REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT 21ST DECEMBER 2023

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF ADVENT 21ST DECEMBER 2023

Song of Solomon 2:8-14 or Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Ps.33; Luke 1:39-45

Little acts of Kindness

The visit of the angel to Mary left her with two knowledge that were beyond human imagination: first, she is the mother of the expected Messiah and this has happened without the biological intervention of a man; second, her kinswoman Elizabeth whom people concluded was barren and who has exceeded the age of childbearing, is now six months pregnant.

Most probably, Mary must have had other friends and relatives but she chose to go to Elizabeth to whom this grace of God is particularly concerned. Here, Mary teaches us how to handle information. One cankerworm that is eating deep into the fabrics of human relationship is gossip. To gossip means to talk behind someone (of whom the issue at hand concerns), before another person who is not directly involved.

What makes gossip wrong is not what is said but to whom and how it was said. It does not matter whether what is said is positive or negative; if is said with the intention of keeping the one concerned in the dark, it is gossip. Every gossip stands the risk of being a distorted information. When the content is negative, it amounts to assassination of another’s character.

Mary did not gossip. She went straight to Elizabeth probably to congratulate her on the intervention of God in her life and to tell her own story too (which also explains how she came to know about Elizabeth’s pregnancy). Interestingly, on getting to Elizabeth’s house, something remarkable happened. Before she could tell Elizabeth that which she knew through extraordinary means, Elizabeth herself first tells Mary that which she (Elizabeth) has come to know through extraordinary means too. When we dispose ourselves to saying the right things to the right persons at the right time, the right things will be said to us at the right time too.

It becomes simultaneously obvious to both Mary and Elizabeth that the grace of God was active in their lives. The nature of their encounter is well captured in the words of the psalmist today “ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; O sing him a song that is new”. When we make available our little acts of kindness, God takes it up, exalts it, and multiplies it beyond measure, thus making the best out of it.

The uniqueness of God’s grace is that it goes with contentment. Elizabeth has been the barren one for many years and a laughing stock in the community. Mary, on the hand, is only betrothed (she has not yet come to live with her husband), yet it was Mary who is chosen to be the Mother of God. The grace of God is not a compensation for what we have done or what we have suffered. It remains a gratuitous gift that we never merit. If we always keep this in mind then we will not become jealous of another’s spiritual gift. Every gift is an assignment; we should be most concern with carrying out what we have been individually asked to do rather than making unnecessary comparison.