When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord* should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:41-45 NABRE)
Today's passage has much to tell us about belief, hope, and joy. The baby--John the Baptist, even before he is born, is said to leap for joy at the sound of Jesus' mother's voice. Jesus causes joy when we are open to his presence in our lives. Elizabeth, who carries the baby though she was thought to be infertile, expresses her own (probably renewed) sense of hope and joy at the arrival of Mary, her cousin who was also with child, carrying Jesus. She blesses Mary and in her blessing we learn a deep and powerful lesson about Mary's faith.
Mary believed what the angel Gabriel had told her, the impossible news of what would happen, that she would become the mother of God's only son. Her faith in God was total. Her simple willingness to obey God and to accept whatever God called her to do makes her the perfect role model of faith for us today. May we learn to trust in the Lord as Mary did. May we learn to obey God humbly and without reluctance as Mary did. And may we find the joy and hope that is part of a relationship with Jesus.
Today, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, I will celebrate joyfully the near arrival of Jesus among us at Christmas.
Saint Dominic of Silos, Benedictine monk who lived 1,000 years ago, pray for us.
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