Fourth Sunday of Advent
Year B
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Upon Reflection:
In 1985, the Cheat River in West Virginia flooded, wiping out and severely damaging many homes and buildings in its path. The news reports of the devastation made it to the national level with images of washed out bridges and flooded towns.
At that time, 2 teenage girls from the New Jersey suburbs saw and heard the news and were moved to act. They approached their youth minister for guidance on how they could help the victims. After some phone calls to WV and discussion with the youth minister, the girls decided that the best thing that they could do was to literally go to WV and help with the flood relief effort themselves.
So they rounded up five of their girlfriends, the youth minister rounded up a couple more adults from the parish, and together they made plans to go to Rowlesburg, WV (a small town almost completely destroyed).
The "help week" was to take place in the summer of 1986, so the girls and adult volunteers had a few months to meet, plan, spread awareness and fund raise. When it was all said and done, the small volunteer crew was able to help one victimized family renovate a condemned house donated by a bank, getting it up to code so that they could move out of their car (father, mother, 2 children) and into the new home.
- A nice story, isn't it? A couple of wealthy teenage girls helping out some flood victims...that's awesome....must have looked great on their college applications. But the story doesn't end there. When those teenage girls returned to NJ and shared their experience with the parish, describing not only flood devastation, but the unacceptable living conditions for many who didn't even live near the river, something happened. More people were inspired to help, and soon another summer trip was planned for the next year. The parish in NJ contacted the parish in WV and began to coordinate together a "Summer Home Repair Program."
That next summer, even more volunteers from the NJ parish (young and old) went to WV to help fix up people's homes…then again the next summer and the next. Then other parishes from NJ, PA, & MD heard about the program, and they started their own trips in collaboration with the WV parish who formed a committee of parishioners to coordinate the program on their end.
Almost thirty five years later, this summer home repair program is now the largest in all of Appalachia. All summer long, parishes from surrounding states send volunteers to WV, helping others to help themselves. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised and spent each summer in an effort to bring people's homes up to an acceptable living condition. About 200 families per summer are helped in some way.
That first NJ parish now has five different volunteer groups participating in the program over a five
week span (over 150 volunteers per year).
All of this has happened and is happening because 35 years ago, two teenage girls were moved with compassion upon hearing a news report. They said, "Yes" to bringing Christ into the world, and because of that one "Yes," a snowball of subsequent "Yes's" followed.
Today's Gospel describes another teenage girl whose "Yes" snowballed. And that girl's name was Mary!