Life is actually 99% boring, consisting of habitual humdrum. Every so often we hear the depressing lamentations of a 9am to 5pm routine. Duty is dismissed as demeaning chore. But life has to be regular because we need predictability to plan and strategise. Children with parents for hippies can attest to the sad reality of how disruptive life can be in their growing up years, living with whimsical irregularity. Our current climate conundrum with its capriciousness or volatility should be enough to disabuse us of the idea that a meaningful life is solely defined by the “unpredictable” 1%. We have been socialised or more like “socialied” into believing that 99% is not good enough and that a purposeful life should revolve around that 1% that is extraordinary.
Think about it. A housewife’s whose daily routine revolves around her family can sometimes be made to feel inadequate because her schedule is not as carefree as her careered contemporary who can make decisions on her own, free from any constraints of duty and responsibility. The point is this: there is already a missing piece within us which we spoke about last week. This “lack” is articulated as the instinctive yearning for happiness. Sadly this longing has been narrowly characterised by “running after temporal pleasures and material goods”. Note that on 26th Dec, the Lunar New Year decorations will immediately replace the Christ ornaments, if not already. We are searching for completion. This quest for fulfilment is certainly complicated by our myopic focus on the 1% adrenalin and dopamine-filled excitement.
If we abandon the 99% for the 1%, we will tragically be condemned to hunt for the perfect spouse, the ideal moment, the best employment, the model family forgetting that what we are looking for can already be in our midst. If God is with us, His will most likely be found in the 99% day-to-day regularity of our lives.
In this, we are helped by the Gospel. We have already focused on the great figure of John the Baptist for the last two weekends. This Sunday belongs to Mary and rightly so as the Gospel reminds us that in our midst is the Emmanuel. He is to be found where we are. He not waiting at the next corner or a later turn of our lives. He is not in the next job or the next fiancé or fiancée. Even though the Annunciation is often painted as a stunning event, yet the Angel appeared to Mary in a normal setting of her life.
Christmas is not many days from now. If life is mostly ordinary and once in a while extraordinary, perhaps we may conceive of Christmas as the extraordinary event breaking through our regularity—a kind of respite in our pilgrimage of ordinariness. In Mary, the cadence or rhythm of her life is observed in the simple act of leaving the security of her home and venturing into the hill country of Judah so that she can be of assistance to her aged cousin Elizabeth. Never mind the “distraction” that both the cousin sisters and the two lives in the wombs is painted in jubilant and exuberant colours. We are certainly captivated by the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, the last prophet of the Old Testament and the first prophet of the New Covenant, who by stirring was already pointing in anticipation to the future, “Lamb of God”. Such a spellbinding scene might just cloud the unpretentiousness of a newly expectant younger woman lending a hand to a heavily pregnant elderly. Mary thought nothing of her condition but only of her cousin’s and she reached out without any fanfare.
It is often in the unremarkable setting of life that we bring Christ to others. We do not need to be a dazzlingly spectacular preacher or a valiantly intrepid missionary. The only important person in whatever we do is Christ Himself. Now, if Christmas is like the 1% of life’s excitement, the fact remains that we need the 99% to arrive at the Solemnity. Thus, in terms of preparation to celebrate, where are we in our journey? How will we arrive at the moment where we celebrate Christ’s birth and His coming to us? It requires an openness to God working in our everyday lives, like Mary was. It is a simple process of making sure that our external preparation is matched by corresponding renewal of our interior life of grace. Are our preparations narrowly restricted to the decoration, drinks, food, clothing and gifts? A basic necessity in an interior revival is if one has gone for confession. We clean our houses and we prepare physically to receive Jesus at Christmas but our souls are left in a state of disarray.
Nevertheless, Christmas should be celebrated with vigour because it is the birth of the Saviour. Precisely it is the coming of the Lord that we all eat, drink and be merry. But, concentrating exclusively on merry makings would render our festivity a poor representation of the joy that our Salvation is near. John the Baptist leaping in the womb of Elizabeth is the epitome or embodiment of what an interior preparation should be like. Our hearts burst with joy not because we have more than enough to eat, drink or enjoy. It is enough to know that our Saviour is here.
So, when Our Lady said yes to St Gabriel, the ordinariness of her life became extraordinary because she began to Christ to others—notably to Joseph who was on the verge of rejecting her, to Elizabeth well into her pregnancy, a dumb-struck Zachariah and the baby in gestation John. The same can be for us. God comes to us all the time. It is not only in the grand scheme of things that God is to be found. Helping the poor does not have to take place only when there is a disaster or a calamity. Kindness does not require an excuse. We are good to others not because of who they are or what they can do in return. Instead, we are good because of who we are—graced by the presence of God, meaning that we have Jesus in us. More than ever we need to bring Jesus to a waiting world thirsting for salvation. This will be our challenge because it is not always easy. But, like Mary who said Yes, we can, we dare and we should. Jesus is Emmanuel. He is with us as He was with His Mother and if we say Yes, like Mary, He will pave the way for us.
