Mansion, house, tent, tabernacle, womb, manger, heart; what do they have in common? They are all potential abiding places for the Holy One. We find them named or implied in our readings for today. Think about how each of those places can speak to your relationship, to your spiritual journey, with God, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Do you have space in your life for such a place?

The Beloved wants to make his home with us. Christ's incarnation makes that clear. John on Patmos realized that truth when, in his vision, he heard Christ say to one of the churches in Asia, "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me."(Rev.3:20) Just imagine the intimacy of that table fellowship that is available to us if we welcome the Holy One into our lives. For that to happen, it does take action on our part; we have to open the door--some of us might even have to unlock the door first and clear the path to the table. Greeting the Holy One with hospitality, accepting the Divine Presence no matter how love appears before us, gives us the opportunity to come to know God ever more deeply, to know as we are known.

As the Beloved moves in an among us in this holy season, may we joyfully offer ourselves as an abiding place to the Divine. May we be "transformed into an ever more compassionate person. . . as we become ever more authentic Christians who embody the love of Christ in the world." (The Rev. Vincent Pizzuto, quoted by Richard Rohr in his Daily Meditations 12/10/20) May we join our sister, Mary, in accepting God's invitation to incarnate Love here and now as she did so long ago: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."