Dawn Is Building a Temple

Dear Friend,

This morning as I walked to the clothesline behind the Mission, I could see orange, yellow, and red making a line of their own over the treetops. It was daybreak, pointing to a promise fulfilled:

In the tender compassion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break upon us

to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death…

(Luke 1:78-79)

On this fourth Sunday of Advent we are invited to greet that dawn in its fullest dimensions: as Christ Jesus, whom Mary discovers breaking forth within her own body, in her own womb. In wonder and humility Mary says yes to that dawn. In Luke’s stirring account of that moment, we are invited to do the same.

In a homily to the friars this past week, Father John spoke of the Roman occupation of Jerusalem at the time of Mary and the early disciples. He pointed out that it was like a virus, subtly disrupting inner peace, its oppressive shadow of death setting everyone and everything on edge. 

And yet, this is the muddled world God chose to enter, Mary and Joseph’s world of poverty and severe limits. The Messiah comes not to conquer the oppressor outright, but to do something far more magnificent: grant us each a glimpse, and, more importantly, make us each an active, conscious part of the design of love as it opens its next beautiful phase. Dawn is building a temple. As David is told in this Sunday’s first reading, it is a temple built by the Spirit, in the power and light of God’s promise.

Like Mary, you and I are filled with grace. Like Mary, in our own shadowed places, we prepare to give the dawning Word our flesh and blood!

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm