We are on the fourth Sunday of Advent. Our gospel today recounts Mary’s Annunciation story. Her ‘yes’ to the invitation of God to be the mother of Jesus.

At Advent, the presence of Mary is always visible. She’s the mother who waits, the woman who welcomes the Word, the young woman who takes the risk, the friend who helps, the woman of faith.

Mary received the gift of divine motherhood because she had faith. The birth of Jesus is the work of God's intervention, for Mary conceived without knowing any man. Being a virgin, she found herself pregnant. Undoubtedly, she got upset and was afraid. But knowing that it was God’s mysterious hand working on her, she accepted everything because she believed nothing is impossible with God.

We are then invited to contemplate the attitude of faith and availability of Mary. When she said Yes to God’s plan, she totally entrusted herself to God, without asking for explanations, without asking for proofs, without asking for guarantees. She humbly tried to understand as much as possible the plan of God for her. All she responded, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your Word.” Her yes, is without fear and without a doubt. A yes that gives life. Short might it be but full of faith and trust.

This season of advent, we must learn from Mary to always say yes to God by humbly accepting His will for us. Mary’s YES teaches us to say and live our YESES to God faithfully and trustingly. Amen.

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With what I have said last week if you were here, Christmas is the festive time to be at parties, see friends and loved ones, and to receive and give gifts. I hope I did not discourage you from doing all these wonderful activities because this season is also a great time to appreciate each other and say THAT I AM LOVED. I have my flaws, but I am loved. I am far from perfect, but no one is perfect. I am a sinner, but I can be forgiven. I have caused hurt and all I received is LOVE. All these things are nice and peachy, but the message of Advent this week is MOTHERLY FAITHFULNESS AND HUMILITY to the GRACE THAT IS BEING GIVEN TO US. Why Motherly? Because all of us are expecting a CHILD.

And this child is just a helpless, little child. A child who will dream dreams. A child to be loved. A child who will be cared for. A child who will grow up and face the world in all its wonder, in all its sadness and in all its disappointments. A child that will feel love and feel rejection. A child who is the Son of God.

As we embark on the last week of Advent, Christmas is defined for us in the readings in its most meaningful form: A GIFT FROM THE FATHER: given as AN OFFERING TO EXPERIENCE LOVE in its PERFECT FORM, AN OFFER TO REJOICE AND ENJOY THE GRACE OF REDEMPTION here on earth. Further, this GIFT from the Father is nothing more but pure LOVE. A LOVE that will reveal itself from this baby boy. And we take this love into our hearts and into our lives.

Most of our crowd right now are parents and future parents, or parents of parents. I, for one may not be preparing to have my own children, but I am personally preparing for a special fatherhood myself. So, most of us know that when a baby comes into our lives it is a huge task to care of him, to give him a place, to make him able to function, TO MAKE HIM THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES. This is what Christmas means.

But why such hopeless, flawed, imperfect, and ordinary individuals offered such a great grace to nurture God’s love? We do not deserve this baby boy nor have the capacity to raise Him. In fact, His birth must only be meant for great and holy people based on what He brought to us at the Cross! Yet despite our lowliness He chose to invite us in His presence. So, we must be humbled and grateful for this grace and to show our gratitude we must be like the Blessed Mother in today’s Gospel. Mother Mary, the young, unmarried woman from a small town called Nazareth, an irrelevant piece of Ancient Israel.

Still, the angel appears to her and says to her, “Blessed are you among women, for God has chosen you to bring forth the Messiah, the long awaited Christus, God Himself.”

We would think Mary would be overjoyed. Afterall, most young Jewish women would be glad to be the one chosen to fulfill the promise of God to Abraham. But she knows she was a mediocre candidate for the role. A simple and illiterate maiden, perhaps seventeen years old or younger, from a small village and God sent the Messenger of Angels to tell her that she will be the Mother of God. And what does she say?

But before that, we assume she first drops back as she is frightened, this is a stressful predicament after all. Moreover, she might have asked herself: who am I anyway? Because she herself knows what she is: nothing more, nothing less than a simple maiden in a small town. She is not even married. And if she says yes, her whole life will be radically changed. If she says yes, there will be no room for herself at all in a life that will be lived in order that her child might be known, might be cared for, and might be loved. If she says yes, she will be ridiculed, disconnected to her community, and even be killed!

Then the Angel looks at her and tells her “Do not be afraid, for the Holy Spirit will overshadow you and the birth of this child will come and he will be known as the Son of God.” Then the most beautiful line in Salvation History was spoken; “Be it done to me according to thy Word”. At this moment, Mary takes on flesh. And the child that is born of her has the flesh of Mary, the eyes of Mary, the ears of Mary, the loveliness of Mary, the humanity of Mary. No wonder these same words will be spoken by Jesus when He Himself gave His life to the Father. Because Mary’s flesh is Jesus’ flesh. This is the reason why Mary is very special to us Christians because Mary is the model that we are called to follow. She is our nature’s solitary boast. Mary is our model because she’s totally and completely human.

Think of it now. How is this child to be known? How is this child to be “infleshed” in the world in which we live unless it is through us?

Brothers and sisters, it is Mary’s faith that makes the incarnation possible and it is our faith that makes the incarnation possible in our own world today. Like Mary’s faith, our faith will bring salvation to those who may have lost it. And we can achieve this by being faithful to the “yeses” of the Sacraments specifically in Baptism, Marriage, Confession, and the Eucharist. We can do this by putting Jesus as the center of our world like Mary did in the Gospels. In these challenging times, our faith is called into action when Catholic teachings are being bended, ridiculed, and questioned by cafeteria Catholics and unbelievers. Like our Blessed Mother, it is our faith that brings the Child to the world. May we gain the Marian virtues of faithfulness and humility in bringing a new meaning to the love offering of God to those around us this coming Christmas.