Mark 13:33-37
Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore -- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning -- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Watch."
Comment - What are you waiting for?
ADVENT IS THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF VIGILANCE OR, to put it more mundanely, of waiting. During the four weeks prior to Christmas, we light the candles of our Advent wreaths and put ourselves in the spiritual space of the Israelite people who, through many long centuries, waited for the coming of the Messiah (“How long, O Lord?”).
Old Testament Examples
From beginning to end of scripture we discover stories of people who are compelled to wait.
The patriarch Abraham received the promise that he would become, despite his old age, the father of a son and through that son the father of descendants more numerous than the stars in the night sky. But the fulfillment of that promise was a long time in coming. Through many years, as he and his wife grew older and older, as the likelihood of their parenthood became increasingly remote, Abraham waited. Did he doubt? Did he wonder whether he had misconstrued the divine promise? Did he waver in his faith? Did he endure the taunts of his enemies and the pitying glances of his friends? Probably. But he waited, and in time the promise came true.
Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph, the wearer of the multi-colored coat, saw in a dream that he would be a powerful man and that his brothers would one day bow down to him in homage. But the realization of that dream came only after a long and terrible wait. He was sold into slavery by those very brothers, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, humiliated, and finally sent to prison for seven years. Imagine what it must have been like to endure years in an ancient prison—the discomfort, the total lack of privacy, the terrible food in small amounts, sleeplessness, torture, and above all, hopelessness. This is what Joseph had to wait through before his dream came true in a most unexpected way.
The people of Israel were miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt, led across the Red Sea by the mighty hand of Moses—and then they waited. A journey that normally would have taken only a few weeks stretched to 40 years as they wandered rather aimlessly through the desert. The book of Exodus frequently gives us indications of what this time of vigil was like: “The people grumbled against Moses, ‘We are disgusted with this wretched food… Why did you lead us out into this desert to die? Were there not graves enough in Egypt?’” (Exodus 16:2-3) They were hardly models of patience.
Even poor Noah had to wait, cooped up in the ark with his irritable family and restless animals while the waters slowly retreated.
Christian Example
In the course of the Christian tradition, there is much evidence of this spirituality of waiting. Relatively late in life Ignatius of Loyola realized he was being called by God to do great things. But before he found his path he passed through a wide variety of experiences in the course of many years: a time of stark asceticism and prayer at Manresa, wandering to the Holy Land and back while living hand-to-mouth and sleeping in doorways, taking elementary courses in Paris alongside young kids, gathering a small band of followers and leading them through the Spiritual Exercises. Only at the end of this long sojourn—founding the Company of Jesus—did he realize the great thing God called him to do.
God has no express lane
All of this, I submit, is very hard for most of us. I suppose we human beings have always been in a hurry, but modern people especially seem to want what they want when they want it. We are driven, determined, goal-oriented, fast-moving. I, for one, can’t stand waiting.
So when I’m told that waiting seems to belong to the heart of the spiritual life, I’m not pleased, for here, too, I want answers, direction, clarity—and I want them pronto.
I desire to feel happy and to know what God is up to; I need my life to make sense—now. I’m pleased to live a spiritual life, but I want to be in charge of it and to make it unfold according to my schedule: All of this is profoundly antipathetic to the mood and spirit of Advent.
So what sense can we make of the countercultural and counterintuitive spirituality of vigilance? The first thing we have to realize is that we and God are, quite simply, on different time tables. The second letter of Peter states this truth with admirable directness: “To you, O Lord, a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
To the God who stands outside of space and time and who orders the whole of creation, our hours, days, years, eons have a radically different meaning. What is a long time to us is an instant for God, and hence what seems like delay to us is no delay at all to God. What seems like dumb and pointless waiting to us can be the way that God, in a unique and finally mysterious manner, is working God’s purposes out.
Theologian Richard Rohr summed up the spiritual life in the phrase “your life is not about you,” and this insight is particularly important in terms of the present question. “Why isn’t God acting how I want and when I want?” Perhaps because your life is part of a complex whole, the fullness of which only God can properly grasp and fittingly order.
