Key of David, who open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from prison
the captive who lives in darkness.
ISAIAH 7:10-14 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
Very often, Lord, we are like Ahaz, the prophet himself says to him, ask the Lord your God for a sign, and with a display of sham humility he replies that he says no, I will not put the Lord to the test. The prophet goes on to reveal the prophecy, whether or not Ahaz was ready to hear it:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
Beloved, we have not only heard the prophecy but it has been fulfilled over 2000 years. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. For over 2000 years we have celebrated Your Nativity with great joy. We gaze wonderstruck as we contemplate the divine infant in our cribs and we are humbled by the love of God who became incarnate by the will of God and the fiat of the young virgin, Mary.
We rejoice O Lord at Your birth, we rejoice that You are Immanuel - God with us. We are grateful, Lord, that You are now inseparably one with us as You are inseparably one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is the love of God in the Holy Spirit that draws us into the life of the Holy Trinity. It is a terrible thing to contemplate, Beloved, that You will never ever leave us but we, sinful, weak, creatures can choose to turn away from You through grave sin. Never permit us O Lord to refuse to return to You in humility and contrition, begging Your forgiveness each time we fall no matter how many times a day. Your love is unconditional and You will always, always, welcome us back. Thank You, Lord.
PSALM 23(24):1-6 ©
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
LUKE 1:26-38 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
A few days from now we will celebrate Your birthday - the day when heaven having already descended into the womb of Mary becomes visible and tangible to the world at Your birth.
In a few brief words, the greatest event in human history is made manifest by God through His messenger, the angel Gabriel sent by God to a virgin. She was betrothed to Joseph of the House of David. The angel appears to her and greets her saying,
‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’
Mary deeply aware of her littleness before God was understandably disturbed by this extravagant greeting and the angel perceiving this says gently, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.’
This revelation did not take her by surprise - the whole of Israel was waiting for the fulfillment of this prophecy. Like every maiden in Israel at the time, Mary would surely have wondered who would be chosen to bring it about but never for an instant would she have presumed that it could be her. Having processed what the angel said she responds with a very practical question, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’
Mary was already betrothed to Joseph, she understood that no human person could be the father of the Son of God and since she was a virgin she wondered how this could come about. She was not denying that God could do it she just wondered how He would do it. And she gets her answer, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.’
At Mary's fiat, the Triune God overshadowed her, the Holy Spirit came upon her and the Son of God became incarnate in her womb. This moment changed the course of history forever. The unhappy past by the sin of disobedience of Adam and Eve was forever wiped out and God began a new chapter in human history with Mary's sweet, gentle, tender 'yes' to God to do with her just as He willed.
The angel also gave her another piece of wonderful and miraculous news: ‘Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’
We thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that we can always trust You even when we do not understand. You can and will draw good out of every situation when we humble ourselves and give You permission to do with us what You will. May our response to all You ask of us be an echo of Mary's yes.
‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
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