4th Sunday of Advent

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

God is with us!

One Christmas two missionaries were driving from Spain to Lisbon in Portugal. Arriving in the beautiful city of Lisbon towards evening the car stopped at a traffic light. A by-stander, seeing that they did not have their car headlights switched on, starting making signs by the side of the road, opening and closing his hands to mimic the flashing of the headlights. The Spanish missionary who was driving commented to his Portuguese companion “Wow, the people here in Portugal are so friendly! I don’t even know that man there yet he is waving to us.” This made me reflect that sometimes in life the signs are right in front of our eyes yet we don’t see them.

Today in the first reading we have God speaking (Isaiah 7, 10-14). It is a reminder that God speaks. He is not a silent God but at times he shouts. In the middle of the Christmas hustle and bustle we must not forget to listen to our Lord, to listen to his Word. Once in Rome we had a gathering of different congregations. I was asking their names – “Gesù ama” which is Jesus loves, another was “Gesù vive” – Jesus lives. “And what about you guys “Verbum Dei – Gesù parla - Jesus speaks!” God spoke to the King Ahaz. At that time, Jerusalem was under threat of attack but instead of trusting in the Lord, King Ahaz preferred to put his trust in the help of a powerful neighbour. “The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!” Ahaz refuses and the prophet Isaiah tells Ahaz that he is making God weary! Sometimes I think God becomes weary with me when I lack faith. When our Lord was with those who did not believe he did not work many mighty deeds because the people lacked faith. The prophet Isaiah then makes the famous Immanuel prophecy “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7, 14). In the reading from Isaiah the Hebrew text uses the word almah which means “a young woman” not a virgin but later when it was translated to greek, the word parthenos or virgin was used and prepares the way for the understanding of the virginal birth of our Lord. It also reminds us that God is a God who is with us, Immanuel. He is not a far off God but a God who becomes flesh in the baby Jesus.

There are many signs around us of God’s presence. Yesterday the teenagers and their friends from our School of the Word organized a Christmas party. These teenagers recently had a retreat with us. They enjoyed so much to listen to the Word of God, to reflect on it and their sharings were very profound. We were so joyful to have the privilege of working with them. After the retreat they were determined to keep the fire very alive! They started to come for prayer at our centre and to help organize a rosary for the children of the poor neighbourhood nearby. Yesterday the teenagers organized a Christmas party for 60 of these children. Wow! God is working, a God is who with us and among us - it is easy to see how the Word has become flesh in these teenagers and is dwelling among us. For these young teenagers the words of the second reading (See Romans 1, 1-7) apply well to them – to be chosen and set apart to share the Word of God, to be receive the grace of apostleship, and to spread the love of God among many and then as the gospel tells us “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about”. Jesus is born every time we love, when we share the Word of love and help make it flesh in us and others.

The gospel recounts the wonderful episode of how Joseph came to understand what happened to Mary. Joseph was betrothed to Mary. The New American bible explains betrothal thus: “betrothal was the first part of the marriage, constituting a man and woman as husband and wife. Subsequent infidelity was considered adultery. The betrothal was followed some months later by the husband's taking his wife into his home, at which time normal married life began.” So Joseph is betrothed to Mary, or we might say today engaged to her. He discovers that she is pregnant and decides to divorce her quietly. This is very noble of Joseph as he could have denounced her and this may have led to her be stoned to death. After making his decision, lo and behold, the angel arrives and appears to him in a dream. In the early Old Testament dreams were a common way for God to communicate his message. Some like this concept as it is biblical support for them falling asleep in prayer time! The angel explains to Joseph what has happened ““Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” (see Matthew 1, 18-24)

It must have been a challenging moment for Joseph, perhaps beset with perplexity. Joseph’s response to his own dark night shows us how to avoid common errors: action without reflection and reflection without action. In his decision to “divorce Mary quietly,” he was neither impulsive nor indecisive. He instead exercised prudence. After the angel explains everything Joseph showed another characteristic which we strive to imitate – prompt obedience of faith. He did exactly as the angel directed, overcoming any temptation to doubt, hesitate or avoid the consequences. When the Lord shows me a different path am I willing to change direction? Yesterday we were invited to a house to visit a manger. At first I did not want to go but I remembered earlier in the week I was sharing about the value of community and like the Magi, to travel together, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of that word that I had shared and I changed my mind and went. After the visit I understood the Lord’s wisdom as the woman we visited was anxious about her son’s recent hospitalization and perhaps the visit of 7 missionaries brought her some peace and consolation. I hope so! The Word is really a light for our path, a lamp for our feet, and a sure guide in our decision making.

Let us rejoice this Christmas. We have a God who is with us. We know well the song based on this prophecy, “Emmanuel, our God is with us...” and it is true that we have a God who walks with us, who is present in history, sometimes acting right in front of our eyes but we need faith to see it. We are reminded of the permanent presence of God with the last words of Matthew’s Gospel “Behold, I am with you always until the end of time” (Matt 28,20). May we be happy that we have a God who is close to us, close to our realities. As we hear in Verbum domini (no.12) – “[the] Word, the Logos: the eternal word became small – small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the word could be grasped by us. Now the word is not simply audible; not only does it have a voice, now the word has a face, one which we can see: that of Jesus of Nazareth.” Merry Christmas!