God made the effort

A few evenings ago I attended a Christmas Celebration at Westminster Cathedral. For about ninety minutes several readings and a reflection punctuated some truly sublime singing and music and rousing carols, with some moments - and the whole of O Holy Night - literally sending shivers up my spine. One such moment happened as I listened to this reading, from the 1971 Christmas homily of Pope St Paul VI (which I have held on to, to share at our Christmas Eve Veillée):

God could have come wrapped in glory, splendour, light and power, to instill fear, to make us rub our eyes in amazement. But instead he came as the smallest, the frailest and the weakest of beings. Why? So that no one would be ashamed to approach him, so that no one would be afraid, so that all would be close to him and draw near to him, so that there would be no distance between us and him. God made the effort to plunge, to dive deep within us, so that each of us, each of you, could speak intimately with him, trust him, draw near him and realise that he thinks of you and loves you... He loves you! Think about what it means! If you understand this... you will have understood the whole of Christianity.

In a way there is nothing new in these words. They are a re-statement of the core Christian belief in the lovely and loving consequences of the Incarnation. This belief also lies at the heart of being RSCJ: that God dwells at the heart of our world, in our everyday lives and situations and in the depths of each one of us, in all our pain and messiness and beauty; and this same God longs and yearns for nothing less than intimacy and relationship with each one of us. And, of course, he loves us; abundantly, infinitely, unconditionally, from the very depths of his Heart.

This is our God - our God-with-us, who comes to us in non-threatening smallness and fragility, not to intimidate us or to judge or catch us out, but simply to love, and to draw us ever more deeply into Love.

Nothing new - but a message, nonetheless, we need to hear and hear again, to believe in, truly and deeply, to welcome, respond to and live as fully as possible. God made the effort to come to us... to plunge, to dive deep within us, so that each of us, each of you, could speak intimately with him, trust him, draw near him and realise that he thinks of you and loves you... God made the effort... may we reciprocate wholeheartedly...

On this fourth Sunday of Advent, only two days from the 25th, we are so close to Christmas - may we also draw ever closer to Christ. Happy Christmas everyone.