There’s a lot of joy and rejoicing going on in the Gospel of Luke. The angel’s announcement of the coming birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah included the words: “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.”

SOMETHING IN THE human spirit exults in the come-from-behind victory. We cheer for the underdog at the movies. We delight in knowing Einstein was a lousy student in school, that a lot of saints were all but dispelled from seminaries or rejected by convents as unsuitable candidates. We love the log-cabin-to-Oval-Office backgrounds of some presidents.

Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.

We work so hard at Christmas. We spend time and money to make it beautiful, enjoyable, tasty and memorable, so it’s easy to think of it as something we do rather than something God does for us.

TO PURIFY AND free our hearts, we turn to God’s mercy.

In the Gospel of Luke the Holy Spirit seems to be filling people all over the place. At the announcement of the coming of Jesus, the angel Gabriel told Mary, “The holy Spirit will come upon you.”

Elizabeth was the first to hear the voice but her son John was the first to feel the effects of grace. —Saint Ambrose of Milan (340-397)