The Gospel on this Fourth Sunday of Advent is always an annunciation. To Joseph (Year A), to Mary (Year B), and to Elizabeth (Year C). Two pregnant women meet. One is older but no wiser about such things as the younger; for both are expecting their first child. The infant in Elizabeth’s womb gives her a mighty kick when Mary greets her while in her turn Elizabeth recognises the baby in Mary’s womb as her Lord. It is all too easy to focus on the wonderful imagery of the virgin birth and the appeal of a new baby. But what these three annunciations have in common is that they are each a powerful reminder of the incarnation – that God took on human form as a necessary step for our salvation. Jesus’s body was ‘prepared’ as the fruit of Mary’s womb. He came to ‘do God’s will’. Mary believed and it was fulfilled. We too must believe so that what God speaks to us might also be fulfilled in us.
