Homily for the week of December 20, 2009

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C, 2009

Mi 5:1-4a

Heb 10:5-10

Lk 1:39-45

As we near Christmas, children are beginning to drive parents crazy with their anticipation. In some families there is a lot of packing going on as they prepare to travel to spend Christmas with out-of-town family or maybe just go somewhere to celebrate Christmas. A lot of baking and decorating is going on. Business, except retail, will come close to a standstill this week as employees take vacation days, finish their shopping, attend parties, and prepare for the big day.

Not everyone is happy and excited however. For some, this is the loneliest time of year. They might be a long way from family and friends, and others may not have family or friends with whom to celebrate. Some are alone in nursing homes. Some are alone on the streets. Some might be surrounded by people yet feel alone and unimportant.

Many who have lost jobs in the past year struggle to support their families. Some of these workers simply feel discarded and forgotten. While most of us find excitement in our anticipation of Christmas, some find only dread.

We do not want to ruin our enthusiasm and excitement by remembering those who are alone or suffering at this time of year, but we must make the effort to remember those who seem to be left out. It is for these that Christ has come. Just as Mary brought some incredible news and joy to her cousin Elizabeth, we must consider how we might be the bearers of glad tidings ourselves.

Today we might consider Bethlehem, ''too small to be among the clans of Judah.'' Bethlehem was a very small town, more a village really, a short distance from Jerusalem. It was a one-industry town: it produced bread for sale in Jerusalem. The name ''Bethlehem'' actually means ''little house of bread.'' Its only claim to fame was that it was the birthplace of David, thus it is sometimes identified as ''The City of David.'' Beyond this, it was just another overlooked village among many small villages near Jerusalem, ''too small to be among the clans of Judah.'' If Jesus had not been born there, it might even not exist today.

It is an irony that such a small, insignificant place would play such an enormous role in history. It is a reminder to us that those who might seem insignificant -- the poor, the elderly, today's ''widows and orphans'' -- are not insignificant in the eyes of God.

Mary herself was a relatively insignificant person. She was a young girl from another small village. Her responses to the angel Gabriel and even to Elizabeth let us know that even Mary considered herself insignificant. By no means she did suffer from ''poor self-esteem.'' She was just simply humble knowing that she was from a poor family in a poor village.

Mary teaches us a lesson: being from insignificant families in insignificant places does not make us insignificant. We are reminded that idea of significance does not come from places or families. Our significance comes from God. All human life is significant. This was the message of God's choice to become human and enter our world. There were those in Nazareth who tried to put Jesus down by reminding everyone that He was just a carpenter's son, the son of Mary, and everybody knew His family -- meaning no one thought the carpenter's family was anything special. In this context Micah's words take on deep meaning when we ponder how God uses what we might consider insignificant: ''You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.''

Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, gives a sense of what we can do for those who are alone or feel abandoned or suffer at this time of year. Elizabeth made clear that she recognized that her young cousin from Nowheresville was significant.

Luke's story of Jesus' birth contains in miniature the whole of the Gospel message. Elizabeth's acclamation of faith tells us who Jesus is. The reaction of the not-yet-born John the Baptist becomes another statement of faith in the importance of Jesus. Elizabeth herself stepped aside to point to the significance of Mary and especially the child she carried.

As we count the days until Christmas, we might want to point ourselves and our children to the reality that Christ's coming makes all humanity significant -- born and unborn. We might not be able to change the lot of the poor, but we can acknowledge their existence and their importance. We can teach our children to notice the lonely, for it is to just such as them that Christ has come.