Holy Spirit of God, teach me the ‘ wonders of His love…’

Matthew 2:1-12
This past, last Sunday of the Christmas season as we lit our Christmas candles my granddaughter confidently sang “Joy to the world, the wonders of his love, the wonders of his love” in her five year old voice and I joined in the last phrase with her, “The wonders, wonders of his love”. Mulling over this final act of the Christmas story, when it is recorded that three Magi from the East sought, found, and worshiped the infant Christ Jesus, I realized that indeed, it is the Joy and the Wonders of His Love that are the lasting Christmas gifts designed to carry each of us through the new 2026th ‘Year of Grace’. In my seventh decade of life, I am familiar with joy, but have I truly integrated within my heart, mind, body and strength, the profound Joy of the saving Grace of God, that arrived in the world through Christ Jesus? Do I really understand and engage the Wonders of His Love in my daily tasks and routines? Do I  - Can I – actually comprehend the full mystery of the saving Love of Christ, an earthly extension of  the Love of God that set the galaxies in motion and is available to us for the asking through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? It will certainly take ‘practicing the presence of God’ each day of this New Year, if not of the remainder of my lifetime, to discover the fullness of the Joy and Wonders of His love at work in the incarnation of the Son of the Living God, born into this world through the fiat of Mary, his Mother, and nurtured by the obedience of a carpenter named Joseph. Will I, like the Magi of old, be faithful to my quest to know and adore Christ Jesus Immanuel? Holy Spirit of God, teach me the ‘Wonders of His Love’ that I might know Joy throughout this year!
 
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us!   (Psalm 67:1)
 
Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone.
Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei - Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.c