One little light.

As many of you may know, this past October, my dad Isaias died suddenly of a massive heart attack.  While it has been nearly two months (on Christmas day) it has been strange to keep expecting him to arrive from a trip.  The reality is that the next time  I see my dad, we will hopefully be in a place where the glory of Christmas is eternally proclaimed.  The reason I bring up my dad is because since his death, the house has seemed a bit darker,  and during this advent season, the journey toward the celebration of the Nativity has taken a truly anticipatory feel for myself and my family.  While we await the celebration that is to come, we understand that it will be like no other.  This having been said, as I reflected on the Scriptures this week, I was touched by the gesture that David offers to God, "let me build you a home" he says, and in short reply, God reminds David that it is He who has given us a home and that it is in Him alone that we find all that we have.  This thought is important because it allows us to walk from being children of God as the Israelites were, to being children of God, who have known Christ.  In our knowing and believing in Christ, we are brought to a place where we no longer offer to build a "house" for God, instead, we prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels of Christ, of Him who is Emmanuel and in whom is our hope.  By doing so, we no longer look with anticipation to knowing a God who is distant and aloof, or one that can only be met in the Temple, instead, we come to know God in the intimacy of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and there, like Mary, we are able to say "I am the servant of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word"  in our participating in communion, we actively enter into a relationship with God where we are called to holiness, where life is found, even in the midst of confusion and darkness, where death is only a moment of transformation, and not an end.  Today, this last Sunday of Advent, our journey continues, but during these last few days of reflection and preparation, we are invited to become  more and more, worthy temples of God who is indeed among us, and in whom is our life and our light.  And so, as my family and I anticpate this Christmas day, we gather with some sadness, but with the knowledge that even in the pain of this loss, light will abound because God is indeed with us!  Peace be with you and know that you are loved.  Fr. Rick