What Can I Offer You, Lord?

“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the House of Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth”. This is the first sentence from the gospel for the 4th Sunday of Advent. This gospel continues with Elizabeth and Mary greeting each other and sharing their delight in each other’s pregnancy. To fully understand the significance of this meeting it is necessary to read the entire first chapter of the Gospel of St Luke. We are given the introduction to Zachariah and Elizabeth and their devotion to their religion. Through God’s intervention Elizabeth becomes pregnant in her old age. St Luke continues and then tells us the story of Gabriel greeting Mary and sharing God’s plan with her. Her simple response is, “May it be done to me according to your word”.

The Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Advent follows Mary’s acceptance of her role to be Mother of God. We learned that she very quickly and “in haste” left home to go and assist her elderly relative, Elizabeth. St Luke doesn’t give us any information of Mary’s sharing her pregnancy with her parents or other family members. Mary simply leaves and goes to help others. We call this the Visitation.

We interpret this as a simple act of service. The Visitation was a choice Mary made to go and help others. St Luke doesn’t tell us anything more about the miraculous interaction of the Angel Gabriel and Mary. Rather, this young woman leaves her home and family to serve others.

The Visitation is a Mystery of the Rosary that dates to the 15^th Century (or earlier) as a way of honoring this event. The Visitation has a long history of prayer and praise of service in our church.

Our Cursillo Advent reflections follow the theme: What can I offer, Lord?

Mary, as an unmarried pregnant teenager, decided to serve others as an answer to that question. In the gospel, Mary offers each of us potent guidance to answer the question: What can I offer, Lord?

Simply focus on the answer that Mary gave when called by God…"May it be done according to your word".

De Colores,

Paul Kudrav, Deacon