Fourth Sunday of Advent

Mary of the AnnunciationFinally we arrive at the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The final Sunday is dedicated to the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin. The opening prayer at Mass is the prayer used for Angelus. The Church, pointing to Mary points to the Savior.

St. Peter Chrysologus has something to say:

“’Who was born from the Holy Spirit.’ Precisely thus is Christ born for you, in such a way that he may change your own manner of birth… Formerly, death awaited you as the setting sun of your life; he wants you to have a new birth of life. ‘Who was born from the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.’ With the Spirit begetting, and a virgin giving birth, everything carried on is divine; nothing of it is merely human.”

Indeed, nothing is merely human…