As I slowly prepare our house for Christmas and my heart for Christ’s Second Coming, I keep circling back to the words of John 1:14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us God, in his awesomeness decided that we were worth saving and he stooped so low as to become a baby. A flesh and blood infant, a helpless child whose only communications are whimpers and cries. I have had six babies so far and can definitively say that they can do nothing for themselves. They can’t feed themselves or clothe themselves or even wipe their own heineys. The Almighty God chose this. I can’t even fathom the love and trust that would compel Father, Son and Holy Spirit to do that. Adam and Eve couldn’t even be trusted with a piece of fruit!
Inevitably I think of the Blessed Mother after the Incarnation, how she felt and what she was pondering. What an awesome responsibility to know you are raising the Savior and what an incredible gift to be chosen out of every single woman who was, is and yet to be born. Through her “yes” the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I love that we get to celebrate her appearance to Juan Diego during Advent. I have a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the image she left on a humble little tilma is my favorite of her. There are many reasons I love it so much, but one special distinction is that she appears pregnant in the image. The Word Incarnate, the Blessed Fruit of her womb has taken on flesh. In a special way I think this image asks us to allow the Word become flesh in us. Each one of us are asked to make His love manifest in our lives, to bear fruit. And one of the best ways to do that is to read Scripture. If we can be faithful to reading his Word we can better understand His great love for us and in return love him more. Great fruit will be born in our lives if we make a habit of reading His Word, but even greater graces will flow into the lives of others from our faithfulness. Mary’s motherhood was certainly a gift of crowning glory for her, but more importantly it was a gift for humanity. Like the Blessed Mother, let us ponder his Word and let it bear great fruit for the kingdom.
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Watching the funeral of George H.W. Bush, I couldn’t help but think of God’s all-encompassing love for us. If you saw any bit of the ceremonies for President Bush, you could see the love. Every little detail was thought out and lovingly planned by family and the tradition our country holds. This guy was a big deal, just like all of our presidents. He deserved to be laid to rest respectfully. And man, did it take a while! I had started watching before taking the kids to school, then continued while at the gym, then ran errands and came home still able to catch the last couple of hours. This death was a big deal. So will yours be. Most of us will live an ordinary life. To the big world, we will not be seen as a” big deal”. But, as Christians, we know better. We are sons and daughters of THE King. We are great because of who God is, we are great because we are His. Not because of anything we do, but because of Him. God made each and every one of us simply because He wants to BE with us. He didn’t have to create humans. He doesn’t need us. He’s God, he’s got this. He just wants us here to love us. And that makes us a big deal. As Catholics, we have carried our Lord’s body INSIDE of our body. So, God becomes Man- for us, dies a horrible death- for us, goes up to Heaven and then comes back - for us (so far it’s sounding like we’re a big deal if God’s going through all of this just for us, just sayin’.) But when the Eucharist is placed on your tongue…you are officially a living Tabernacle of our Lord. …. Whoa. Baby. That is a big deal. We went from being one with the Holy Spirit, to being ONE with Jesus. We’ve heard over and over again about how important our bodies are through the gift that is Theology of the Body. But, are we getting it? Are we truly understanding how important our bodies are?! I don’t. I’m learning more and more and I don’t totally get it. How could we ever comprehend how huge of a deal our bodies are? It’s a crazy thing to comprehend! And how heartbreakingly corrupt have we made our bodies out to be. Just turn on secular radio and it won’t take long before you hear disgusting sexual lyrics. I just want to jump inside my radio, take these musicians by the shoulder and shake them! I want to say to them, YOU are SO much more than this! The women you are talking about are SO much more than this! Your bodies have been chosen by God himself to be here right now! You are higher than this! You are holy! While watching President Bush’s processions, funeral and then more processions, I wondered…at our moment of death, what does the invisible world around us look like? Are our Guardian Angels holding their heads up to God in joy because their mission is now complete? Are there Angels and Saints all around us celebrating God’s child finally coming home to Him, giving us a beautiful heavenly procession? Or, are our Guardian Angels weeping, head down low because we have come to the end and never realized how much of a big deal we are because of Our Father chose to create us. Every single body deserves procession after procession, trumpets and glory at the end of life. Not because of anything we did (if that was the case, we wouldn’t deserve anything at all!) but, because of how much God loves us. It’s so simple, it’s incomprehensible. How different would this world be if we all had the teensiest bit of understanding of how big of a deal, how so very precious, we all are to God. Man, the thought brings me to tears. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Text ©2018 Stephanie Stovall
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