A 4th Sunday of Advent Thought To Steer Us Straight to Christmas
We're on the road to Christmas. Are our hearts and minds in the right place today? Last Sunday we asked:
Are we homesick for Him and heaven? Do we have the desire to hold Him now and not let Him go? Or are we still enamored of this world and its lures and promises of pleasure?
No matter our answer, we have Advent - even these last few remaining days - to put and keep things in order:
Advent gives us the chance to set things straight, to turn away from all that's holding us back from complete love and devotion to Jesus Christ.
Today we'll continue to ponder that "vision" of Heaven presented in the final chapter of The Inner Life of the Soul) that we first considered last week.
"O streets of fine, fair gold, like the sun in his strength shining, yet dazzling none who see your matchless coloring, and walk with happy feet over your floors that chime in heavenly cadences under the passers' tread! O sea of glass like crystal, never storm-disturbed or wreck-marred, before the great white throne! O wall of jasper and gates of pearl, where the light gleams like the opal, and rainbow-tints are undimmed by rain or wind! O clear, cool river of life, flower-bordered, with mystic trees o'ershadowed, whose fruit is for the healing of the many, many nations gathered in! O gardens where the lily of the virgin and the martyr's palm and the wise doctor's laurel grow fair and sweet and tall! I see you all before me, each in your separate loveliness, and together in your wonderful united charm."
Contrast this with the manger that held the Body of the Baby Jesus on that first Christmas night. As a little boy living in a modest two-bedroom apartment that housed my parents and two brothers, I would often put my face up close to the little creche under our Christmas tree, lost in the wonder of that first Holy Night. It stirred the first inklings of a love for Jesus Christ. If Heaven were simply spending that Holy Night with the Holy Family forever, it would be enough for me. And yet, as we see, Heaven shall be so much more wondrous!
This next passage speaks directly to those of us who have lost loved ones, especially in this past year, especially if they are close family members, especially if they died during the Christmas Season. Going back as far as I can remember, I had always felt sorry for those who lost a loved one any time around Christmas. For many, Christmas brings a bit (or more than a bit) of melancholy when they think of those they've lost. But I always thought those who lost loved ones during the Christmas Season itself must really feel a special pain and sorrow. For some reason, even as a little boy, I thought about this every time Christmas came.
Little did I ever think I would be one of those. But here I am, a year after our eldest child suffered a massive stroke a mere ten days before Christmas, eventually dying the day after New Year's. Christmas will never be as it once was. And yet, as I've become aware over the last year, many of us have suffered and continue to suffer from the loss of a child.
You can imagine how comforting this next passage was for me when I first read it - and each time I've read it since:
"Our dear ones are gathered together, where there can be no more separation, nor death, nor misunderstanding, but all who loved Jesus truly are safe with Jesus, through His infinite mercy forevermore. There the mother meets the child, whose first thoughts she directed to Him; there friend meets friend, in an eternity of happy union that began even here on earth. There the loves of earth are transformed and transfigured in the endless joys on high."
Heaven literally touched earth on that first Christmas night. Few realized it. In the centuries since, millions have received the grace to know it. I sincerely hope you are one of these. As we gaze upon that first taste of Heaven in the little stable in Bethlehem this Christmas, may we all yearn for the glory that can be ours some day, by the grace of God.
"Once again, look! Enthroned upon the highest throne of that immortal city, King of kings and Lord of lords, we see Him. All we ransomed sons of Adam, pure now as unfallen angels, undazzled we look on the unveiled face of God. We were mad once for beauty, we were hungry once for love, we fainted and failed through weakness. But we look now, and we shall never cease to look on Him Who is Beauty, and Strength, and truest Love, that can never deceive, nor fail, nor pass away. And this, O soul of mine, is heaven. That radiant Vision uplifts us, beyond mother's or lover's love; enfolds us; fills us and calms us with answering love forever, - the love of Him Who is Love itself, the Holy Spirit of God."
Are we homesick for Him and heaven? Do we have the desire to hold Him now and not let Him go? Or are we still enamored of this world and its lures and promises of pleasure?
No matter our answer, we have Advent - even these last few remaining days - to put and keep things in order:
Advent gives us the chance to set things straight, to turn away from all that's holding us back from complete love and devotion to Jesus Christ.
Today we'll continue to ponder that "vision" of Heaven presented in the final chapter of The Inner Life of the Soul) that we first considered last week.
"O streets of fine, fair gold, like the sun in his strength shining, yet dazzling none who see your matchless coloring, and walk with happy feet over your floors that chime in heavenly cadences under the passers' tread! O sea of glass like crystal, never storm-disturbed or wreck-marred, before the great white throne! O wall of jasper and gates of pearl, where the light gleams like the opal, and rainbow-tints are undimmed by rain or wind! O clear, cool river of life, flower-bordered, with mystic trees o'ershadowed, whose fruit is for the healing of the many, many nations gathered in! O gardens where the lily of the virgin and the martyr's palm and the wise doctor's laurel grow fair and sweet and tall! I see you all before me, each in your separate loveliness, and together in your wonderful united charm."
Contrast this with the manger that held the Body of the Baby Jesus on that first Christmas night. As a little boy living in a modest two-bedroom apartment that housed my parents and two brothers, I would often put my face up close to the little creche under our Christmas tree, lost in the wonder of that first Holy Night. It stirred the first inklings of a love for Jesus Christ. If Heaven were simply spending that Holy Night with the Holy Family forever, it would be enough for me. And yet, as we see, Heaven shall be so much more wondrous!
This next passage speaks directly to those of us who have lost loved ones, especially in this past year, especially if they are close family members, especially if they died during the Christmas Season. Going back as far as I can remember, I had always felt sorry for those who lost a loved one any time around Christmas. For many, Christmas brings a bit (or more than a bit) of melancholy when they think of those they've lost. But I always thought those who lost loved ones during the Christmas Season itself must really feel a special pain and sorrow. For some reason, even as a little boy, I thought about this every time Christmas came.
Little did I ever think I would be one of those. But here I am, a year after our eldest child suffered a massive stroke a mere ten days before Christmas, eventually dying the day after New Year's. Christmas will never be as it once was. And yet, as I've become aware over the last year, many of us have suffered and continue to suffer from the loss of a child.
You can imagine how comforting this next passage was for me when I first read it - and each time I've read it since:
"Our dear ones are gathered together, where there can be no more separation, nor death, nor misunderstanding, but all who loved Jesus truly are safe with Jesus, through His infinite mercy forevermore. There the mother meets the child, whose first thoughts she directed to Him; there friend meets friend, in an eternity of happy union that began even here on earth. There the loves of earth are transformed and transfigured in the endless joys on high."
Heaven literally touched earth on that first Christmas night. Few realized it. In the centuries since, millions have received the grace to know it. I sincerely hope you are one of these. As we gaze upon that first taste of Heaven in the little stable in Bethlehem this Christmas, may we all yearn for the glory that can be ours some day, by the grace of God.
"Once again, look! Enthroned upon the highest throne of that immortal city, King of kings and Lord of lords, we see Him. All we ransomed sons of Adam, pure now as unfallen angels, undazzled we look on the unveiled face of God. We were mad once for beauty, we were hungry once for love, we fainted and failed through weakness. But we look now, and we shall never cease to look on Him Who is Beauty, and Strength, and truest Love, that can never deceive, nor fail, nor pass away. And this, O soul of mine, is heaven. That radiant Vision uplifts us, beyond mother's or lover's love; enfolds us; fills us and calms us with answering love forever, - the love of Him Who is Love itself, the Holy Spirit of God."
Divine Infant of Bethlehem,
come and take birth in our hearts!
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