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There is a movie called the “Princess Bride” that is a sort of cult classic. Some people think it’s a cheesy film but I rate it as one of my favorites for its dry wit and the fact that a family can actually watch it together without the risk of scandal. If you’ve never seen it, I think you should; if you have watched the film, then you know the scene I’m about to refer to. In the first part of the story, there is a princess who is kidnapped by a band of scoundrels. One of them, named Vizzini, is the mastermind and happens to be a little man with a big vocabulary. As the kidnappers are pursued by a potential hero, Vizzini keeps declaring the hero’s feats and his odds of liberating the princess as “inconceivable”. And yet the mysterious hero keeps pursuing the captors and eventually forces a showdown; the inconceivable becomes possible after all!
There are a lot of things in life that appear, at first glance, to be inconceivable, impossible, and out of the question. The gospel today refers to two of them. Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, advanced in years and barren her entire marriage, is now pregnant with a son who will become the great John the Baptist. And then we have the Annunciation of Gabriel, where Mary hears she will become the mother of God. I can't think of anything more impossible than a humble, teenage girl becoming the Mother of God. Certainly, nothing is more inconceivable, in every sense of the word, than the possibility that this would happen without any relations with a man. Advent is the season of the impossible; the time when God shows us that anything and everything is conceivable if we place our trust in him. Advent is season when the Church's prayer highlights how the marvelous promises of God are fulfilled in ways both mysterious and unimaginable.
How timely this message of hope and faith for you and me, who are living in inconceivable times and circumstances!! How badly we need to hear this idea that nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible with God. Doesn't it seem like every day we hear more troubling news, whether it pertains to the pandemic, the economy, morality, social injustice, racial inequality, or political division? It can be so easy to become dismayed, discouraged and downcast by the events that are taking place. Oftentimes we find ourselves asking: "how can I provide a Christian witness in such difficult circumstances?" how can my actions possibly do any good? What chance does good have in a world so influenced by suffering, sickness, evil, and death? If we listen too long to the many voices that cry out, “inconceivable” as God tries to rescue us, if we side with those who label the problems we face as impossible, even for God, we will find ourselves turning off areas of our lives to Christ. Areas that seem too difficult to change or reform- circumstances that seem too big, too serious to be affected by our feeble efforts and God’s subtle grace. Although we would never say it out loud, we subconsciously think our worst problems and biggest worries are beyond God’s abilities. And this weakness of faith hinders our Lord from working great and wonderful miracles through us. The actress Audrey Hepburn said something that is a good reminder to store away for those moments when we are tempted accept a situation as beyond God’s power or reach. She said, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” Simple but true!
What are some examples of "impossible" things that God might want to make possible in our lives? Do we we believe God has a plan, a way forward with COVID that is powered by hope and faith rather than fear? Or do we think it is it only up to us to solve? Can God heal the racial hurts and incredible division in our country or is that inconceivable in our minds? Perhaps there is someone in our life who needs to be forgiven and we just can't quite bring ourselves to be the first person to extend the olive branch of forgiveness. Or maybe it's the other way around - could it be that there is someone we need to apologize to but we just can't get over the shame, embarrassment, and fear that comes with asking for absolution? Nothing is impossible for God! Is there some sin, addiction, or dark fear that has kept us away from confession for years because we felt that we could never be forgiven? Nothing is impossible for God!! Perhaps it is some issue of the Church's moral teaching, which seems impossible to live in your own life. Can we ask for the gift of faith that God will give us the grace and strength to live according to his ways? Can we trust that it is not up to us to have the answer for every single situation or contingency. The only thing we must believe is that Nothing is impossible for God!!
There are, of course, many other examples. Perhaps God might be calling you to step out of your comfort zone and do something more, something heroic, something that seems too hard, too extraordinary or too unrealistic. Is he calling you to follow him as a priest or religious? Is he calling you and your spouse to be open to another child? Is there someone who needs your support, financially, emotionally, or spiritually? Or do we excuse ourselves by saying that there simply isn't enough money in the account, we don’t have enough time, we are too old, unqualified or it’s just not possible because we are afraid to trust in God THAT much?
Our Advent is drawing to a close; in a few days we will celebrate the impossible that became possible when God became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. Christ still desires to work the impossible in our lives and in our world. But we have to have faith, the type of faith that moved Mary to say: " Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Great miracles await those who are willing to trust God in this way. As Christmas approaches will you soften your heart and deepen your faith? The Angel Gabriel assures us that nothing is impossible for God!!
