Wednesday, December 11, 2019

“I Am Coming To Dwell Among You” by Beth DeCristofaro


“I Am Coming To Dwell Among You” by Beth DeCristofaro


Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. … Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! For he stirs forth from his holy dwelling. (Zachariah 2:14, 17)
 
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.” (Luke 1:35-38)

Piety
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.” (Luke 1:47)

Study
“Sing and rejoice” exhorts Zachariah because God is coming! Can we imagine the singing and rejoicing among the poor, indigenous residents in the region of Mexico City as they realized that, indeed, the Mother of God had come to them? These people were dispirited and oppressed -- relegated to an underclass even by their church institution. God’s Mother revealed herself to one of their own. She showed gentle caring and solidarity with Juan Diego and his people. She did not present herself as an authority but as embracing, maternal nurturing. A tremendous spiritual revival occurred in Mexico as a result of her giving voice through the least. Zachariah also prophesied to the potential spiritual renewal in his prophecy to the People.

In this season of abundant, marvelous music, the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” comes to mind. The music, with its mournful, minor key, fills us with a longing for liberation and the loneliness of a soul separated from its Creator. Yet its lyrics are filled with a patient, confident hope. It awaits freedom from captivity and fullness to replace emptiness. It is a song of Advent yet it might also be an anthem for the human condition as we live in the building-but-not-yet Kingdom of God.


It might seem counter-intuitive and contradictory to live in joy when the state of our humanity’s reality is often so joyless. In Advent, we renew our joy again. We refresh our confidence in the Word Made Flesh, who Dwelt Among Us, who bestows profuse love and mercy. This passage from Zechariah ends in a contradiction as well: Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! It is in the silence of our prayer, the time spent within our hearts, that we can hear the joy of God. The suffering which is the human condition is mitigated and endured by our sure knowledge that God’s blessing is already within us for the taking.

Action
Mary’s Magnificat and Mary’s visitation at Guadalupe show us how we can hold the tension between joy and the fragility of being human. Mary’s “yes” would not change the circumstances of her life. She still had to face the gossip of her town and living under the rule of Rome. Her “yes” recognized the immensity of God’s graces available for her above that reality.

Fostering a spirit of gratefulness and rejoicing puts us in touch with the silence of God’s presence. Listening to the voice of the poor to whom Jesus came and to whom Mary spoke at Guadalupe can help us translate that silent joyfulness into singing and dancing for liberation, justice, and peace.


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