Peace to you all from the Garden of the Lord!
Let us enter into the mystery of the Incarnation, the Lord comes to save us by making himself small! He takes the little ones by the hand and leads them to the House of the Father! What great hope! Are we entering or is it God who enters our history and desires to "dwell" with us and in us? Here comes Emmanuel, God with us!
It strikes me and I share with you a step of great Christological importance that may seem only paschal... The Letter to the Hebrews states: Christ is "who came as the High Priest of future goods, through a larger and more perfect Tent, not built by the hand of man, that is, not belonging to this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own Blood he entered the sanctuary once and for all, thus obtaining us an eternal redemption" (Heb 9,11-12).
We speak of Christ, the High Priest, who once and for all entered the largest and most perfect Tent "not built by the hand of man, that is, not belonging to this creation". The clear comparison is with the Temple, with the Holy of Holies, with the ritual and the role that the High Priest had on the great day of "atonement". I wonder what can be understood by this Tent which is not of this creation. Just before, in the same letter, the supernatural nature of a Sanctuary and a true Tent that the Lord planted and not a man is still emphasized! (Heb 8:2). This new Tent of celestial and supernatural character is fascinating! It leads us to perceive the beauty and the immeasurable greatness of the mystery that has happened and is still being fulfilled, in the Incarnation and in the Redemption. It is through this Mystery that God has chosen in a human way to make us part of his plan of Salvation. It is through Jesus Christ, the Eternal and High Priest that we are reached and immersed in the heavenly Shrine in which the closeness and the "contact" between God and us, in a liturgy of life, takes place. We are his Tent! (Heb 3:6). It is He, the King of Peace, who takes us by the hand, who is the King we really need! (Heb 7:26). It is the immolated Paschal Lamb (Rev 5:6), who comes to open the book of the Father’s Word and to dissolve its seals (Rev 5:6-9). "Come, Lord Jesus!" We silently cry in our prayer!
In this strong season of Advent we find ourselves contemplating the same meek Lamb in the Child of Bethlehem. The infinite and shining Heaven of eternal desires to make us share in his love in the smallness of the Child, we are called to change perspective, from the conflicts of the confused and dark times to the Light full of hope, that illuminates the darkness of the world and of our hearts. It is God himself through the prophet who invites us to turn once again our gaze to God’s Promise, his compromise: "And you, Bethlehem of Ephrath, so small to be among the capitals of Judah, from you will come He who must be the Ruler in Israel; his origins are from ancient times, from the most remote days"
(Micah 5,1).
May the Prince of Peace be reborn in our hearts and in that of many people who are on the road, homeless, without hope, He who is the Way, the Light and the Anchor of salvation. Let us pray again tirelessly to the Great King, together with Mary Most Holy Queen of Peace, for the salvation of the whole world.
Happy Advent Journey
