YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (3)

YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 

HOMILY THEME: Living Tabernacles

BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas 

HOMILY:

Lk 1:39-45 

When we pray the Rosary, we also recite the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps many of us may find some of the titles of Mary rather vague and strange. Let me mention a few: House of Gold, Tower of David, Tower of Ivory, Spiritual Vessel, Vessel of Honor, Singular Vessel of Devotion, and Ark of the Covenant.

These titles may sound unfamiliar to many of us, but they have profound meaning. These simply illustrate the role of Mary being the “Theotokos” – God-bearer. She is referred to as the “House of Gold” for she housed the Incarnate God in her womb. She is the “Tower of David” and the “Tower of Ivory” because she is not just a house, but also a tower of holiness and purity, bearing in her virginal womb the Son of David. And definitely, she is the “Vessel of Honor”, the “Singular Vessel of Devotion” because she carries Jesus, the Son of God. All these titles are attributed to Mary because she is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

The most articulate among those mentioned, and which has abundant allusions in the Old Testament, is the title “Ark of the Covenant.” For the Chosen People of Israel, the wooden Ark of the Covenant represents the presence of God. Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant because she bears in her womb the presence of the Incarnate God.

This Sunday, we heard the Gospel of the Visitation (Lk 1:39-45). This Gospel account bears striking similarities with the ascent of the Ark of the Covenant in 2 Samuel 6:1-15. We can mention three such similarities:

1. As the ark is brought to Jerusalem, King David is overcome with awe, saying, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (v.9). In today’s Gospel, Elizabeth says to Mary, “Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”
   

2. King David leaps for joy, dancing before the ark (vv. 14-15). When Mary greeted Elizabeth, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and said that the baby in her womb, John, leaped for joy.

3. The ark remains three months in the hill country near Jerusalem, bringing great blessings to the house of Obededom (v.11). Mary remains three months with her cousin Elizabeth before returning to her home.          

Definitely, these parallels and similarities are not coincidental. At the end of the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, St. John tells his vision of a heavenly ark: “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened and the ark of His covenant could be seen in the temple” (11:19). In the following verse, Revelation 12:1, we discover who this Ark of the Covenant is: “a woman clothed with the sun, with moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars”.

On this last Sunday of Advent, a few days before Christmas, the Gospel takes the focus away from John the Baptist and puts Mary on center stage. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the purest and most worthy human vessel of the Word-made-flesh. She is the living tabernacle of the Son of God. And we are invited and challenged to imitate Mary in this particular role, so that we may also experience the sublime joy and infinite glory of having Jesus in our hearts.

In Holy Communion, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Just as the Incarnate God was in the virginal womb of Mary, so also He stays with us in Holy Communion. We also become the living tabernacles of Jesus. In one of her messages, the Blessed Mother referred to the Eucharist as the “perennial Nativity.” Every time the Mass is celebrated, Jesus is born on the altar. And when we receive Him in Holy Communion, He is born in our hearts.

This is the reason why after the Mass, we are not supposed to hastily leave the church. We are reminded that it is our duty to offer personal thanksgiving to God for this wonderful gift of the Eucharist. In his apostolic letter, Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII exhorts: “When the Mass, which is subject to special rules of the liturgy, is over, the person who has received holy communion is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving; rather, it is most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the divine Master, hold loving and fruitful converse with Him. …Admittedly, the congregation has been officially dismissed, but each individual, since he is united with Christ, should not interrupt the hymn of praise in his own soul, ‘always returning thanks for all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father’” (nos. 123-124).

A four-year-old girl went to Church with her mother one Sunday morning. She watched her mother receive Communion. Coming out of the Church, the girl had an unusual request. She said to her mother, “Mom, blow on my face.” The mother was very surprised. But the girl explained: “Mom, you received Jesus during the Mass. Can you blow on my face so that I, too, can receive Jesus?”

This Christmas, while we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, let us always be reminded of this wonderful truth. Like Elizabeth, our hearts should leap with joy every time we come to Mass, not only because Jesus visits us, but especially because, unworthy as we are, He wishes us to receive Him as the Bread of Life so that we may become His living tabernacles. May we, then, eagerly share Jesus to others, and fill this world with His loving presence.

Fr. Mike Lagrimas, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Palmera Springs, Susano Road Camarin, Caloocan City 1422