We still have time to ask God to change our expectations and desires, which up until now have been too small

Today we celebrate the fourth and final Sunday in advent. Our readings today remind us the Great Feast of Christmas is just around the corner. There are just a few days left before Christmas day will actually be here. The pressing question now is, "Are we ready?"

In answer to this, you may be thinking about the Christmas preparations that needed to be done, such as the shopping, the decorating, the house cleaning, the wrapping of gifts, and so on and so forth. I would imagine that some of you may even say
with confidence, I am ready, let Christmas come.

But the more important question is, “have we spent this time of advent well, by fully preparing for the silent coming of Jesus into our heart and soul.” In other words, have we prepared for His coming more intensely than our preparation for the coming of our guests into our homes over the holiday? Have we prepared for THE guest of our souls? Thanks be to God, while we still breathe, it is never too late to prepare room for Jesus. Like last minute shopping, we still have time to prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas.

Again, like most of the readings during Advent, this Gospel should wake us up from our slumber. As we read the Mysterious account of the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of St. Matthew, we should come to an ever-deeper awareness, that not only is Christmas near, but the coming of Jesus is near.

The question is then, what more can we all do in the next few days to prepare ourselves more fully, spiritually speaking, for Christmas? This may seem a rather daunting task in the very short time left before Christmas. And so, we need to cut to the bottom line, and simply start by turning our focus back to God in prayer. In prayer, we can ask ourselves, “what do I most desire from God this Christmas?” Let’s ask this question in a different way, “what is the gift I most desire from my God this Christmas?”

Answering this question can be both easy and hard at that same time. It can be easy if we ask God to simply wipe away all of our problems, give us peace on earth, and while He’s at it, let us win the lottery. It may at first seem the best thing God could do for us, that He would simply change everything for the better instantly. But would this really not be the best for us.

The people in the time of Jesus wanted this type of gift from God. If you were to ask them, what they most desired from God, I think the people of Israel would want to be freed from the cruel Romans who occupied and terrorized their country. Their desire was for God do something about all the mess and do it instantly. They knew all the prophets and how God had promised that the throne of their greatest king, David, would last forever. They knew how God had promised to deliver them from their enemies, just like of old when the Red Sea drowned the Egyptian army and they crossed into the Promised Land. One can imagine their inner prayers- God, if you would just give us a Political leader, one who was strong and could throw the Romans out, it would be paradise. We could have our own King and not have to pay taxes to the occupiers; peace and prosperity would return and the good old days would be back.

God heard all of their prayers, asking for this type of gift. In His wisdom, the time had come. God would answer all those prayers; he would fulfill all of the prophecies. However, the special plan- the one he had planned from the creation of the world- was not even in the mind of people at the time. God had something greater in mind, he wasn’t going to remove all of their problems and sufferings and give the economic prosperity, but He was going to fulfill their greatest desires, the most intimate desires of their heart.

In our Gospel today from St. Matthew, we heard of God’ answer to their prayers, and the prayer of all mankind throughout the ages, including our own, in the Mysterious birth of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, God’s love far surpassed any of the prayers of the people of that time or any time including our own. Who could have imagined that God, Himself would actually come to us as a poor child, and give us the gift of Himself in this little Child? A child who is both God and man: a child coming to save us, not from our problems, but from the worst things, the things that really keep us from peace, happiness and joy, and that is death and slavery to sin. God’s plan of Salvation is so wonderful that we should be filled with a simple, yet profound awe.

The next few days can be a time for us to stop at least a while during all the busyness and noisiness and enter into the silence of prayer before our Lord. We can go beyond the fact that most of our spiritual preparations may have been inadequate to this point, and in the silence of our hearts we can ask God to expand our hearts to a greater capacity in order to more fully receive Him and His infinite love, given to us in the Christ Child.

We still have time to ask God to change our expectations and desires, which up until now have been too small. At Christmas, Jesus, the awesome and complete gift of the Father, comes to us as the little infant. Think of how easy it is to see an infant. They are so little and so precious. We immediately get a smile on our face, infants are not scary or distant, they immediately make us drop our defenses and they warm and open our hearts to them and their love. Is this why Jesus came as a little babe; so we wouldn’t be afraid of Him, He who is the all mighty and powerful God? If Jesus came in all of his majesty and glory, we would have been scared into loving Him, which of course would not have been love at all!

Perhaps in our prayers, we can use this image of the infant child Jesus being given to us. We can imagine that our Blessed Lady willingly handing the babe in swaddling clothes to us. No words need be spoken, just silent in order to receive the infant child Jesus who smiles ever so tenderly at us and holds out His divine heart to us. We can then smile ever so tenderly back at Him, and accept His heart and offer ours back to Him!

In these closing days before Christmas, let us ask the Father for an increase of grace so that we might open our hearts, deepen our desires and completely blow away our expectations of what we can receive from Him. Our God desires to give us a gift greater than anything we could ever imagine or desire. God desires this more that anything. This gift is the greatest gift the world has ever seen and the deepest longing of our hearts; this gift is the gift of His only begotten Son Jesus. We need to simply open ourselves to receive Him more fully. Our Lady of the New Advent, prayer for us, help us to receive the gift of the Christ child, your child, more fully. Amen.