I am with you always
The readings for this final Sunday of Advent orbit around a stunning claim: God is with us. Isaiah announces a sign so audacious no one would dare ask for it — a virgin with child. Paul proclaims that the long-awaited promise has taken flesh in Jesus. And Joseph, in the quiet of a troubled night, learns that God’s nearness is not an abstraction but a living reality entrusted to his care.
Pope Leo, in Dilexi te, presses this truth with startling clarity: “the poor are … the sacramental presence of the Lord.” Most of us instinctively hear “sacramental presence” and think first of the Eucharist — and rightly so. But the tradition refuses to confine Christ’s nearness to the altar. Pope Leo’s bold claim widens our vision. It teaches that Christ discloses Himself among the poor in a way that is not symbolic or sentimental, but real. Their lives become where the same Christ we meet in the Eucharist meets us again, just as truly.
This insight shouldn’t remain in the realm of theology. It has everything to do with the daily work of Catholic Charities. Many of us serve in environments marked by real suffering — homelessness, hunger, mental illness, isolation, fear, family breakdown. It is easy to feel the weight of it. It is easy to grow tired. But if Emmanuel is true, then our ministries are not simply social services. They are places of encounter. The distance between the altar and the margins is far smaller than we tend to think.
And this changes how we carry the work. The burdens don’t magically disappear. But they become infused with meaning. Encounters that once felt draining begin to reveal a quiet grace. Moments that stretch us also become moments that sustain us. When we receive the poor with the same reverence we bring to the Eucharist, our service is no longer a depletion — it becomes a participation in the very mystery we celebrate at Mass. God is with us there, just as surely as in the breaking of the bread.
As Advent draws to a close, we stand with Joseph, learning again to trust Jesus’ promise that “I am with you always.” May this season further sharpen our vision — so that the Presence we perceive in the chalice, we may also perceive in the poor whom “you will always have with you.”
George Nixon is Executive Director of Catholic Charities of West Tennessee.