Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and when she and Elizabeth got together they rejoiced in the gift of new life that God had blessed them both with. We are to rejoice too! Advent is a season of preparation, a time of coming. What are we preparing for, what is coming? Our new life in Christ. What we are about to celebrate in a few days had never happened before in human history. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, fully divine, entered into our humanity. He became a human being, fully human, just like one of us. That affirms that we are not junk, not someone’s trash to be kicked around. Our life has purpose and meaning, because we are loved by God more than we can ever imagine! That’s something to get excited about.
We are all invited to be recreated, each and every day. Have you ever wanted a fresh start, a do over? Well here you go. Don’t believe the mind noise or other people who will actually tell you overtly or covertly that you are worthless or nothing. Not true! Through our very being, we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have been created by Love, to receive and to share love. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other as they are, unconditionally. If we haven’t been so loving lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew.
We are about to celebrate a baby’s birth. Not just any baby, but he who has always been, is, and will be, became the most vulnerable, as an embryo, as an unborn fetus, and as an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary’s Son would continue to grow, mature, and thirty three years later, return to an even more vulnerable postition on the Cross, beaten, scourged, naked, and crucified. He was born and tabernacled among us, to be one with us, so that when he died he could take our sin upon himself. Original Sin did not destroy us. We were wounded, but by His stripes, the scourging Jesus endured for us, we have been healed. He conquered even death, that we would have life and have it to the full, now and throughout eternity.
May we not take the birth of this child for granted. Jesus was born for us, he lived that we might not only be shown a better way, but he is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, a key ingredient in unconditional love: to be willing to risk being authentic to who God called him to be, even to being willing to be rejected, even if that meant that all might walk away from him. May we be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present, and also walk and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters. Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for us all. After his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the Love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, so to better actualize our communion with one another.
We started this reflection with the celebration of new life with Mary and Elizabeth, who rejoiced at the announcement of their babies birth. The other message they can share with us, because they realized it all too soon, is that life goes by too fast. But each of their son’s deaths meant a new beginning for humanity. Let us not take this life we have been given, any moment we are given, for granted. May we let those we care about know that we love them. Make that call, send that card, invite that person for a walk. For all we encounter, let us respect, be kind, and care for one another. If you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture we say to another that we care enough about them to acknowledge that they exist. These are some of the best gifts we can give to one another this Christmas.
Painting of Elizabeth and Mary in the church of El Sitio, Suchitoto, El Salvador
Accessed from:
Link for today’s Mass reading for Thursday, December 21, 2017.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122117.cfm
Spiritual Stepping Stones 