Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Mass in the Morning
“You shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘Espoused’, for the LORD delights in you…” (Isaiah 62:4)
Why is there a Christmas? The prophet Isaiah gives us a look into the heart of God who chooses to come to us in the manger. Crying out to the Chosen People, Isaiah calls them to take on a new name from the Lord: My Delight. Why? “For the LORD delights in you!” Even with all of our troubled history (which God knows well and which is alluded to in the genealogy which Matthew recounts at the beginning of the Gospel), God delights in us. Even with all of our plans which do not align with God’s plans (like St. Joseph’s initial plan to dismiss Mary quietly, a plan which the angel completely changes), God delights in us. As we prepare in these last moments to welcome the Lord who has come to us as this little child, let us hear the name that God wishes to call us: “My Delight”. Let us consider that God comes not just to be born, but to be born for us, out of love for us in whom He delights! Let us thank God for the love and joy He comes to give to us.