We have entered, once again, that time of the year called Advent, when we are called upon to reflect on the great mystery of the Incarnation, the coming of the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace into our humanity 2,025 years ago. This is the ‘reason for the season,’ as it is often said. Isaiah writes of this coming saying, “On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom…” And when he comes, “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them…On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious” (Is. 11:1-10).
What does all of this mean for us? It implies that, under God’s rule, conversion and obedience to his law do not mean the loss of identity but rather the discovery of our true identity as one in Christ. I repeat, our true identity is one in Christ. That is, one family in and through Christ. All of the various kinds of divisions that the world has seen and continues to see since the Fall of Adam and Eve are the result of our blindness to the fact that we are all one, that every last one of us is a child of God, made in his image and likeness, possessed of infinite dignity and worthy of infinite respect. This is the truth. This is our true identity. This is the truth that we are called upon to contemplate and to pray over and begin to practice more and more each year at this time.
The poet Denise Levertov, in her poem “Annunciation” wrote of this Christmas event and Mary’s role in this powerfully beautiful way: “Called to a destiny more momentous than any in all of Time, she did not quail, only asked a simple, ‘How can this be?’ and gravely, courteously, took to heart the angel’s reply, the astounding ministry she was offered, to bear in her womb infinite weight and lightness, to carry in hidden, finite inwardness, nine months of Eternity, to contain in slender vase of being, the sum of power—in narrow flesh, the sum of light. Then bring to birth, push out into air, a Man-child needing, like any other, milk and love—but who was God.”
This is the great mystery that Christians celebrate every year at this time. The One through whom all things seen and unseen came into being, “chose not to cling to divinity but made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…becoming obedient even to death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8)! This King of kings, this Lord of lords, this Prince of Peace came into the world to heal us of all of the things that divide us from the Father and from one another and to unite us in the unconquerable mystery of his love for all of us. He came to bring to us the Spirit of wisdom and understanding so that in coming to know him and his love, we might begin to build bridges of understanding, to give us the knowledge of his love, to heal our wounds, to relieve us from our fears, and to strengthen us where we are weak. He came to unite us once again, to make us one with Him and with one another.
This is what this Advent season is for, leading up to the Christmas event. It is to give us time to prepare ourselves to receive him once again, or maybe, for the first time. In this waiting time, let us find some quiet space to pray and prepare to welcome Him into our hearts more deeply. Pray that he would give us the grace to make a welcoming place in our hearts and minds for all others, especially those with whom, for whatever reason, we have created walls of separation. Let us ask him to create a place of peace within us so that we can see all of our fellow human beings more readily as brothers and sisters in Christ. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles puts it this way: “For in him we [all] live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are [all] also his offspring” (Acts 17:28).
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