Dai­ly Reflec­tion
Decem­ber 19, 2021

… from you shall come forth for me
       one who is to be ruler… whose ori­gin is from of old,
            from ancient times. (Mic­ah 5:1)

Ancient times! Ancient is some­times hard to com­pre­hend. Each year we antic­i­pate Christ­mas. Each year fol­lows a new year. Every year after Christ­mas we ush­er in the New Year. Can we even think of ancient times? Our faith jour­ney does not let us forget.

Through­out these past weeks of Advent we recall prophe­cies of the com­ing Mes­si­ah!
Jesus tells us about fol­low­ing God’s will. Thus says the Christ, as it is writ­ten of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.

    
Today we find our­selves in the com­pa­ny of two women who heard God’s voice through their own unique expe­ri­ences and said yes. Eliz­a­beth, elder cousin of Mary, like Sara on in years, (Abraham’s wife of their ancient Hebrew His­to­ry in Scrip­ture) is preg­nant with  a son. We come to know  him as John the Bap­tist. John pre­pares the way of Jesus. I like to think that when he jumped in Elizabeth’s womb, he was let­ting Jesus know he was there and ready to do his part in sal­va­tion history.

Mary and Eliz­a­beth come togeth­er with this sign of affir­ma­tion of God’s active pres­ence of fideli­ty to a covenant desir­ing an inti­mate rela­tion­ship and love. Eliz­a­beth exalts embrac­ing Mary, Blessed are you who believed that what was spo­ken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.

This oil paint­ing, of the Vis­i­ta­tion, 1503, is by Albertinel­li, is in the Uffizi, Flo­rence, IT; how­ev­er I pho­tographed this detail of the paint­ing while on exhib­it at the Museo di San Mar­co, Flo­rence, IT. I was struck deeply and took a sud­den breath when I saw this paint­ing. I thought, what pro­found inti­ma­cy of these two, faith-filled preg­nant women with the Word of God. O Beau­ty ever Ancient! O Beau­ty ever new! (St. Augus­tine of Hippo)

St. Augus­tine prayed:

Late have I loved you, O Beau­ty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you… You were with­in me, but I was not with you…You called, you shout­ed, and you broke through my deaf­ness. You shone and dis­pelled my blind­ness. You breathed your fra­grance on me; I drew a breath and I pant for you. I have tast­ed you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

For Mary and Eliz­a­beth, the breath of God’s fra­grance was upon them. With that breath they were preg­nant with the will of God to be car­ried and birthed. O Beau­ty ever new!

Christ­mas, a few days away. What signs or expe­ri­ences have you had that say to you God is a faith­ful God? In the deep silence and core of your being  lis­ten for God’s Word. How have you embraced a con­fir­ma­tion of that active pres­ence of God with­in you? Who has confirmed/affirmed that pres­ence? How will you bring to birth Jesus, and put flesh on the WORD that speaks to you?

Ancient his­to­ry, ancient lands, ancient peo­ple, come to life for us anew each year. No longer ancient but present, now, in our time and years to come. Ever present and ever new! Emmanuel, God with US! Each of us play our part in the on-going sto­ry adding to the sacred, ancient nar­ra­tives of a faith­ful God who saves us, loves us, and embraces us. All we have to do is to desire to hear God’s voice, lis­ten and say YES!

Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved!