The following is a homily in the form of a conversation that will be presented at the masses on December 21 and 22, 2024 - the fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C. The inspiration for this homily was taken from the book - Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes by theologian and Protestant minister Robert McAfee Brown. I first gave this homily back in 2009 when I was at St Richard Catholic Church in Jackson serving as the associate pastor. I have updated it for the other parishes where I have served: St Mary in Yazoo City, St James in Tupelo, St Jude in Pearl, and now Holy Savior and Immaculate Conception. After the reading of the Gospel for the day of the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, the Gospel will continue with the reading of the Magnificat. How radical are the words that Mary proclaims in the Magnificat? If we hear them the way Mary announced them to the world, should we be shaken up and shocked out of our complacency?
GOSPEL READING: Luke 1:39-55
PRIEST: During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said:
MARY: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
HOMILY:
Reader: We usually look at the Gospel from our own perspective, of how it speaks to us in the reality of our own lives. Today, on the 4th Sunday of Advent, we hear about the visitation of Mary to her cousin of Elizabeth. Mary sings the Magnificat in response to the greeting she receives from Elizabeth. Let’s look at Mary today from a perspective different from our own. We will look at Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth from the perspective of a poor peasant farmer in Chile in a conversation with his priest, and of how the Virgin Mary herself might respond to them. Let us use our imagination to hear today’s Gospel from a perspective very different from our own.
PRIEST: Today's Gospel brought to my mind a conversion I had with a fellow seminarian, Joe, when I was in seminary up in Wisconsin. Joe was planning his first mass in the Diocese of Lexington where he was going to ordained a priest. He wanted to have the Magnificat sung at this mass. But, when he came to the phrase, “the rich will be sent away empty,” he decided he was going to change those words. Instead of the rich being sent away empty, he wanted it to be the arrogant, or the proud who would be sent away empty, even though those were not the words that Mary used. Joe said he didn’t want to offend some family members who would be attending that mass. They happen to be very wealthy.
MARY: Why would someone want to change my words? Why can’t they just hear what I have to say?
PEASANT: Hey, Father Lincoln. Could I talk to you about today’s Gospel reading? When I heard it, it reminded me of 9/11.
PRIEST: Hi Miguel. Great to see you. Why would Mary’s Magnificat remind you of the terrorist attacks on September 11 in the United States?
PEASANT: No, not the attacks in New York on 9/11. That's so far away from here. I thought about what happened in my country of Chile, on 9/11 back in 1973. Our President Salvador Allende was killed in a military coup by General Pinochet on that day. President Allende was concerned about the poor of our country, just like the Virgin Mary in the Magnificat. That is why I thought about that day.
MARY: Now this conversation is getting interesting. Let’s see how he connects my visit with my cousin Elizabeth to his own life.
PRIEST: Let's look at the Magnificat, Miguel. How does it help you better understand Mary and her situation?
MARY: I was in quite a predicament when those words came out of my mouth: I was pregnant and I was very scared. I wonder if they will understand the desperation that I felt.
PEASANT: I look at the Magnificat, and I think about Mary, the woman who said those words: “The Lord has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness.” When I see the image of the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral in Santiago, I see a beautiful woman with a crown, with gold rings and jewels on her fingers, wearing a beautiful blue dress embroidered in gold. In reality, Mary was a lowly handmaid, a poor humble woman of Nazareth. She was engaged to a lowly carpenter.
MARY: Yes, I was a poor Jewish girl wearing the same type of clothing all the young women wore. There were blisters on my hands from the hard work I did all day. I was not wealthy at all. I did not have an easy life.
PRIEST: In the Magnificat, Mary tells us what God is doing for her, what he is doing for Israel. He chose a poor, humble servant as the mother of his Son.
PEASANT: That’s right, Father. Mary would have been like me and the poor of my village who work hard all day to try to put food on the table for our families.
MARY: What I was saying in the Magnificat was that the lowly were being lifted up, that those on high were being cast down. That's what God was doing in his selection of the mother of his Son, in choosing me for this very special task. It was all God's doing. It was all God's plan.
PRIEST: You know, Miguel, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth in obedience to the Angel's instructions. She did this out of love and charity. Mary responded to Elizabeth with praise and love for God.
MARY: My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.
PEASANT: I believe Mary praises God because he has turned the world upside down. You would have thought that our powerful God would have chosen a princess to be the mother of his son. God's message in choosing the Virgin Mary was that he pays special attention to people like me – to the poor, to the oppressed, to the people on the margins.
MARY: Yes, God raised me up, and all generations now call me blessed. Who would have imagined such a thing?
PEASANT: Father, Mary proclaims that God has put down the mighty from their thrones. What does that mean to me in language that I can understand? I am just a poor farmer. My family struggles a lot. The economic and political turmoil in the world can make our situation so much worse - it is way beyond our control.
PRIEST: Miguel, think of the empires that existed in Jesus' day and how often they rose and fell – the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans. We've seen it in our own day too. Many colonial empires have come and gone in the last few centuries. We were controlled by Spain for centuries here in Chile – but that rule ended a long time ago. Empires come and go, but the poor, humble people of the world will always be here.
MARY: Those worldly empires mean nothing – God's kingdom is what really matters.
PEASANT: When I hear Mary proclaiming that God has filled the hungry with good things, and that the rich will be sent away empty, I see God empowering me. I have a hard time surviving. Sometimes, I don’t know how I am going to pay my bills. I know that God expects me to work hard and to provide for my family, but God wants me to feel empowered as well, to take responsibility for the way I live out my faith. God took the people of Israel to the promised land, but the people had responsibilities too. They had to undertake that journey.
MARY: Yes, Miguel, we all have a hand in proclaiming God's kingdom here on earth, just as I had my special role in God's plan of salvation. God is calling us to work for peace and justice.
PRIEST: We all are called during this Advent season to rejoice at the coming of the Lord. We are to joyfully give thanks for God’s presence with us. Mary gives thanks in the Magnificat. What God did for Mary shows the great love he has for us all – the rich and the poor – everyone.
PEASANT: Yes, Father. That is what I like about the joyful celebrations we have at our parish. I give thanks to a God who liberates me, who humbles the arrogant by showing them that they are not the ones in charge, because it is really God who is in charge.
MARY: No one else in the world loves the Magnificat as much the poor of Latin America. I sometimes hear them singing the Magnificat as they leave mass. The Magnificat is not just the hymn of praise that I sang while visiting my cousin Elizabeth – it is a hymn of praise for all of us.
PRIEST: How would King Herod have reacted if he had heard Mary singing the Magnificat?
MARY: He probably would have laughed at me! He probably would have thought that I was crazy!
PEASANT: Well, I am certainly not laughing, and the Blessed Mother certainly isn’t crazy. Mary’s Magnificat gives me hope. I may struggle to put food on my table, I may not have a lot of power, I may not be rich, but I have a God who loves me. I place my hope in my faith and in God.
PRIEST: I am glad you have hope, Miguel. Let us have hope together.
PEASANT: Mary may have been a poor Jewish girl who was pregnant and scared, but she is the Mother of our Lord and the Queen of Heaven. She is our mother. That is why these words mean so much to me.
MARY: It’s so complicated for those in the modern world to understand who I was and who I am, to understand what was going on in ancient Israel at the time of my son’s birth. I hope that my son’s disciples keep searching for the truth. I hope they never give up!
PRIEST: Miguel, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me today. This conversation has been a blessing for me. God bless you.
PEASANT: Gracias, Padre. God bless you too. Adios.
