God Fulfills the Promise

On the very first Sunday of Advent, the Scriptures revealed God’s promise, a promise of a messiah, a savior.  On the second Sunday of Advent, we heard the Baptist ask us to respond to this promise through a baptism of repentance.  The third Sunday of Advent found us reading that the people who had been baptized by John asked him how they were to “live” that repentance.  “What are we to do?”

Today, the fourth and last Sunday of Advent can best be described as the Sunday of fulfillment as both Mary and Elizabeth exult in the news that God has been faithful.  Mary’s faith has made it possible for God to embrace our human nature, to become one of us.  The Gospel story proclaims: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  Elizabeth directs this beatitude to Mary, but it can be applied to all of us who believe that God is faithful.

However, it is important to remember that the mystery of the Incarnation includes the message that God has become one of us to save us from sin.  That salvation comes with a cost – the death of Jesus who, in the words of the Sacred Writer, comes to do God’s will.  To prepare the children of Israel for that sacrificial death, God’s covenant provided for animal sacrifices, grain or cereal offerings, burnt offerings and holocausts, all of which were offered in the Temple.  What God desired was not the sacrifices but the contrite heart, a heart that listens to God’s Word, a heart that obeys God’s will.  Jesus did just that.  Jesus obeyed God’s will; and because of his obedience, we have been set free.  Jesus’ death reconciles us to the Father, once for all.  Through his death on the cross, God forgives all sin and extends the gift of mercy to us.

During this Holy Year of Mercy, the Holy Father has asked us all to consider prayerfully this gift and to make it real in our lives, both by accepting God’s mercy and by extending it to others.  Pope Francis has constantly reminded us that God is always ready to forgive any sin, big or small.  It is absolutely impossible for God NOT to forgive our sins because to do so would be a contradiction of God’s will.  Inasmuch as it was God’s will for Jesus to die for our sins, and because Jesus has “done” God’s will, God cannot withhold forgiveness.  Just as God was faithful in sending us a Savior, God is faithful in mercy and forgiveness.

As the lyric of a familiar Christmas carol reminds us: Remember, Christ, our Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray, O tidings of comfort and joy. . . 

Indeed, we revel in the joy of fulfillment on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator