I am in you

Emmanuel: God with us.

In Isaiah, Ahaz “wearies” God.

How?

By refusing to ask for a sign of God’s immanence.

Still the prophet says that God promises a sign by a virgin birth.  And the child will be known as “Emmanuel,” or  “God with us.”

This prophecy is quoted in Luke, when an Angel appears to Joseph proclaiming a virgin birth.  And the name of the child is to be “Jesus, God healer.”

In John Jesus tells his friends that “as the Father is in me so I am in you and you are in me.”  The sign given reveals the healing of the separation of God and humanity.

During advent we are called to ponder the wonder of this mystical relationship, “God is with us.”  We are called once again to live in awareness that God is in us and we are in God. A turning away from our separateness and a turning toward our inherent unity with God and all of creation.

When Jesus is conceived in Mary, received into her being, to grow into a full revelation of God’s self, any rift between God and humanity is healed.  Since that moment we have only to turn to God, merely be open to compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love, and awareness of our oneness with divinity breathes life into our being.

Emmanuel.  God with us.  A revelation of God’s intimacy with us.  Jesus is healing grace of selfless love.