But we can make things even more specific. Is it possible that we are made to wait because the track we are on is not the one God wants for us? Author G. K. Chesterton said that if you are on the wrong road, the very worst thing you can do is to move quickly. And there is that old joke about the pilot who comes on the intercom and says, “I have good news and bad news, folks: The bad news is that we’re totally lost; the good news is that we’re making excellent time!” Maybe we’re forced to wait because God wants us seriously to reconsider the course we’ve charted, to stop hurtling down a dangerous road.
Or perhaps we are made to wait because we are not yet adequately prepared to receive what God wants to give us. In his remarkable letter to Proba, Saint Augustine argued that the purpose of unanswered prayer is to force expansion of the heart. When we don’t get what we want, we begin to want it more and more, with ever greater insistency, until our souls are on fire with the desire for it. Sometimes it is only a sufficiently expanded and enflamed heart that can take in what God intends to give.
What would happen to us if we received, immediately and on our own terms, everything we wanted? We might be satisfied in a superficial way, but we wouldn’t begin to appreciate the preciousness of the gifts. After all, the Israelites had to wait thousands of years before they were ready to receive God’s greatest gift.
Even if we are on the right track and even if we desire with sufficient intensity what God wants to give, we still might not be ready to integrate a particular grace into our lives or to handle the implications of it. Joseph the dreamer clearly wanted to be a great man, but if he had been given political power and authority when he was an arrogant kid, the results would have been disastrous both for himself and for those under his control. His many years of suffering—his terrible wait—made him a ruler with both wisdom and deep compassion. And so, when his brothers did indeed finally bow down to him as he foresaw in his dream, he was able to react not in vengeance, but in love: “I am Joseph, your brother.”
Take advantage of traffic jams and annoying lines—really anything that makes you wait. And let the truth of what 18th-century spiritual writer Jean-Pierre de Caussade said sink in: “Whatever happens to you in the course of a day, for good or ill, is an expression of God’s will.” Instead of cursing your luck, banging on the steering wheel, or rolling your eyes in frustration, see the wait as a spiritual invitation.
When you are forced to slow down, pray one of the great, repetitive vigil prayers of the church, such as the rosary or the Jesus prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”).
Consider the possibility that God wants you at that moment to wait and then sanctify the time such as through one of those savouring prayers.
The entire Bible ends on a note not so much of triumph and completion as longing and expectation: “Come, Lord Jesus.” From the very beginning of the Christian dispensation, followers of the risen Jesus have been waiting. Paul, Augustine, Chrysostom, Agnes, Thomas Aquinas, Clare, Francis, and John Henry Newman have all waited for the Second Coming and have hence all been Advent people. During this season let us join them, turning our eyes and hearts upward and pray “I’m waiting, I’m waiting”.
Source: Fr Robert Barron www.wordonfire.org
Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advent. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Luke 2:4-5 Parallels in Our Life
Luke 2:4-5
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Comment
In this culture of privilege, wealth and prestige which means everything and where people aren’t having children because they want more things and children are too much time and too much expense and they just want to focus on themselves. In a culture where that happens, our Father in heaven shows us that in the simple lives of a housewife and a carpenter raising the Son of God has an intimate connection with the human family and that is why spouses must work together to develop this spirituality in their marriage that attests to the truth that God is love.
It is not easy and it takes work but what we have to remember in those difficult times is that God did not even spare “His own family”.
What kind of parallels can we see in our family life today?
For example, look at the Annunciation in Luke 1:26.
Mary is betrothed to Joseph she gets pregnant and Joseph discovers he is not the father of the child. Gee, that doesn’t happen today does it?
Look at the ordeal of Joseph who has to make a decision– do I leave her or do I stay. So many young men today get their girlfriends or fiancées pregnant and do what the culture say - take the easy option. When you separate love from life you create a culture of death. So they say to the girl ‘you need to go and take care of it, that’s your problem’ Joseph here stood up and could have had her stoned to death but that is not what he did. He was a man of honour and a man of character and the angel came to him and said this is God working here.
Then they have to leave and go to Bethlehem to do the census.
