Advent: Week One

“Watch for this.

A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.

And shall call His Name Immanuel.”

Isaiah 7:14

Immanuel, God With Us, is the heart of God in Christ, filled to overflowing with the desire to love us, aflame with a fire to warm us, to give us a home, a sense of belonging, a refuge in which we feel safe. Immanuel, God With Us, is a voice that announces a whole new way of being, of loving, of living in community—a new Kingdom.

In this Advent season, let us determine to respond to this gentle, quiet invitation by preparing our hearts to receive more and more of the life, light and love contained in the Gift of Immanuel. Let us await this Gift of love in prayer, with watchful attentiveness and beautiful Scripture, liturgy and song.

Let us intensify our desire to see, to wait, to offer all; to seek Him in our deepest center.

Thus, the divine plan, the Christmas Gift, the transformation of our human nature into the likeness of the One Who is given may be fulfilled, and we will be enabled to live our ordinary lives with extraordinary love.

Knee Bent and Full of Wonder,

~Betty