Presenting Ourselves to Jesus: The Spirit of Christmas
- ifibeme
- Dec 24, 2014
- 3 min read
How often do we all forget that the Spirit of Christmas is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of Christmas is the same Spirit that hovered over the face of the deep in Genesis, spoke out from the Burning Bush, overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant, and overshadowed Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. The old Ark carried the Word of the Law on stone tablets, the New Ark carries God the Word. The old Ark carried the rod of Aaron, the New Ark carries the new High Priest, who rules the nations with a rod of iron. The old Ark carried the manna, the bread of the presence. The New Ark carries the Bread of Life, and his real presence dwells within the Tabernacle in every parish and comes down afresh each Sunday. David danced before the old Ark. John the Baptist leaps in his mother's womb in the presence of the New Ark. Mary stayed in the hill country of Judea for 3 months, as did the old Ark before being brought to Jerusalem. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says that all forms of the Church's teaching and authority, spring from the Marian expression. Namely, that we say "yes" to God, no matter what He asks of us. The greatest gift we can give Jesus this year is to "present" ourselves to Him. To wrap up our minds, hearts, bodies, and souls, and give them to Christ. To "offer our bodies as living sacrifices, pleasing and acceptable to God," as St. Paul teaches in Romans chapter 12. Jesus wants us, all of who we are, what we say, what we think, what we believe. He calls us to repent, and to rejoice in his Advent, while preparing ourselves for his Second Coming. Lately, I myself have struggled, because God has been challenging me to follow Him wherever He leads. Even if He leads me into my greatest fear. God calls us all to surrender wholeheartedly to Him, for He cares for us, and He wants what is best for us. I love how in Advent the Church calls us to pray through the Joyful mysteries each day. All of these mysteries are deeply Marian. And I love that, cuz I'm a huge momma's boy. We need to pray these, and all mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary, as a three-way conversation between us, God, and Mary. We should ask Mary to pray for us, that God would help us to say yes to Him, leap for joy when He visits us in the Holy Eucharist, and revel in the glory of the incarnation. Lastly, we have to ask Mary to "present" us to Jesus, as she presented Jesus in the temple, and that we would always go searching for Jesus when we leave Him behind.
I know I often leave Jesus behind myself, almost every day, and have to backtrack in order to find Him. We don't need costly gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We can give ourselves to Jesus instead. What more beautiful an exchange is there than for us to say "Here, Lord, this is my body, a living sacrifice," and for Jesus to respond, "Take, eat, this is my body." Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, shield us from the enemy, and receive us at the hour of our death. Amen.
