“EMMANUEL” is a Hebrew word which means “GOD IS WITH US”. This is the name given by the prophet Isaiah to the infant whose birth he announced when he said: “Therefore the Lord himself gives you a sign. The Virgin is with child and bears a son and calls his name Emmanuel”. (Isaiah 7:14)
In his book ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH’, Pope, Benedict XVI, asked the question: “What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: GOD… He has brought GOD, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world.”
Reflecting on the answer of the Holy Father to his own question, I realize that indeed what Jesus has brought into this world is the PRESENCE OF GOD, for He is the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF THE LIVING GOD. As the song entitled: SERVICE goes: “God sent His Son to show us the way. One who shared His love every minute of the day. One who gave His life that we might live, and His Spirit to help us through the years.”
This I believe is the significance of the great mystery of the INCARNATION – GOD BECOMING MAN, so Man can become like God.
If God is present in this world, where is He? I may say that His presence can be recognized in every creature in this world, for the whole of creation can only exist through His creative power. However, it is in human beings, considered His masterpiece, that He is present in a very special way.
This special presence of God in man is recognized whenever a priest who presides in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass greets the congregation by saying: “The Lord be with you”, and vis-à-vis, the assembly replies “And also with you”.
In the Sacred Scriptures, man is considered a “Temple of God”.
In 1 Cor. 3:16 we read: “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”In John 14:23 Jesus said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.”
Word has it that a certain Rabbi has asked his students: “When do you know morning has come?” The answers given were: “When I see the sun rising in the east”; “When I hear the cock crow”; When I can distinguish a cow from a carabao”. The Rabbi, however, said that the right answer is: “When I begin to see the face of Christ in every person I meet”.
In a very special way, too, it is in the Holy Eucharist, the consecrated Bread and Wine, that our Christian Faith tells us Christ is truly present substantially as God and Man in His Risen State.
This, I believe, is the greatest phenomenon in our world – the Mystical Presence of God in our midst, our EMMANUEL.
by: Salvador 'Buddy' Cagurangan
January 17, 2010
