by Fr. Tommy Lane
At the time of Jesus, many
Jewish people were familiar with part of our first reading today
from the prophet Micah, the part about their future ruler being born
in Bethlehem:
And you, Bethlehem,
land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people
Israel.
(Mic 5:1. In some translations 5:2)
Because of this
prophecy from Micah, the Messiah was expected to be born in
Bethlehem. When the wise men went to Herod enquiring where the new
king was born, Herod was disturbed and summoned the Jewish religious
leaders. They explained to Herod that part of our first reading
today about Bethlehem (Matt 2:1-6). We read in John’s Gospel that
once when Jesus was teaching in the temple there was a discussion if
Jesus might be the Messiah. Some said he could not be the Messiah
because he was from Galilee and Scripture said the Messiah would
come from Bethlehem (John 7:40-42). So as Mary and Joseph journeyed
to Bethlehem for what is described by Luke as a census (Luke 2:1-5),
they obviously knew the prophecy from Micah was going to be
fulfilled while they would be there—that Jesus would be born while
they would be in Bethlehem and what Micah had pronounced eight
centuries previously was taking place wondrously in their lives.
Mary and Joseph realized they were humble instruments in God’s
magnificent plan to bring Jesus into the world at Bethlehem.
That plan of God was, as
the conclusion to our second reading today tells us, that we be made
holy by Jesus offering his body once and for all instead of all the
animal sacrifices in the temple (Heb 10:10). Those animal sacrifices
took place day after day and year after year but never brought about
a change in humanity. They were ineffective. But Jesus’ sacrifice of
himself achieved our salvation so the reading concludes by telling
us that Jesus’ offering of himself was once for all (Heb 10:10). The
reading makes it clear that Jesus was born to die for us. So, there
is an arc, so to speak, from Jesus’ birth to his death, an arc from
his becoming flesh in the womb of Mary to Mary standing beneath
Jesus dying on the cross offering himself as the one and only
perfect sacrifice for all time capable of changing us, saving us,
making us holy.
As Mary stood beneath the
cross, Jesus made public her role as our spiritual Mother as he
said, “Woman, behold your Son” and to John he said, “Behold, your
mother.” (John 19:27) Mary had become our spiritual Mother when she
consented to become the mother of Jesus and what happened at Calvary
was only making public that she was our spiritual Mother. We see Our
Lady as spiritual Mother in the Gospel today going to visit her
kinswoman Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45). She brought Jesus in her womb to
Elizabeth and as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary, the unborn John the
Baptist leaped. Of course, there were practical reasons why Our Lady
went to visit Elizabeth. Elizabeth was already six months pregnant
and being past the age for childbearing, most likely needed the
assistance of Our Lady during her last trimester. We see Our Lady in
her motherly caring role at Cana asking Jesus to do something when
the wine ran out so that the couple would not be embarrassed (John
2). In the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation,
we see Our Lady continuing in her spiritual role after her
assumption into heaven. There we are called the spiritual offspring
of Our Lady (Rev 12:17); we are her spiritual offspring because she
is our spiritual Mother.
In her role as our
spiritual Mother, Our Lady has one task—to bring us all closer to
Jesus to get us to heaven. Our Lady wants you close to Jesus so you
can get to heaven. Spend time with Our Lady in prayer every day. She
is the mother who is always there for you. We see that in Guadalupe.
When Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego, she told him she is the
mother of the true God and that she is a mother full of mercy and
love for all who love her and trust her, to hear their complaints
and comfort their afflictions and sufferings. She asked Juan Diego
to go to the bishop to ask for a chapel to be built there and
dedicated to her. The bishop didn’t pay much attention to him. Our
Lady sent Juan Diego back to the bishop again and the bishop asked
for a sign. Juan Diego had to take care of his sick uncle and was
not in the usual place at the time Our Lady was supposed to appear
to him giving him the sign for the bishop. It didn’t matter; she
appeared to Juan Diego where he was. He was embarrassed but Our Lady
said, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?”
As we see Our Lady visiting
Elizabeth in the Gospel today, I think Our Lady would like us to
know that she is always here for us, she who is our Mother. Since
she is our spiritual Mother, and a mother loves all her children
equally, in some inexplicable way I think we can see Our Lady loving
each of us as much as she loves Jesus. She wants each of us to hear
her say, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” She brought Jesus
into the world at Bethlehem as Micah predicted and as your spiritual
Mother, she wants to bring you close to Jesus to get you to heaven.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2024
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit and Mother of God
Stories: Strange light like embryo in Guadalupe