Fourth Sunday of Advent – Sunday 20th December 2015

Fourth Sunday of Advent

(Sunday, 20th December 2015)

 

Blessed were they who believed that the promise made them by the Lord would be fulfilled – (Luke 1:39-44)

The general election is only around the corner and it’s that time when we will soon be inundated with electioneering material, posters, flyer etc. from politicians from all persuasions trying to get our vote.  Promise after promise will be made; ‘vote for me and I will do such and such’.  Some politicians carry out their promises, others don’t. Some politicians you can trust, others, unfortunately, you cannot.  It’s the way of things.  There will be a scramble to say the right things; anything they feel will secure their vote.

But there are promises made to all of us at the moment of our baptism that are true and which will never be broken.  The very moment that we are anointed and have the waters of baptism poured over our heads, we are promised by God that he will be with us forever, he will not leave us or withdraw his favour from us.  We are promised also a place in the Kingdom of God after this our earthly journey, life without end.  We are told at baptism that God loves us and there is nothing that we can do to stop Him loving us.  St Paul put it really beautifully when he said that nothing can come between us and the love of God made visible in Jesus Christ.  These promises should give each one of us deep confidence and hope on our journey of life.  The truth that God favours you, that you will never be forgotten or abandoned should fill us with a deep sense of strength to face all that life throws at us.

Mary believed in the depths of her heart that the promise made to her would be fulfilled.  Elizabeth believed in the depths of her heart that the promise made to her would be fulfilled.  This belief changed everything.  It allowed the grace of God to flow into their lives and bless them in ways they could not have hoped or imagined.  Both were chosen to carry out a specific task of bringing a child into the world.  For Mary, it was the Saviour, for Elisabeth, it was John the Baptist.  Both were overwhelmed by the choice that God had made, yet both believed that if God had said it, then it must be true and they would be given the strength they needed to do his will.

God wants to bless you abundantly with his love.  He wants to grace your life with more blessings than you can ask or imagine. He wants to support and sustain you with everything you need so that you not only live but live with deep joy and peace.  All God asks of us is that we believe, that we trust, and that we open our hearts to God’s many graces.  This week of Advent, like Mary and Elizabeth, simply say ‘Lord I welcome your abundant graces and blessings, I say ‘yes’ to whatever you ask of me’.  This openness to God’s graces gives God permission to bless you abundantly.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful that at the end of our lives that people might say of us ‘Blessed were they who believed that the promise made them by the Lord would be fulfilled’.

Fr. Eamonn Bourke