breath of Heaven

“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”  But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.  And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;

for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  
a reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

I shed tears of hope and gratitude as I read this Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Advent.  Nothing is impossible for God.  He can and did become man in the womb of a virgin to save us from ourselves.  After He did that, what could we doubt He is capable of?

I believe that is the biggest leap of faith mankind has to make.  That is the most radical and strange and foreign idea for my mind to try and wrap around.  God left HEAVEN to live among us pitiful and fallen creatures.  Why?  So He could die a hideous death.  Why?  To atone for our sins so that we could be with Him for eternity if we so desire.  It was Love-the only real kind of it-that brought Heaven down to us.  Because He knew we couldn’t get to Him.  So tied down to earth we are by our sins that darkened our souls since the moment we chose other than God.  And no matter what we do (because HE already knew all we would do before He left Heaven for us) He still wants us with Him for Eternity.

If leaving Heaven doesn’t prove to you and I how infinitely desired by God and Loved by God we are, I am stumped as to what could.  And He said He would be with us always, even until the end of time.  He fulfills this promise at every moment in the Eucharist.  He remained with us, humbling Himself even further, that we might consume Him.  It is difficult to fathom that God would become Bread for us to eat and Wine for us to drink-but even more difficult for me is that He would come at all in the first place.  That He would take on this wretched state of fallen humanity so that being human would be more beautiful than it was before we had fallen.  It is sanctified by Jesus, this being human-ness.  Heaven has breathed life into us.  He turned death, the ultimate separation from God-our just consequence for turning from Him-He turned it into Victory.  And I feel especially thankful this Advent for that Victory.  Because the only sadness I have to deal with at the loss of someone I love dearly is that she is not where I can see her and speak with her and touch her anymore.  Because she was taken by Love to be with Love.  Where, O death is your victory?  

So, today, no matter what darkness and sadness and suffering that we endure, do not forget Jesus.  Do not forget that a week from today we will celebrate the humble Birth of Heaven on earth.  Do not forget that He Who created you Loved you from all eternity enough to leave Heaven for you.  Christmas means Hope.  For every single soul that has ever and will ever live on this earth.  

Rejoice ! Rejoice !
Emmanuel
Shall come to thee ( and thee and thee ) ,
O Israel ! 


happy Fourth Sunday of Advent, to all, and to all a hope-filled life !

oh , yeah , one more thing before i forget