By Fr Antony Christy, SDB.
THE WORD IN ADVENT – Third week Wednesday
December 20, 2023 – Isaiah 7: 10-14; Luke 1: 26-38
God-with-us, or Emmanuel, is the most profound of all promises, and it evokes an experience intensely related to our spirits because we long for an assuring presence in our lives—all of us, even the most strong among us. It is a longing that is inherent to every human being, which can be very easily connected to our faith if we believe that faith is first and foremost beholding a mighty presence that reveals itself to us. That is why the joy of the Reign is a joy of faith—the joy of receiving, beholding, and enjoying the gift of faith—the gift of beholding the presence of God with us.
The joy of faith consists in our capacity to listen to God, a God who speaks, promises, instructs, and interprets the ordinary events of our lives on a daily basis.
The joy of faith consists in our ability to see the Lord present beside us in the most difficult of times, in moments of possible delusion, and and surrender to the presence, trusting in the goodness of the One who is the Lord of the Universe.
The joy of faith consists in our readiness to see the hand of God at work, even at the darkest moments of our lives, and to feel always overshadowed by the power of the One who is in control of everything.
That faith is the Key, as the antiphon of the day reminds us—the Key of David who opens the gates of the eternal Reign, the Key that opens what no one can close and closes what no one can open—the power of the hand of God that is at work in history. Faith permits me to see that hand, behold that hand, and hold on to that hand, in trust and in love.
Faith fills me with joy; with faith, we can rejoice even when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance; endurance develops strength of character; character strengthens our confident hope of salvation, and this hope shall never lead us to disappointment (cf. Rom 5:3-5). Fill us, Lord, with the joy of faith today!