19th Day of Advent

Christmas Wonder

Wonder is so radical to the human heart.  But it is we who decide what kind of wonder fills our hearts.  Sometimes there can be a depressive wonder:  Why does God permit the things He does?  Or, we wonder about ourselves.  We wonder how, after all the graces of Advent, we can still be so faulty and faltering.  But all these human wonderings, which, left to themselves can become a dark wonder, must be changed into the wonder of light, that God does know exactly what He is about.

There are so many things we cannot understand in the world, that we cannot understand in one another, and most deeply, that we cannot understand in ourselves.  But in all of these, we are full of wonder that God is nevertheless working out His own divine plans. 

Let these precious hours of Advent be given to wonder.  When we feel depressed by our faults, let us wonder that God can forgive us so much; let us be filled with wonder and praise that God gives on believing in us, hoping in us, and trusting that we will somehow yet realize His dream of us.

                                                                          ~Mother Mary Francis, (+2006)
                                                          Poor Clare Missionary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, NM
                                                                  (Printed in December 2013 Magnificat p. 295-296)

 

 

Pro-Life Challenge:

Do I give my feelings of discouragement about the darkness of the world to the Lord and recognize that everything He allows will ultimately bring human hearts to Himself?