Religious Education Calendar 2022-2023

There was a Jewish scholar who, around the time of the birth of our Lord, compiled a list of all the prophecies in regard to the long-awaited Messiah of the Jewish people. As he laid them out, he realized that there were 456 prophecies pertaining to the Messiah. In doing research, he figured that the chance of any one prophecy coming true was 1 in 100. If two, then 1 in a thousand, if three, then 1 in ten thousand. The number went up and up. He eventually found that the chances of all the prophecies coming true at that time was 1 in the trillions and trillions.

We read in Galatians 4:4 that in the “…fullness of time, God sent His only Son…” What does that mean? It means that the time was right. Nature was yearning, hearts were yearning, all of creation was groaning for a redeemer.

The time was right. All the prophecies, despite a mathematical impossibility, came true through the Incarnation and birth of our Lord. As glorious as all this was, the saddest line in all of scripture comes forward in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Luke 2:7, “…because there was no room for him in the Inn.” What a sad commentary. An inn was a place where business was conducted. A person would go there and promote themselves. If a person had money and
connections they could get a room. It was the one place that did not have room for our Lord.

The only place where our Lord could find room was a manger. A manger was a place where animals were fed and kept. The only way to get in or out was to bow or even crawl in. The only people who came to visit the Lord in the manger were magi and shepherds. Magi were those who knew that they did not know everything. While shepherds knew that they were nobodies according to society. These are the first people to see Jesus.

There is room in our hearts for Him when we exercise the virtue of humility. Humility is the virtue by which we see ourselves for what and where we really are. And where are we? We are in a time and place both personally and communally that needs Him: His light, His truth, His healing, His joy! This Advent season we are invited to pray for an increase of the virtue of humility so that we can always be ready to bow and see the Lord wherever – whenever He appears to us. All the saints who have gone before us radiated with humility and obedience, we pray that like them, we can see ourselves for what we really are and never be afraid to make more room in our lives and hearts.

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