Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

Mary Lou the Moose

O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,
expectratio gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos,
Domines, Deus noster.


O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver,
desire of the nations, Savior of all people:
Come and set us free, Lord our God.

Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

The gospels insist upon the unexpected nature of God’s mercy. From small, domestic matters like the naming of a baby to cosmic events like earthquakes, God acts in unforeseen, unpredictable ways. That is why Saint Luke describes such wonder and astonishment about the naming of John. We can just hear the old folks saying, “Well I never..!”

Throughout all four gospels there is the irony that Jesus is so unexpected; and yet his confounding habit of demanding, “Why don’t you understand?” He implies, “You should have seen this coming!” and yet, obviously we did not. If some people foresaw the recession that is upon us now (and most of us should have), no one expected the Messiah to be Jesus of Nazareth.

Working with high school teens some years ago, we asked them to put away their watches and “Participate, don’t anticipate.” We urged them to let go of the control that calculates when the next meal, next break and bed time will come.

Can you expect without knowing what to expect? 

There are still some couples who refuse amniocentesis because they don’t want to know the gender of the baby until it’s born. Nor do they need to know its IQ or abilities. They are prepared to let God guide them day by day as the child is born and develops, and they disavow any authority to abort the baby if it does not fit their specifications. They will welcome the infant to participate in her own infantile way in her formation. They are prepared to be surprised by her gifts, talents, likes and dislikes. 

And they probably meet the same skeptical criticism from neighbors, friends and relative as Zechariah and Elizabeth encountered, “Well I never…”

The fun of Christmas is not knowing what the Gift will be, or how it will come, or when. We know the sun will shine on Christmas Day as it always has, though we might not see it through the clouds. We know the solstice will pass mysteriously over the earth and the Spring will inch its way back into the northern hemisphere. We know we’ll grow older as the days advance. But we don’t know how God’s mercy will appear to us, nor do we know how we’ll receive it.

Christmas teaches us to pray that we are ready, open and eager when That Day comes.