Dear Saints,

I have some friends whose daughter was born on December 24th, and they’re always very careful to wrap her presents in birthday wrapping paper. The reason, of course, is so that her special day doesn’t get subsumed by Christmas; after all, her birth is worth celebrating too! In the same way, today is still Advent, and we’d do well to celebrate it as such.

We have a few hours of waiting to go, and we’ll find no better companion in our time of expectancy than Mary. Her final answer to Gabriel - “may it be done to me according to your word” - is a model for us all. No matter what tomorrow brings, all we ever need to do is hear and heed God’s call on our lives. That doesn’t mean easy sailing from here on out; in fact, we were promised quite the opposite. Nor does it guarantee success; we almost certainly have a lot of failing in our future. But it puts us on the right side of history. Our “yes” to God continues the work Mary began with hers. Her simple fiat rolled back centuries of refusals to love and serve; if we follow her example in all things, ours will too.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