He can’t even find a place for his pregnant wife who is about to give birth so now they become a homeless family. We don’t have those today do we?
Then there was the flight into Egypt. He had to leave his homeland, his way of life, his means to support the family and go into Egypt. We have families today who have to leave their homeland because of war, because of famine, because of strife and move to a foreign country to begin their life again.
Then they actually lose Jesus. They are coming back from the Passover Feast travelling in caravans back in those days and they assume Jesus is with them in this caravan convoy. Mary asks Joseph ‘have you see Jesus around’? ‘No I thought He was with you.’
I can tell you from working with my time in law enforcement, I have been in situations where parents have lost their children and are not sure where they are and to see the terror on the faces of these parents is just heart wrenching so I can imagine what Joseph and Mary would have gone through. Then we read they found Jesus in the temple.
At some stage Mary becomes a single mother when Joseph dies.
How do we know? Because on the Cross, Jesus gives care of Mary to Jesus’ disciple and friend John.
He would not have done that had Joseph been alive.
So at some point Mary becomes a single mother. Gee, we don’t have those today do we?
Then we see Mary at the foot of the Cross. She has to endure something that no mother, no parent ever wants to endure. To see their children die before them.
Even though Jesus came to live in a human family did not mean that their life was perfect.
There was hardship, there was pain, there was suffering and they are the same things we see in families today. We need to draw strength from this in our struggles.
Source: ca060906b -The Eucharist- Heart of the Family -Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers.mp3
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
Comment
In this culture of privilege, wealth and prestige which means everything and where people aren’t having children because they want more things and children are too much time and too much expense and they just want to focus on themselves. In a culture where that happens, our Father in heaven shows us that in the simple lives of a housewife and a carpenter raising the Son of God has an intimate connection with the human family and that is why spouses must work together to develop this spirituality in their marriage that attests to the truth that God is love.
It is not easy and it takes work but what we have to remember in those difficult times is that God did not even spare “His own family”.
What kind of parallels can we see in our family life today?
For example, look at the Annunciation in Luke 1:26.
Mary is betrothed to Joseph she gets pregnant and Joseph discovers he is not the father of the child. Gee, that doesn’t happen today does it?
Look at the ordeal of Joseph who has to make a decision– do I leave her or do I stay. So many young men today get their girlfriends or fiancées pregnant and do what the culture say - take the easy option. When you separate love from life you create a culture of death. So they say to the girl ‘you need to go and take care of it, that’s your problem’ Joseph here stood up and could have had her stoned to death but that is not what he did. He was a man of honour and a man of character and the angel came to him and said this is God working here.
Then they have to leave and go to Bethlehem to do the census.
He can’t even find a place for his pregnant wife who is about to give birth so now they become a homeless family. We don’t have those today do we?
Then there was the flight into Egypt. He had to leave his homeland, his way of life, his means to support the family and go into Egypt. We have families today who have to leave their homeland because of war, because of famine, because of strife and move to a foreign country to begin their life again.
Then they actually lose Jesus. They are coming back from the Passover Feast travelling in caravans back in those days and they assume Jesus is with them in this caravan convoy. Mary asks Joseph ‘have you see Jesus around’? ‘No I thought He was with you.’
I can tell you from working with my time in law enforcement, I have been in situations where parents have lost their children and are not sure where they are and to see the terror on the faces of these parents is just heart wrenching so I can imagine what Joseph and Mary would have gone through. Then we read they found Jesus in the temple.
At some stage Mary becomes a single mother when Joseph dies.
How do we know? Because on the Cross, Jesus gives care of Mary to Jesus’ disciple and friend John.
He would not have done that had Joseph been alive.
So at some point Mary becomes a single mother. Gee, we don’t have those today do we?
Then we see Mary at the foot of the Cross. She has to endure something that no mother, no parent ever wants to endure. To see their children die before them.
Even though Jesus came to live in a human family did not mean that their life was perfect.
There was hardship, there was pain, there was suffering and they are the same things we see in families today. We need to draw strength from this in our struggles.
