>\n

Like the Israelites, our lives have been filled with struggles and failings.
\nWe have been slaves of sin, have complained,
\nhave worshipped false gods.<\/p>\n

But this is how we grow, this is how our faith deepens.
\nThis is how we become mature disciples.
\nIt is a sign of our maturity when we bless others and bless the world.<\/p>\n

The Catechism reminds us that
\n\u201cEvery baptized person is called to be a blessing and to bless.\u201d CCC 1669<\/p>\n

So how do we bless others?
\nAs Fr. Rolheiser writes, there are three components to a blessing.
\nFirst, to bless someone means to see them.
\nIt means recognizing they are there,
\nacknowledging their presence, and appreciating it.
\nThis is especially important for adults to do,
\nor for those in positions of power.
\nIt\u2019s so easy to overlook the young or the powerless,
\nbut they need our blessing most of all.<\/p>\n

As Christmas approaches,
\nwho is the least seen in our family, in our workplace, in our neighborhood?
\nWe bless people first of all by seeing them.<\/p>\n

Second, to bless someone means to speak well of them.
\n\u201cWe bless others when we take delight in them,
\nwhen we speak well of them,
\nwhen we feel their presence and energy as a gift rather than a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

It means to tell them out loud,
\n\u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here!\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m proud of you.\u201d
\n\u201cWell done!\u201d
\n\u201cI love being around you!\u201d
\nBlessings are best articulated in words,
\nbut \u201cthere are ways beyond words to tell others
\nthat we take delight in them,
\njust as there are many ways to communicate to others
\nthat we find them a threat or irritation in our lives.
\nWe bless more with our body language and our attitudes
\nthan we do with our words.\u201d
\nMany of us will be around family in the next few days.
\nWhat are the ways we can bless them by speaking well of them?<\/p>\n

The final component of a blessing
\nis to give away some of our own life
\nso that others may have more life.
\nIn other words, to bless someone fully is to die for them in some way.
\n\u201cA blessing is not just an affirmation\u2026To fully bless someone is to give up some life for that person, to die for him or her in some real way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what being a good parent is all about\u2014
\nsacrificing our lives for our children,
\nto give away some of our own lives so that they can live.
\nAs we approach Christmas, how can we give away some of our own life
\nfor the sake of someone who needs life?
\nThis is what it means to fully bless someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo bless someone is to see and admire that person,
\n[to] speak well of him or her,
\nand [to] give away some of your life so that he or she might have more life.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what Elizabeth does for Mary.
\nFirst, she sees Mary;
\nwith the help of the Holy Spirit
\nshe recognizes the life growing within her,
\nthat Mary is \u201cthe mother of my Lord.\u201d
\nSecond, she speaks well of Mary,
\ntelling her that she is blessed among women,
\nthat she is blessed for believing in what the angel had spoken to her.
\nAnd finally, by her humility, Elizabeth gives away some of her life.
\n\u201cHow does this happen to me,
\nthat the mother of my Lord should come to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what it means to be a mature person of faith,
\nbecause this is what Christ came into the world to do.<\/p>\n

It is Christ the Incarnation who sees each one of us.
\nIt is Christ who speaks well of us, if only we would take the time to listen.
\nAnd it is Christ who gives up his life so that we may have eternal life.<\/p>\n

In these last days before celebrating the Incarnation,
\nwe have the chance to bless each other.<\/p>\n

All of us here are like Mary, pregnant with Christ.
\nChrist lies within each of us waiting to be born.
\nThat makes a bond between all of us.
\nWe all know the struggles that come with being a Christian.<\/p>\n

As we prepare for the birth of Christ in each of us at Christmas,
\nwe can also follow the example of Elizabeth and bless those in our lives.<\/p>\n

This week and always,
\nwe ask God to give us strength and wisdom
\nso that we may see, really see, the people in our lives;
\nso that we may speak well of them;
\nand so that we may give our lives for them.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2015-12-20-521.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

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I remember when Brenda was pregnant with each of our four kids, how she would often talk with other women who were also pregnant. There\u2019s a bond that forms between mothers. Only they understand what it\u2019s like to carry a living being within themselves. Only they understand the cravings, the anxieties, the joys. They learn from each other, commiserate with each other, reassure each other. And that bond doesn\u2019t end after the babies are born. It continues as the children get their first teeth, get out of diapers,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[363,71,350,361,824,825],"class_list":["post-4162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-advent","tag-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-fr-ronald-rolheiser","tag-gospel-of-luke","tag-st-elizabeth","tag-zechariah"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/visitation_monaco.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-158","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4166,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4162\/revisions\/4166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}