Behold, I Am the Handmaid of the Lord

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.



December 18 - 4th Sunday of Advent


The First Reading introduces an important element in the Christmas story: the great king David, a very human but yet a very worthy individual. He wants to give the Ark of the Covenant a worthy dwelling but God tells him that what He has in mind is something much greater: not a house of cedar or of some even more precious material but a dynasty - and what a dynasty it will be! "Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me ..." In fact the Messiah is of the House of David and his rule will not cease till the end of the world.


The Responsorial Psalm, as we expect responds to the Reading with a song of joy and, once again, the great David 's special place in God's plan is underlined.


St. Paul speaks to the Romans in the Second Reading. This Letter of St. Paul, unlike others dashed of in haste, in anguish and sometimes in anger, has been carefully formulated and sets out the great Reality which sustains all of our lives: Christ was born, Christ has died, Christ has risen and now the magnificent plan of God is beginning to unfold for the benefit of humanity. He speaks about the "mystery" kept secret for thousands of years but now revealed and needing to be preached to all those who have not heard the wonderful news.


The alleluia introduces us to the Quiet Lady of Christmas and her sublimely perfect response at the Annunciation to the stunning message the Lord gives her: you will become the Mother of my Son! She was just fourteen or fifteen at the time and we would expect her to get very excited and agitated. None of that. Born without stain of sin, free from every personal sin, she is "the highest honor of our race" and "our tainted nature's solitary boast."


Actually, there are three annunciations: one is to Joseph: "Fear not to take Mary as your wife . . ." One is to Mary. The third one to Elizabeth: " From Judah shall come forth one who shall rule Israel."


Finally, the familiar Gospel. Too familiar as it happens. We miss the tremendous drama of this meeting between heaven and earth which, like all God's plans, unfolded in silence and secrecy. There were no witnesses, no reporters, no cameras, no journalists ready to rush off to their editors, to their TV studios, to their readers and listeners hungry for the latest tit-bit of news - preferably bad. And even if they had been there they would not have understood the depth of meaning in that brief dialog,repairing abundantly for the first dialog between a woman and an angel, albeit a fallen one: Eve and Satan. "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."


~ December 2011 Concord