Fourth Sunday of Advent

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1:18–24

Friends, in today’s Gospel, an angel tells Joseph in a dream to name his son Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins.” The rightful King has returned to reclaim what is his and to let the prisoners go free. The God announced by all the prophets and patriarchs—by Abraham, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Isaiah—is a God of justice, and this means that he burns to set things right. God hates the sin and violence and injustice that have rendered gloomy his beautiful world, and therefore he comes into that world as a warrior, ready to fight. But he arrives (and here is the delicious irony of Christmas) stealthily, clandestinely—sneaking, as it were, unnoticed behind enemy lines. The King comes as a helpless infant, born of insignificant parents in a small town of a distant outpost of the Roman Empire. He will conquer through the finally irresistible power of love, the same power with which he made the universe. Bishop Robert Barron “AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.”   Children, being so small and vulnerable, are very approachable, and we are drawn to love them and to delight in them. God could have come in another way, but He chose to enter human history as a child in a human family so that we might not fear to come close to Him, to love Him, and to delight in Him. Three times in Sunday’s Mass we hear these words of the Prophet Isaiah: “The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” Pope Benedict commented on the warmth of Christmas by referring to St. Francis and his crib, saying:   Indeed, the night at Greccio restored to Christianity the intensity and beauty of the Feast of Christmas and taught the People of God to perceive its most authentic message, its special warmth, and to love and worship the humanity of Christ.   … Easter had focused attention on the power of God who triumphs over death, inaugurates new life and teaches us to hope in the world to come. St. Francis with his crib highlighted the defenceless love of God, his humanity and his kindness; God manifested himself to humanity in the Incarnation of the Word to teach people a new way of living and loving. (Wednesday Audience, 23 December 2009)   Child Jesus, teach us this “new way of living and loving” as we delight in the “special warmth” of this time when we are drawn to your “defenceless love.”   In the Child Jesus,   Fr. Joseph Mary   P.S. If you are inspired by this message, please forward this email to your loved ones or encourage them to join our Advent journey.