Monday of the Third Week of Advent

Scripture Readings 

One of the best things about the holidays is remembering what Christmas was like at home as I was growing up. We had a large family and there was always great fun, big messes of paper and presents, going to Mass and visiting grandparents, and a lot of good meals. For me, most of the memories are good ones but I can also remember some very painful times for my family. There was a relative that always seemed to be in a crisis of his own making and his behavior inevitably impacted everyone. Year after year I watched my parents feeling sad and frustrated over the behavior of this beloved relative.  As a little child I did not understand these things and I remember wishing he would be gone and not come back and hurt my parents and grandparents anymore. Now I realize how much they loved him. Now I can see that you keep staying and trying and hoping and helping because that is what families do when they love someone.

Today’s Gospel reading relates Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1-17). What strikes me about this long list of people is that it is truly an assemblage of great sinners and great saints. There are kings and priests, murderers and adulterers, and harlots and heathens. When God sent Jesus to be with us he did not choose to create a superhuman lineage or plop Jesus down in the middle of a palace. The family that Jesus came from lived in the messiness and disorder of the real world. He struggled and dealt with the human condition just as you and I. If I spend a while praying about this it makes me realize in a deeper way how Jesus truly entered time and space and history to walk with us.  The reason that I find this so important is that if I see Jesus as human as myself it somehow lessens the distance between us.  If I can imagine Jesus celebrating holidays with family and friends, sharing meals, work, and play with family and friends, I can identify with him. After all, this is how most of our personal relationships begin—by identifying and sharing similar experiences, feelings, and interests. The other important side of this is that because Jesus truly “dwelt among us” he certainly experienced the hard things we do—the pain and disappointment and conflict that every friendship and family faces. It is during these times that the love of family is truly important. This is when the truth of love is becomes real.

While most of us have not traced our lineage back quite so many generations as Matthew did, we can probably identify some significant human weakness in our own family history as well as right now, in our immediate families. Our home, in this time and at this moment, is where the Messiah wishes to be born, to reside. It is right in this place where he is needed. And it is exactly at this very time when we can call on Jesus. This is the Jesus who walked with the least of us. This is the Jesus whose feet were covered in the mud when it rained. This is the Christ that came into our “mess” to be with us. He is with us now. At every moment he waits for us to let him come closer—into our homes, our families, our messes, and our broken hearts. He knows exactly what we live with, what we have lived through, and what will become of us. This Jesus longs to be with us in everything. In these last few days before Christmas, let us ask him to deepen our longing for him.  Let us ask him to come closer, much closer. 

My Dearest Jesus,

I know you are near. I feel such longing for you.

I want you to come so very much closer to me.

Please embrace my family. Please embrace me.

I ask this with the intercession of your Holy Mother

Amen

Gail Lyman