Advent 4

ADVENT LOVE— We are in the fourth week of getting ready to come close to the mystery of Christmas. In this fourth week we remember the Magi, the wise people. They came from the East and they were so wise that people thought they were magic. We get our word magic from the name they were called in their language – Magi. Of all the things they knew, they knew the most about stars. When they noticed a wild star they were curious and decided to follow where it was going. The wild star led the Magi to love – the Christ child. The fourth candle is lit for the charism of love. The Magi do for Jesus the Christ child what he cannot do for himself – they assure him of love.
There are some things that human beings cannot do for themselves, Jesus included. No human can teach him or herself language. Human beings cannot assure themselves of their worth, that they are heard, valued and taken seriously. The gift of love is the real gift that the Magi offer Jesus. The treasures the magi offer Jesus assure him that he is worthy, valued, noticed, heard and taken seriously.

The Gospel according Matthew 1:18–25

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.