He makes all things new.
O Leader of the House of Israel, giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai: come to rescue us with your mighty power!
The reality of the circumstances in which Jesus was born is one not worth glossing over. It is a story rich with meaning yet often impoverished in its stale telling and familiarity. We can so easily take for granted the facts that Scripture presents: that his mother was pregnant with him before being married, that he was unplanned, at least in Joseph’s dreams for himself and Mary, and that this pregnancy would have grave consequences for Mary, according to the Law: namely, her being stoned to death, which, if enacted, would prevent even his birth. Simply put, this reality was a nightmare, nothing even close to a dream.
And yet, God does something new here. God transforms Joseph’s nightmare into God’s dream for the world. What was at once a reality impoverished of any hopeful future now becomes rich with potential and possibility. Indeed, the Giver of the Law transforms the Law, deepens it, and ushers in a newfound freedom, which was God’s intention all along with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who follows through and acts upon God’s dream, making it a reality. And this remains God’s intention for each one of us. The Mystery of the Incarnation reveals to us this wonderful insight: right in our reality, especially in those places and moments of our lives that we did not plan for, that we did not expect, and that seem so far removed from any hope and presence of God-with-us, is the very place where God’s dream for us enters in and makes all things new.
Maybe this is at the heart of the desire for rest that was so much a part of Augustine’s story of his restless heart, the true rest – and sleep – in God which allows us to be re-created and awakened into God’s dream, the truest reality for all of us.
A reflection written by Kevin DePrinzio O.S.A., Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, US
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Thank you! 30 people prayed
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. Col 4:6