“God with us”: Mary’s faith in Advent

Mt 1:18

Fourth Sunday of Advent

At every level of the evangelical tradition, Mary is above all the “Mother of Jesus.”

Various texts refer to her simply with this title (Mk 3:31ff; Lk 2:48; Jn 2:1–12; 19:25ff). In it, her entire role in the work of salvation is defined.

The person who lived Advent most perfectly—as a faithful and ardent expectation of Jesus the Savior, in the midst of the darkness of faith and the ambiguities and trials of the human condition—was the Virgin Mary.

Today’s Gospel once again shows the human dimension of her motherhood: God chose to come to earth in the humility of a home that, like any family, experienced difficulties and misunderstandings. These challenges were overcome by Mary’s fidelity to the promises of the Spirit and by Joseph’s loyalty to his wife and to the signs of God.

In the Magnificat, Mary expresses a Palestinian tradition that preserves more the meaning of her prayer—model of the faith of God’s people—than the exact words themselves. Following the classical form of a psalm of thanksgiving and drawing on the traditional themes of the psalter, Mary proclaims something new: the Kingdom of God is present (Lk 1:46–55).

The Gospels do not tell us much about Mary and Joseph, about their expectation of the coming Jesus, nor about their quiet collaboration in the mystery of the Incarnation and redemption. It seems the early Christian community did not feel the need to multiply their stories and sayings, because their holiness and their importance in the life of the Church were evident to everyone; they were part of the life of Christ and of Christianity as the air is part of our life.

Mary and Joseph have always been praised for their hidden virtues and for accepting an extraordinary mission within the most ordinary circumstances: daily work, family duties and participation in the life of a poor and obscure village. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46).

They are a sign of hope for our society, which, in the end, cannot do without ordinary human tasks or daily routines. It is there—in whatever social setting we live each day—that fraternity, justice and freedom are built, as children of God.

With the song of the Magnificat, let us unite ourselves to Mary to welcome Jesus, who invites us to be His mother and His brothers (Mt 12:46–50; Mk 3:31–35; Lk 8:19–21).

“You shall name him Jesus,” “Emmanuel,” meaning “God is with us.”

And when the moment arrived, the angel of the Lord announced:

“I bring you good news of great joy… Today a Savior has been born to you” (Lk 2:10).