"The Lord of Glory has become our Brother!" - Saint Francis
The child to be born to Mary had his
origins in the vast mystery of God. Indeed, Mary gave birth to Emmanuel – God
with us, God among us, God for us.
In God’s complete gift of himself to us in
Jesus, we can glimpse his limitless love. We can also see how great our hope and
desire can and should be as we come in prayer before Emmanuel.
We can pray for many things – for health,
financial issues, our various concerns. There is nothing wrong with this. God wants us to bring our needs to him.
However, the Lord wants us to know that frequently we desire too little. At times, our prayers and
our hopes are too paltry. Our God is too small!
At Christmas we are called to lift our heads and hearts and glimpse the splendour being offered to us.
To put it simply – God became human so that
we humans could become divine.
Our entire Christian life is one long
birthing into divine life, a life that already dwells within us by the gift of
the Holy Spirit. We are asked to experience what is already given, to become
what we already are.
In the mystery of Mary’s child we learn
that anything is possible for God.
Jesus wants us to expand our desire.
In faith, we must make God’s generosity,
not our littleness, the measure of our expectations.
Jesus desires to fill us with his own life
and love and joy. We are called to light our lives from the flame of his divine
life.
He asks us not to settle for too little, too soon, when so much is
offered to us.
Jesus, Emmanuel, help me make space in my
life for the gift of God.
