Paul's Reflections Advent 4 b 2008

21st  December, 2008      Fourth Sunday of Advent - B

 

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As the Christmas rush goes into hyper-drive…. and shops stay open for extended hours…….  and the television and newspapers are full of references to Santa and last minute specials……….    we have probably all heard of how children are writing to Santa… and that when they do… they get a reply……  they just have to write… santa clause c/- the North Pole and it gets a reply……..   but today’s gospel raises a very interesting question…..

 

what is God’s address………???? 

 

If YOU WERE GOING to send a Christmas card to God this year, where would you send it? We know the address of Santa Claus, the Queen of England, the Pope, and we could probably successfully send a letter even to a friend or two we haven’t seen since grade one. But the God’s address is a little more difficult. If we write “heaven” on the envelope, will our Christmas greetings ever reach their destination????? (perhaps not something to try for this Christmas)

 

          The whereabouts of God have always been an issue for those who seek God. Where do you look? We may take a pilgrimage to a holy site: God’s been known to make an appearance at a certain mountain peak in Israel. The Son of God moved around from town to town but never settled down –(not even in the tomb! – for he soon moved out of there… having risen to new life).  The Holy Spirit made a dramatic showing in an upper room in Jerusalem, but subsequent sightings have been across Asia Minor and beyond.

 

          The most famous dwelling place of God, of course, was on Mt. Zion in the Jerusalem Temple. One wall is left standing on that ancient site for those willing to seek God in ruins. But most of us look no further than the where the local church community still gathers to encounter the “divine” in word, sacrament, and each other. We take the Easter angel literally when we recall his words  to the disciples…… “Do not seek the living among the dead!”

 

          As far back as the time of David, the desire to house God in a particular building and location ( a fixed address) was often thwarted by God’s insistence that it actually works the other way around: God, our Creator built the house in which creation lives and moves and has its being. God makes a “house” out of David himself, a never-ending house that will shelter generations of kings until the time of the everlasting king (Jesus himself). And then one day, ten long centuries after King David lives, a young lady in Nazareth is asked if she would make a home for God in her life…… if she would be willing to house the Holy One in her own life…. and even in her own self……... And she delivers that awe-inspiring “yes.” (thank Goodness for Mary’s Yes, inspired by total obedience to God’s will and total trust in God’s ways, even though she did not comprehend what those ways would mean and how they would unfold).

 

          It would be a tragedy if Mary’s “yes” was the last “yes” in human history! In fact, Mary’s YES becomes the pattern for a hold lot more YES’s ……..Many more “yes’es” have been added since Mary’s “YES”, even if not quite so dramatic or unique. The Hebrew word amen means “yes,” and we say it every time we come forward for the Eucharist. We say yes, we will be the house where God, in Jesus, makes his home.

 

We are saying YES>……We’ll take the divine life into our bodies, in flesh and blood, and make it our flesh and blood. We say, “Let it be done to us, according to your word.”

 

So……   as amazing and wonderful as if seems… it is true…………  God’s last known address is….within YOU !

 

 so, as Advent draws to a swift close… it is important to ask ourselves……..

·         In what ways do I try to put God in a “box”? A safe and contained place where I know I can always find God? In what ways am I not open to seeing and experiencing the presence and indwelling of God in areas outside my assumptions and expectations…. 

 

·         Where do I most see God dwelling and acting, within this parish, and this community…..?

 

·         When do I feel most certain God dwells in me?

 

·         How can I emulate Mary’s response to God?

 

The wonderful thing about today’s readings is that they remind us that God truly is with us always…. Our time of preparation is so that we might fully appreciate the significance of Christmas … which is that God made his home with us humans….. God became one with us…. and makes his home in our hearts and in our lives……….   this is a profound and astounding reality…. which means that God is constantly with us………   as near as a heartbeat…..  as close as our own humanity… our own self……..    and that God wants us to follow Mary’s example… and say YES to what God is doing in our lives……   to say YES… to helping transform the world by lives built on the good news of Jesus……    by living the reality of God;s presence and action so close to us, as to be part of us……

 

So, we too are challenged and requested to say YES to god’s invitation to cooperate in God’s constant work to make Jesus’ Kingdom come… not only in heaven .. but here and now… in this life…….    let us say Yes to Jesus and may this coming Christmas celebration be a time of incredinble renewal and peace as we allow God’s grace to strengthen and build upon our YES…..    in imitation of Mary’s great YES to God…

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REFERENCES:

 

·          FR. PAUL W. KELLY

·          From and adapted from, and expanded from: Alice Camille, from PrepareTheWord.com - TrueQuest Communications, LLC.

 

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