The first step on our Advent journey is to deeply assimilate the concept of God’s loving Providence, for it allows us to understand that it was God’s love that called us into existence and constantly blesses us with His presence. We are not a random product or a whim of nature, which comes and goes until it dissolves into nothingness. No! God created us to live in communion with Him and to share in His fullness (cf. Eph 1:4–6). The Lord tells us:
“I have called you by name, you are mine” (Is 43:1).
These words, which God addresses to His people through the prophet Isaiah, apply to every person from all eternity. Every human being whom God calls to life is desired and loved by Him from the beginning. Each one is called to awaken to this reality and discover: “Yes, it was the Lord who created me and called me by name. He is my Father!”
In the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord tells us:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you (…)” (Jer 1:5).
In His Providence, God saw us long ago with a view to the Redemption He would grant us in His Son Jesus Christ. We do not come into this world as orphans; we are never abandoned by God, even if the circumstances in which we live are unfortunate! Rather, the Lord assures us:
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Is 49:15).
God wants us to live in the certainty of His love. He wants to be the firm anchor to which we cling in this passing world. He wants us to be sure of the love He has had for us from all eternity and to be aware, day by day and at every moment of our existence, that He was, is, and will be forever:
“Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God” (Ps 90:2).
God, our Father, who invites us to entrust our whole being to Him and to throw ourselves completely into His arms, thus allows us to enter into the “kingdom of unlimited trust in God.” On one occasion, the Lord said to St. Gertrude of Helfta:
“A firm trust pierces my Heart. This trust does such violence to my love that I can never escape it.”
This Advent journey should lead us to live as “expectant people,” as people who expect everything from God’s love, as His children who perceive His wisdom in the “here” and “now” and know that they are sustained by His love every day.
Meditation on today’s reading: https://en.elijamission.net/2023/12/04/
Meditation on the Gospel of the Day: https://en.elijamission.net/2019/12/02/
