For centuries, the faithful people of Israel awaited fulfillment of God’s promise to be with us forever, but no one expected or fully understood how that would happen. Then, quietly, unexpectedly, in the city of David a child is born.

That poor child, born without a home, to a mother who bore him under a cloud of suspicion, was our Saviour! Not what was expected. Yet, through His poverty, through the strength of faith of His mother, through the power of the Holy Spirit we come to know God as we never imagined.

The Father gifts this world, not a Saviour who is a warrior or a rich and powerful man – no – the Father sends His Son: His beloved Son to prove to us that God wishes to be with us in all that we are. The birth of that baby demonstrates that we were created to be with God forever! That is the joy of the angels; that is why we sing that today heaven and earth are united; that is why today the Creator and the created are one.

In our authentic humanness we can come to recognize none other than God!

God is with us and in our humanity we can recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit.
God is with us and through our life we can have a foretaste of eternity.
God is with us and the gates of heaven have been thrown open to us!