Wednesday, December 25, 2024
The Christmas Mystery
In the quiet depths of winter, we encounter a profound truth: divine love didn't wait for our worthiness but chose to meet us in our incompleteness. The great mystery of Advent reveals that love came not in grandeur but in vulnerability – a child born to homeless parents, soon to become refugees. This divine entrance into human history wasn't merely an event but an ongoing revelation of love's nature. In the humble stable, among animals and outcasts, ultimate love chose to make its dwelling (Matthew 1:18-24). The walls of separation between divine and human crumbled not through our striving but through love's initiative. Like the stable walls that witnessed the first Christmas, our ordinary lives become sacred spaces where love continues to be born. Our weariness, our brokenness, even our resistance become the very places where love seeks to enter. The Christmas mystery invites us to see that we're not waiting for love to arrive – we're being awakened to the love already present in our midst.
In our frantic preparations and endless lists, perhaps we're like those in Bethlehem, too busy to notice love taking form in unexpected places. The divine waits patiently for us to awaken to this reality: that in becoming human, love has already declared our worthiness. This awakening transforms our understanding of both waiting and preparation. We're not merely anticipating a historical remembrance but participating in an eternal unfolding. Each moment carries the potential for divine encounter, each interaction holds the possibility of incarnate love. The stable becomes more than a distant scene – it becomes a mirror of our own lives where the sacred seeks to be born amidst our daily chaos. The greatest gift of Advent isn't in its culmination but in its continuous invitation to recognize love incarnate in the ordinary moments of our lives. This season calls us to a deeper awareness that every tree, every star, every human encounter can radiate the light of divine love that has already claimed us as its own.
The audacity of divine love reveals itself in choosing to work through human imperfection. The genealogy of love's entrance into our world includes not just the faithful but the broken, the outsiders, the ones who stumbled in darkness (Matthew 1:1-17). This is the stunning revelation of Advent: divine love doesn't require our perfection but embraces our humanity in all its complexity. Like Joseph, who chose love over law, we're invited to participate in a love that transcends our careful categories and comfortable boundaries. In a world that often feels as cold and cruel as that first Christmas night, we're called to remember that love continues to choose unlikely places for its revelation. Our weariness becomes the very soil where hope takes root. Our brokenness becomes the crack through which light enters.
The Christmas mystery whispers that our very humanity, with all its limitations and longings, has been embraced by divine love. This is not a distant theological truth but an intimate reality that transforms how we view ourselves and others. When we say "It is Christmas," we're declaring that love has spoken its deepest word into our world, a word that continues to echo in every human heart seeking connection and meaning. This love story rewrites our understanding of human worth and divine presence. In choosing to be born in poverty, in embracing our full humanity, love has forever sanctified our ordinary existence. The stable's darkness becomes a testament to light's persistence, the humble circumstances a declaration of love's priorities. We're invited to see that our own struggles and imperfections aren't obstacles to divine love but opportunities for its manifestation. Like the shepherds and magi, we're drawn into a story that upends our expectations and invites us to discover love's presence in the most unexpected places. This is the ongoing miracle of Advent – that love continues to choose the unlikely, embrace the imperfect, and transform the ordinary into vessels of extraordinary grace.
Merry Christmas!
Being part of a contemplative community doesn't require living in a monastery. Instead, it's about intentionally embracing a shared rhythm of life, wherever you are. This modern approach allows us to integrate contemplative practices into our daily routines, fostering spiritual growth and connection while remaining engaged in the world. It offers a way to experience the richness of monastic traditions without withdrawing from society. By adopting this rhythm, we create a "monastery without walls," nurturing our inner lives through contemplation while actively participating in our communities and relationships. To explore this concept further and discover how you can incorporate these practices into your life, we invite you to read
Contemplative Interbeing's Rhythm of Life.
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