Come to Me December 21

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! Songs 2:11-13

And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:43

Piety

Praise and love be showered on all who are filled with faith. The Lord is with you like the dove of peace and the sweet fruit of the spring. Loved are you among people and loved is all that you create. Holy lovers, you are children of God. Pray for us despite our sins. Love us always from the dawning springtime of our Advent love to the hour of our death when God appears the farthest apart from us.

We look with hearts full of hope, notwithstanding the dangers and difficulties that surround us. Mary show us, in your Son, the Way of peace, and enlighten our vision, so that we can recognize Christ's face in the face of every human person, the heart of peace![1]

Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/122106.shtml

Lovers don’t want to be alone or apart from each other. They have trouble hanging up the telephone on each other. They can stand to be separated and in today’s terms, when physically apart, they will send text messages, e-mail, phone calls, “IMs (that’s Instant Messages for anyone born before the Sacco and Vanzetti trial)…anything possible to stay connected, together. In the past, there would be the daily letters from one person to the other…telegrams…gifts and more.

Jesus doesn’t want us to walk alone on our journey. Nothing can keep us from our God nor keep our God from us.

What does such loyal and devoted love cost us? Nothing but faith. “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:45

Jesus has revealed to us that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) and that the highest vocation of every person is love. In Christ we can find the ultimate reason for becoming staunch champions of human dignity and courageous builders of peace.[2]

Mary is first portrayed as the handmaiden of the Lord. Then, at the foot of the cross, this divine loving motherhood and ancestry is transferred to us by none other than our Brother Jesus himself.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”

Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John 19:16-17

Action

The tradition of sending Christmas cards or holiday greetings is one way we have of acting out the love of God to send his love to us at Christmas.

This year, our shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI has sent us his message for World Day of Peace – “The Human Person, The Heart of Peace.” You can read the whole message at this link:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20061208_xl-world-day-peace_en.html

Pope Benedict calls on all Christians to become peace makers. He writes: Today, peace is not only threatened by the conflict between reductive visions of man, in other words, between ideologies. It is also threatened by indifference as to what constitutes man's true nature.

The lover in the garden is not indifferent to his bride. I can not imagine Jesus being indifferent to Mary and the disciples that he calls “Friends.” I can not imagine Jesus being indifferent to anyone even the repentant thief gets his love in the middle of his torture and execution.

Have we been indifferent to the Church’s teaching on peace this year? Have we not done enough to turn around the situation in Darfur? Or Haiti? Or Afghanistan? Or Iraq? Then let us all join Pope Benedict and make a resolution to do more. He calls on us as the lover in Song of Songs calls on his bride with these words:

“Let every Christian be committed to tireless peace-making and strenuous defense of the dignity of the human person and his inalienable rights.”

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[1] Pope Benedict XVI. The Human Person, The Heart of Peace. Part 17/Conclusion, December 8, 2006.

[2] Pope Benedict XVI. The Human Person, The Heart of Peace. Part 16, December 8, 2006.