How to recognize Jesus when He comes this Christmas?

For Catholics, Advent is a period of four Sundays in preparation for Christmas. For some people, it seems like a long wait, but for the Jewish people it took approximately seven hundred years of waiting to finally have the Messiah among them.

Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah said: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman, is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7, 14)

I would say that waiting seven hundred years for something to happen is a long time and when He came, it seemed like He was not recognized “He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1, 11)

Maybe the Jewish people thought that Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah, or that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies. I do not know, I am not an expert in Judaism. However, what I know is that I do not want to wait, and not recognize the Messiah when He comes. Emmanuel – God is with us- Yes, the Messiah is coming. That is Christmas, and although I will have waited only four Sundays for him to arrive, I have been warned, and I want to be ready to recognize him.

How can I recognize Jesus as the Messiah? How can I acknowledge that God is with us? I have few practical ideas that apply to myself and I would like to share them with you.

• Read and Be Inspired

We read in the Bible that “she will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus for He will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1, 21). So, Jesus is coming to save us from our sins. How can we prepare ourselves to receive him? We can start by reading the Bible. Pope Francis said that the Bible is not only a book to collect dust. We should read the Bible every day, the Pope said. Since I heard the Pope saying this, my family has read the Bible every day after dinner. Every member of the family takes turns to read it, and even though one of my children is always looking for a short passage, it does not matter because even a verse or two gives us a holy message.

This advent season we can read as a family, after dinner, a few verses related to the coming of Jesus. I suggest Isaiah, chapters seven and eight; the Gospel of Matthew chapters one and two; the Gospel of Luke chapters one and two; and the Gospel of John chapter one.

• Go & Do

Go for reconciliation and do something for others. On Christmas Eve, my family and I prepared sandwiches and went out to the streets to offer them to the less fortunate.

• Pray & Learn

As simple as an Our Father in the morning just to say “Hello, Lord. Good morning, thank you for letting me wake up on this beautiful cold, snowy day”. A Hail Mary at night to express my gratitude for the awesome day I had, for the lessons I learned, for the hugs I received, for the smiles that were offered to me, for the hand that helped me when I stumbled, for the food I ate, for the family and friends.

Always keep learning about our faith. Not only it will help you to understand it better, but also to be strong in our beliefs as Catholics.

Let me ask you something, why did the prophet Isaiah call the Messiah Immanuel? Why is the Messiah referred to in the Gospel of Matthew as Emmanuel? And finally, why do we call the Messiah, Jesus?

Immanuel is Hebrew while Emmanuel comes from the Greek. I would say it is just about the translation.

What about the name Jesus?

Matthew 1, 21: “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus”. Luke 2, 21: “and he was called Jesus”.

Isaiah (9,6) also called the Messiah the “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”, although we recognize Jesus with all those tittles, we call him Jesus.

“Emmanuel” which means “God with us” is a description of the nature of the Messiah, an expression of the mystery of the Incarnation. The son of Mary is “Emmanuel”, He is God with us, but by name he is called ‘Jesus’.

It is like, by nature, I am a woman, but my name is Mar.

So, let’s read, do, go, pray and learn so we may celebrate a Christmas where Baby Jesus is recognized in our hearts as God with us, as our Saviour, as the only real meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas - Feliz Navidad - Joyeux Noel