Advent invites us into a deeper appreciation of something we often overlook throughout the rest of the year. Throughout this liturgical season, we listen as Jesus exercises His ministry as God made flesh, but how often do we pause to truly contemplate the Earth-shattering reality of God becoming a man like us? It is something almost too large for us to fully grasp.

Can we truly understand the depth of God's love, that He would choose to become a human being just like us? To help you see it from a different perspective, let me share an experience from our recent Thanksgiving break. While I was at home, my mother noticed something flying around the house. Assuming it was a wasp, she called my father and me over to deal with it. We quickly grabbed a fly swatter and swatted it. It wasn’t until after the creature had fallen that we realized it wasn’t a wasp, but a honeybee.

For those who may not know, honeybees are critical to agriculture and are now an endangered species. Naturally, my father and I felt rather upset for having killed it, knowing how important honeybees are. I felt sadness for the bee, and in that moment, I wished I could have communicated with it, guided it to safety outside. But the only way I could have done that would have been to become a honeybee myself. Yet, as much as I admire and appreciate these small creatures, I don't love them enough to desire becoming one. Such a sacrifice would require a love far beyond my own understanding.

We are infinitely smaller to God than that honeybee is to us, and yet God chose to become one of us. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, had no obligation, no need, to leave His heavenly paradise and descend into our dark, lost, and suffering world. But He did. He chose to become like us. How unspeakably vast must God’s love for us be?

What greater sign of humility is there than this? That God, in His infinite power, humbled Himself to become a helpless infant, to make up for our own lack of humility? Where we fail to recognize our total dependence on God, God chose to become totally dependent on a human being. In ancient times, people would strike themselves and cry out to the heavens, hoping to catch the attention of the gods and receive their favor. They hoped that the gods would lift them up to themselves. Yet the little baby Jesus shows us something completely different. God, far from needing us to win His attention, sought to come down to us and win ours. He calls us to take a moment and rest in Him, we need not to chase God, for He has come to us.

Let us learn from the example of the Magi, who brought gifts, however humble, to honor the newborn King. May we, too, come before the Lord, bringing whatever we have to offer, and rest in His gentle presence.