Source: ca060906b -The Eucharist- Heart of the Family -Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers.mp3
Luke 2:9-11 Advent
Luke 2:9-11
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Comment
Advent means “coming” and, simply put, Advent is the season when we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas.
It is the time when we get our hearts ready for the greatest Christmas gift of all — namely, Jesus.
I’d like to try my best in this meditation by talking to you about the three comings of Christ at Christmas — the triple “Advents” of Our Lord.
If you don’t mind me saying it in a more poetic way, Our Lord comes to us in history, mystery, and majesty.
He came in history as the Holy Infant of Bethlehem.
He comes to us now in mystery — in word, sacrament, grace, and mercy.
He will come in majesty at the end of the world as judge of the living and the dead.
His Coming in History
Our Lord Jesus Christ came in history. This is, of course, the coming that drove the dreams of the faithful people of Israel, who had waited so eagerly and so long for the coming of the Messiah. What we try to do as the Church in Advent, in a small way, is to consolidate those centuries of waiting into four short weeks. And we’re reminded — guess what? — that God takes His sweet old time in fulfilling His promises.
God may have promised a Savior in the Garden of Eden. You bet He did. But He was slow in following through on that sacred promise. So that’s why we hear words such as “yearning,” “waiting,” “hoping,” “watching,” “longing,” “looking,” and “preparing” throughout this holy season. These words all become part of our Advent vocabulary at the sacred liturgy. But all that yearning, waiting, hoping, watching, longing, looking, and preparing — was it ever worth it when He finally did come, for as St. John the Evangelist records: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). There is His coming in history.
Now, granted, there’s really not all that much we can do to prepare for that first coming of Christ — His coming in history — because as a matter of fact, it has already taken place. But we can, during this Season of Advent, assume the posture of the expectant people of Israel and admit that we have a very real need for a Savior.
Did you get that? We sure do need a Savior!
Advent is an excellent time to prepare, to renew our faith that the baby whose birth we hail at Christmas is indeed the Savior of the World, the long-awaited Messiah — the One who can save us! Now, it might sound easy to make the admission that we need a Savior, but in reality it’s tough because most of us are sort of proud and feel rather self-sufficient, independent — in other words, we feel we’re able to take care of ourselves. We’re not beholden to anybody. We hardly need a Savior.
Yet if we are really honest with ourselves, we admit that there are certain things in our life that we just can’t fix. I need help. I happen to need a Savior — and there is good news! We happen to have the best Savior ever, who was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in history, on that first Christmas Day.
What we actually mean by Christ coming in history is that at a specific time and place, God became Man and entered the human drama. This is called the Incarnation — that is, Our Lord’s coming in history. Advent can be a great time to recollect our utter dependence and need for God made Man, who has broken into the history of the world, to save us.
Come, Lord Jesus!
There is a beautiful traditional prayer for the Season of Advent. It is a prayer that is found in the New Testament and in an ancient document of the early Church called the Didache. It is a simple prayer, but one that can be prayed anytime:
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
Repeat this prayer often during this Season of Advent and you will recognize with the eyes of faith that, in praying it sincerely, Our Lord has already answered it, will answer it, and will answer it again.
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Source: Excerpt from Advent Reflections: Come, Lord Jesus! by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan - The First Week of Advent: The Three Comings of Christ.
(The other Two ‘Comings’ of Christ hinted to above may be included in another email)
My wife mentioned another reflection of the scripture I sent out yesterday and that was both the manger and the tomb were ‘borrowed’.
Jesus had no belongings or possessions. He came into this world with nothing and left with nothing.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Comment
Advent means “coming” and, simply put, Advent is the season when we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas.
It is the time when we get our hearts ready for the greatest Christmas gift of all — namely, Jesus.
I’d like to try my best in this meditation by talking to you about the three comings of Christ at Christmas — the triple “Advents” of Our Lord.
If you don’t mind me saying it in a more poetic way, Our Lord comes to us in history, mystery, and majesty.
He came in history as the Holy Infant of Bethlehem.
He comes to us now in mystery — in word, sacrament, grace, and mercy.
He will come in majesty at the end of the world as judge of the living and the dead.
