Fiat!

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Year B

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38

With this Fourth Sunday of Advent the Church clearly turns her gaze to the soon coming celebration of the birth of our Lord.  The emphasis has shifted from a current preparation for the second coming of our Lord to a reflection of what preparation was in view as people were awaiting the first coming of the Messiah.  We hear an echo of this from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans that we heard in our second reading as he speaks of the prophetic message that had finally been confirmed in Christ.

Naturally, we are all also thinking of our preparations for Christmas.  Last minute shopping, sending Christmas cards, baking, and planning for Christmas festivities are all on our minds.  But I want to take a lead from the Church and direct our attention to the spiritual preparations for Christmas.  And to do so, I can think of no better example than the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today the Church gives us the reading of the Annunciation.  It is a fitting segue way into the mysteries of the incarnation.  The angel, Gabriel, is dispatched to a humble virgin living in the Middle East around the 1^st century.  He tells her that she has been chosen by God to become the mother of His Son.  This will not take place in the usual way, but rather through the Holy Spirit coming upon her to conceive within her womb the Son of God.  We take the phrase “full of grace” in the angelic message to be an indicator of what the Church now calls Mary’s Immaculate Conception, and which we celebrated only a couple of weeks ago.  Mary has been divinely prepared for this moment.

I think we have a tendency to view the Immaculate Conception as somehow giving Mary an advantage that the rest of humanity never had.  Keep in mind the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception teaches that by a singular grace of God Mary was kept from the stain of original sin at her conception.  Endowed with such grace, we also believe that she kept this deposit free from any actual sin throughout her life.  Thus, she was a pure vessel made ready to receive the Word of God within her womb.  But does that mean that she could not have sinned?

I offer you the fact that our first parents were also conceived immaculate.  That is, Adam and Eve were created without sin.  But they chose it anyway.  The fact that they were not born with sin did not keep them from actual sin.  So it would seem that our Blessed Mother could have done the same.  But she didn’t.  As the Fathers teach, her obedience undid the disobedience of Eve and so she becomes the New Eve; the mother of all those living in grace.

I would also propose that in our baptism we are washed from original sin and all actual sin.  The difference, of course, is that original sin still leaves us “damaged”, if you will.  But as St. Paul says, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more,” [Ro. 5:20].

I say all of this to show our identification with the Blessed Mother so that it will not seem an insurmountable leap to believe that we could behave in a way like she did.  We will just need to draw on the same grace that she did.

Now I want us to consider what was being asked of Mary.  She was being asked to lay aside all of her own dreams, ambitions, comfort, and safety in order to become the means by which the Son of God would be born into the world.  A first century Jewish woman was expected to marry, bear children, and look after the household.  It was typically uneventful.  There are some elements of tradition that lead us to believe that Mary had already vowed herself to virginity at the time of the Annunciation.  If that is true, then she was anticipating a quiet life of prayer and service.  This message completely upended either dream.

Mary’s pregnancy before an actual marriage would be viewed as an act of infidelity punishable, possibly by death.  Her espoused, St. Joseph, literally held her life in his hands.  If he had demanded her death that would have been the end of the matter.  But as we read from St. Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph was “a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly,” [Mt. 1:19].

Still, the rumors would linger.  Mary would not bear other children.  She would not know many things that would be typical to married life.  She would live in disgrace with the stigma of immorality.  And then… she would give her only Son up to death.  Mary did not likely know everything her assent would imply but she likely understood all of this in some fashion.  It is with these thoughts in mind that we come to her fiat; her “yes” to God.  “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”

To illustrate this, let us consider for a moment our first reading today.  King David has the noble ambition to build a house for God- a temple; a place for public worship.  Initially, David’s loyal friend and prophet, Nathan, agreed with the idea.  But then God’s word came to Nathan and he returned to give the message to David.  David would not build a house for the Lord.  Rather, his heir would do so.  Naturally, in time this was thought to be Solomon who did build the temple.  But the prophecy actually refers to our Lord.  His is the house that will be established and whose kingdom will never end.  David’s plans for a physical temple needed to yield to death so that in time God could build a spiritual house by His Son.

So it is with Mary’s plans.  Whatever she had in mind needed to die in that moment when she gave her assent to become the Mother of God.  We think of the Blessed Virgin Mary as having a place of the highest honor.  That is true… now.  But it was not so in her own lifetime.  One must have faith for such decisions.

As we are now only days away from Christmas I would like to re-introduce the spiritual emphasis that should characterize this time for all Christians.  Let us put ourselves in the place of the Blessed Mother.  God comes to us and asks if we will become the means by which His Son can be “birthed” in our generation.  To say yes to God will mean the death of our own ambitions. 

Perhaps we will need to forego marriage and family to answer a call to priesthood or religious life.  Perhaps we will need to forsake plans for financial security in order to embrace a mission of poverty.  Maybe we will find that if we are to labor for bringing Christ into the world we will be mocked and ridiculed for not choosing to pursue the “the American Dream” instead.  There are many possibilities, but mark this well: there will be no having it all.  We will either have all the world has to offer or all that God has to offer.  To be intentional about the pursuit of one means to turn our back on the other.

With that in mind, I ask you this question: what is keeping you from your fiat?  Fiat.  It’s Latin for the phrase “let it be done”.  It’s our “yes” to God’s desired intention for us when He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world [Eph. 1:4].  What keeps you from that? 

Are there friends you’re afraid of losing?  Are you jealous over your reputation?  Do you think it may cost you money?  Are there personal dreams that mean more to you than God? 

Certainly Mary knew her “yes” came with a great price.  But she was willing to pay it because she knew that God knows better.  So now let us consider what her “yes” accomplished.

Through Mary Christ came into the world.  Through His sinless life, death, resurrection, and ascension, sin was forgiven, death was destroyed, and eternal life came to all who believe.  We have hope now in Christ because Mary said “yes”. 

What will your “yes” mean?  God alone knows.  But we can be confident that because He knows, and because He knows best, we can trust Him with whatever sacrifices are necessary so even greater things can be born.  It may well be that we will need to choose a hard path now in this life, but, like Mary, we could be known by future generations for what our “yes” accomplished.

What keeps you from your fiat?  Hopefully nothing!  But the choice remains yours.  What will you do?  God, this generation, and perhaps countless generations to follow, await your reply.