GOD IS WITH US
Christmas is so disfigured that it’s almost impossible to help some one today understand the mystery it contains. Maybe there is a way, but each one has to find it themselves. It doesn’t consist in understanding grand theological explanations, but in living out an inner experience humbly before God.
The grand experiences of life are a gift, but ordinarily only those who are open to receive them live them out. In order to live out the experience of God’s Son made man, we need to be prepared inside. The Gospel writer Matthew comes to tell us that Jesus, the child born in Bethlehem, is the only one we can truly call «Emmanuel», which means «God with us». But what does this mean? How can you «know» that God is with you?
Hold fast in staying quiet. Look for a peaceful and calm place. Listen to your heart. Silently come close to what’s deepest in your being. It’s easy to experience a tremendous feeling: that you’re on your own in life, that you’re far from those people who surround you and to whom you feel united in love. They love you a lot, but are outside of you.
Keep going in silence. Maybe you feel a strange impression: you live because you are rooted in an immense and unknown reality. From where does life come to you? What’s in the depth of your being? If you are capable of «hanging in there» a little more in silence, you probably start to feel fear, and at the same time, peace. You are facing the ultimate mystery of your being. Believers call that God.
Abandon yourself confidently in that mystery. God appears to you to be immense and far away. But if you open yourself to God, you will feel God near. God is in you sustaining your fragility and making it so you are alive. God isn’t like the people who love you from outside. God is in your very being.
According to Karl Rahner, «this experience of the heart is the only way that you can understand the message of faith about Christmas: God has become man». Now you will never be alone. No one is alone. God is with us. Now you know «something» of Christmas. You can celebrate it, enjoy it, and greet others. You can rejoice with your friends and be more generous with those who suffer and live in sadness. God is with you.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