His Coming in History
Our Lord Jesus Christ came in history. This is, of course, the coming that drove the dreams of the faithful people of Israel, who had waited so eagerly and so long for the coming of the Messiah. What we try to do as the Church in Advent, in a small way, is to consolidate those centuries of waiting into four short weeks. And we’re reminded — guess what? — that God takes His sweet old time in fulfilling His promises.
God may have promised a Savior in the Garden of Eden. You bet He did. But He was slow in following through on that sacred promise. So that’s why we hear words such as “yearning,” “waiting,” “hoping,” “watching,” “longing,” “looking,” and “preparing” throughout this holy season. These words all become part of our Advent vocabulary at the sacred liturgy. But all that yearning, waiting, hoping, watching, longing, looking, and preparing — was it ever worth it when He finally did come, for as St. John the Evangelist records: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). There is His coming in history.
Now, granted, there’s really not all that much we can do to prepare for that first coming of Christ — His coming in history — because as a matter of fact, it has already taken place. But we can, during this Season of Advent, assume the posture of the expectant people of Israel and admit that we have a very real need for a Savior.
Did you get that? We sure do need a Savior!
Advent is an excellent time to prepare, to renew our faith that the baby whose birth we hail at Christmas is indeed the Savior of the World, the long-awaited Messiah — the One who can save us! Now, it might sound easy to make the admission that we need a Savior, but in reality it’s tough because most of us are sort of proud and feel rather self-sufficient, independent — in other words, we feel we’re able to take care of ourselves. We’re not beholden to anybody. We hardly need a Savior.
Yet if we are really honest with ourselves, we admit that there are certain things in our life that we just can’t fix. I need help. I happen to need a Savior — and there is good news! We happen to have the best Savior ever, who was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in history, on that first Christmas Day.
What we actually mean by Christ coming in history is that at a specific time and place, God became Man and entered the human drama. This is called the Incarnation — that is, Our Lord’s coming in history. Advent can be a great time to recollect our utter dependence and need for God made Man, who has broken into the history of the world, to save us.
Come, Lord Jesus!
There is a beautiful traditional prayer for the Season of Advent. It is a prayer that is found in the New Testament and in an ancient document of the early Church called the Didache. It is a simple prayer, but one that can be prayed anytime:
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
Repeat this prayer often during this Season of Advent and you will recognize with the eyes of faith that, in praying it sincerely, Our Lord has already answered it, will answer it, and will answer it again.
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Source: Excerpt from Advent Reflections: Come, Lord Jesus! by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan - The First Week of Advent: The Three Comings of Christ.
(The other Two ‘Comings’ of Christ hinted to above may be included in another email)
My wife mentioned another reflection of the scripture I sent out yesterday and that was both the manger and the tomb were ‘borrowed’.
Jesus had no belongings or possessions. He came into this world with nothing and left with nothing.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Matt 8:11 Not Us and Them
Matt 8:11 Not Us and Them
Many will eat from the east and the west, and will eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Reflection
Inclusiveness with God
The heart of God is big, and the table of God is wide. All are included in the love of God: there are neither insiders nor outsiders. Some religion likes to narrow down who is included and who is excluded. There are people who feel their only place is in the back corner of the church, and feel excluded from the front seats, maybe because of lifestyle, sin or just feeling ashamed of who they are. Religion can encourage an ‘us and them’ mentality. Jesus offers an open door to his house and a chair a t the top of his table to everyone – and an honoured chair to men and women others may look down on. That encourages us to offer and open our hearts to all.
Prayer
Christ of the welcomes, have mercy on us.
Christ, open to all in love, have compassion for us.
Christ of the compassionate heart, make our hearts like yours.
A prayer today for refuges and asylum seekers.
Source: Praying in Advent by Donal Neary SJ
Advent begins this year on Sunday 3rd December (my next turn is on Monday 25th Dec )
This book my family will be reading for Advent contains a prayer a day.
