An Advent Prayer To The God Who Makes Himself Small...And Near To Us

From Patheos--Summa This, Summa That:

An Advent Prayer to the God Who Makes Himself Small… and Near To Us


November 28, 2010 by Pat Gohn



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retweet ShareAs Advent began at sundown yesterday with Evening Vespers, Pope Benedict led the prayer, and led the world in a global event that he had called for: a vigil of prayer for nascent life. It was first of its kind, and it was replicated throughout the universal Church, in dioceses around the globe. The Pope linked the blessed expectation of Advent – the coming of the Lord in human form via the Virgin’s womb — with the unrelenting dignity of human life.



Here’s a portion of the Holy Father’s homily:



The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God who makes himself small, He becomes a child, it speaks to us of the coming of a God who is near, who wanted to experience the life of man, from the very beginning, to save it completely, fully. And so the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord and the beginning of human life are intimately connected and in harmony with each other within the one saving plan of God, the Lord of life of each and every one of us. The Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.



Man has an unmistakable originality compared to all other living beings that inhabit the earth. He presents himself as a unique and singular entity, endowed with intelligence and free will, as well as being composed of a material reality. He lives simultaneously and inseparably in the spiritual dimension and the corporal dimension. This is also suggested in the text of the First letter to the Thessalonians which was just proclaimed: “May the God of peace himself – St. Paul writes – make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ “(5:23). Therefore, we are spirit, soul and body. We are part of this world, tied to the possibilities and limits of our material condition, at the same time we are open to an infinite horizon, able to converse with God and to welcome Him in us. We operate in earthly realities and through them we can perceive the presence of God and seek Him, truth, goodness and absolute beauty. We savour fragments of life and happiness and we long for total fulfilment.



God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction, He calls us to friendship with him, He makes us part of a reality beyond all imagination, thought and word; His own divine life. With emotion and gratitude we acknowledge the value of the incomparable dignity of every human person and the great responsibility we have toward all. ” Christ, the final Adam, – says the Second Vatican Council – by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear…. by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man.” (Gaudium et Spes, 22).



Believing in Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope.



By all means, go read the rest of this beautiful message. And perhaps, keep it handy for your meditation as you enter more fully into the season of Advent.



HT: Thanks to Vatican Radio for the English translation of the sermon, published in Italian at the Vatican website.



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Pat Gohn is a writer, speaker, and host of the Among Women podcast and blog. She holds a Masters in Theology, and a Bachelors in Communications. Her passion is working within the sphere adult faith formation both in parish life and in using media for evangelization and catechesis. Find more at PatGohn.com. Her column “A Word in Season” appears every Thursday here at the Catholic portal on Patheos.