5 tips from the Virgin Mary to live Advent like never before Escrito por: Fr. Kenneth Pierce

Advent is a time to reflect and see how we are preparing for the celebration of Christmas. To guide this preparation, what better example than that of Mary. She, who lived the first Advent, surely has a lot to tell us.

What did the Virgin do while waiting for the birth of Jesus?

He probably continued his life quite normally, but Scripture tells us a very significant episode: he went on a trip! At the time of the Annunciation the Angel Gabriel informed him that his cousin Elizabeth was pregnant.

Then Mary promptly went from Nazareth to Judah, on a journey that must have taken three or four days. Luke tells us the entire episode, and it is worth reading and rereading these pages of the Gospel to reflect on how the Virgin lived this time of waiting. What can we learn from it? Many things, but I can think of five that I would like to mention:

1. Sensitivity to what is not evident

The angel did not tell him to go visit Elizabeth. He only mentioned her cousin’s condition, but Mary understood that it was an opportunity to experience her charity. Like God, who generally does not “command” us but does give us opportunities to serve, and lets us make the decision.

It never crushes, it never forces, but it always invites us to love and allows multiple opportunities in our lives to live it. Isn’t that one of the great teachings of Advent? Knowing how to discover God where it is not evident.

2. A heart willing to serve

Mary, who has just received the announcement that she will be the Mother of God, lives the first days of her pregnancy… serving! The Mother of the Lord does not lose sight of what is important , and she will live from the beginning those words so profound that she will later say to her Son: “I have not come to be served but to serve” (Mt 20:28) .

Mary also provides her cousin Elizabeth with the best service one can do for another person: bringing her to Jesus.

3. Live in joy

How important at this time! Every detail of the life of Saint Mary at this time speaks to us of joy. “Happy is she who believed that the things that were spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled!” (Lk 1:45) Isabel tells her, and she gives us the reason for her joy and, in reality, the reason for all true joy: believing in God, trusting in Him.

Trust his promises. Why be happy? For what Saint Paul tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord, be glad… the Lord is near” (Phil 4:4). And how is God near? He is near because he loves us. The closeness of God is a question not of space or time, but of love.

4. Experience simplicity

God made life much simpler, but we are the ones who complicate it. Advent curiously always runs the risk of being a time contrary to simplicity due to the great temptation to complicate ourselves with the material , with what is beautiful but not essential.

The Virgin lives a good part of Advent with great simplicity, even stripped of the security and tranquility of her home. Sometimes it seems that precisely at this time is when we have the least time, and if it happens to us, we look like those who told Joseph and Mary that they had no room for them when asking for a lodging.

In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the first community lived: “with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and enjoying the sympathy of all the people.” And guess what effect it had? “Moreover, the Lord added to the group those who were being saved every day” (Acts 2:46-47).

Perhaps few things are as evangelizing in our time as a testimony of joy and simplicity of heart.

5. Read and meditate on the Bible

When Saint Mary responds to Elizabeth with the Magnificat she opens a window for us into a very intimate aspect of her spiritual life. We know that the Magnificat is not a completely original creation of Saint Mary, since it is inspired by the Canticle of Anna (1Sam 2,1-10).

However, it gives us to understand that it was a passage very dear to her, because she had it in her memory and in her heart. How deeply Saint Mary must have meditated on that passage! Sometimes one has prayers that he repeats, phrases that in one way or another reveal the deepest things in our hearts.

We see this in Mary through the Magnificat: the themes that at that moment in her life had space in her heart. The Magnificat is a window into the heart of Saint Mary at age 15, and she invites us to encounter God through Scripture

May this Advent also be a great opportunity to wait with Mary’s love!