Advent Reflection Service
Dc. Larry Brockman
There once was a little boy who lost his mother about this time of year, right before Christmas. The father was very poor, and was distraught over the loss of his wife. He didn’t know how he was going to care for his son and work to support the two of them as well. A wealthy couple came to the father and offered to take the boy for him. They promised to give the boy everything he wanted or needed. The father went to his son, and said. Son, these good people want you to go live with them. They will give you everything you need. There will be lots of gifts on Christmas, and you will never have to worry again about your well-being in this world. But the little boy looked up at his father and said. “I don’t want to go”. The father asked why, and the boy responded: “Because they can’t give me you”.
We have just heard the story of the Incarnation in the readings. God’s greatest gift to mankind is wrapped up in the Incarnation. The Incarnation is how God sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world to live as one of us- God, become man, and as the Church teaches, that means Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Jesus became the bridge between God and man. He showed us the way as the Gospels describe. He showed us how we could be human, and still pleasing to God.
For Jesus, that meant seeking and finding God’s will for him. And so, he suffered and died for us, because he talked about God in a different way. He talked about God’s laws being written into our hearts, and He acted as he preached. That was God’s will for him, to spread the good news of how God’s law could be written into our hearts and live that way. People hated him for that- for not living in the ways of the world and the establishment; but rather, living according to the dictates of his conscience; according to the promptings of God’s spirit dwelling within him.
And the establishment thought they had gotten rid of Jesus when they crucified him. But they were wrong- because God raised Jesus from the dead, showing us the path to everlasting life. And so, He became our bridge between time and eternity as well.
Yes, Jesus is God’s greatest gift to man, and so, we celebrate His coming amongst us each Christmas by exchanging gifts, a symbol of the gift that we all received from God on that first Christmas. God the Father gave us a gift from His heart, the gift of himself. It was the kind of gift that the son in our story sought. Because things, wealth, power, and comfort, as much of a blessing as these things can seem for us, they are not what give us lasting joy. Happiness from these things is temporary, and it is an external happiness, not an internal one.
At this time of year, when we gear up to get each other gifts We need to consider the real meaning of Gifts and giving at Christmas. There is much to be learned from our readings today about gifts.
In our first reading, Bible scholars tell us that Ahaz was quite content with his own situation at the time even though his people were complacent and gthey were thresatened by an invasion.. People were well off; and so, the Israeli Kingdom and it’s people were content with the world And so, Ahaz is not asking for a gift, or a sign. He is on a spiritual plateau, and is quite “happy” with it. But God recognized that growth is necessary for all of us. And so, he tried to wake Ahaz up because there is more to life than contentment in this world. And so, God promises Ahaz the coming of the real Messiah. Lesson 1 then is this: If you are content with your life, what gift might God be trying to give you to shake you out of your contentment and motivate you to grow?
In the second reading, we find that the long awaited coming of Jesus will occur at Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a small, insignificant shepherd town at the time. Certainly, Bethlehem was not the place that anyone expected the Messiah to come forward from at that time.. But God works in His own unique way. Out of humble beginnings, the King of Heaven emerged. So, lesson two might be this. The most significant gift in our lives may come from the least expected source. It is something that blossoms forth from the depths of our hearts under the inspiration of the Spirit.
Then, Paul talks about the gift of faith, which leads us to apostleship. Yes, our Faith is one of the most endearing gifts that we have. Unlike many people born into this world, most of us didn’t have to struggle to find the Lord. It was gifted to us by our parents when they brought us forward to be Baptized and promised to bring us up in the faith. We were infused with the Holy Spirit and became members of the Church- the gift of Faith.
Then came Mary, the mother of God, and the story of the Visitation. Mary was gifted with a mission by God. Mary takes the gift of her call and accepts it- accepting God’s will for her, sacrificing her own wants and desires to do God’s will for her. This is another great lesson about God’s gift to us. We are all called by God to do something; it is written in our hearts and in our consciences. And it calls out to us constantly like the voice of the angel to Mary. The challenge is to accept that gift and do God’s will.
The nativity story is next, along with the visit by the shepherds. The long awaited promise of the coming of the Messiah is fulfilled. It happens in the most humble of circumstances as predicted. Most people of the time would have been horrified. They would have thought- “This can’t be it, this can’t be the fulfillment of the covenant”. But the shepherds show us another way. They experience the glory of God and leave with a sense of joy. The lesson in that for us is simple. Were hear this story each year, and are called upon to be joyful people. We are called upon to be joyful over God’s greatest gift, Jesus Christ, and what it all means for us who believe- everlasting life.
But are we joyful? Usually, life catches us up into the trap of worldly concerns. And we don’t really appreciate the peace and joy that Christmas brings. That’s because joy is a spiritual experience. We need to take the time; make the time; this Advent and Christmas season to recognize God’s greatest gift and make it a priority to change our lives to capture the joy.
The last reading is known as the Last Gospel. It summarizes everything I’ve been talking about- the story of God’s greatest gift to man. And St. John summarizes the effect of that greatest gift this way. That “Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ”. Grace and Truth. These are the gifts, the lasting gifts that Jesus brought with him. Grace is the presence of God within us that the Holy Spirit brings. It is a gift; but Faith and acceptance of that Faith coupled with our resolve to do God’s will for us, these enable the graces that God offers us.
Lastly, truth. We all need the gift of Truth; the ability to discern what is true. Jesus Christ brought the truth. And this truth is different from the truth that the world proclaims. The Church safeguards the truth through the Magisterium. Truth is God’s revelation to us through Jesus Christ, the Bible; the saints; the popes, the doctors of the Church, and the great councils of the Church. These have all helped to give us the fullness of truth. Our Catechism is a testament to the truth that has been assembled from Jesus Christ. Like the little boy in the story, the world cannot give us the Father. Rather, we must seek the Father in our hearts.
God gives us himself this Christmas. He does that in his unique way. He comes to us bringing us grace and truth to fill our hearts with joy- a joy that lasts forever.
