LK 1:39-45
In the
Gospel readings for today, Mary journeys to visit Elizabeth in Judah. As I read
this particular passage, I saw Elizabeth as an example of authentic welcoming,
even when there was an unannounced visitor at her door who would share
unplanned and surprising news. Elizabeth asks, “And how does this happen to
me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me,” as if she truly
recognizes the gift of those moments.
During my
undergraduate years at Loyola University Chicago, I spent just over a week in
Kingston, Jamaica on a service immersion. Towards the end of the experience,
our group visited residents at a nursing home, and I had the opportunity to spend
time with a woman who was relaxing in a rocking chair. Not long after sitting
down with her, she grabbed my hand and began crying as she tried to communicate
her desire to return home. My initial internal response was panic. I felt as if
I was not qualified to receive this woman’s concerns in any meaningful way. I
didn’t have any of the right answers, and for several minutes, I was
preoccupied with that fear of not having the answers.
But I
quickly realized that I didn’t need to have the right answers. I could not fix
anything or save anyone, and I did not want to. I just wanted to sit with her
as she cried silent tears and to hold her hand. I needed to see Christ in the
unplanned encounter with this person who invited me into her brokenness. After
letting go of my own plan for this interaction, I found God alive and at work
in this woman’s sacred and very human story.
For me,
Advent is a time to cultivate a renewed awareness that Christ is found in the
unexpected surprises, in the moments that we miss if we are too preoccupied
with our own plans. Elizabeth did not miss the profound significance of Mary’s
sudden appearance at her door. Elizabeth did not fail to welcome Mary in and to
recognize Christ. Advent calls us to to do the same, to recognize Christ
in friends and strangers alike and to welcome them into our lives, knowing that
God is in the simple gift of surprise.
Questions
to guide reflection and prayer:
1. When in our lives have we failed to see
Christ in someone or something unexpected?
2. When have we let our plans obscure the
view of God’s endless and unplanned grace?
3. How are we called this Advent to welcome
Christ in the everyday surprises and unpredictable joys like Elizabeth?
Emily
Cybulla is a first year medical student at SLU. She graduated in 2015 from
Loyola University Chicago and served as a Jesuit Volunteer in Syracuse, NY at
L’Arche, an intentional community of folks with and without disabilities,
before starting at SLU.
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