Extract from Introduction
It is a way of ensuring that the mystery of Christmas doesn’t get lost in the bustle of Christmas preparations, and freshens our way of thinking of Christmas for another year. It ensures also that we don’t cease to be amazed anew at the great event, now and then, in Bethlehem and in our own village, of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.
Many will eat from the east and the west, and will eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Reflection
Inclusiveness with God
The heart of God is big, and the table of God is wide. All are included in the love of God: there are neither insiders nor outsiders. Some religion likes to narrow down who is included and who is excluded. There are people who feel their only place is in the back corner of the church, and feel excluded from the front seats, maybe because of lifestyle, sin or just feeling ashamed of who they are. Religion can encourage an ‘us and them’ mentality. Jesus offers an open door to his house and a chair a t the top of his table to everyone – and an honoured chair to men and women others may look down on. That encourages us to offer and open our hearts to all.
Prayer
Christ of the welcomes, have mercy on us.
Christ, open to all in love, have compassion for us.
Christ of the compassionate heart, make our hearts like yours.
A prayer today for refuges and asylum seekers.
Source: Praying in Advent by Donal Neary SJ
Advent begins this year on Sunday 3rd December (my next turn is on Monday 25th Dec )
This book my family will be reading for Advent contains a prayer a day.
Extract from Introduction
It is a way of ensuring that the mystery of Christmas doesn’t get lost in the bustle of Christmas preparations, and freshens our way of thinking of Christmas for another year. It ensures also that we don’t cease to be amazed anew at the great event, now and then, in Bethlehem and in our own village, of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.
Luke 1:26-32, 38, 48 Love Beyond All Telling
Luke 1:26-32, 38, 48 Love Beyond All Telling
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
Reflection
“The virgin mother bore him in her womb with love beyond all telling.”
Unquestionably it is my favorite sentence prayed during the season of Advent, and it has provided the inspiration for these reflections. Advent attends to two important figures in salvation history:
Mary and Jesus. Its spirituality centers upon the faith and courage of a young woman who opened wide the doors of her life to the invitation of God, welcomed the Word into her heart, nourished that Word “with love beyond all telling”—and then gave birth to the incarnate Word of God, Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, what Mary bore with love beyond all telling, was in fact divine love beyond all telling.
We can only wonder what Mary experienced as she accepted the invitation of God and agreed to bear God’s son with a love beyond all telling. With a single “yes,” she went from maiden to mother. Such a transition might have been a source of confusion when, having placed her life at God’s disposal, she discovered people gossiping about her and Joseph, her fiancé, considering divorce.
As we journey together this Advent with the Word of God, let us do what Mary has done: offer hospitality in our hearts to the Word, contemplate it amidst our daily comings and goings, and nurture it with love beyond all telling. And then, come Christmas Day, let us go tell it on the mountain that God’s love beyond all telling has taken on flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.
Source: Daily Reflections for Advent 2006
Love Beyond All Telling – by Albert Haase, O.F.M.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
Reflection
“The virgin mother bore him in her womb with love beyond all telling.”
Unquestionably it is my favorite sentence prayed during the season of Advent, and it has provided the inspiration for these reflections. Advent attends to two important figures in salvation history:
Mary and Jesus. Its spirituality centers upon the faith and courage of a young woman who opened wide the doors of her life to the invitation of God, welcomed the Word into her heart, nourished that Word “with love beyond all telling”—and then gave birth to the incarnate Word of God, Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, what Mary bore with love beyond all telling, was in fact divine love beyond all telling.
We can only wonder what Mary experienced as she accepted the invitation of God and agreed to bear God’s son with a love beyond all telling. With a single “yes,” she went from maiden to mother. Such a transition might have been a source of confusion when, having placed her life at God’s disposal, she discovered people gossiping about her and Joseph, her fiancé, considering divorce.
As we journey together this Advent with the Word of God, let us do what Mary has done: offer hospitality in our hearts to the Word, contemplate it amidst our daily comings and goings, and nurture it with love beyond all telling. And then, come Christmas Day, let us go tell it on the mountain that God’s love beyond all telling has taken on flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.
Source: Daily Reflections for Advent 2006
Love Beyond All Telling – by Albert Haase, O.F.M.
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