Forth Sunday in Advent

December 19-20, 2009

“True Beauty”

Luke 1:39-45

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our heavenly Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Women in our culture are too often celebrated for what they look like, rather than for who they are. Having two daughters, I’m becoming increasingly aware of this. The media inundates us with ads for diet pills and plans, cosmetics, collagen and plastic surgery, all aimed at showing women what they can truly be if they would only improve their appearance. Magazines feature an endless parade of the latest models and celebrities. Hollywood encourages us to be superficial, and celebrates the lives of the young and the beautiful. In many cases, these beautiful celebrities, having no real grounding in life, come to tragic ends. And ultimately, such a superficial approach keeps all of us from recognizing true beauty. For a case in point, you may remember the recent sensation over Susan Boyle, the contestant in a singing competition in England who was almost laughed off the stage because of her appearance…and then she started to sing, and the audience realized, at least briefly, that maybe a person’s outward looks aren’t as important as other things.

In our Gospel lesson today, we meet two women. And you’ll notice, St. Luke doesn’t bother telling us what they looked like. He doesn’t mention anything about high cheekbones or hourglass figures. He pays no attention to their sense of fashion, whatever it may have been. He simply shows them for who they are: two truly beautiful women.

The first of these women was quite young, most likely still a teenager. Her name was Mary. As was the custom of the age, she was engaged to a man who was somewhat older than her, a carpenter in Nazareth by the name of Joseph. And, as you know, she found herself with child; not because she had put the cart before the horse, so to speak, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary had been chosen to be the mother of the Lord. And she had received this news with beautiful humility and faith: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” The angel had also told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth would bear a child, too. No doubt young Mary decided that Elizabeth would be a wonderful mentor as she prepared for this difficult task, so she hurried off to the hill country to visit her cousin and tell her the good news.

Elizabeth, the other beautiful woman in our Gospel lesson, was married to Zechariah, a priest of Israel. Unlike Mary, she was advanced in years; but she was no less beautiful. Luke tells us she was a righteous woman who exhibited the true beauty of character. Now, as soon as Mary entered Elizabeth’s house, she told her cousin all that had happened: the angel’s message about the conception by the Holy Spirit, and about the child who was to be called Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.” And how did Elizabeth react to this greeting? Was she a little jealous that Mary’s news was even greater than her own? Was she put out by the fact that this young woman, and not she, would give birth to the Son of God? After all, Elizabeth was married to a respected priest who served in the temple. Mary was just a simple girl from a nowhere town, set to marry a carpenter. But no; there was no jealousy in this beautiful woman. In fact, she was honored, saying, “Why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” At Mary’s good news, Elizabeth was glad: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

And then, Elizabeth’s child got into the act. As she said, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” In holy joy that could not be contained, the unborn John the Baptist was already pointing to the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world. Here is a wonderful picture of infant faith, and a vivid reminder of why the Church from the beginning has baptized infants. The child of Elizabeth was already looking forward to what the Child of Mary would accomplish.

So in today’s Gospel lesson we see that human life in all its stages has been sanctified and touched by the beauty of God. There is beauty in the unborn child; beauty in the godly mother; beauty in the one who grows older in the wisdom of the Lord. All human life is created beautiful by the One through whom the world was made, by whose death the world is redeemed, and by whose incarnation the world is sanctified. And compare this beautiful scene from the Scriptures with the ugliness of sin. The ugliness of sin is looking constantly in the mirror, without a thought for others. The world says, “A woman shouldn’t have to carry a child she doesn’t want.” In the ugliness of sin, life is all about “me, myself, and I.” We judge others by how useful they are to us, and woe to anyone who gets in our way, whether that be an inconvenient child, a person suffering from a handicap, or an elderly person who we think requires “too much” of our care and attention. Such is the ugliness of sin.

Much better for us to ponder St. Luke’s beautiful scene. Here we see a wonderful affirmation of life. We see beautiful faith, given by God. Consider Mary: upon hearing that she would be the mother of the Lord, she didn’t give in to vanity or empty boasting. She has no ideas of self-promotion. Instead, she finds herself uplifted and graced by what God has done. She finds her fulfillment in God’s promises. Mary’s beauty is in her humility and trust, saying simply to the angel, “let it be to me according to your word.” This was not blind obedience or passive ignorance. Mary trusted in God because she knew that He is trustworthy. Throughout history, God had kept His promises. He has a long history of raising the lowly and showing kindness to the poor. Mary knew that through her Child, God would do great things. In her Son, she could see the proud scattered and the mighty knocked off their thrones. In her Son, she could see the humble exalted and the hungry filled with good things. In her Son, she could see the salvation of Israel, and the whole world.

And maybe that’s the point of all this; what Mary could see. Society teaches young women to look in the mirror and judge themselves by appearances. But what’s the result of that? Either vanity or depression, because there’s nothing there. Mary and Elizabeth, on the other hand, were women of substance. They were happy for each other, and put their focus on Christ. Elizabeth was most excited by the fact that Mary would give birth to the Savior. And because of that, she could rejoice with Mary. Nor was Mary vain; she looked at what God had done for her and saw One who would come forth and save her. They were focusing on Christ, and that made them beautiful women. They looked into the face of God by faith, and reflected His beauty.

So what does this all mean for us, in our world of vanity and lack of substance? In this season of Advent, we do well to take some time out of our busy schedules to reflect once more on what it’s all about. We would do well to look beyond the lights and the tinsel, and fix our eyes on the Christ Child, finding our glory in the cross that He would bear on our behalf. And we can teach our children the countercultural values of Mary and Elizabeth. Earthly beauty is a gift from God, and that’s fine; but that beauty fades away. We can move away from vanity and ugly pride, and rather, adorn ourselves with Christ, putting on His Spirit of holiness. We do far better to place Christ before our eyes, and before the eyes of our children.

Our Lord did not choose to enter into some perfect, ideal world. He chose, instead, to enter our world, with all its flaws and blemishes. Why? Because He loves us, with all our flaws and blemishes. He comes to wash away our sins, and present us, the Church, as His holy Bride, clothed in baptismal splendor, that we might be holy by receiving the forgiveness of our sins, life and salvation. This is true beauty, the beauty of the Incarnation, the beauty of Christmas. Amen.