Ken Overberg, S.J.

Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1: 26-38

For my family the bell always called us home. Let me explain. Every summer my family, all seven of us, went to our summer cabin on Fence Lake in the Northern Wisconsin Indian Reservation town of Lac Du Flambeau. And even though we had our chores to do, mowing, raking the beach, watering the lawn, painting the house, putting in the pier, and general house cleaning, we also had time to play. The opportunities to hike, to visit with friends and relatives who lived down the beach, to fish with dad on the Lake or at the trout stream, to play games like red light, green light or kick-ball, or to just swim and sun ourselves on the lake, offered each one of us many diversions and things which filled our days with endless possibility.

With all these many things to do, however, we quite often lost track of time, and found ourselves more often than not far away from home. Hence, the bell. The bell was a dark black, heavy, metal affair, mounted on our front door. And the purpose of the bell was to call us all home by ringing it very loudly. And believe you me, you could hear that black behemoth bell all the way into Minnesota if someone rang it loud enough. For example, the bell was rung by mom to call us home for dinner. The bell was rung to call us home if company or friends stopped by to visit. The bell was rung to call us home if someone needed help. The bell was rung to call us home in case some crisis or emergency needed to be dealt with. So, as I said before, for my family, the bell was rung to call us home.

Family and home, family and home, these words of sentiment, seem to be what God's word wants us to reflect on this fourth Sunday in advent. For in Luke we are confronted with the relational connection of family, family found not only between Mary and Joseph, or their familial connection to Elizabeth, but the spiritual truth of family by the indwelling of God in their lives, as foretold by divine messenger, that will take flesh for them, in Jesus, in this Son of the most high. The reality of the birthday event that we celebrate at Christmas, in this God who becomes human, in Jesus, in this Emmanuel, ultimately becomes for us the messiah that binds all of us together as one holy and human family with our saving God.

We are asked then this day to recall from the depths of our heart this mystery, where we, through Mary, through Joseph, through the Angel who announces, through this God human, Jesus, that we are bound into this event not just as passive observers but as active witnesses in faith to the awesome reality that through the incarnation of God with us, in Jesus, we are all truly related, one to another, as family. For in that single act of love, God with us has reinforced, and revealed once again that each one of us has worth, that we find in each other a family of solidarity, and that God's fidelity has and always will be to find a home with us – and this is why four days from now, on Christmas day, on the day of Christ's birth, we rejoice yet again.

Yes, we are moving closer to Christmas, to the day where we remember the birthday of God with us, a God who seeks us out, becomes one of us, a God who finds home with us. And so we find our comfort in this divinity who finds home in humanity reinforced for us this morning in our reading from second Samuel. If we think about it, in reality, when we reflect on what a home is, we find that home is the place where one lives, a physical structure where one dwells, where one might find within its walls comfort and security, might find a place to rest. So, in our reading, God questions David, through the mouth of Nathan the prophet, that God, being God, can truly have no such home, no house of Cedar, nor brick, nor, in a modern sense, vinyl siding in which to dwell. So our God challenges David: "Should you build me a house to dwell in?"

But what God does, and here is where the heart is moved to tears, is that God gives David, gives humankind, a gift instead. In a reversal of who will build whom a house, God tells David that, it is not God who will indwell in a house built by David, but it is God who will make a house, a home in David's life. So, God will indwell in David's house, God will, in essence then, (since David's is a human being just as we are), now forever dwell in the hearts of all humanity, in the heart of each one of us.

The foundational movement of advent, and our own spiritual journey this season has been to prepare in our hearts and soul then a place for our loving and saving God to uniquely indwell within us. The advent spirit calls us to open our eyes to the truth that God indeed finds in our heart a home, that God is uniquely present within us, gracing us with life, sustaining us, and saving us. We are called to remember once again, as we move closer this week to Christmas, the truth of Christ alive, of this Emmanuel, of this God at home with us.

We are called to recognize, God in Christ Jesus, alive not only in our hearts, finding home there, but in the heart of the Church, alive here in this community of Bellarmine, alive in our love for one another as one family of faith, alive in our hope, alive in our forgiveness and need for healing, alive in and through our common baptism. So, as we journey, and have journeyed, this advent season we find God at home in our hearts and home in the world, and we find our hearts moving to feelings of joy, for truly with us God has made a home.

Yes, life finds us in a wide variety of places – some of us at times are fishing for something in life. Yes, some of us from time to time are out enjoying life and playing games. We may find ourselves from time to time toiling in life, in struggling through pain and loss, of working hard to make ends meet. Some of us find ourselves hiking on a spiritual and emotional journey looking for healing and forgiveness.

And so God in deep care and concern for each one of us rings that bell every Sunday, rings those glorious bells every Christmas, to awaken within us, to move our hearts, to move our souls, to remember once again with heart-felt thanks, in a God who makes a home for us and a God who calls us home. So, every-time we hear those bells ring, our hearts and souls turn from what we are doing, wherever we are at, and once again find our hope in God, joy in God with us, peace in the Spirit that takes root in our lives, and our hearts race home, for as God finds home with us we find our home with God.

We are, then, just as sure as Nathan and King David are, as Elizabeth is, as Mary and Joseph are, all in truth family, truly the sons and daughters of God, and this is, as Paul exults, indeed something glorious!  For, in God, alive in Christ as the Emmanuel, alive in community, and alive in our hearts, we find friends who come to visit, we find nourishment at the table of thanksgiving, we find as one family of faith, the grace of comfort and care offered by our loving God which flows out of our love for one another, in the home we make for one another, a home where God's love reigns, where justice thrives, where mercy and compassion meet, and where salvation is given. Indeed God is ringing the bells this advent season, and as our hearts move closer to Christmas, we hear God's voice calling out to each one of us: 'Come home! Come home!'

Peace and all Good!

Rev. Kent A. Beausoleil, S.J.