FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

The Spirit of the readings is summed up in the Response of the Psalm: My mouth shall sing of the faithfulness of the Lord.

1. A group of native chiefs who lived in a desert were visiting a country with plenty of water and forests. They came to a massive waterfall. They tasted the water. It was sweet. This was worth its weight in gold for these desert dwellers. They stood glued to the spot, awestruck at the abundance of water. Sacred liquid gushed from the belly of the earth. It was a promise of life.

Here God was made visible. It was a sacred spot. They just could not get up and leave it Let us go, said their guide.

We must wait, they replied. Wait for what? the guide asked.

Until the Water stops falling.

2. God is faithful and the love of God keeps on falling and falling and falling. We get up and go! Or we think that we have to do something in return. David wanted to build a Temple for God. He thought that he lived in a palace of gold and cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant which represented the Almighty was in a simple tent. But God does not need Temples of Gold and silver, of cedar and marble. God does not need the sacrifice of lambs and goats either.

Nonetheless, we human beings feel the need to do something to earn the Faithfulness of God. We build massive temples, we light candles, we sponsor Masses, we say the Rosary, we make novenas. All these are good, but God does not need them. We do them, not for “God’s sake” but rather for our sake. It has been a part of our history through the ages.

Noah, Abraham, Melchisedech, Isaac, Jacob built altars and offered sacrifices. Solomon built a temple which was a wonder of the world. Constantine built basilicas. Rome is f illed with more churches than traffic lights. It has been and will continue to be a part of our belief that we need to do something in return for God’s faithfulness to us.

3. God’s faithfulness to us is the recurring refrain during these four weeks of Advent. It is a faithfulness that is not only in your lifetime and mine, but through all generations. It is like the beautiful Katibawsan Waterfall in Camiguin which I saw this week. It was there falling in all its majesty in the times of your grandparents and great grandparents. It will flow with constancy in the time of your children and great grandchildren. What a wonderful thought that its beauty can be enjoyed by so many. So too is the Fidelity of God. God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt with the promise to care for them. God repeated this idea through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. I will be your God and you will be my people.

4. Human fidelity is fickle. People promise to meet us, and they don’t show up. People promise to complete a work and it is left undone. Babies are baptised and the parents promise t o bring their child up in the faith by loving God and our neighbour. Some times that is the last time they darken the doorstep of the church. Couples promise to be faithful in good times and bad. We have the stories of so many broken marriages. This experience we often transfer into our relationship with God. God will let me down I think.

In Jerusalem, the most well known sight is the Wailing Wall. People pray and insert their prayer intentions on a paper in the crevice of the wall. There was a Jewish Rabbi who went faithfully each day to the wall to pray. One day a friend asked him, What do you feel when you go there each day. Does God answer your prayers? Oh said the Rabbi, it is just like talking to a Wall!

We might smile at the Rabbi, but secretly we often think of our prayers in the same way. But God is always faithful to us.

5. Having doubts, being in difficulty is quite compatible with our belief in God’s fidelity. We see that in the Gospel today. Mary trusts in God’s fidelity. Like the faithful People of Israel she too was waiting for the Messiah and she knew God would not disappoint the Chosen People. When she was chosen to the Mother of God, it did not stop her difficulties and doubts:

She was perplexed by the visit of the Angel.

She was disturbed by his message.

She wondered how that could be possible.

She expressed her doubts and perplexity.

She did not understand in detail the how and even the why.

She would continue to ponder things in her heart.

But her final answer would be, “Let it be done to me, according to the Will of God.” It was not a one time answer. She would have to say the same thing

When there was no room in the INN

When Simeon would tell her that a sword would pierce her heart

When they had to flee to Egypt

When the child was lost in Bethlehem

When they reject Jesus in his public life

When she would meet him on the Road to Calvary

When He died on the Cross

In all this she lived as a person who knew and experienced the Fidelity of God.

6. No wonder Jesus gave Mary to be our mother at the foot of the Cross. She would be both our model in times of difficulty, and a mother to encourage us on, when we want to give up trying.

A young couple were walking with their three year old son along the path. At times the child would run ahead, at times he would lag behind. At times, he would stop to examine a crack in the road, an ant that was crawling on the ground. He would stop and pick up a candy wrapper. The parents eyes were constantly on the child. When he tried to pick up something unsavoury and put it in his mouth, they would prevent him from doing so. Then after sometime the child was tired, he just sat on the ground and did not move. Without a fuss or noise, the mother picked up the child and put him on her shoulder and carried on walking.

That is a picture of God’s fidelity. The only difference is that God is all wisdom and therefore knows what is good for us. God is all powerful and can keep the promises made to us. As the old Coca Cola advertisement would say, “Who could ask for anything more?”