4th Sunday of Advent - Cycle C
December 22/23, 2018
Micah 5:1-4; Heb 10: 5-10; Luke 1: 39-45

He is almost here! Soon we will see him, God coming in the flesh, in a manger, in the child Jesus. We have been awaiting him, each Sunday we have been waiting, praying, and singing:

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - God is with us!
On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry: Make straight the way of the Lord!
Level the mountains of sin!
Fill the valleys of temptation!
Let all mankind see the salvation of our God!

Yes, we have waited for, we have prayed for, and we have sung of his coming!  Yes, soon, Jesus is coming!

Yes, so long ago, he came in the flesh, in the child of Bethlehem and there was no room for him in the inn.

Yes, today he comes, he still comes, never ceases to come, at every moment in our lives he comes knocking on the doors of our hearts, asking to be let in, asking to enter our lives asking if there is room for him in our inn, asking if he can make his home within us.

Yes, someday in the future he will come again, in glory with salvation for his people, and the living will shine with his glory, and the dead will rise to be united with God forever.

That is our faith. It is the faith of the Church. We hold on to this faith with every hope and sure knowledge of its completion.

On this last Sunday of Advent, we joyfully await to celebrate the day in which God, Emmanuel, took on our human nature and entered our world as a man, to bring humanity back to God, to grasp us firmly and lift us up to share in his divinity, to make us like him, to make us sons and daughters of God. God reached down to the depths of the earth to raise humanity up and take us back to the Father, to our heavenly home.

On this last Sunday of Advent, we have a final chance to try to open our hearts and our minds to God who is all around us, who wants at every moment to become one with us, to become intimate with us, who wants to share our every joy, our every sorrow, our every triumph, and to soften every defeat. God who continuously knocks at the doors of our hearts and asks: "May I enter? May I be not only your God, but also your brother? Is there room for me in your inn?"

On this last Sunday of Advent, we impatiently wait for Jesus' coming, most especially his glorious coming someday when all of humanity, yes, all of creation, will see the God who has created, and loved, and cared for us all, will see him in all his splendor and glory.

Open wide your hearts to Christ! For he comes, he has come, and he will come again!

Open wide your hearts! Do not fear! Look at Mary, the Mother of God. She opened wide her heart. She kept God close to her heart. She said, "Yes" to God. She said, "Fiat." She said, "Let it be done to me." Mary would not have become the Mother of God had she not first had an open heart that waited for her Savior, and trusted in him. She welcomed and treasured, she nurtured, obeyed, followed and trusted God’s Word who became her son. She opened her heart to the coming of the Lord.

Open wide the doors of your life to Jesus! Do not fear him! Let him enter; let him be with you when you have no place to stay, when you are lonely and frightened, alone and afraid.

Do not fear, but rejoice that Jesus has come into our world to redeem us, to forgive us, to fill in the valleys that have swallowed us up, to knock down the mountains that block our path.

Do not fear, but with undying hope, look for him to come again, renewing everyone and everything, and to all who are just, all who have sought and waited for him, he will bring to glory! 

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!