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December 23, 2024Dear faithful, we are now approaching Christmas, and the liturgy invites us to prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord who comes, by meditating on the meeting of Mary, after having welcomed the announcement of the angel Gabriel and her cousin Elizabeth, who has been carrying John the Baptist in her womb for six months. It is a meeting full of tenderness and spirituality that can greatly illuminate our Christian life and guide our path.
First of all, I would like to underline Mary's charity towards her cousin. She learned from the angel that she has been pregnant for six months and for this reason she runs to visit her. She has made a long journey from Galilee, from Nazareth to Judea to help her in the last months of her pregnancy. Surely Mary runs to Elizabeth also to be able to share the joy of her divine motherhood.
Two women meet, deeply marked in their bodies by the grace of God. Elizabeth was a barren woman, and the grace of God made her fruitful. Her son will have a unique mission: he will be the last of the prophets of the ancient covenant; he will be the precursor of Jesus. He will have the task of preparing the ways of the Lord, preparing a people well-disposed to welcome the Savior; he will have the task of indicating Jesus present in the world.
Mary is a young woman, betrothed to Joseph; the angel's announcement turns her life upside down; the Lord calls her to be the Mother of God. The Son of God, our savior, takes human form in her womb.
The words we have heard from the letter to the Hebrews announce how God gives Jesus a body to do His will: "a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As it is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God’." Through Mary Jesus receives a human body that will be given for the salvation of the world.
These two women, so deeply touched and shaped by the grace of God, meet each other in amazement and joy. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps because it feels Jesus approaching, whom Mary carries within her. Elizabeth recognizes in Mary the woman of faith, the one who believed in the fulfillment of God’s promises. This encounter represents the celebration of faith that makes life fruitful.
Here we see the fulfillment of the prophecy that we heard from the prophet Micah: “from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times”. What happens to Mary and Elizabeth, therefore, is the fruit of a centuries-old history from where the prince of peace comes.
Dear faithful, but what does this encounter between Mary and Elizabeth say to us, what does it suggest to us migrants who live in this part of the world, far from home and scattered among peoples of different cultures and faiths? I invite you to look at this encounter as the model for every encounter between us.
The joy of Mary and Elizabeth must also be our joy. When two Christians meet, they should recognize in each other the grace of God at work in them.
Most of the times, what do we look at in the person we meet? Maybe we look at how they dress, we like or dislike them, if they belong to my community or are they from a different culture, if they are from my association or not. In this way we risk forgetting the most important thing: that we are Christians, that we have been baptized, that we all belong to the Church. We are different but we form one body in Christ. From Mary and Elizabeth, we must learn to have a gaze of faith with the people we meet. We too, like Mary and Elisabeth, are part of a great story that begins with Abraham and has come down to us in this part of the world.
Let us not stop on the face of the reality, let us not stop at appearances, let us look at others with the gaze of faith: let us recognize that we have all been touched by the grace of God. The Lord comes to dwell in us and dwell among us.
When we are aware that God acts in us and in other Christians, then every encounter becomes a celebration, full of joy. In fact, the characteristic of Christians must be the joy of being brothers and sisters – no matter where we come from - in Christ, we are made into children of God.
Dear faithful, I invite you to live intensely these last days to prepare us for Christmas. Let us imitate Mary who went to help her cousin in need, let us help those who are in need; let us purify our hearts from sin, let us recognize the action of God in our lives, let us recognize the presence of Christ in our brothers and sisters.
Jesus comes for all peoples; he breaks down the walls of separation and calls us to unity and peace.
May Mary who carried Jesus in her womb support us on our journey and help us to bring Jesus to everyone.
