In these darkest days of the year, the shortest days, “as
the year grows older and the chill sets in,” let us make a place for Christ, a
place where hope can grow as he did in the Virgin womb of Mary. Let us open to
him all places of fear and helplessness in our hearts and in our world, dare to
open that darkness to the Divine Child of Hope, who longs to be near. A tiny
hand reaches out to us; God is whispering a message that we need not fear. We
can be unafraid, for we are dearly loved, even liked, by a God who dares to
become a little Child.
Like the
Virgin Mary, who allowed herself to be tenderly overshadowed by
Mystery, a Mystery who loves us beyond all telling, let us step quietly,
perhaps even a bit forlornly, into that place of trust in our belovedness.
Overshadow us, come
down O Love Divine, and invade our space with your more than imaginable
"benignness" and tenderness and compassion. Fill us with yourself; for left to
ourselves, we will believe ourselves too small, too lonely, too afraid and
forgotten.
