Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent“It’s almost here, it’s almost here!” A childlike joy sprung from my heart as I flipped my 2020 calendar and saw we were finally in December. Christmas is my most favorite of all holidays. As a child, every day that passed was one day closer to the joys that only Christmas and the arrival of baby Jesus could bring. So here we are now, the day before. If we think back to ourselves as children, laser-focused on Christmas morning, it could have seemed that on Christmas Eve, time stood still. It wasn’t Christmas yet! But almost! Even now as an adult, I still feel that anticipation, that time-standing-still-ness, as I look forward to the promised beauty, holiness, and peacefulness of Christmas. But we’re not there yet. We have one more night of sleep until the bright dawn of Christmas morning peeks over the horizon. We sit together in that space between, the day before, the time of “not yet, but soon.” That time of closest anticipation before the gift we were promised is given to us. What do you feel? Today’s readings are full of promises by God. Each of us, just like David and Zechariah, have been promised things by God. As sure as we may be about God, being sure about the path He’s asking of us may be more difficult. We are each called in different ways to journey with Him through “becoming” to “being.” Regardless of how much we want to be what God wants us to be, it can be difficult to step forward in faith when we are unsure of where those next steps will take us. Yet, we see in the Gospel that God blesses us in our unknown, on our journey, in the “not yet,” and through the pains that we endure to get where we are going: “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1: 78-79).” What a beautiful way to see that we are called to trust, to radically trust, that God is present in our anticipation, that He is journeying with us in our in-between, and is waiting for us at the end. Christmas Eve is only one of many “in-betweens” we’ll experience in our lives. Yet like all others, it is a part of that journey from becoming to being. How beautiful that journey can be when we allow God to join us on the way, and what sweet joys are promised when we reach our destination with Him! Merry (almost) Christmas! Lacy de la Garza currently serves as Director of Parish & Community Relations at Catholic Charities Dallas. |
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