4th Sunday of Advent ~ The Big Snow

Because of Saturday's heavy snow and more predicted for Sunday, Mass was cancelled for December 20th at St. E's. There was to be a Baptism that morning; as well as the annual "church-decorating-for-Christmas-day" that had been scheduled for after Mass. All of that had to be cancelled and rescheduled.

Most of us in the subdivisions out in the counties were snowed in for several days afterwards; but fortunately, some parishioners living near the church were able to get through the snow the next day to set up the creche and decorate the altar and the Christmas tree. We are so grateful to them for the extra work they had to do, so that the rest of us could enter a beautiful church on Christmas Eve to celebrate once more, the Birth of Christ.

In the first reading, we hear that none of the big or important cities of the Jewish world would be chosen to host the birth of Jesus... No, Micah tells us that a small and insignificant town, little Bethlehem, would receive that honor... another example of how the Lord chooses the lowly, the insignificant in his plan for salvation; not the places or people with power and influence.

We see the same kind of action in the Hebrews reading. God does not want the usual holocausts and sin offerings from His people. Jesus shows us what His Father desires... by making the scripture prophecy His own: "As is written of me in the scroll, behold I come to do your will, O God."

And finally, in Luke's Gospel, we see how the obedience to God's Will brings Mary who is with child to Elizabeth, who is in the midst of her own miraculous pregnancy. Elizabeth feels her baby leap in her womb as she greets Mary. The unborn John has recognized his Lord even before his own birth and leaps for joy. And Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, realizes that Mary, a simple Jewish girl, is carrying the Savior; and she blesses Mary who has believed and responded to God's Will.

As this Advent draws to a close and the birth of Jesus is imminent, let us seek to discover what God's Will is for us so that the words Elizabeth spoke to Mary can also be applied to us:

"Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."