Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year C)
Today, the fourth week of Advent, we light the fourth purple candle. This final candle called as the “Angel’s Candle.” It symbolizes the “peace,” because it reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men.”
This week marks our final week of waiting for the birth of baby Jesus, our saviour. How many days are left from now to receive the baby Jesus? Christmas is very near! When a baby is born in our house, we prepare ourselves to receive the baby. There is preparation in the house. There is need to prepare baby gear, to take some time for yourself, and invite the family members and plan birth announcements so on. Then finally we get ready with the GIFTS to offer for the baby.
If we prepare these many things for the baby who is human, what then about the preparation for the birth of baby Jesus? He is our Saviour, God and Peace. The first reading (Micah 5: 2-5a) predicts the Jesus will be born from the Bethlehem Ephrathah. It is too little to be among the clans of Judah. Jesus will be the ruler in the Israel and He will shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the name of the lord, his God and finally he will be their peace.
The Gospel gives the assurance for the prediction in the first reading. Here we see that Pregnant Mary is going to visit the pregnant Elizabeth. In this visitation, we see themes of advent are fulfilled. The themes are Hope, faith, Joy and peace. The hope of Israel, king will be fulfilled soon. Mary and Elizabeth share the common element of faith in their pregnancy period as they are expecting the baby. They share Joy of their Gift of “blessedness, Motherhood” and they are experiencing the peace within themselves.
Second Reading shows us the way forward how we should be ready to receive Jesus in our hearts with our proper GIFTS. We look at the reading: "you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings because they are offered according to law and Behold, I have come to do your will.” So if we want to receive Jesus in acceptable and worthy manner, we need receive him in a healthy way and not materialist way. We need to give the GIFT which is from the Heart.
Therefore, what is our GIFT to Jesus? Each one of us have something to give to Jesus. Our gift should be consist of 5 letters: H-E-A-R-T.
H- umility. We need to be humble to receive Jesus in worthily manner. Look at the Mother Mary. Mother Mary was mother of God and she went to visit Elizabeth. This shows the humility of Mother Mary in the Gospel.
E- eye-opener: We see how Baby Jesus moved the baby in the womb of Elizabeth. In the same way, we need to be eye-opener because we live among the people who are living with depression and many problem.
A- uthentic: It means of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine. We need to authentic in our preparation as we are preparing during advent theme: hope, faith, Joy and peace. All these themes were fulfilled in today’s gospel.
R- eadiness: We need to be ready to serve the people around us to prepare ourselves in a worthily manner. We need to ready as the child is going to born in a few days to bring peace upon us.
T- hankful: It is time to give thanks to the Lord for his endless love among us. He is going to give us His son. He is His only son who is king, shepherd and peace among the people of Israel and among us.
When you join all these 5 letters, you get the word, “heart.” This is the most important gift that we can give to Jesus as we are preparing to receive Him in our hearts. It is by being humble, eye-opener, authentic, ready and thankful, we allow Jesus to be born in our hearts. OUR PRECIOUS GIFT TO JESUS SHOULD OUR HEART and not just a heart but most beautiful heart.
A young man was proud of his healthy and beautiful heart. One day, standing in the middle of the town, he proclaimed that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered to have a look at his heart. His heart was smooth, shiny and looked very healthy. Indeed, the man had the most beautiful heart in the valley, everyone agreed.
The proud young man felt delighted and boasted his perfect heart which everyone admired. Suddenly, a voice from the crowd said, “Your heart is not as beautiful as mine.” The young man searched for the person behind the voice and an old man appeared in front him.
“Show us your heart if you believe you have got more beautiful heart than mine.” said the young man. The old man carefully showed his heart. The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. The heart was beating strongly and healthily but it was not smooth and shiny as the young man’s heart. Instead, it had scars all over it. It had places where some pieces of the heart had been removed and other pieces were put in. The other pieces didn’t fit perfectly and there were several uneven edges. In some places, there were deep gouges where some pieces were missing.
The crowd laughed at the old man’s heart. “How can he claim that he has the most beautiful heart when it is all scared and uneven.” they thought. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed.” You must be kidding. Compare your heart and mine. My heart looks perfect and smooth and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
“Yes, your heart looks perfect, but I would never trade your heart with mine”, said the old man. “Every scar in my heart represents a person whom I have given my love. I tear a piece of my heart and give to them. Often, my loved one gives me back a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart. Since everyone loves each other in a different way. Their piece of heart may not perfectly fit my heart, so you can see some rough edges. These scars and rough edges remind me of the love we shared.” he continued.
“Sometimes I would give a piece of my heart, but the other person may not return a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges. Although these gouges are painful, these remind me of the love I have for these people too. So do you now see what a true beauty? “Asked the old man. The young man and the crowd stood silently with tears running down their cheeks. The young man walked to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, ripped a piece out of it and offered it to the man with trembling hands. The old man gratefully received is offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old heart and placed it in the young man’s heart.
The young man looked at his heart, it did not look shiny and smooth like it used to. But, it was now more beautiful because he could feel the love from the old man’s heart flowing into him.
Let us ask for the grace of God so that it will enable us to give our hearts to Jesus with our weakness to be born within ourselves, in our homes and the society. It is the most precious gift that we can give to Jesus.
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