Advent…this is a season of rapt anticipation. Watching and waiting, it is a time of preparation. Because it is often associated only with the preparation for the celebration of Christmas, one could be distracted from Advent’s true meaning. Derived from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival”, Advent is more about the coming of Christ at the end of time.
Jesus comes today…in each moment “in spirit and power”
On the first Wednesday of Advent, Saint Bernard reminds us of the presence of Christ with us during the time between his first coming in Bethlehem and his final coming at the end of time.
In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty.
In case someone should think that what we say about this middle coming is sheer invention, listen to what our Lord himself ways: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him. There is another passage of Scripture which reads: He who fears God will do good, but something further has been said about the one who loves, that is, that he will keep God’s word. Where is God’s word to be kept? Obviously in the heart, as the prophet says: I have hidden your words in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.
Keep God’s word in this way. Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your whole way of life. Feed on goodness, and your soul will delight in its richness. Remember to eat your bread, or your heart will wither away. Fill your soul with richness and strength.[i]
_-_stained_glass,_Behold_I_Stand_at_the_Door_and_Knock,_detail.jpg)
Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock, Saint Mary of the Presentation Catholic Church (Geneva, Indiana). Creative Commons.
Jesus is always inviting us to relationship
Jesus gives us the way to “feed on goodness”[ii] as he offers His Body and Blood as our nourishment and spiritual sustenance in the Holy Eucharist. He gives us time and the opportunity to come to Him, and He never turns away those who reach out to him. As we read in the book of Revelation, “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.”[iii]
In Himself, Jesus has opened the way to salvation
We hear in the Mass Preface for Advent the reality of his first coming in the flesh, his opening the way to salvation, and the hope of his return in glory:
For he assumed at his first coming
the lowliness of human flesh,
and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago,
and opened for us the way to eternal salvation,
that, when he comes again in glory and majesty
and all is at last made manifest,
we who watch for that day
may inherit the great promise
in which now we dare to hope.[iv]
Let us take these last days of Advent as we approach the great feast of Christmas to prepare our hearts for his coming and to make room for him in our lives, because he is the one true and priceless gift of Christmas.
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Image Credit:
Saint Mary of the Presentation Catholic Church (Geneva, Indiana) – stained glass, Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock, detail. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=behold+i+stand+at+the+door+and+knock&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image
Works cited:
[i] God’s Word will come to us. Week 1 Wednesday – Office of Readings. (n.d.). https://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/advent/week1wednesdayor.htm
Sermo 5, In Adventu Domini,1-3: Opera Omnia, Edit. cisterc. 4 [1966], 188-190
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Revelation 3:20 NRSV – To the church in Laodicea. Bible Hub. (n.d.). https://biblehub.com/revelation/3-20.htm
[iv][iv] Missal: Preface I of Advent The two comings of Christ. iBreviary. (n.d.). https://www.ibreviary.com/m2/messale.php?s=prefazio&id=89
Advent 2024
