Living in Faith

The texts today for the Fourth Sunday in Advent from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer some examples of "Living in Faith". The Prophet Nathan in the passage from 2 Samuel assures David that "the Lord is with you". David has been successful in leading Israel and is perhaps filled with pride in his accomplishments. Nathan continues to remind David that God has been acting through him and is intending to be faithful to the Covenant with Israel which will be demonstrated through the descendants of David for all time. The trust of David that this would be fulfilled and his obedience to the will of God seem to lack the challenge that Mary's promise to accept that she too in the eyes of favour of God would give birth, as a young Hebrew virgin, to the Son of the Most High who would be the fulfillment of the promises of the throne of David made to her ancestors. As she opened her soul to "magnify the Glory of  God" and her indwelling Spirit rejoiced with the Spirit of God she voiced the "Yes" in trust that the unmarried girl with child in a culture that did not accept this situation, in country occupied by foreign Roman oppressors, would live in obedient faith as agent of the Will of God. Paul concludes his letter to the believers of the Way in Rome with  testimony about the miraculous changes he has experienced in his relationship with the Divine through Jesus. He refers to the changes in the society around him as the promises of the Covenant with David is becoming the Good News of Immanuel, God is with us, to the Gentiles, who are all peoples, inviting all to the life in the obedience of faith through which God acts in human experience. Our living experience presents invitations to move forward in trust that our favourable relationship with God is encouraging us to also magnify the glory of God with "yes" to promptings to our indwelling Spirit in communion with the Spirit. Like David, God has been acting through our lives and, like Mary, we are invited to live in the faith that we will carry Him to others through our "Yes" to His invitation.