As we come to celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent we now stand upon the cusp of entering into the Christmas season. Very soon we will be able to rejoice and send up our joyful hymn singing “Glory to God in the highest.” May we allow this longing to build in our heart because we are so close and yet we are not yet there.
Our Gospel documents for us the events of the Annunciation where God took on our human flesh and came to dwell among us within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the pure and spotless vessel which brought Christ into this world. With her we now stand in our great expectation as we await the birth of our Savior.
We must thus stay close to the Blessed Mother. May we entrust ourself to her watchful care. As our hearts are filled with longing to behold our Savior may we come do so through her intercession. To dwell with her in our expectant longing to behold Christ is to allow ourselves to grow in living out the virtues. The angel Gabriel proclaimed that she is full of grace and thus to dwell with her is to draw close to God.
In Advent we have this longing to draw close to God. We have this longing to prepare ourself to behold the Christmas message of the birth of the Messiah. We also prepare ourself for that unknown hour when Christ will return and we will be called to the final judgement. Therefore it is important that we long for Christmas, but it is important for us to realize that we are not yet there. Even when it finally arrives we must continue to prepare our heart and our soul to encounter Christ for there will come an unknown hour when He will come again and we will be called to judgement.
Therefore our whole life should be found in preparation to encounter Him. We will encounter Him on Christmas laying in a manger and surely we don’t want our sinfulness to keep us away from His side. We will encounter Him at the end of time and surely we don’t want to be judged as being unworthy of entering into Heaven and thus being found worthy of being thrust into Hell. We will encounter Him also in the Eucharist and surely we don’t want to receive Him unworthily.
