This is the name they give him: “The Lord our justice.”
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save.
You are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.
They shall call him Emmanuel,” a name which means “God is with us.
Oh Lord, be my justice. Have pity on me. Save me. Even when I don’t turn to you, you know what I am facing. You made me, have been faithfully inviting me to accept graces all along. I’ve kept up a relationship with you, while maintaining an independence from you as well. Here, in the middle of Advent, you know what I need, how low I am, how poor. When things get bad, you know how I react to the problems, to the people around me. I try to be my own justice. It isn’t the way I want to be. I don’t want to be the source of any more conflict and hurt. Heal me and save me, my justice.
Dear Jesus, save me from my sins. Open my heart these crazy days and help me enter into and experience who you are for me. The nails and cross show who you are for me. These days, in the midst of feelings of “hollow-ness” and “not enough,” let me see who you are for me, in the very way you come into this world. There was controversy about who you are, at your conception. The straw and the manger prepare for the nails and the cross. This entrance, this way, for me. For my independence. God, and with us. God, and flesh. God, and so human. God and with me in all the mess I face. You came so lowly and poor, that I might be forgiven and healed, Jesus, my Savior.
In this light, shining in my self-imposed darkness, I can see more clearly a solidarity I miss most days. You are Savior of us all. You hear the cry of all the poor. My inner struggles darken my ability to see the poor around me, those who suffer so much more than me, are deprived of far more. Their need cries out for justice, most clearly on the Silent Night, the Holy Night. You are our justice, you save us from our sins, you are Emmanuel with us. As this sense of solidarity increases, my independence decreases, and I feel your justice and healing begin.
Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ
Co-founder of Creighton’s Online Ministries, Retired 2025
I served at Creighton from 1996 to 2025. I served as Vice-president for Mission for three Presidents, directed the Collaborative Ministry Office and co-founded the Online Ministries website.
I loved seeing the number of faculty and staff who over the years really took up the mission as their own and made Creighton the Jesuit university it is today. I was also consoled to witness the website – a collaborative effort - touch the hearts of so many around the world.
I’m now living at St. Camillus – a Jesuit care facility in Milwaukee. Many of my days are spent dealing with my own health issues, as I carry out the mission we’ve been given, “to pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus.”
