Is it here yet?  We have all had the experience of eagerly anticipating some upcoming event in our life.  We imagined how great it would be when “it” – whatever it was – finally happened or arrived.  The closer we got to the actual day of the event, the more excited we became.  You may have been waiting for the birth of a child, or graduation or a special vacation, or retirement.  Or you may have been waiting to overcome some challenge in life such as counting down the appointments to the end of chemotherapy or the days of physical rehabilitation from a broken hip.  Right now, all of us, I’m sure, are wearily awaiting the end of the coronavirus pandemic and a return to normal life.

If you are like most of us at this point in the season, you may be about ready to wrap up Advent and eagerly awaiting your family get-together to unwrap your Christmas presents.  You are looking forward to attending a beautiful Christmas Mass and eager to observe family traditions around your dining room table or your Christmas tree.

As eager as we may be for any of these events to arrive, our anticipation is nothing compared to the anticipation that the people felt at the time that Micah proclaimed his prophecy that we heard in today’s first reading.  The Assyrian Empire that had overtaken the ten northern tribes of Israel was now trying to take over Judah with its capital, Jerusalem.  As they cowered in fear, the people of Judah were longing for a new king, like David, the shepherd boy who had made them a strong nation so many years ago and ushered in an era of peace.  The magnitude and scale of their longing and expectation is beyond our comprehension.  Generation after generation, they yearned for peace and harmony in their own land and with their neighbors.  Age upon age, they prayed that God would send the shepherd that we heard Micah describe in our first reading.  The prophet Micah, like those before him, assured the people that “he shall be peace.” 

I recall this part of Israel’s history of faithful expectation to help you better appreciate the powerful scene that Luke recounts in today’s Gospel.  The people Israel were still awaiting a new king who would save them, this time it would be from the oppressive Roman Empire.  As we listen to the account of Mary’s visit to her older cousin, Elizabeth, we hear that Israel’s long-awaited Savior – and his herald, the last prophet, John the Baptist – are not only already in the womb but now are even under the same roof.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, what might have been an unremarkable family visit on an ordinary day in a rural village becomes the critical intersection of two periods of Salvation History.  

Elizabeth, with John the Baptist in her womb, embodies the former generations of the Old Covenant.  She bears the prophet who will point the way to the promised one who would usher in the New Covenant.  Mary, with Jesus in her womb, embodies that new beginning.  She bears the long-awaited king – Emmanuel – God with us – the one who would bring true and lasting peace to all under his care.

As Luke describes the meeting of these two women you can feel the excitement, the anticipation in every phrase.  We hear that Mary travels “in haste.”  When Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice, John “leaps” in her womb. Elizabeth is “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Then she exclaims to Mary, “Blessed are you who believed,” as she acknowledges and celebrates Mary’s faithfulness to God’s plan for our salvation that is unfolding right before their very eyes.

As we listen to this Gospel, we are swept up in the joy and excitement that was so evident in Elizabeth’s home.  We can imagine how Luke’s first audiences must have delighted in this story, as well.  After all, Jesus was the answer to their ancestors’ prayers.  Through baptism, those early Christians were drawn into God’s eternal peace and were called to continue his mission of bringing his peace and grace to the whole world as they built up not an earthly kingdom but the heavenly kingdom that Jesus had established in their midst.

We, too, are called to continue Jesus’ mission, which brings us back to these culminating moments of this Advent season.  The readings on this final Sunday of the season show us that God’s presence comes to us in unexpected ways, just as it did through David, Elizabeth and Mary, and they encourage us to discover those places in our own lives and relationships where we can more fully experience – and express – God’s peace, like David, Elizabeth and Mary did.  In a similar way, this short span of days leading up to Christmas is symbolic of those in our community and around the world who long to know the peace, hope and joy of Christmas.  As Mary rushed to share her excitement with Elizabeth, let us hurry to share Jesus’ peace with those who are waiting and eager to know him.  In this last, hectic week before Christmas, let us be peace.