A thousand years would past, and then God made known His plan
to all people. The Messiah would not be a hidden mystery, known only to the
Jews. The Messiah would be revealed to all the nations, so that all may submit
to God in faith through Jesus Christ. The plan began with a simple scene: an
angel, Gabriel by name, appeared to a young girl, the Virgin Mary, and told her
that she would have a child conceived not through a man, but through the
overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.
St. Bernard put it so beautifully: the angel asked and mankind waited
for Mary’s reply.
St. Paul concludes his Letter to the Romans with this
Sunday’s second reading. This was God’s plan all along. The prophets revealed it, but then the
Plan took effect through Mary, all so we can have a union of obedient love to
God our Father through Jesus Christ.
Each one of us has part of this plan. We might not be the
founder of the dynasty like David, nor the mother of the Savior like Mary, but
we are called to lead others to Bethlehem, to lead others to our Lord. But we are not merely viewers; we are
actors, and like the shepherds and the magi, angels and stars are calling us to
worship Jesus. Like Mary, we can make the spiritual physical. No, we can’t give
birth to the Savior, but we can make His Presence a reality in the world. How?
Well, by being people of God.
God calls us to particular missions in life. These missions
might be to be a faithful and faith-filled husband or wife, father or mother, grandmother
or grandfather. The mission may be to be a single man or woman with the time to
extend God's love to others. The mission may be, right now, to be a holy widow
or widower, offering the love cultivated during marriage to those around you. The
mission may be to be a good little boy or girl, or a good teenager or young
adult, learning how to love as God loves, sacrificially. When we do our best to
respond to His call we give evidence to His Presence in the world.
My brother, my sister, people are not just physical. People
are physical and spiritual. When we view someone as a Man of God, Woman of God,
or Child of God, Teen of God, we see the total person body and soul. When others view us, any of us, as a
Person of God, they see us as in our totality, physical and spiritual: we are
called to make the spiritual within us a reality in the world outside of us. We
are called to help others recognize their ability to be spiritual.
God calls us to do much much more than build a house for His
Presence[1].
He calls us to be the House of His Presence. He calls us to radiate His Reality
to a world that looks for a Savior...
So, we need to stop selling ourselves short. We are part of
the wonder of the plan. We are part of the wonder of the Word Made Flesh, the
Wonder of Christmas. People in our families, in our neighborhoods, people we
associate with at work, people we know, and people we do not know, all need us
to bring the Presence of the Lord to them.
Saint Gabriel spoke to Mary and the world waited for her
answer. God speaks to each of us throughout our lives, and the world waits for
our answers. For we are not Christians for ourselves, we are Christians to
bring God to others and to serve God in others…
My brother, my sister, more than other times, more than
ever, today we do our personal prayer to the Lord by borrowing the words of
that beautiful hymn:
O come, O
come, Emmanuel
And ransom
captive Israel
That
mourns in lonely exile here
Until the
Son of God appear
Rejoice!
Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall
come to thee, O Israel[2] ■
[1]
Cfr 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
[2]
O come, O come, Emmanuel is a
translation of the Latin text (Veni,
veni, Emmanuel) by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th
century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons (the acrostic O Antiphons), which now serves as a
popular Advent hymn. Its origins are unclear, it is thought that the antiphons
are from at least the 8th Century, but Veni,
veni Emmanuel may well be 12th Century in origin. The text is based on the
biblical prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 that states that God will give Israel a sign
that will be called Immanuel (Lit.: God
with us). Matthew 1:23 states fulfillment of this prophecy in the birth of
Jesus of Nazareth.
