Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord – Luke 1:45 Two unlikely pregnant women could not be found. Mary was very young and had never experienced conjugal intimacy. Elizabeth, she was far too old. Yet each woman listened to the voice of God speaking through an angel and her heart quickened with life. Their response came with no guarantees that their babies would be beautiful of that their status in life might be improved. They left the details to God. Each bore a child that grew into an adulthood few understood. Their trust changed our world. We, too are unlikely choices in so many ways. Who are we to be entrusted with the continuation of God’s work? Yet we have heard the whisper of God’s voice in our hearts and we responded. Our hearts throb with God’s life and with vision. We stand on the threshold of something “new,” yet what the “new” is has yet to be born. There are no guarantees that the “new” will coincide with our personal visions or that the vision will be comfortable. We must leave the details to God. We trust. We trust. Mary Hughes, OP in Behold I am Doing Something New
For two thousand years, generation after generation of Christians have pronounced the name of Bethlehem with deep emotion and joyful gratitude. Like the shepherds and the wise men, we too have come to find the Child, ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger’ (Lk 2:12). Like so many pilgrims before us, we kneel in wonder and adoration before the ineffable mystery which was accomplished here. At the dawn f the new millennium, we are called to see more clearly that time has meaning because here Eternity entered history and remains with us forever. The silence and poverty of the birth in Bethlehem are one with the darkness and pain of the death of Calvary. The Crib and the Cross are the same mystery of redemptive love; the body which Mary laid in a manger is the same body offered up on the Cross. In the cave of Bethlehem….’God’s grace has been revealed’ (Titus 2:11). In the Child who is born, the world has received ‘the mercy promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever’ (Lk 1:54-55). Dazzled by the mystery of the Eternal Word made flesh, we leave all fear behind and we become like the angels, glorifying God who gives the world such gifts. John Paul II in Pope John Paul II by Jack Wintz
For what the law was powerless to do… God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering— Romans 8:3 Have you ever really pondered the meaning of Christmas? Was it just God’s attempt to give us a good example to show us the ay to live? Was it simply the birth of a great teacher? Did that innocent little bundle of flesh and blood in the feeding trough really hold the answer for us all? We can never fully understand the depths of all of God’s mysteries, but we can understand a lot. He has revealed His purposes to us, so we know why Jesus was sent to this broken planet. God demonstrated for centuries that the human condition could ot be fixed by humans. It could not even be repaired by an external work of God. No, there had to be a sacrifice to pay the price; there had to be a person to live the life; and it had to e perfect on both counts. Only God could do that. He clothed Himself in flesh to die. He was raised to live, and He put His Spirit within us. He doesn’t just give us life; He is our life. Christmas is our assurance: Jesus cam in our likeness to die our death, and He came in God’s likeness to live our life. In Him, the image of God and the image of human meet. And ow He lets them meet in us. Chris Tiegreen in The One Year Walk with God