4^th Sunday of Advent
Lk 1: 39-45
December 21, 2003
Fr. Carl McCarthy 

When I was a child, our family did a lot of visiting.  Almost every Sunday, we visited someone, or someone came to our house to visit us.  Of all the places that we visited, my favorite place was my Aunt Bertha and Uncle Anthony’s.  Well, they really weren’t my aunt and uncle, but that’s what we called them.
           Christmas was my favorite time to visit them because they had all the neat Christmas stuff.  When we pulled into their driveway, we saw a Christmas wonderland.  They had those big bulb lights in all their evergreen trees and the eight light electric candles in the windows.  Inside the house, they had two Christmas trees, one in the living room and the other in the kitchen, and both of them were artificial.  There was always Christmas music playing,  plenty of food and candy to share, and eggnog, with the nog, to drink.
           I loved those visits, but I wonder if we have lost the art of visiting. Family visits don’t occur as often as they once did, and, when they do, they happen in a much shorter period of time.
         The story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, known as the Visitation, may help rekindle the spirit of visiting. It would have been difficult for Mary to reach her cousin. Her travel through the hill country to the town of Judah would have been a trip of about 90 miles. The route would have taken her along the River Jordan, by the Dead Sea, up the steep hills, some by donkey and some by foot. This would have been a hard trip for anyone, but for a pregnant woman, it would have been even harder.
        When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the child in her womb leapt for joy. This child was John the Baptist, who would soon herald the Savior’s coming. This stirring is a powerful sign that, even before his birth, the Divine presence of Jesus could be felt. Already, in this visit  between Mary and Elizabeth, we see the power that is waiting to come through the door and raise up a fallen world. In this visit, we see how the grace of God is made present as two people share in the gift of life.
         In these final hours of Christmas preparation, we find ourselves at the doorway that once again will open to our Savior’s birth. As we walk through this door, we will enter into God’s house -- not a palace, but a dirty stable -- where we will find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths.  This is not just another quaint Christmas story that we hear once a year. This story reminds us that once we are in this house, we will find Jesus lying in a manger. This place where animals are fed, we will find our food --food that will stir our spirits, renew within us the gift of God’s love and nourish us with salvation.
        In the days to come, many of us will be making Christmas visits. As we go from house to house, as people stop by our house, as family and friends call, as cards are read, gifts are given, I encourage you to do what Mary and Elizabeth did  and stop to share the presence of Christ with one another.