Daily Retreat 12/21/08

2008 Dec 21 SUN: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (O Oriens) 2 Sm 7:1-5.8-11.16/Ps 88(89)/Rom 16:25-27/Lk 1:26-38 From today's readings:  "I will be a father to Him, and He shall be a son to Me....  My kindness is established forever....  to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever....  the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God...." O Oriens - O Dawn! What is the purpose of Advent?  Is this season of the four Sundays before Christmas merely an attempt to sprinkle a consecrated flavoring on the secular shopping spree?  Is our Church's reminder to spend these weeks preparing for the past, present, and future coming of Christ just another inconsiderate encroachment on our limited time in these busy days? Or, is Advent the crucial, timely reminder of not just what Christmas is all about, but what life itself is all about?  For we know that God's Son Jesus came into the world, not by accident, but by the divine decision and plan of God.  In fact, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, God was already promising to King David that "I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make His kingdom firm. I will be a father to Him, and He shall be a son to Me!" So, a thousand years before the birth of Christ, God the Father had already decreed that the Messiah should be born of the house and lineage of David.  In fact though, we can reasonably assume that God had decided that and all the other details about His Son's earthly life, even before He revealed His plan to David and the prophets.  Moreover,  since God is the creator of time itself, His thoughts and actions transcend temporal limitations. So, as we confess in the Creed, Jesus is "eternally begotten of the Father" - there never was a time when the Son did not exist.  Before the Angel Gabriel came to Mary, then, Jesus already existed as the Second Person of the Trinity, although He was not yet incarnated in human flesh until, as St. Paul puts it so succinctly in his letter to the Galatians, "in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman," and that "woman," of course, was Mary.   Ah!  As mother of His Son, Mary must have also been part of God's plan from the beginning of time, and King David too, and all of the noble ancestors of the Messiah.  And the voice crying in the wilderness, the one who prepared the way of the Lord, John the Baptist - was he just an afterthought?  No, because of John's relation to His Son, God had his role in mind too, from the beginning. In fact, when Jesus took on flesh, He became our brother, and thus we all are related to Him.  When you think about it then, NO ONE in the past, present, or future of humanity is an accident, some extra little "afterthought" on God's part!   When you and I put together some  grand scheme, it might be necessary for us to start with the skeletal essential aspects of our idea, and then, we fill in all the little details as time and resources allow.   But God doesn't have our limitations - He's the infinite multi-tasker!  So, He simultaneously thinks the big thoughts (like the plan for His Son Jesus) and the little minute details (like how God's going to patiently remind us during Advent 2008 of His love for us). In fact, when you think about it, since we're here today precisely because God thought about us and found a reason for our existence in His eternal plan of creation, well, God is simply too big to think little inconsequential thoughts, so our existence is a deliberate part of God's plan, and that's the meaning of our life, that's what life is all about!  God wanted us and chose us all as His children through our sharing in His Son's humanity, and with the indelible mark of baptism, God wants us all to experience the comfort and security of His love, as St. Paul explains, "according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages, but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith!" So, the divine lesson driven home this final week of Advent is not some sanctified seasoning for the end of the holiday rush, it's not an inconvenient impingement of our sacred time - rather, it leads us to Jesus, the very reason that our time is sacred, because those who came before us, and those who come after us, and you and I, as well, are all part of God's sacred plan!