A few years ago, I found this quote focuses us Advent spirituality: “Advent spirituality is not a time to meditate on the actual birth of Christ. According to tradition, we ought not to sing Christmas carols until Christmas itself, for Advent is not a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the manger but a time to long for the coming of the Savior. The appropriate sense of this season is captured in the pleading of “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.”
In this spirituality of Advent, our readings, our liturgies, and our traditions during this holy season of waiting and preparation help us prepare for the coming of the Lord at Christmas. As we hear of Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth today, the same reading we heard last Sunday during mass, let us greet Mary with the same words that Elizabeth used: “Blessed are you who believed.” “I believe: those two words are the most important thing we can say on our journey of faith. We can study theology and philosophy for years and years. We can read the Bible from cover to cover many times. We can memorize passages in the Catechism. We can know the Church’s moral teachings up and down, inside and out. However, if we cannot say those two words, “I believe,” what does it all mean? Today, we hear of the faith of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. We hear of their trust. We hear of the baby John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb in the mere presence of Mary and Jesus. John knows that he is in the presence of something special, that he is in the presence of the savior of the world. Mary and Elizabeth come together in their visitation in joy and trust, praise and charity. Like Mary and Elizabeth, let us all have the faith to believe the seemingly impossible.
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