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On this fourth Sunday of
Advent the gospel is Luke's story of the Annunciation. We hear of Mary's
willingness to open her life to God's plan for her and how in doing so
she made our salvation possible. In less than a week we will be
celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas. The Church
has no problem telescoping the nine months of Mary's pregnancy into one
week, just as it has no problem reducing the ages of anticipation for
the first coming of Christ into the four weeks of the Advent season. The
Church has a wonderful way of relating to time. For the Church, time is
relative. Through her liturgical life she invites us to experience time
the way God does -- a thousand ages in his sight are like an evening
spent in great conversation. For God, no time is lost. The past and the
future are just as available to God as our right or left hand would be
to us.
This time of Advent has called us to cast our gaze forward in
expectation, looking for the one who is to come. Like all of the Advent
characters, Isaiah, Mary, John the Baptizer, and Joseph we have come to
expect God's action soon.
This Christmas let us celebrate what God is doing in our world right
now, not just what he did long ago in Bethlehem. Let us pray that the
Prince of Peace will show us the way to peace in our nation, in the
Middle East, and throughout the world. May our hunger for Christ's
presence be fed in every Eucharist. May we become Advent people who
courageously bring him to a waiting world.
May this Christmas season be
a time of joy for you and your family. Try to continue the celebration
throughout the Christmas season, which ends at sundown Monday, January
9th. Be counter-cultural, keep your Christmas decorations up and
celebrate God-with-us.
God's peace be with you! |
