1. “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman … ” (Gal 4:4). What is the fullness of time? From the standpoint of human history, the fullness of time is a concrete fact. It is the night when the Son of God came into the world in Bethlehem, as foretold by the prophets and as we have heard in the first reading: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel” (Is 7:14). These words, spoken many centuries ago, were fulfilled on the night when the Son conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary entered the world.
Christ’s birth was preceded by the message of the angel Gabriel. Afterwards, Mary went to the home of her cousin Elizabeth to be of service to her. We were reminded of this by the Gospel of Luke, which puts before us Elizabeth’s unusual, prophetic greeting and Mary’s splendid response: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (1:46-47). These are the events referred to in today’s liturgy.
2. The reading from the Letter to the Galatians, for its part, reveals to us the divine dimension of this fullness of time. The words of the Apostle Paul sum up the whole theology of Jesus’ birth, at the same time explaining the meaning of this fullness. It is something extraordinary: God has entered human history. God, who in himself is the unfathomable mystery of life; God, who is Father and is himself reflected from all eternity in the Son, consubstantial with him and through whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:1, 3); God, who is the unity of the Father and the Son in the flow of eternal love which is the Holy Spirit.
Despite the poverty of our words for expressing the ineffable mystery of the Trinity, the truth is that man, in his temporal condition, has been called to share in this divine life. The Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary to obtain this divine adoption for us. The Father has poured out in our hearts the Spirit of his Son, through whom we can say “Abba, Father!” (cf. Gal 4:4). Here, then, is the fullness of time which fullfils all the yearnings of history and of humanity: the revelation of God’s mystery, given to human beings through the gift of divine adoption.
3. The fullness of time to which the Apostle refers is related to human history. By becoming man, God in a certain way has entered our time and has transformed our history into the history of salvation. A history that includes all the vicissitudes of the world and of mankind, from creation to their conclusion, but advances through important moments and dates. . . .
John Paul II
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City
Saturday, 23 January 1999
