Homily for Advent
4
December 23, 2018
Hastening After
Holiness
Mary
goes “in haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth in this Gospel. But why? For many
years I thought it was because she wanted to share the good news of her own
pregnancy, or to help with the care of Elizabeth. Then as I was reading this
Gospel more carefully this past week, I noticed something interesting at the
end – Mary was there, in her cousin Elizabeth’s house, because she believed in
the Lord’s promises.
Imagine
a fourteen-year-old girl who is going about her daily business when an angel
appears in her room and tells her that she was miraculously going to be a
mother, and that this Child would be the Savior of the World. Mary has faith,
yes – but the angel gives her a sign that all this mysterious news would come
true: the sign was that her elderly cousin, far beyond usual childbearing
years, was six months pregnant! With the assurance of this genuine miracle,
Mary gives her assent.
So as
soon as the angel leaves, the very next verse says that Mary traveled “in
haste” to visit Elizabeth, to see with her own eyes this promise fulfilled.
It’s not that Mary doubted; it’s rather that she believed so strongly in the
Lord’s promises that she could not contain her expectation of seeing it
fulfilled. Elizabeth recognizes as much when she says, “Blessed are you who
believed that the Lord’s promises would be fulfilled.”
Let’s
apply that to our lives. What are His promises to you and me? And do we really
believe them, and are we hastening towards them? I’d like to mention two
promises that the Lord makes in Scripture for us.
First,
He promises in Romans that “all things work for good for those who love God.”
That’s pretty comprehensive – all things
– not just the good and the pleasant things but the unemployment and the family
trouble and the cancer. But the key is to look at it in the light of eternity.
As Pastor Rick Warren says, “God is more interested in your character than your
comfort.” He wants to make you holy – and this is the good that God will work through all things if we are docile to His
will.
I
remember hearing a parable about a poor man who had only a wife, a son, and a
horse. One day the horse ran away. His neighbors all came to visit him and
said, “Oh, it’s too bad that you lost your horse!” The man replied, “It could
be good, it could be bad, who knows!” The next day, the horse came back with
five other wild horses into the man’s stable. The people rejoiced with him. The
following day, the man’s son was riding the horse and he fell off and broke his
leg. The neighbors visited him and said, “We are so sorry to hear about your
son!” But the man replied, “It could be good, it could be bad, who knows!” The
next day, the government came to his door trying to draft his son into the army
to fight in a war, but because his son had a broken leg they didn’t take him.
The people rejoiced with the man that his son was saved.
This promise,
that God will bring good out of all
things in our lives, is one we must cling to even when things get darkest.
If Mary could trust that God would place His Son into her womb, then we can
trust that He can take everything in our lives and make something eternally
good and holy out of it.
A second
promise – equally as important – is that “no eye can see, no ear can hear, nor
has the mind of man ever conceived what God has prepared for those who love
Him.” He has promised Heaven and everlasting life! That’s really an incredible
promise and it is a direct result of the first promise. Allowing the
circumstances of our daily life to make us holy because we trust that God
brings our spiritual good out of everything, we seek after that great promise
of Heaven!
Are we
hastening toward Heaven like Mary hastened to visit Elizabeth? Mary wanted to
see the promise fulfilled in her cousin; do we want to see fullness of God’s
promises revealed in eternity? Some of us are only crawling towards Heaven – or
worse, some of us may be moving away
from the Lord, instead of towards Him!
I was
recently reading the life of a saint named Bl. Anthony Neyrot, who started out
pursuing God with a snail’s pace! He was ordained a priest but achieved great
success through his preaching – people loved him, and this caused him to be
filled with arrogance and pride! He eventually thought he was too good for his
assignment, and asked to be transferred. But he wasn’t happy in his new
assignment, so he asked for yet another! This pompous young man still wasn’t
happy and asked for a fourth assignment, and as he was sailing there (this was
the 1400s), his ship was attacked by Islamic pirates. They captured him and
made him a slave – but this still didn’t cure his arrogant attitude, as he was
so rude and pompous to his captors that they put him in prison with only bread
and water to eat!
In order
to get released from prison, he decided he was going to become Muslim himself.
He denied Christ publicly, was released, married a woman and began to translate
the Qu’ran into Latin to try to lead Christians away from the true Faith
(remember, this was a former priest!). As he continued to read the Qu’ran,
however, he realized more and more that it could not be true; nevertheless, he
desired his freedom and his wife more than Heaven. One night, however, he had a
dream in which his recently-deceased mentor, a saintly priest, appeared to him
and told him that his salvation was in jeopardy if he continued to deny Jesus
Christ. Upon awakening, Anthony realized that he had been a lukewarm priest and
a lukewarm Muslim – it was time for him to choose!
He
realized he needed to return to Christ and to start seriously pursuing Heaven.
He dressed in sackcloth, went to Confession, and began praying the Rosary on his
knees. After several days, he realized that he had publicly denied Jesus – now
he needed to publicly proclaim his faith in Him. He went to the town square and
began to declare, to anyone who would listen, that Jesus Christ is Lord. His
Muslim friends urged him to be silent, but he proclaimed all the louder that
Jesus is Lord and that Heaven is worth pursuing. He was finally arrested and
stoned to death for leaving the Muslim faith – but he is now a blessed in the
Church. For years, Anthony had just “gone through the motions” and not hastened
toward the promises of God – but at the end of his life, he realized that
Heaven was the only thing worth pursuing!
Are you
hastening to Heaven? Mary was excited and hastened to see God’s promises
fulfilled in her cousin; are you as excited to possess the promise of Heaven?
God’s promises are real and trustworthy – today rouse yourself to seek them
out, to journey with haste to Heaven. After all, Christ came, bringing Heaven
to earth, so that He could bring earth to Heaven. What a promise that is! I
know I want to hasten there!
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