Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
By Beth DeCristofaro
The LORD spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!" Then Isaiah said: … Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. (Isaiah 7:10-12, 14)
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. … for nothing will be impossible for God." (Luke 1:34-34, 37)
Piety
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
(3rd Verse “O Little Town of Bethlehem”)
Study
“tis the Season to be jolly”, “On every street corner you hear…” “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…” I am a Christmas music junkie and love 24-hour a day Christmas music! But I’m finding many of the lyrics just don’t get it. Song writers, and others, like myself, imagine and write for a Christmas out of what we’ve known, what we’ve heard from others and what we wish for or what we’ve been told to wish for. That is neither the historical or sacred history reality of the Season. And we can’t easily conceive of that reality even if we have marvelous hints from Scripture about it.
The readings over the past few days have been stories of discarded hopes literally reborn in the pregnancies of Elizabeth and Zorah. There is the astounding promise to David who planned merely to build a temple but was told God would instead build him an eternal legacy. And the loving admonishment to Ahaz for “wearying God” (oh, do I daily relate to that!) which contains a promise not of punishment but of God being “with us.”
“Mary did you know … this sleeping child you hold is the great I Am?” (Mark Lowry) Songwriters, novelists, preachers and ordinary mortals have tried for millenia to capture the reality that escapes us. What remains is faith that God continues to have in store for us far beyond our imaginations. And in the difficult, tragic, crushingly boring or dangerous times, the baby born in a stable and hung on a tree knows, suffers and saves us every time. In fact, He came to us then and he ever comes to us.
Action
As we prepare for the Nativity, keep in mind the priorities of which the adult Jesus will remind his followers. Love God above all and Love your Neighbor as Yourself. Watch your expectations. Will they steamroll over someone who cannot meet them? Will they cause you to miss an opportunity to be with someone who is suffering this season? Will they cause you to miss the wonder that truly, “Nothing is impossible for God.”
