Fourth Sunday in Advent

December 21, 2008

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of the

St. Thomas More Society

celebrated at

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church , 1013 Wood Street

Scranton, PA

Luke 1:26-38

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            To be a parent, one must have the long view.  Rather, I should say, to be a good parent, one must have the long view.  I say this because children are smart, and they can devise ingenious methods in order to get what they want.  One method is the temper tantrum, to throw such a fit that the parents are tempted to give the child what he wants in order simply to have some peace and quiet.  Good parents are only tempted to give in, for in taking the long view, they realize that the temper tantrum is a poor habit to develop, their child one day will be older, and if he throws temper tantrums as an adult, the child will never have the peace and quiet he needs to be a well-rounded man.  Tolerating bad behavior in children issues in dysfunctional households and offspring who grow up to be unhappy adults.  This is the long view, and so good parents do not respond to temper tantrums by giving the child what he wants. 

To do so would be to take the short view, to seek an immediate resolution with no concern for the future, to seek peace now without considering the inevitable war to come.  The parent who takes the short view does not have his child’s best interest at heart, for he is unwilling to suffer a bit now to give his child a better life later.  Desirous of immediate gratification, the child is appeased by a parent who caves in, and everyone who comes in contact with his child inevitably will suffer. 

Our Blessed Mother Mary shows us the benefits of taking the long view as it is her perspective which enabled the salvation of the world.  In our Gospel this morning, she tells the angel Gabriel, “Let it be to me according to your word,” and so illustrates her trust in God, the basis for all the benefits that proceed from taking the long view. Therefore, today, I will talk about those things we must take in faith if we are to maintain the long view throughout life.

            The first thing Mary trusted was that God would not abandon her.  She is told she will become the mother of the Son of God, even though she has no husband, and she also is told that she is not to be afraid.  She is not to be afraid because she has found favor with God.  The promise here is that in our faithfulness to God, God also is faithful.  We do not have to be afraid as we confront immense challenges because God will be with us.  As long as we are faithful, we will receive the graces we require to remain faithful.  God’s love is such that He never abandons those who do not abandon Him. This principle will be tested as our Blessed Mother is later required to watch the Passion of Our Lord.  But her faith is vindicated as Jesus is risen from the dead.  Even in death God does not abandon those who are faithful.

            This long view is in contrast to those who abandon God at the first sign of trouble.  They think that being faithful means nothing bad will ever happen to them; so when something bad does happen, they imagine God no long is faithful, and their own faithfulness flies out the window.  Taking the short view, they forget that God’s faithfulness gets us through problems and in abandoning God, the problem that began small gets larger and larger.  Like the parent who spoils his child, the person who abandons God in his time of trial finds, in the long run, that his problems are exacerbated, not resolved.

            The second thing our Blessed Mother trusts is that our abilities are limited. She knows that she is a virgin and she knows how the birds and the bees work, and yet she is told she will be pregnant. She trusts that what is impossible for man is possible for God.  Relying merely on our strength will never accomplish God’s purposes for the world.  She trusts that she must rely on God’s strength if she is to be faithful.  We must do the same.  Faithfulness is not only doing what God says, but also is allowing God to help us do it.

            Mary’s trust contrasts with those who do not abandon God, who indeed do their very best to follow all His commands, and yet who ultimately rely upon their own strength to accomplish God’s will.  What I mean here are those who exhaust themselves trying to do too much instead of trusting that God is working in the hearts of others, spreading the responsibility around, never intending for us that our striving after Him should issue in our complete exhaustion.  God gives us the strength and the resources we require to get done the jobs He assigns.  If we trust in this way, our task is a joy and we truly have nothing to fear, for our obligation feels more like an opportunity than a burden.

            The third thing our Blessed Mother trusted was that the promises spoken to her would be fulfilled.  She is told that Jesus will secure the throne of his father David and His Kingdom will be ever-lasting.  In Mary’s humble circumstances, such a grand future is not immediately evident—or, on the surface, even reasonable to assume.  Yet Mary knows that God has the long view—the very view she is asked to adopt, and in her faithfulness, she does adopt.  Mary can trust that even though she cannot see exactly how this will all come to be, if she is faithful, she can be assured that it will.  She does not need the details—only the promise.

            This is, for us, the hardest thing to accept, as well.  We are asked to be virtuous without seeing the life that virtue will give us.  We are asked to be obedient without seeing the life that obedience will give us.  We are asked to suffer patiently without seeing the life that such suffering will issue in.  And even more than the life that we seek, it is extremely hard to see the life that our sacrifices of virtue, obedience and suffering give to those we don’t even know.  We are asked to trust that this fulfillment of the promises is not just for us, that when we do what God asks of us, many, many people beyond our sight will benefit.  This is the vision that Mary held before her, the countless millions that would benefit from the sacrifices she made on behalf of the truth.  To give up on the promises would be to give up on the salvation of the world.

            And many have.  To be the faithful Catholics we are called to be, we must be so much like Mary—trusting in God’s plan, God’s strength, and God’s promises.  Imagine what could have been lost if Mary had said “No”!  Now imagine what might be gained if we, like Mary, say “Yes”!  How many souls might be saved?  How many of the lost might come home if we look past what we can see and trust that what we can’t see will come to pass?