LOVE CAME AMONG US
“My Divine Heart is so passionately in love with humanity that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity.”
Words of Jesus recorded by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Advent invites us to wait.
We wait for Christmas, for the familiar story of Bethlehem, for Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and angels, and the Child lying in the manger.
But Advent reminds us that before we ever went looking for God, God came looking for us.
This is at the heart of the spirituality of St. Margaret Mary. She came to understand the Heart of Jesus as a heart overflowing with love for humanity—a love that could not remain distant or hidden.
And that is the mystery we celebrate at Christmas.
The God who created the universe comes among us as a child. The One whom heaven and earth cannot contain allows himself to be held in Mary’s arms. God does not save us from a distance. He enters our world, shares our humanity and makes his home among us.
The Sacred Heart begins with the Incarnation. Before that Heart was pierced on the Cross, it beat within the child of Bethlehem.
Perhaps that is something worth remembering amid the busyness of December.
Christmas is not simply the anniversary of something that happened long ago. It is the astonishing proclamation that God still desires to make his home among us—in our families, our parish, our joys and struggles, and especially in those places where love is most needed.
For sixty years, Christ has made his home among the people of St. Margaret Mary Parish. He has met us in Word and Sacrament, in the Eucharist, and in the love we have offered one another.
As we prepare once again for Christmas, perhaps our prayer can be very simple: Come, Lord Jesus.
Find room in us.
And may the love that came among us at Bethlehem become visible again through the way we love one another.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
in the silence of Bethlehem
you came among us
and made our human life your own.
During these Advent days,
quiet our hearts
and prepare within us
a place for you.
May your Sacred Heart,
filled with love for all humanity,
teach us to recognize you
in the people we meet,
especially those who most need
our kindness, welcome and care.
As we give thanks for sixty years
of life together as a parish,
make your home among us again.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Find room in us.
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
we place our trust in you.
St. Margaret Mary, pray for us.
Amen.