Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 24th December 2023

​I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of another year in my life when I have felt less Christmassy. I’m also surprised at the number of people who have told me that they feel exactly the same. I think that the horrific war in the Holy Land has much to do with it, the daily reporting of ceaseless massacre and destruction. There is certainly a very dark cloud over our world at present, especially the Christian world. And yet, Christmas is the feast of Christ our light, who shines in the darkness, a light that cannot be overcome by darkness, a hope that cannot be snuffed out by the barbarism of the forces of evil, faith in life that perseveres no matter what, death that leads to resurrection and new life. Christ is born to die, but dies to live again, and whose kingdom is not of this world.

 

Today we keep the Fourth and last Sunday in Advent as well as Christmas Eve. We prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Nativity tonight. Our Gospel reading comes from Luke (Lk 1: 26-38) and recounts the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary of her divine Son’s conception, that in her womb the Word would be made flesh and dwell among us, to paraphrase the Prologue to John’s Gospel. We know the story by heart, it’s so central to our Christian faith. Let’s just read it again, slowly and allowing the words and phrases to penetrate deep down into the very core of our being.

 

“The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.”

 

Although Mary is the model of Christian obedience, listening closely for God’s will to be revealed, hers is no blind obedience. She is deeply disturbed by the angel Gabriel’s greeting, asking herself what it can mean. She questions the angel, “How can this be?” Only when God’s will is fully explained, does she give her assent, her “Fiat: let it be done to me.” Many Church Fathers and theologians have written eloquently of the moment of that decision, saying that God’s plan of salvation depended on the Virgin’s, “Yes.” It was a solid reply, for Our Lady accepted and lived out all the consequences of that decision to do God’s will. We pray today that, through her intercession, we too may do God’s will with faith and courage and so play our part in God’s plan of salvation for the whole of creation.