A Friend is on the Way
November 23, 2022
Fr. John Riccardo
“Enemy occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say, landed in disguise.” - C.S. Lewis
“The Incarnation is the invasion of one kingdom by a stronger Kingdom.” - Fleming Rutledge
Back in August, some of us in ACTS XXIX had a chance to take part in a retreat with leaders of the campus ministry down at LSU. It was a grace-filled time to see what the Lord is doing at Christ the King (the student parish), and to watch the power of the gospel give new-found confidence to many of the young men and women present. On our way home, we had a chance to stop at the World War II Museum in New Orleans, one of the best and most moving I’ve been blessed to visit. As our time was short, we focused our attention on the D-Day exhibit.
For whatever reason, D-Day has always been for me the most helpful analogy in thinking about the Incarnation of Jesus. Just as the Allies landed on the shores of France to liberate a continent held in captivity by a demonic dictator, so I’ve increasingly seen the Incarnation of the Son of God in a similar way. He, too, “landed,” in Mary’s womb, not to tell stories or to perform miracles – although He told and did them – but to liberate a race held in slavery to Satan and the powers of Sin and Death.
I’ve always imagined what it must have been like to have lived in Europe at that time and to have received word of the event. To have opened the papers that day and seen the giant font announcing the invasion would not have been mere news – it would have been life-changing, explosive news! What hope must have rushed through their grieving and despairing hearts! What joy must have raced through their minds as they dared to dream of freedom!
As we were making our way through the exhibit in New Orleans, we suddenly came across the following from Anne Frank’s diary: “‘This is D-Day!’ the BBC announced at 12 o'clock. This is the day! The invasion has begun! Is this really the beginning of the long-awaited liberation? The liberation we've all talked so much about, which still seems too good, too much of a fairy tale ever to come true? The best part of the invasion is that I have the feeling that friends are on the way. Those terrible Germans have oppressed and threatened us for so long that the thought of friends and salvation means everything to us!"
Invasion. Liberation. Salvation. Friends are on the way.
As true as those words were for Anne Frank and the people of Europe at the time, how much more true are they for us as a race as we prepare to enter into Advent and then the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord, the true LIberator and the greatest Friend of the human race? And as much as they rejoiced to hear of the landing of the Allies, how much more should we rejoice at the “landing” of the King into this land doomed to destruction (cf. Wisdom 18:15).
What a glorious providence that Thanksgiving falls just a few days before the start of Advent. Whether we’re able to gather with friends and family tomorrow or not, whether our particular circumstances are joyful or not, let us make time to thank the One who has invaded this world that He loves so as to liberate us from the kingdom of darkness (cf. Col 1:13), and to make time to sing praise to the One who calls us friends and who laid down His life so as to rescue us.
(Note: For readers who also subscribe to The Rescue Rundown here by Mary Guilfoyle, you’ll notice a very similar opening! Neither one of us knew the other was going to write on D-Day or share the Anne Frank quote. Rather than one of us re-writing what we had created, we saw this as a confirmation that the Lord was speaking and decided to keep both pieces.)