Advent 4 – Level 1
December 21, 2014
On Grace
Have you
ever met someone famous? I really haven’t. I’ve gotten to within five feet of
St. John Paul II, but that was it. Didn’t get to shake his hand. I did a quick
survey on Facebook, to see if any of my friends had encountered a famous
person. A friend of mine was telling me that she was hugged by Henry Winkler at
Pepe’s Pizza…now that is an encounter to remember! Another friend got to shake
Mother Teresa’s hand. That’s pretty cool!
But what
it someone famous – maybe Payton Manning or Drake or Lionel Messi or someone
like that - came to you and asked to have dinner at your house? I know if it
was someone that I really admired, I’d go all-out and clean the house from
top-to-bottom, and fix one heck of a dinner. Even though it would be a lot of
work to prepare, it would definitely be worth it.
So King
David in the first reading is equally excited to have the Lord dwell in a
house. He’s all set to build a temple, when the Lord says to him through a
prophet, “I don’t want a house that you build – that’s not where I desire to
live.” Okay, so, Lord, if you don’t want to live in a temple, where do you
desire to live?
The
answer finally comes in the Gospel. The angel Gabriel greets Mary with these
mysterious words – “Hail, full of grace!” What does this mean? It means that
Mary’s soul is the dwelling place of God – and her body will be as well when
Jesus is conceived.
So God’s
desire is not to live in a temple, or a tabernacle, or a house – no, God’s
desire is to dwell in our souls through grace. Yes, He is truly present here in
the tabernacle in Church. But He dwells here only to make it easier for Him to
dwell in the temple of our soul through grace.
Grace.
There’s that word again. What is grace? Here’s a very simple four-word
definition of grace: grace is God’s life
within us. Let that sink in for a minute. If you were chilling at home one
day and you hear a knock on your door, and you open it and you find that Jesus
is outside, saying, “Hey, can I come in and hang out? Maybe do dinner with you?”
We’d be thrilled beyond belief. We’d probably be speechless. Hopefully we’d
open up and let Him in. That’s what Mary had done – she was the dwelling place
of God from her very first moment.
We too
become temples of grace – of God’s divine life – at baptism. We increase grace
through prayer and the Sacraments, and the only way we can lose grace is
through serious sin. So it is my prayer that all of us here are temples of
grace – that God’s divine life dwells in us.
Okay,
pause for a moment. Are we excited yet about God’s grace? I know it seems like
some kind of abstract idea, but it’s absolutely amazing when we consider it!
Grace is what transformed us from slaves of sin to sons of God. Grace is what
allows us to call upon God anywhere – because He dwells in the temple of our
souls. Grace makes us, you and I, sinners – into saints!
You
know, when Jesus was about to be born, there was no room for Him in an inn. He
had to be born in a stable. Jesus is still looking for a home – is your soul
prepared to receive Him? Have you swept clean your soul in confession? Have you
prepared it through prayer? Have you welcomed Him through a desire to live a
holy life and become a saint? Or would you be embarrassed to have Jesus come
into your soul because it’s dirty with sin and impurity?
This
Christmas, as we prepare to give and receive gifts from family and friends, give
Jesus the gift of a pure soul – and prepare to receive the awesome,
incomprehensible riches of God’s grace.
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