December 20/Fourth Sunday of Advent
“I have been with you wherever you went.” ~ 2 Sam 7.9
Even in this retail-challenged year, when many of us are avoiding stores, some people still seem to have a knack for picking out wonderful gifts — the book that delights, the scarf that adorns, the kitchen gadget that becomes indispensable. Others of us worry whether we have chosen well. Will he like the vest? (Doubtful.) Will she wear the earrings? (Probably.) What will they think of the wine glasses? (Hard to say.) There is, of course, one perfect Christmas gift: the Christ child, born into the world by the power of the Most High and the trusting fiat of a young peasant girl. Majestically divine, humbly human, he is “God with us,” Immanu-el. And he will remain with us, not just at Christmas, but until the end of the age. The promise of God’s presence among us is the most enduring promise of the Bible. To Jacob by the ladder, to Moses by the burning bush, to Joshua at the boundary of the promised land, to King David in his palace in today’s first reading, to the apostles, God’s message is the same: “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.” This assurance is meant for us, too: when we struggle with challenging circumstances, or steel ourselves to accept an unwanted responsibility, or see our plans thwarted, our Lord says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” So much does God love this messy, imperfect world that he chose to enter human history and to abide with us forever. “What you do not comprehend,” preached the German Jesuit Alfred Delp in 1941, “and yet what should be so real and merciful, is that He is standing there, through it all, in your midst.” What a gift that is.
For today’s readings, click here:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122020.cfm
To hear the Choir of King’s College (Cambridge) sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcIIZpnZPgo
