Advent, 20 December – Is 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38

It’s similar among the rest of us. You can be open or slammed shut. He may say “I will not put the Lord to the test.” Proud and sick ambition screened behind love for God. Like the phrase: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you . . .”, supposedly open but closed. Annoying God with his stubbornness and pettiness. A prisoner of his ego.

And yet on the side of God. Despite the fact you are annoying, I will give you a sign. A maiden and a child. Emmanuel. He will stand with you and wait. He will attract you with his patient, merciful love. With hands extended. At one time an innocent child. At one time nailed to the cross. And another time the wounds transformed by the resurrection.

The key. The child is the key. Emmanuel. If He weren’t with us . . . if He hadn’t waited . . . If He didn’t open the door to His Father’s heart . . . Who would we be?

Saint John Paul II: “In the heart of Christ, God manifests Himself as Love, manifests Himself as faithful in love, despite the sin of man, despite all the sins and infidelity that fill the human history on earth. The human Heart of the God–man shows the most fully and forever God’s love, which is faithful. “