Holy Spirit of God, help me accept your purpose for my being…

Isaiah 45:6b-25 Luke 7:24-30

 
The critical element of having a ‘good Christmas’ or not, is whether I accept the purpose of God for my life. Mary and Joseph were presented with the purpose of God for their lives and accepted it. Mary’s fiat to the Holy Spirit overshadowing her as a young, unmarried, Jewish woman with the Son of God in her womb was not an easy choice. From the outset this purpose of God for her was difficult – being pregnant and unwedded in a society where stoning of unwed mothers was common, having to take a long journey by donkey to the city of Joseph’s birth in her ninth month, and being without ‘decent’ lodgings in Bethlehem. But Mary’s embracing of God’s purpose made the ‘Joy of the season’ possible for millennia to come. Joseph likewise accepted the purpose of God for his life –a purpose that was no less unusual and challenging, and eventually sorrowful, as was Mary’s vocation. As an upright Jewish man he was called to marry Mary when she was clearly already ‘with child’.  In addition, living into God’s assignment for his life meant that Joseph had to leave his successful carpentry business in Nazareth, and become a refugee seeking shelter in far-off and ‘godless’ Egypt. But it was Joseph’s obedience to God’s purpose for his life that allowed Jesus to reach manhood and fulfill his purpose in life – the sealing of the ‘New covenant’ that was and is the redemption of humanity. God’s purpose for each one of us is that we will receive the baptism of becoming one with his Holy Spirit bringing about the Father’s kingdom on earth. Will I, like Mary and Joseph, accept God’s purpose for my life with dedication no matter what challenges it holds? Holy Spirit of God help me accept your purpose for my being.
 
Happy are those … whose delight is in the law of the Lord…they are like streams planted by streams of water, that yield their fruit in its season.  (Psalm 1:1,2)
 
He became what we are that he might make us what he is.
St. Athanasius
 
Listen to O Come, O Come Emmanual a verse at a time during this last week before Christmas. Each verse reflects on of the  “O Antiphons”, each highlighting a different element of God’s purpose in being born into humanity 2100 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xtpJ4Q_Q-4
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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