God’s gift to humankind

CEBU, Philippines – St. Ignatius of Loyola  was born in Spain in the year 1491.His parents died before he was 16. The years of Ignatius’ young adulthood, were consequently undisciplined and wayward. Eventually,  Ignatius encountered Jesus  and turned from his life of sin. He underwent a profound conversion. Ignatius kept a journal of his experiences. Later he published it as a kind of  road map for others in their own search for Jesus. This is called The  Spiritual Exercises.

One of the  contemplation  in the journal is  a guide for meditating on today’s Gospel. It has  three steps.

The  first step  is to imagine  what the world was like before Jesus was born  – a world without Christ. For example, the people were drifting away from God. Evil was spreading like a giant cancer. The world was in a hopeless situation.

The  second step  is to picture the  angel Gabriel  descending from heaven to announce  to Mary  that she is to be the mother of the Promised Messiah.

Picture yourself descending from heaven with the angel. We see the planet Earth far, far away. It is just a tiny speck of light in a star-filled universe. As you draw closer, you see the spot on Earth called the Holy Land. And as you move even closer, you see Mary inside the house. She is absorbed in prayer.

The  third step  is  to listen to the conversation  between the angel and Mary. Focus on  two sentences  especially: the first sentence is the angel’s words to Mary,“The power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy offspring to be born will be called Son of God.”

The important word in that sentence is  “overshadow.” This word is rarely used in the Bible. One such instance is found in the  Book of Exodus. There it describes a  mysterious cloud that “overshadowed” or  “covered”  the tent in which Israel  kept the ark of the covenant. Exodus 40:34  says that as soon as the cloud overshadowed the tent,“the Lord’s presence fills it.”

Luke’s choice of the rare word  “overshadow” is not accidental; it  is symbolic. Luke  compares Mary’s body to the tent  in which the ark was kept. He compares  Mary’s womb, in which  Jesus will be housed, to  the ark  in which the  tablets of the Ten Commandment were housed. Thus when God’s power overshadows Mary, the “Lord’s presence” fills her.

But the “Lord’s presence” that fills Mary  is infinitely richer than the “Lord’s presence” that fills the tent. The “Lord’s presence” in Mary is the flesh-and-blood presence of Jesus.

God is present to us in different ways. First,  God is present to us  in creation. God  put something of Himself in creation, just as a composer puts something of himself in the melody of the song.

Second,  God is present to us in  the words of Scripture. God’s thoughts  are present to us in Scripture, just as a songwriter’s inspirations are present to us in the words and music of his song.

Finally,  God is present to  us in Jesus. God became present to us  in flesh and blood, just as a songwriter can be present to us  in person, in his flesh and blood.

This brings us back to the first sentence that we should focus on in today’s Gospel. The sentence follows immediately after the angel’s reference to God’s power overshadowing Mary. In the very next sentence the angel says, “Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age. She who was thought to be sterile is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.”

The important words in this sentence are the words “nothing is impossible with God.” How beautifully today’s Gospel illustrates that “nothing is impossible with God.” Before God’s power overshadowed Mary, the world had no hope.  Sin and violence were everywhere.

Before God’s power overshadowed Elizabeth, she had  no hope of giving birth to a son. She was old and sterile. And, finally, before God’s power overshadowed Mary, the human race had no hope of salvation. It was held in slavery by Satan. The power of God that overshadowed Mary changed all that.

What does this mean for us today? It means this: Our  world may be a mess. Our  family may be a mess. Our  own lives may be a mess. But  there is hope,  because  God’s power in the person of Jesus, had entered our world.

This is what we prepare to celebrate in these final hours before Christmas. This is what gives us  joy beyond imagining,  hope beyond dreaming.

Furthermore, if Jesus in our midst is to bear fruit, like Mary carrying the Christ-Child spontaneously hurries to the hill country to help her cousin Elizabeth, so  we having Christ with us must be ready to spread the good news of his presence to people around us,  especially to the people in need.

We have lots of opportunities during this Christmas season. Aside from the regular feeding programs and gift-giving to the poor, there are all kinds of people in need: those who  lost their job,  because of the economic crunch, those whose  shelters have recently been destroyed  or demolished.

We can donate to the  orphanage  and other  charitable institutions. We can give financial support to the  missions, adopt a poor family  this Christmas season. Give assistance to the suffering people in  areas struck by calamities.

Perhaps even closer to your own home, there may be people who are  lonely, people in your office, in your neighborhood, who are  burdened with problems; the  sick, the  abandoned  in the  hospital ward  or  prison cell.

Bring Christ to them. Give them hope. Perhaps for every gift you give to your friends or yourself, set aside a counterpart for the needy. You’ll be surprised your own Advent and Christmas this year will be especially meaningful and joyful.

Let’s close with a prayer. Let’s pray the words Mary prayed later on when she visited her cousin Elizabeth:

“My heart glorifies the Lord; my soul rejoices because of God my Savior… He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors… He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham and to all his descendants forever!”