Emmanuel, God-with-us
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day… and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.” (Zechariah 2:14–15)
When I was a child, I remember seeing a homeless man on an interstate off-ramp. The sight shook my sense of security, and I thought about him for days. The idea of having no home, no family, and of wandering outside in the dark terrified me. Even then, it was hard to look at his suffering.
Suffering elicits compassion because we recognize ourselves in the other; we see our own vulnerability reflected back at us. And compassion—literally, to suffer with—requires courage. It takes courage to acknowledge the misery that dwells in our midst and resist the temptation to turn away.
We experience this daily at Catholic Charities. We seldom meet our clients at their best; more often, we encounter them in their lowest, most needful moments. Allowing ourselves to be moved by compassion—refusing to grow hardened to the suffering we witness day after day in the wake of injustice, abuse, addiction, mental illness, and poverty—requires fortitude. To “not grow weary of doing good” is no small task.
“Rejoice that I am coming to dwell among you.” During Advent, we remember anew the mystery of the Incarnation—God taking to Himself a human nature through which He would suffer and die for us. We do not always associate this with the warm sentiments of the season: that the very purpose of the Incarnation was our Redemption, that God, seeing the misery of humanity, chose to draw near and make His dwelling with us.
Mary’s child is truly Emmanuel—God-with-us. The wave of conversions that followed her apparitions to St. Juan Diego under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe illustrates this beautifully. Through Our Lady of Guadalupe, many nations were drawn to the Lord; through Mary, God came to dwell in the hearts of millions.
Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe for the courage to continue our works of mercy, and for the grace to be more Christ-like—drawing near to those who suffer and doing all we can to relieve their burdens.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Sister Marie Josepha Kluczny, RSM is a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan and the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana.