“The Lord is near,” nearer than our own breath is the way St. Augustine of Hippo put it. God dwells deep within us scripture says: e.g., “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you . . . “ (I Cor.6:19a) I’m sure I must have heard that with my ears in my younger years, and that my mind understood and accepted it, but it is only as I have matured in my relationship with God that I have come to know the truth of that reality in my heart. Only now do I recognize that it is in our hearts that we experience the Divine inspiring us with self-giving love, bringing us to wholeness and holiness, transforming us into the imago dei that God created us to be in the beginning, unfolding the way before us as the Creator unfurls the rose.

I suspect that heart knowledge has grown in me through my meditation on the icon called “The Virgin of the Sign.” As shown here, it depicts Mary in the orans position, hands raised in prayer, against a gold background with Christ encircled in her heart space. As I sit before the icon, accepting its grace, time after time, I realize the presence of God active in my life and in the life of the world. Focusing on the golden light of God surrounding Mary, and trusting in Jesus’ promise to his disciples: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age,”(Mt.28:20b) I know that I, along with all creation, am enfolded in the presence of the Holy One, embraced with divine love, upheld by God’s mercy and grace now and always.

In this Advent season, as we wait in anticipation to celebrate the birth of Jesus and prepare for Christ’s coming again, the Lord is near; Emmanuel, God is with us. God reveals that truth to us in the uniqueness of our being. Your experience is different from mine and mine from yours. No matter! We can trust in God’s faithfulness that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.”