A Reflection for Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Yow will discover today’s readings here.
“In the mean time the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” (Lk 1:44)
This past weekend, for Catholic Women Preach, I offered a mirrored image on the fears Mary will need to have been facing throughout her pregnancy, especially while Joseph was considering divorcing her. Speaking from my very own experience, as I’m currently in my ninth month of pregnancy, I reflected on how Mary’s fears, like so many latest parents’, were material and physical, whereas the things that might offer her reassurance—the angel’s rejoinder to “Be not afraid” and the promise that her child could be the Emmanuel, “God with us”—were intangible. It’s difficult, as I now know all too well, to assuage anxiety about tangible, material realities with the intangible promise of profound love.
With these fears in mind, one can imagine the enjoyment and relief Mary felt when Joseph decided to take her into his home slightly than divorcing her, leaving her alone to lift her child. It’s that joy and relief that bursts out of today’s readings: Mary hurries out to the countryside to go to her cousin Elizabeth and share her excellent news, and Elizabeth responds along with her own great joy, sharing that she is pregnant, too, after wanting a toddler for thus long.
Joy and hope get at two vital parts of Mary and Elizabeth’s experience of waiting for his or her sons to be born, but there’s one other thing at play here that’s equally vital and sacred: Call it craving, longing, even impatience.
Every Sunday once we pray the Lord’s Prayer at Mass, we hear the priest say that we “wait in joyful hope” for Jesus’ second coming. Joy and hope get at two vital parts of Mary and Elizabeth’s experience of waiting for his or her sons to be born, but there’s one other thing at play here that’s equally vital and sacred: Call it craving, longing, even impatience. It’s the relentless desire a parent feels because the due date draws near and the kicking grows stronger, that feeling of “I do know you’re in there, but hurry up and are available out so I can meet you!” It’s a love and a longing that’s expressed beautifully in today’s first reading from the Song of Songs: “Let me see you, let me hear your voice / To your voice is nice, and you might be lovely.”
Mary and Elizabeth are full of that feeling on this moment, especially as Mary’s material anxieties have (albeit briefly) been put aside and because the two women’s joy combines, as friends’ enthusiasm often does, into something greater than its parts.
In these last days of Advent, we’re invited into that joyful hope, that holy impatience, for the approaching of Christmas.
Get to know Colleen Dulle, associate editor and host of “Contained in the Vatican”
Favorite Advent or Christmas themed art?
Only one line from “O Holy Night” takes the cake: “He appeared and the soul felt its value.”
Favorite Christmas tradition?
It’s tough to decide on! This 12 months, since I can’t travel to see family, I’m especially missing spending time with them.
Which project are you most proud to have worked on this 12 months at America?
Way back in January, the “Contained in the Vatican” team produced this deep dive episode on Rutilio Grande, the Salvadoran Jesuit whose killing sparked Archbishop Oscar Romero to grow to be rather more outspoken about social justice. Probably the most moving part, for me, was hearing from one in every of Fr. Grande’s parishioners, a campesino who still lives within the Salvadoran mountains, in regards to the day Fr. Grande was killed, and what it meant to him to see his former pastor beatified.
Favorite Christmas recipe?
It’s a secret family recipe for my great grandma’s Polish cookies—I’m not telling you! 🤫
