Reflection on the Fourth Week of Advent

“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country, in haste, to a town of Judah, where she entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.”

We have all entered the “hill country,” whether it be a hike in the Rockies, a walk on a beach or a walk up the hill from the “world” to the top of our road at the Motherhouse. Our walking can be just for exercise or it can be about a new awareness. You just need to stop sometimes and look, and as you do, you may find that what you seek, often by grace, finds you.

The poet John O’Donohue writes, “When you travel, a new silence goes with you, and if you listen, you will hear what your heart would love to say. A journey can become a sacred thing: make sure before you go, to take time to bless your going forth, to free your heart of ballast so that the compass of your soul might direct you toward the territories where you will discover your hidden life, and the urgencies that deserve to claim you.”

Mary, carrying Jesus in her womb climbing up that Judean hill, could never have imagined the other roads that would lie ahead from this sacred journey. It was a trip of love as Elizabeth stood waiting at the doorstep. It was a time of necessary attentiveness, perhaps even sufferings, as Mary thought of the days and years that lie ahead. She had no map, just courage and hope in God who would always be there for her.

As a Jewish maiden, Mary knew the words of Micah, the prophet we hear today: “From you shall come forth from me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from old in ancient times. … He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of God and his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” A prophecy that brought Mary face-to-face with the urgencies that God used to claim her: fidelity, compassion, humility, vulnerability and love. 

While we do not claim the intense journey Mary took to climb the hill country, or the years of waiting Elizabeth experienced, as many women do. You know well the hills you have climbed. You also know the hills many women must climb: searching for employment that pays health care; decent, safe housing; affordable child care; home support for an illness; fear of being called a migrant criminal and deported … and the list is long. The call is, of course, not to always think of our own journey, but to respond as we can to the daily challenges experienced by many women.

We need what all women need for the journey: openness to God’s guidance, intimate companions, safety, curiosity and wonder as we let the mystery of God into our heart. This can happen when we let go and let God direct and inspire us. The path is never easy. But that’s a reason for Advent hope. Advent hope is not a promise that things will turn out great, but rather that something is worth it even though we are not sure of what might come.  As with most travelers, there is a perspective that can only be realized after the journey ends. Mary had it. Elizabeth had it. Zechariah had it, and we can strive to have it, too.

God offers gifts for the journey, and it’s not just warm boots and woolen caps. God’s gift helps us to realize what our “yes” means and enables us to respond, “Here we are, ready to receive the gift and then live it.”  God set the hill before Mary, and she climbed. She believed the future promise of the son she would birth. She placed the challenges above her own, and using the ancient words of another mother, Hannah, Mary prayed her “Magnificat,” praising the goodness of the Creator. “My soul proclaims the greatness of God.”

As we prepare for Eucharist today, the grace for all our journeys, we again hear the words of John O’Donohue: “May you travel in an awakened way, gathered wisely into your inner ground; that you may not waste the invitations which wait along the way to transform you. May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, and live your time to its fullest; return home more enriched, and free to balance the gift of the days which call you.”

“God has done great things for us and holy is God’s name.”