{"id":5286,"date":"2013-12-25T01:39:14","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T07:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=5286"},"modified":"2020-09-10T15:10:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T21:10:32","slug":"christmas-god-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/25\/christmas-god-with-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas: God With Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLook, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,\u00a0and they shall name him Emmanuel,\u201d\u00a0which means, \u201cGod is with us.\u201d (Matthew 1:23)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God is\u00a0with us.<\/p>\n

The idea is old hat to us. We kind of take it for granted.<\/p>\n

Yeah, God assuming human nature means he was with us. He was one of us. It sort of goes\u00a0with the\u00a0Christian territory.<\/p>\n

But that is such an amazing thing! No other god was\u00a0with his\u00a0people. No other god was one of them. That is unheard of. Sure, the Greek gods took human form, but they didn’t live our condition. It was a masquerade, a deception…usually for some ulterior motive like sex.<\/p>\n

Greek gods used their power to exploit\u00a0people. They used them for selfish gain. Love? To the point of self-sacrifice? Forget it! Why\u00a0would they love? It seems they were almost incapable of real love…almost like us.<\/p>\n

They lusted. They brokered for power. They manipulated those underneath them.<\/p>\n

God is with us.
\n<\/p>\n

Not only among us but one of us. United to us through a human nature. Uniting us to himself by sharing his own divine nature. He lived not to exploit us, but to save us. To redeem us from lust, from power brokering, from manipulation, from death.<\/p>\n

And he’s not gone. He’s still with us sacramentally in the Eucharist. He’s still abiding\u00a0with us in our own hearts.<\/p>\n

For the ancient Israelites, having “God\u00a0with us” mean favor, protection, victory in battle, dominance over their enemies, and abundance. For us, it means the same thing but on a spiritual level. And, sometimes, when it increases\u00a0the spiritual life, on the material level as well.<\/p>\n

Today we celebrate\u00a0Christmas. God with us. Don’t take it for granted.\u00a0Recognize it for\u00a0the unprecedented gift it is. Reflect on\u00a0the Christmas story\u00a0with new ears, like you’ve never heard it before. Understand what it can mean for you.\u00a0God can be born in your heart this\u00a0Christmas if you give it over to him. Allow him to live in and through you.<\/p>\n

But that’s\u00a0the trick though isn’t it? It’s really hard to give it all to him. At least, I find it hard. And, I think I’m doing it and realize I’m not even close. I’m only deceiving myself.<\/p>\n

That’s why, every\u00a0Christmas I have to let it\u00a0happen in me all over again. And I’ll have to keep letting it happen until\u00a0one day, hopefully, I won’t have to will it anymore. He’ll just be there. Quietly abiding.\u00a0Like a child asleep in a manger. And my soul will be still in him.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: jacilluch<\/a> via Compfight<\/a> cc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLook, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,\u00a0and they shall name him Emmanuel,\u201d\u00a0which means, \u201cGod is with us.\u201d (Matthew 1:23) God is\u00a0with us. The idea is old hat to us. We kind of take it for granted. Yeah, God assuming human nature means he was with us. He was one of us. It sort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-spirituality-2","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas: God With Us - Marc Cardaronella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/25\/christmas-god-with-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas: God With Us - Marc Cardaronella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cLook, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,\u00a0and they shall name him Emmanuel,\u201d\u00a0which means, \u201cGod is with us.\u201d (Matthew 1:23) God is\u00a0with us. 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