Welcome to Resurrection Parish, and as I promised last weekend, even though we finished our Advent message series, “Unwrapping Christmas,” last weekend, I do have a homily for this weekend. On this last Sunday of Advent, as the solemn celebration of Christ's birth approaches, the Church reminds us of that holy day nine months earlier when Jesus was conceived in his Mother's womb. There are two great mysteries connected with that day.

The first is the mystery of God becoming man – the Incarnation. God has loved us so much that he became one of us, so that he could save us from sin and the meaninglessness that sin brings, and show us the way to a meaningful life, now and forever.

The second mystery is that God did not – and does not – work out that plan of salvation for us all by himself. Instead, he asks for our cooperation. 

In today's Gospel, God invites Mary to become the mother of the Savior. It was possible for Mary to reject this invitation. As in the parable of the many townspeople who decline the king's invitation to attend his son's wedding feast, Mary could have said, "Thanks for the invitation, Lord, but what you're asking is actually very inconvenient for me. I really wish I could do what you want, but I'm just not there yet." That's how Adam and Eve had responded to God's invitation to take care of the Garden of Eden. But Mary didn't insult God with an answer like that. She knew God, and knew that his plans are always wise and wonderful. So she put her life at his service: "I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done unto me according to your word." Mary's "yes" reversed Eve's "no", and made room for Christ's undoing of Adam's fall. 

When God disrupts our plans, we should follow Mary's example, making our contribution to God's work of salvation, however small it may be. Salvation is God's business, but it's a partnership; we have a role to play as well.

All of us have probably had an experience of this partnership: Something we did or said made a powerful impact on someone or helped someone, and we didn't even realize it at the time.

It's as if we go through our days cutting furrows in the world and planting seeds, and the Lord walks invisibly behind, blessing the soil and making the seed grow.

A priest tells a story from the 1940s that illustrates this truth particularly well. He was attending the funeral of the pastor of Holy Trinity, then a national German parish, in Boston. In the vestibule he had met a gray-haired layman and they got to conversing. The layman said to him: "This dead pastor converted me, and yet I never got closer to him than any of the pews are to the pulpit. During the First World War, I was a government agent. Remember how we were taught then to hate everything German? Even on the restaurant menus, sauerkraut became Liberty Cabbage. Anyway, I could speak German and I was assigned to listen to the sermons here every Sunday morning. Somebody was afraid that this pastor might be subtly sabotaging our war effort by taking sly shots at patriotism. I never heard one word that was unpatriotic. But Sunday after Sunday I heard a brief, clear, attractive presentation of some point of Catholic doctrine. I became more and more interested in the Catholic Church and I decided to investigate further. So I went to another rectory (I could not go to this pastor, because I was practically 'casing' him) and took a series of instructions. I was baptized and have been a Catholic ever since. The man we are burying today never knew what I have told you, but when I read about his death in the newspaper, I thought I should come to say thanks. He doesn't need it, but it makes me feel better."

So often, that's how God works: if we just faithfully fulfill his will for us each day, he makes us partners in his great work of salvation.

Mary's "yes" to God wasn't easy; it involved a total change of her plans. Mary had felt called early on to serve God through consecrated virginity, which meant not having children. This is the reason behind her comment to the angel: "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" 

That comment would have made no sense if she were planning on leading a normal married life with St Joseph, her fiancée. Life as a virgin consecrated to God was what she had envisioned for herself and planned for. 

But then the angel came along and changed those plans. God often does the same thing with us. Like a good coach, he pushes us out of our comfort zone so that we can reach our full potential as Christians.

There are three ways especially in which God tends to disrupt our plans. First, when we are really busy and don't' want any interruptions he brings us into contact with someone who needs help. Second, we suddenly discover that certain popular and fashionable behaviors or activities (which we would like to follow) are actually against Church teaching, that they cause damage to us and to others. Third, when we are really tired, fed up, or angry, our conscience – like the angel Gabriel in today's Gospel passage – sends us a message saying that we really need to keep working, or to do a little extra work, or to be extra patient with someone, or to hold our tongue. These are three common ways that God disrupts our personal plans in order to invite us to be partners in his plan of salvation. 

During this Mass, let's ask God for the grace to respond generously to those disruptions, as Mary did, especially during the Christmas season, so that our part in God's plan of salvation is sure to get done.