God Breaks Through The Darkness

During Christmas Vigil, the manger was empty, the longest night was evident, and the people waited for God to come down. The celebrant, along with the altar servers, was processing in with songs of praise and incense rising to the rooftop. People were waiting for an answer to their darkness and difficult situations. The Word was being proclaimed as the people listen attentively; the Gospel was being chanted as the people listen attentively; the homily was preparing the people as the people listen attentively. Then, something extraordinary happen during the liturgy and God shined his light in the hearts of the people. 

The psalmist expressed the manifestation of God's glory in a beautiful image. He says, "In the morning you will see His Glory. The dawn from on high shall break upon us" (103:1). The soul praises God when he or she sees the Glory of God shining in his heart. After the homily, the celebrant calls the server to bring out that that was hidden before the beginning of time. The server has in his hand the infant Jesus, the Word made flesh. The people looked intently as the manger was empty and now is were once filled with God's presence among the people. 

The Prophet Isaiah once again tells the people in the liturgy to rise from their darkness and welcome once again the Word made flesh. He says, "Awake and put on the glorious garments--shake off the dust of the unclean and immorality”(Isaiah 51-52). Augustine too says, " Awake! For God became man. For how could there be peace on earth unless truth has arisen from the earth, that is, unless Christ were born of our flesh? And he is our peace who made two into one; that we might be men of good will, sweetly linked by the bond of unity."

The Word made it's dwelling when the people knelt before the infant Jesus. During the profession of faith, the people of God professed their faith and something extraordinary happen. The people along with the celebrant knelt from the opening until the part where it says, "And He came down from Heaven, and became man." This pivot moment became the experience for each individual to awake from their sleep, arise from their darkness, and allow the King of Kings to dwell in their hearts once again. This very moment prepared the heart of the person to allow Christ to come into their hearts with the final moment in the Eucharist. God, who was present in the Eucharist in a very humble way, enters the heart of the person and reveals his hidden Glory and presence to the person.

The Dwelling Place of God

The Apostle Paul talks about trials, distress, persecutions, and sins. He touches on key points that most people encounter on a daily basis in life; some of these people are bombarded with a deep darkness without any hope or faith in life. Look at what the Apostle Paul says, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." Paul has the assurance that God will comfort those who put their trust in Him. The darkness covers the person whenever God is no longer in the heart. At times, trials, tribulations, and spiritual battles can seem that God is not present or alive. These past weeks of Advent, there were scripture verses that elaborated on the Word of God. The prophet Isaiah speaks the Word of Lord by saying, "The heavens are my throne and earth is my footstool what kind of house shall you prepare for me. 

In the book of Psalms, the Psalmist believed that the dwelling place of God resided in the temple of Lord in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place of focus and worship for the all the Israelites. They saw Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God's presence among them. However, the presence of God throughput the Israelites history remains on the outside of their lives. For instance, in psalm 102, he asks God to listen to his prayer in times of darkness and distress. His prayer and anguish was occurring within the person, and God was not within the depths of his heart. He cries out in humility for aid and he places his trust on the lord. He says, "O Lord, listen to my prayer." This statement is an expression of anguish and abandonment of the presence of God in times of trials and darkness. He goes on to say that he feels like "an owl in a desolate place, a pelican in the wilderness, and a lonely bird on a roof." The psalmist had not yet experience what most people experience today in the world. 

However, he has hope that the presence of God will once again appear before his very eyes. Now, he had no idea in which way the presence of God was going to be revealed and how it was going to be viewed or experienced by the individual. He says, " God will turn his face when his glory appears." Of course, the Israelites saw the glory of God through tangible signs, such as a pillar of fire, a cloud covering the sanctuary, and lightning and thunder descending from the heavens. Furthermore, the Psalmist continues to focus on the external presence of God because he states that God looks down from heaven to listen to the groans of the prisoners.

The prisoners are those who long to see the glory of God as the wait in hope for his coming. Isaiah prophesied that God would restore the desert into the Garden of Eden (51:1-11). He says, "joy and gladness shall be found in her. Then, the prophet utters out "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord." The psalmist too states, "Lower your heavens and come down; touch the mountains; wreath them in smoke. Flash your lightning; rout the foe, shoot your arrows and put them to flight. Reach down from heaven and save me; draw me out from the mighty waters, from the hands of alien foes, whose mouths are filled with lies, whose hands are raised in perjury" (psalm 144:1-10).

The Word of God spoke through the prophets in varies ways. Although the presence of God was manifested, God does something different during this Advent. He comes down from heaven in his word, who is Jesus Christ becoming man. He makes his presence known to man by announcing the Good News that he became man to dwell among us. Not as something external when the person sees the infant on the manger, but as an indwelling within the heart of the person. The indwelling takes place as soon as the person prepares his heart to welcome the living God who became vulnerable, humble, and an infant for the sake of each person.