Reflection for the Fourth Week of Advent

“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

The Scriptures tell and show us that God wants to dwell with his people.  He tells us himself that it is his delight to dwell with the children of men.  (Cf. Exodus 29:45)  The tabernacle, and later the temple, not only represents his dwelling place on earth but also really is his dwelling place on earth.  The glory cloud of the Lord descends upon the tabernacle and fills it, and God comes to dwell with his people.  When the Israelites see the glory cloud move, they are to pack up and follow him through the desert, and when the Lord again overshadows the tabernacle, they are to remain.

Christmas brings us the presence of God in a way we could never have imagined.  Almighty God has become a little baby. God, who dwelt in the Holy of Holies and allowed only one priest once a year to enter, has now come to walk among us.  Who could have guessed that God would humble himself so much as to become one of us? Who could have imagined that the love God has for us is so big that He would make himself so small?

But it is not only the first century Jew that God wants to be with.  It gets even better than God dwelling on earth for 30 years.  Jesus tells his disciples on the night before his death that, “[i]f a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)  After the resurrection, ascension and descent of the Holy Spirit, not only does God dwell with his people by becoming human and physically walking around on earth, but now God dwells with his people by dwelling within us.  God has truly made his home with us.  Paul reveals that this is “the mystery hidden from ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.”  The mystery “is Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:26-27.)  

The glory cloud that once overshadowed the tabernacle has now overshadowed us. Emmanuel—God with us is now God within us.  Do we grasp what this means?  It is not a fairytale, but a mystery unveiled.  It’s not merely nice words on a page to make us feel better; it is a reality to be lived.  St. Elizabeth of the Trinity says, “The belief that a Being, whose name is Love, is dwelling in us at every moment of the day or night, and that He asks us to live in his company, that, I own to you, is what has made my life an anticipated heaven.” 

Let us anticipate heaven by abiding in his love now.  Let us remain with him as we wash our dishes and as we drive to the grocery store.  Let us remain with him as we make grilled cheese sandwiches and as we sweep the kitchen floor.  Let us tell him all about our joys when we are happy and about our disappointments and our loneliness when we are sad.  And when we forget, as we so often do, let us turn to him once again with confidence that his loving gaze is on us and that he is delighted that our eyes are back on him. 

Christmas is almost here.  Let us prepare for our Lord’s coming this Christmas simply by looking at him.  Let us marvel at the little babe who is God with us, and at the one who died for love of us.  Let us turn again with confidence to Emmanuel who delights in being with us.