Christmas is almost here, and most of us remain busy with last-minute preparations on the externals of many celebrations. These can overshadow spiritual preparation. Mary’s example in today’s Gospel helps us reflect on the importance of preparing for Christmas through actions and attitudes of service and sharing.
The bulletin cover, depicting this weekend’s Gospel from Luke, was completed during Florence’s political upheaval at the end of the 1520s, and the artist’s paintings from this period resonate with acute psychological intensity. Recent restoration of this work reveals its stunning range of colors and exquisite details, which led to its first-time travel from Italy to the United States in 2019. Intertwining arcs of arms and fabric firmly unite Mary and Elizabeth, the two protagonists whose distinctly enlarged bodies dominate the painted surface. Florentine social protocol demanded that a woman of importance not be out and about in public unattended, so a handmaiden accompanies each. Their age difference roughly corresponds to that of the two saints.
The monumental scene is depicted in a frozen fashion against the backdrop of a roughly painted, funeral-like gloomy town. This is a depiction of the Good News breaking into a fallen and worn out world. The profile portrayal of the two main figures, embracing one another with extreme delicacy and exchanging looks of intense mutual affection, is set against the rigidly frontal positions of the two bystanders in the background. Immobile, almost petrified, this pair keep their eyes fixed on something outside the scene, revealing their total lack of emotional participation in the event. Their expressions convey a rather melancholic tone to the scene’s general atmosphere of high spirituality. The artist concentrated on the intimate aspect of the encounter, but highlights the sense of mystery that surrounds the two main figures and the atmosphere of anticipation for the two imminent and exceptional births.
Today’s readings invite reflection on obedience, not a forced, blind compliance—but an openness to what God is asking of us. Elizabeth offers a beautiful image of obedience: believing that what is spoken to us by the Lord will be fulfilled. We have a God who speaks nothing but love. Let us be obedient and believe that love is the way.
Fr. Terry