May it be done to me according to your word.”
As we live this last week of Advent, let us ask that this Christmas bring a new receptivity to Jesus’ presence in our lives. Our Advent and Christmas liturgies are not meant to be mere external reminders of an historical event. They are meant to be a real entrance into God’s active covenant with His people. This again is not a reality out there, in all the members of the Church outside of myself, it is a personal participation in the Incarnation of God made flesh. May our final preparation for Christmas make room for the Christ Child within us, in our relationships and in the way we use the great gift of time.
Del Verbo Divino
The Virgin,
weighed with the Word of God
Comes down the road;
If only you'll shelter her.- St. John of the Cross
Receptivity is one of the most important attributes of Christian growth. If we are full of ourselves, complacent in our spiritual state, there is not much room for God. Since God is perfect love, in relation with Him, we naturally realize our deficiencies. Love, it is said, conforms itself to its Beloved. If we love God, then we will want to be like Him. Are we receptive to this during the week before Christmas? Can we slow down enough to love? Our Lady gives us the supreme example of receptivity. She was ready, open and welcoming to the Word of God, Jesus the Christ.
Annunciation: The Words of the Angel
You are no closer to God than any of us;
We all live far and wide.
But it’s wonderful how your hands
Have been sanctified.
They don’t find a match in other women’s,
So brilliant from beneath their sleeves:
I am the day, I am the dew,
But you are tree.
I am rather tired now, my journey was long,
Forgive that I forgot
That he, who sat in gilded garb
Like a ray of light,
Sends news to you, you quiet one
(this room here startled me).
Look: I am the beginning one,
But you are tree.
I spread my wings apart
And became oddly broad;
Now your little house is flooded
With my coat.
And still, you are so all alone
As neer before, me you hardly see;
Because I am just breath in woods,
But you are tree.
Perhaps it will come about soon
And you will grasp it as if in a dream.
Blessings to you, my soul perceives
You are ready and ripe to receive.
You are a great and lofty gate
And about to open up.
You are my song’s most beloved ear.
I feel there disappears and seeps
Into you my word.
That’s how I came and completed
Your dream among a thousand and one.
And with blinding eyes God looked at me…
But you are tree.
- Rainer Maria Rilke (from Magnificat Missalette)
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