Remember what it means to welcome the King and follow Him

Dec. 21, 2006

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In this season of Advent, as I look back over my first year of ministry among you, I am amazed at what a blessing you all have been to me. You keep welcoming me into your parishes and into your lives, and you show a warm devotion to our faith that inspires me as well. With Saint Augustine, I am moved to say that "what I am for you (a bishop, a leader) terrifies me; but what I am with you (a humble Christian), gives me great joy." I know you will continue to pray for me, that the Holy Spirit will guide me and all of us in our journey home to Jesus Christ.

The welcome that you have shown me, warm as it has been, should pale in comparison with the welcome you will show our Lord this Christmas. I am only His servant, as we all strive to be; but He is the King who comes to rule our hearts and minds with His transforming love. As we prepare to receive Him anew during the seasons of Advent and Christmas, let's give fresh consideration to what it means to welcome the King and to follow Him.

Mary, our Blessed Mother, gives the best example of how to welcome our Lord without reservation. When Gabriel the Archangel came to her to announce that God has chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary was at first afraid. Angels appearing in the night with strange messages from God are never easy to accept; they always demand impossible things of us, for the sake of the Kingdom. Moses had been afraid, and tried to substitute his brother Aaron for himself; Elijah had been afraid, and begged God for an easy death rather than more demands; Jonah had been afraid, and fled to the sea, the opposite direction from Nineveh. Mary's fear was normal, a human reaction.

But Gabriel tells her not to fear; that God has chosen her for a marvelous gift, a unique role in the long history of God's relationship with Israel, His people. She is to be the mother of the Son of God, the Messiah, the Anointed King who will free His people from every burden. Mary indeed overcomes her fear in the wonder of what she is hearing. She does not understand, she questions how this could possibly happen; but she listens to God's angel without fear.

Mary's ordinary humanity, fearful, lacking understanding, confronts the infinity, the otherness, of God in exactly the same way that we ourselves do each day. God asks of her the impossible: to bear a son without a human father. How will her family and her fiancé react? What will people think of her, in a society in which public shame could have literally fatal consequences? How can she possibly do what God is asking of her?

Mary doesn't have much support at this moment. She is not old enough to have a store of personal wisdom gained from experience; she is not rich or powerful or well-educated. She is a humble, ordinary, vulnerable young woman with only one resource that helps here: her faith. Mary loved God greatly. And because she loved and trusted God in a most personal way, she dared to risk all for Him. Mary accepts the words of Gabriel: "Behold, I am the slave of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).

This moment is the lynchpin of salvation history. This moment is what the world has been waiting for since the Fall. This is the moment that the providence of God and His Covenant with Israel have been preparing for untold generations. When Mary says "Yes" to God, the whole of creation trembles in anticipation of what will follow from that decision.

Mary's hospitality to God extends to the very bottom of her self. She prefers God to her husband, to her family, to her public reputation, to the security of a decent marriage in a world in which women outside of decent marriages had no security at all. She prefers God to any other good. This is the perfect model of faith; this is what we are all called to do for Christ, and in Christ.

And so the miracle of the Incarnation takes place; God "empties himself" in order to become a slave and the son of a slave, so that we might be freed from our enslavement to sin. Not many days later, visiting her cousin Elizabeth, Mary sings spontaneously one of the greatest hymns of the Church, in joy and praise of God: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever" (Lk 1:46-55). I have always been impressed with this response of Mary. When I was ordained a priest, I printed the first words of this lovely prayer on the holy card that marked the occasion of my ordination. Mary continues to be a model for me as a Bishop. She is the supreme model to all of us who are blessed with the name "Christian."

Mary, in the certain knowledge of faith, in her simplicity and humility, grasps already the most important point of what has just happened: God has intervened in human history in the most transformative way possible. The ways of sin, which reward the strong, the arrogant, the rich, and which beat down the lowly, the weak, the ignorant, the poor, are already defeated. Christ is only just come into the world; probably not more than half a dozen people even know that Mary is pregnant at this point; but sin is already defeated!!

Much remains, of course, for the working out of that victory. Christ must be born, live His life as a human being, go forth as a prophet to preach the Kingdom, and endure the suffering of the Cross and the glory of the Resurrection. The Church must follow the same path in every generation. We today must live in Christ as His Body in order to follow him. But the victory is already won! Sin has no more dominion over us than we allow it to have; and by Christ's infinite grace, we have forgiveness even for those sins if we seek it sincerely.

God asked Mary to do one thing for Him, so that He could do everything for us. Mary welcomed God, not only into her heart, but into her very womb. How can we not follow her example, and let Christ be born in our heart anew this year? Let Christ come to dwell in you, my dear beloved brothers and sisters, so that you may bear him forth into the world for the salvation of all.

May Mary, the Mother of God, pray for us always, and teach us to love her Son as she loved Him. May the celebration of the great Feast of the Birth of the Lord Jesus increase our faith and love for God our Creator and Redeemer, and bring us every blessing by His grace in the coming year.

Your devoted brother and servant in Christ,

†RWN
Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City