A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
…And all people will see God’s salvation.”
Luke 3:4,6
Second Advent: LOVE
Before pandemics and Pharoah and Paul, the Lord prepared for our salvation. I love that the Bible is one long story of redemption, and that God prepared our salvation from the very beginning. “Let there be,” He said, and there was salvation.
During Advent, we ourselves prepare for Christ’s coming, but like every good thing we do, it’s merely a reflection of what God has already done.
In the story of humanity’s fall in Genesis, God curses the serpent for deceiving Adam and Eve. God says to the serpent, “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen. 3:15). God was referring to the Christ to come—Jesus. Even when God banished Adam and Eve from paradise, he was already promising Jesus’ victory over Satan.
God loved the world so much that he sent his Son into the world to save us, to declare victory over death and sin. It started in Mary’s womb, but God had already declared it back in Genesis: love. Eve—and all of us— can have hope for mankind because of Christ’s love.
His love was evident when God declared Christ’s victory in Genesis, his love was evident when Gabriel foretold Jesus’ birth to Mary, and his love is evident today through the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s love is with us and has always been with us. God is with us. Immanuel.
Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us”.
Isaiah 7:14
-Danaye Reinhardt
Crayon and pencil by Sr. Grace Remington, OCSO
Copyright 2005, Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey
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