When I visit my dentist in Barrington, the conversation normally centers around golf, since we both enjoy playing the game. But last week, his first words to me were, "Father, I’ve got an important question to ask you." I could tell, from his demeanor, that he was serious; he wasn’t kidding around as he sometimes does. The question he asked concerned the Church’s teaching on a matter of sexual morality, and I answered as best I could—given the fact that I had only had about 15 seconds to speak before he put his hands (and several shiny dental instruments) into my mouth! As most of you know from your own experience, it’s incredibly frustrating when your dentist asks you something important, knowing full well that you are completely incapable of making a coherent response.

It doesn’t make for a very deep, meaningful conversation!

Now I’m happy to say that my dentist accepted my answer last week without any visible anger or protest. That surprised me a bit, because I had to tell him, in effect, that he was wrong in his understanding of Church teaching on this particular issue. Thank God he didn’t need to drill any cavities that day!

The experience made clear to me how important it is that we have solid reasons for our beliefs as Catholics—reasons that we can share with others. St. Peter says to us in his first letter, "Should anyone ask you the reason for this hope of yours, be ever ready to reply, but speak gently and respectfully." God wants us to have a simple, trusting faith—but not a "simplistic" faith! He wants us to know why we believe what we believe. Because if we don’t have solid reasons for our beliefs, we will not be able to evangelize others effectively. And evangelization—bringing family and friends and others to Christ—is everyone’s responsibility, as our Holy Father has made clear time and time again.

The other night one of the young men who comes to our teenagers’ prayer-share group showed me a book he’s been reading lately. I must tell you, I was impressed! The book is a college-level publication dealing with the basics of Catholicism. That’s definitely not the normal reading material of your average teenager! The young man said to me, "Fr. Ray, I am learning so much from reading this book: why Christ died; what he went through during his crucifixion; what it meant for him to take on the sins of the whole world." Now, obviously, this teen is growing personally through his reading of this book: that’s a given. But, whether he realizes it or not, he’s also growing in his ability to evangelize others—especially his friends. In the future, for example, when they bring their problems to him and say, "Can you help me make sense of my life? Can you give me some good advice?", he’ll have something to share, based on what he’s been learning through his reading.

I mention this today, because on this fourth Sunday of Advent, the Church focuses our attention on our Blessed Mother, the great woman of faith. In the last line of this Gospel text from Luke 1 Elizabeth says to Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." Mary believed; Mary believed deeply the word God had spoken to her—but Mary did not believe without good reason! Contrary to what some may think, Mary did not have a simplistic faith, she had a well-grounded, intelligent faith!

At this point we need to jump back one scene in Luke, to the moment when Gabriel first appeared to Mary. Here we see Mary’s knowledge of her Jewish faith revealed. It’s revealed, however, not so much by what she says to the angel, as by what she does not say to him.

Gabriel tells her, "Do not fear, Mary. You have found favor with God. You shall conceive and bear a son and give him the name Jesus. Great will be his dignity and he will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his reign will have no end."

If Mary had not understood her Jewish faith as well as she did, she would certainly have had lots of questions for God’s messenger:

"Uh, Gabriel, I don’t understand. Why does this special child have to be born?"

"Why does the child have to be someone from David’s line?"

"David’s been dead for centuries. How is my son going to sit on his throne if his throne no longer exists?"

"Why would God choose a humble, lowly maiden like me to accomplish his purposes? Shouldn’t God choose someone more important and powerful? Isn’t that the way God operates?"

But Mary didn’t ask any of those questions! The only one she did ask was a very practical one, stemming from her knowledge of Biology 101. She said, in effect, "Gabriel, how exactly is this conception supposed to take place, since Joseph and I have taken a vow of continence in our marriage? Kindly explain this to me."

We may not realize it, since it’s 2,000 years after the fact, but Gabriel’s message presumed that Mary understood her religion very well. It presumed, for example, that she understood Micah 5, verses 1-4: that prophecy we heard in today’s first reading which indicated that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and come from the tribe of Judah. His message presumed that she understood the history of her people, and how God often used the weak and powerless to accomplish his purposes: a shepherd boy named David, a former slave named Moses, a widow named Judith, an orphan named Esther. It presumed that she knew the promises God had made to Abraham and the patriarchs of old—which she obviously did because she mentioned them specifically in the Magnificat, that prayer of praise which she said during her visit to Elizabeth. Mary knew her faith, and the Scriptures which enshrined her Jewish faith (what we would call the Old Testament).

But all this was not simply book knowledge to our Blessed Mother. It was knowledge rooted in a personal relationship with God which was nourished by daily prayer.

Catholics often say they want to be like Mary. Praise God! That’s a very noble ambition. I highly encourage it! But being like Mary means more than simply being pious and devout. Being like Mary also means making the effort to know and understand the Catholic faith we profess, so that we can live it more completely, and then share it more effectively with others. Because you never know what your dentist might ask you the next time you go for a checkup. God may be counting on you to give him a message that will help him find the road to salvation (or at least a message that will help him remain on the road to God’s kingdom). But if it’s not your dentist, then it will certainly be someone else: your child, your spouse, your depressed friend, or someone else whom the Lord puts in your path.