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Sunday, 23 December 2007 |
Try and remember what Christmas was like for you, when you were six years old? Remember what it was like, to wait for Christmas to come? The anticipation was like jet fuel. Yes, the thought of presents to be left under the tree was a big part of the feel of Christmas. But there was something else as well. People just seemed to be nicer around Christmas. People could be heard singing, laughing. Most folks around this time of year just seemed to find themselves again, to be a bit lighter, hearts a bit more open.
Here’s a secret that faith-filled folks know, deep down. Truth is, the whole world needs to find the strength of joy again. The human family, a whole globe of us, needs to find a way to let down our emotional guard just a bit, so we can breathe, maybe laugh, maybe look beyond ourselves…to a neighbor in need of some TLC. Seems to me that our humanity is in some trouble, and we are all looking for something or someone to help us with the hurts and the stress and the frustration…and the loneliness.
Here’s another little known truth we are called to share: Things can’t affect our souls in the way we need to be affected. But, there is a someone that can affect us in a mighty way. This someone has been given to us. This someone does not demand attention, does not require obedience. This someone invites attention and counsels obedience. This someone seeks only our good, and the good of all, and the love of that Source we call God.
For four Sundays, we have waited, with Advent expectation. Like the child in the womb of a pregnant mother, the expectation of Advent has grown, and is ready for birth. The anticipation of this birth is not the same kind of giddiness we experienced as a child, but the joy is real…deeper. The joy is deeper, more profound, for it gets to the heart of our neediness, the hunger and thirst for “completion”…and no “thing” can satisfy this soullonging.
The someone that can satisfy us has been given to us. A Savior has been born and seeks to be Savior for each of us. Christ’s Mass is near. Come, let us adore Him, together…as the parish family of St. John Neumann.
AMDG
Msgr. David
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