The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her relative Elizabeth is the distinctive theme of the Gospel reading this Fourth Sunday of Advent. The Visitation was immediate preparation for the Lord’s arrival. Once she learned from the angel that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy, Mary set out and traveled in haste to Elizabeth’s home. The key words in this story are “in haste”. Through the Visitation, we can see that Mary is a person with zeal for God’s mission. She is diligent in carrying out his will. The counterexample is the spiritually lazy person, the person with the vice of sloth.

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Church always presents Mary as an example of how we can prepare for the coming of the Lord. I would like to highlight Mary’s diligence or zeal for the mission in two ways: in prayer and in service.

It is believed that Mary was in prayer when the angel came to share that Elizabeth was six months pregnant and extend to Mary the opportunity to be the bearer of God. The soul that awaits the arrival of the Lord is the soul that prays, faithfully and continuously. The Lord says, “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival” (Luke 12:35-37).

Prayer is the basic requirement for the coming of the Lord. It is in prayer that the Word of God is revealed to us. It is in our hearts that the Word of God wants to find a place today, as it found room in the immaculate womb of Mary. It is in our hearts that the seed of the Word of God wants to sprout and bear fruit.

The Second Vatican Council called the baptized to active participation in the liturgy. This active participation, in gesture, word, song, and service, does not exclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening. On the contrary, active participation demands this silence and stillness. Silence and stillness in the liturgy are in their own way profoundly active.  

Mary’s diligence and zeal for the mission is also demonstrated in service. Out of zeal for God’s mission, Mary went “in haste” to Elizabeth to help her in those important last weeks of pregnancy and to assist with the birth of St. John the Baptist.

The liturgy teaches us the profound relationship between listening to the Word of God and the Christian mission. This relationship is behind the liturgical action of carrying the book of the Gospels at the entrance procession but not carried out in the procession at the end of Mass. The reason is that, once the Word of God has been proclaimed, it is transferred to the hearts of the listeners and goes with us and be acted out in our daily lives. The words of the Dismissal of the people by the Deacon or the Priest have the same meaning. These words, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life”, are, after the words of the consecration of Bread and Wine, the most important words of the Mass. We are sent on a mission to actively live out the Word that was proclaimed. We are sent back to doing good works, praising and blessing God.    

Diligence in service is consistent with the Lord's message. In the parable of the Last Judgment, the Lord says that when we give food to the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or when we visit the sick, etc., we do it to him. In this world the Lord comes to us in disguise in our neighbor, especially in the poor and needy. Let us humbly ask the Lord to grant us the grace to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary in the preparation for the Lord’s coming with fervent prayer and generous service.