Is God the center of your life?
Date Published: December 21, 2025
These final days of Advent invite us to linger in the mystery of God-With-Us.
What does it mean that God chose to dwell here—with us?
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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means God is with us. (Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew 1:23)
This is a daring claim about who we are and how God sees us.
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Emmanuel reveals God drawing unimaginably close out of love. Close enough to share our humanity. Close enough to reveal our worth.
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“Consider, O human being,
the wondrous state in which the Lord God has placed you, for He created you and formed you in the image of His beloved Son.” (St. Francis, Admonitions)
Francis invites us to let news of Emmanuel and the Incarnation sink in personally.
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Dare to recognize that your life,
with all its fragility and longing, Is worth God’s loving nearness.
In Christ, we discover our wondrous dignity
And nothing makes sense apart from Him.
In Christ, we discover our wondrous dignity
that was worth embracing and redeeming.
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“…you also are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:6)
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Emmanuel does not remain distant.
He claims us as His own.
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If God, the Creator of the Universe, chose to draw near,
can Christ truly be anything less than the center of our lives?
Advent asks us to re-center our lives.
Is Christ still the absolute center of yours?
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Cultivating a Spirituality Attentive to God-With-Us:
Cherish God’s presence revealed in ordinary love—family, friends, strangers. Make space for holy surprise and encounters with God at unexpected, inconvenient moments. Practice gratitude each night: Where did God draw near today?
Ask yourself this week:
How can you begin again to center your life around Christ this Christmas?