May Christ, the Light who is near, fill you with hope!
The readings from the fourth Sunday of Advent draw us to focus on the theme of trust. In the first reading, Ahaz doesn’t trust the prophet Isaiah when he is invited to ask God for a sign; Ahaz is afraid that it would be a sin. In the face of king Ahaz’s distrust, which is accounted as wearying to God, the prophet reveals that God wants to give a sign to show that he will always help his people. In the Gospel account, we begin after Mary trusted the message of the angel that God would favor her and make her part of his plan. Now her trust must be stronger because she has returned from Elizabeth’s house to an extremely difficult situation back home in Nazareth: Mary was obviously pregnant and Joseph, along with everyone else, was wondering what happened. Joseph had to choose whether or not to trust Mary’s explanation. At first, he simply doesn’t want any harm to come to Mary, but as a just man, Joseph turned to God to help him decide. In answer to Joseph’s trust, God revealed to him the truth about Mary and charged him to name the child Jesus and Joseph did as the angel had commanded him. In their journey to Bethlehem in the cold of winter and beyond, Mary and Joseph learned to trust in God and each other.
The examples that we are given today show us that people of our faith tradition grow in holiness through trust in God. It doesn’t happen automatically but only in the face of challenges and often times when there is no other place to go do people learn to use their faith and trust in God. Something stands clear through today’s readings: God is doing everything he can to convince us that he wants to help us. Even if we’re like Ahaz and constantly afraid, God doesn’t get tired of demonstrating that he loves us. As we approach the celebration of our Savior’s birth let’s try to be more open and trust in God. Let’s try to accept the challenge to confront those things that burden us and separate us from the joy of God’s kingdom. Let us live holier lives by saying “yes” to the gift that has been given to us by the One who gives new life: let us try to do God’s will lovingly and graciously. God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter