A dialogue on the Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
GIOVANNI: As we find ourselves on the threshold of the mystery of Christmas, there is a palpable feeling of anticipation in our hearts. We are ready to welcome the sweetness of a God who enters our world in the guise of a helpless child. The image of Baby Jesus, beloved by so many for his innocence and vulnerability, can profoundly impact our hearts. However, amid all these sometimes sentimentalist visions, do we really allow the genuine mystery of Christmas to penetrate deeply into our lives?
The God who became incarnate in the meek Child of Bethlehem is revealed with a decidedly different profile in this Sunday's readings. Both in the Gospel of the Annunciation and in the story of David and the prophet Nathan, we encounter a God who enters human life to upset our plans completely. Far from being an inactive and accommodating presence, God is a force that comes to shake the foundations of our existence. The encounter with God radically changes the direction of our lives and the plans we may have had before.
This reminds me of the many vocation stories we have heard, Richard, of other friars in our Order and, of course, of our own as well. In every vocation, there is always a divine irruption that necessarily upsets the status quo of our lives. Initially, enthusiasm can be strong, leading us to make drastic cuts, even in our careers or personal aspirations. However, sooner or later, we struggle with God because of the demands of His call; thus, the question inevitably arises: was it worth it?
Why must the path of following God be so challenging? Why can't the choice to follow God be a linear path without the need for drastic cuts and inner struggles?
I believe that our resistance to this consuming fire that is God is a sign of the need for our desire to be re-educated. God is "the one who can give us far more than we can imagine or hope for" (Eph. 3:20), and we are simply unprepared to receive all this; we do not even have enough imagination to think of all that God desires to give us!
Just as David might have been content to build a temple for the Lord instead of becoming the great heir of the Messianic promise for generations to come, and just as Mary might have been tempted to live a normal life like her peers just a step away from marriage; but God had much more in store for them!
One of the brethren once told me, "God will give you what you want, but not the way you want it." May, then, the vision of the Little Child this Christmas deeply challenge our beliefs and move us to respond to the call of a God who wants to do far more than we can imagine. This year, as we look at the Infant Jesus, let us not just smile at his tenderness. May the Child in the Manger inspire us to embrace God's transformative power in our lives fully.
In the crib, we see the madness of love that God has for each of us. And we, how ready are we to commit ourselves to Him?
RICHARD: Dear Giovanni, Thank you for your letter in which you reflected on the lives of King David and the Blessed Virgin Mary as examples of people who embraced the transformative power of God’s love in their lives despite the challenges and struggles that would come with it. You ended with a call that we should seek a more profound commitment in responding to the divine call of the child born on Christmas Eve. I found myself in agreement with what you wrote.
I responded later in my life to the madness of God’s love. There had been Divine interruptions now and again, but like the prophet Jonah in the Old Testament, I tried to avoid them as best as I could, that is, until I could no longer avoid them. And yet, responding to the Divine call and deepening my commitment to Him all sounded a bit too pious and good to be true. And yet I was haunted by an observation of Leon Bloy that “the only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life is not to become a saint.” The Christmas child reminds us of our need for God’s transformative power. Blessed Carlo Acutis seems to have wondered why all people are created as originals yet end up as mere copies of others. They may be lacking faith in God’s transformative power. Every day, I pray for the courage and grace to choose differently.
You asked whether it is all worth it? I think it is. Indeed, not so long ago, people believed that God’s power could transform the greatest sinners into saints, as exemplified by the story of Mary Magdalene. These days, even people in the church seem to have grown cynical of such transformative Divine power, most shockingly among some clergy I have met. The idea that the church is a community of sinners on its way to being transformed by God’s love seems anathema to them. They argue that only the ones who achieve holy perfection of their own accord will have access to God’s love and grace. If that were true, it would mean that you would not need to depend on God’s power to gain access to the kingdom of heaven, for you can do it on your own. I think that is a heresy and an old one, namely Pelagianism. Instead, we experience challenges and struggles precisely because we are not Pelagians. And when we do, we find that these obstacles actually provide us with a way forward to learn to trust God.
Dear friend, at the end of your letter, you called not just to smile at the tenderness of the Christmas child but to embrace it. That is the correct intuition. For in Jesus Christ, God’s weakness and tenderness become a transformative power that changes our lives entirely. However, it also takes courage and trust. My question to us, as friars, is: what can we do to help people trust God more? How are our lives a testimony of courage to follow in the footsteps of Jesus no matter what? Do we dare to share the happiness we found beyond our struggles? In other words, do we dare to open up to others as much as we open up to God? Of course, this is wild, and it makes us vulnerable. And yet, praying before the Christmas crib in our chapel, I know I would not want it any other way.
Merry Christmas!
We'd love for you to engage in our dialogue on the Word of God! You can share your thoughts by leaving a comment below, on our Facebook and Instagram profiles or via email at: dominicandispatches@gmail.com.