Commentary

4th Sunday of Advent - B
Luke 1: 26 – 38

“The Lord is with you”

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Through this greeting of the angel, we learn the real meaning of Mary’s honor – God is with her. That makes her full of grace.

We too share Mary’s blessing because the Trinity is truly with us.

God the Father dwells within us and among us, his people. God is no longer present in our midst in a tent as with the people of Israel during the days in the desert. Nor is God confined to any physical structures and buildings. As Jesus affirms us in the last supper discourse, God now dwells among his us, his beloved.[1] That is a part of our Christian faith. Therefore, we apply the same greeting to ourselves many a time in our liturgical celebrations, most notably at the beginning and at the end, to remind ourselves that we too are full of grace because God has chosen to be with us.

God the Son enters into human history at Bethlehem and remains with us. As the angel announces, “Of his kingdom, there will be no end.” And Jesus reassures his followers before the Ascension, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”[2] In the Eucharist, we receive and bear within us the same Jesus whom Mary conceived and bore in her womb.

God the Holy Spirit dwells within us since we are His temples. St. Luke seems to stress this reality in his writings. To Mary’s question, the angel explained the impossibility “the Holy Spirit will come upon you.” Jesus would use these very words in Acts 1:8 as he instructs the Apostles to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."[3] Yes, the same Holy Spirit who enabled the virgin to be a mother now enables us to bring Jesus into our world.

And who are we? Mary saw herself as God’s lowly servant (Luke 1:48). “She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy. Furthermore, she has neither husband nor child to validate her existence.”[4] But “she found favor with God.” Just like Mary, we are God’s instruments and witnesses only thanks to the fact that God has chosen us. We are full of grace because God is with us.

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[1] “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” John 14: 19 - 20, 23.
[2] Matthew 28:20
[3] Johnson, Luke Timothy, The Gospel of Luke. Sacra Pagina Series, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991; p. 38.
[4] Ibid.