The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Contemplating the first reading of today’s feast, I am struck by the joyous and triumphant imagery throughout. I am moved as I realize that all this admiration and outpouring of love is from the Lord but not for the Lord. In this case, it’s all for Jerusalem, His people—for us! As Christians, we understand that God’s chosen people have survived years and years of persecution, trials, and tribulations. This prophecy from Isaiah promises splendor and glory so complete that it feels unimaginable.
How often do we reflect on God’s deep love, shown in sending His Son to live, teach, and die for us? Isaiah understood something that we so often forget—God revels in us so fully that He wishes to envelop us completely in His light. He wants to cover us in His glory so that others may see the magnificence within His creation. He desires our hearts to overflow with His love and our love for Him.
It’s so easy to forget that amidst the darkness of this world, and in our pursuit of following God’s law and avoiding sin, the point of everything is love. God deserves all the glory, and only He is to be worshipped. But we forget, either because of past hurts or current struggles, that we come from God and belong to God, and that there is nothing God wants more than to unite us to Him and celebrate our existence. He pours out His riches to us in our daily blessings—the food we eat, the families and communities we build, the homes in which we live, the air we breathe, the innate goodness that marks us as His own, and so much more.
Look around you. Everything in your life that is good is God saying, “I love you!” Every challenge in your life still holds opportunities for you to receive and experience God’s love. So, whether you’re in the meadow or the valley, know that this Christmas, Love came down to greet you. Love came down to celebrate you. Love came down to tell you that you are worthy of praise because you are of God. Nothing can ever take that away. May we remember that we are God’s cherished people, called to reflect His glory, now and always.
Perpetua Cannistraro works as a book publicist in Boston, Massachusetts. She loves the Lord, TV, Disney princesses, books, 90s-00s teen pop, and the color pink. Say hi on Instagram!