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Have you ever had to endure a
painful separation? Some separations are only momentary,
some seem to go on forever. Maybe that is why we play peek-a-boo with
babies, to get them used to the idea that sooner or later people go
away. It’s hard when children lose their pets or when best friends leave
the neighborhood. Sometimes there are the tragic separations of children
and parents, husbands and wives, friends and lovers. One of the hardest
things in the world is to let go of someone you love. It wouldn’t be so
hard, if we didn’t love them in the first place!
God is love and so he sent
his Son. Jesus taught us how God would live if He were to become a man.
He taught us that God has a preference for the poor. He could have been
born anywhere and he chose a barn. He learned the carpenter’s trade to
teach us the dignity of human toil. He spent his life for others
so that we could see that life need not be easy, only full. His people
rejected him. His friends betrayed him. Finally, he embraced his passion
and crucifixion to show us that even though the Father’s plans may
frighten us, His love is greater than sin or death.
In the human nature Jesus
received from the Blessed Mother he was present to humanity as
God-become-man, but only as God-become-thatone- particular-man. He was
present for a limited time and for a very limited number of people.
But God’s love for us in Jesus was not meant to be for just one lifetime
or for just some people. It was meant for all humanity.
Today we celebrate the return
of Jesus to the Father so that the Holy Spirit might come to the
apostles and to us. By the power of the Holy Spirit Christ now
lives, not for us, or around us, but in and through us. The Word
has become flesh and made his dwelling place among us. He must increase
and I must decrease! |
