FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT “B” 2008
On this fourth Sunday of Advent Luke tells us about the Annunciation of Our Lord to Mary and her magnificent “yes” to God, accepting to do His will, thereby setting in motion God’s plan for the redemption of the entire world. In Mary, “the Word of God became flesh and lived among us”, John writes in His Gospel. The eternal Son of God became human, and in His human nature He offered His life on the Cross as a ransom for us. Now He invites us to offer our lives to Him in thanksgiving and appreciation of His love. What a marvelous gift God
has given us; what wondrous love God has for us as He desires to share our lives and be with us.
Two boys, ages eight and ten, were terribly mischievous, sometimes out of control, so much so that when some mischief occurred at school or in the neighbourhood, the boy’s parents would assume that their two sons were involved. All their disciplinary efforts having failed, the parents were at their wit’s end. Then the mother heard that the newest clergyman in town had a history of success in dealing with kids who were always getting into trouble. He agreed to speak with her two boys... one at a time. When the eight-year old walked in, the frowning clergyman sat him down and said sternly: “Where is God?” There was a long pause and no answer. Again, he said in an even sterner tone: “Where is God?” Again there was no answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even louder, shook his finger in the little boy’s face and asked him a third time: “Where is God?” Whereupon, the boy bolted out of the room and ran to where his older brother was waiting. “What happened”? asked the older boy. “We’re in big trouble this time,” came the reply. “God is missing and they think we did it.” God is not missing, for as the angel said to Mary about her Son: “They will call Him Emmanuel, a name which means, GOD IS
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WITH US”. (Matt:1:23) God comes to us and He lives with us in the present moment. In the midst of our joys and our sorrows, God is with us; in our trials and difficulties, God is with us; whether we are aware of that or not, God is with us; God is available to us, and He will never abandon us. God is interested in us and in our lives. God is in love with each one of us for He has adopted each of us as His son or daughter. The meaning of Christmas is that God became human so that He could die for us, and by His death make it possible for us to live with Him. The question we need to ask ourselves today is: are we aware of God’s Presence with us? Like Mary are we ready to say “yes” to God’ will for us each day? Jesus is God-with-us ready to help us at all times. It helps if we are aware of that fact. If we know in our hearts that God is with us, then we will find the strength we need to move forward on our spiritual journeys, and
at the same time, we will be able to help others who are in need around us. Aware of God’s presence with us, we can be channels of His love and compassion for others. Christmas is not only about God sending His Son to me and to you, but it is also about God using us to bring His Son to others. As St. Francis of Assisi prayed in song, we are to be channels of His peace and healing for others.
NEED FOR PRAYER AND REFLECTION
There was a successful businessman who devoted much of his day to running his own firm in New York City. He explained to an inquiring friend why he spent at least thirty minutes each day just being alone and completely quiet in his office. Apparently, a few years after he had come to New York, he returned to visit his parents on their family farm in Indiana where he had grown up. Proud of his business success, he told his parents about the great responsibilities he had, and his demanding and busy schedule. After listening patiently to her son,
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his mother said to him: “Tell me about a typical day in your life.” So, the son told her how he got up early every morning, commuted to the city from his home in the suburbs, how he spent long hours participating in various conferences, kept luncheon engagements, rushed to dinner meetings and talked a lot on the telephone. At last his mother replied: “That’s wonderful son, but tell me, when do you think about God? When do you share your thoughts with God? When do you meditate on the meaning of it all?”
We all need to make time to think about God, and what He wants to do in our lives. When Mary said “yes” to God’s request, and conceived Jesus in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, no doubt she and Joseph would have spent a lot of time in prayer thinking about what it all meant. The Gospel tells us, in several places, that Mary “pondered these things in her heart.” Certainly, Joseph was troubled by it all, unsure of what he should do, until God spoke to him in a dream, and made His plans clear for Joseph. Both Mary and Joseph were true servants of the Lord God. They were persons of prayer and they allowed God to guide them in the awesome task He has asked of them. They were aware that God was literally with them and that He would help them on their journey through life.
The message of Christmas is that God is with His people, He is with each of us and in this last week of Advent, we need to reflect on that truth, as I am sure Mary and Joseph did.
CHRIST IS THE KEY
Once there was a large Religious Conference in a big U.S city that had for its theme “Christ is the key.” The theme message was printed on all the stationary, on various large and small posters and banners, as well as on the small lapel buttons, which everyone at the conference wore. One night, some of the participants at the Conference went for dinner to a nearby restaurant and they were still wearing their buttons which read: “Christ is the key”. When the waitress came to take their orders she noticed the buttons, but said nothing. Later, when she returned with their salads she looked more closely at the buttons they were wearing and then asked one of them: “Christ is the key to what?”
How would we answer that question? I suppose there could be several different answers given, but, for me, I would say that Jesus is the key to our personal happiness in life. If we are aware He is with us, if we listen to Him speaking to our hearts, and if we follow His teachings, then we will be happy, and content with our lives. God alone can meet all our needs and satisfy our hearts, for He created us to find our fulfillment in Him. As St. Augustine once wrote: “O Lord my soul is restless and it cannot rest until it rests in You.”
May these final days of Advent be for each of us days of peace and joy as we look forward to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Our Lord. Who is “God with us”.