This Sunday, November 28th marks the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Church’s new liturgical year. It is likely that we will hear again the beautiful strains of the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. In its words we hear, in our hearts, a yearning and a personal call for Christ to meet us on the journey of our lives anew. Christ is always present in all things and in every moment and event and yet in Advent we ask for a new beginning, a fresh encounter with Christ as the time invites us to wait in patient hope to celebrate the birth of Jesus again; the incarnate Word en-fleshed in the world.
The world in which we find ourselves, however, may seem less than hopeful at present. We continue to experience the devastation of the Covid pandemic, increasing news of global and local violence, the effects of ecological destruction accompanied by immeasurable human pain, poverty and displacement and the deep suffering endured by indigenous individuals and communities in light of the further revelations of the harm and cultural destruction wrought by the residential schools. Many will also be profoundly discouraged and saddened by examples of corruption and polarization in the Church, where the Good News of the Gospel seems to have been forgotten or abandoned and in the collapse of other institutions that formerly we may have trusted.
Hope may seem far off and yet if we truly call on “Christ, Emmanuel, God-with-us, to come we are already” expressing hope even in the darkness. In the Advent season we are reminded to encounter Christ again and any encounter with Christ calls each of us to BE hope in the world.
Advent invites us to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s coming by reflecting on our lives. The season presents an opportunity to gift us some time for quietness and inner reflection as we wait in hope. Am I able to enter into Advent in this way before getting caught up in the “razzmatazz” of contemporary celebrations of Christmas? In the second reading in the Lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent, St. Paul, in his Letter to the Thessalonians says, “May God make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.” As I call out for Christ to come again and as I encounter Him on the journey of Advent will I increase and abound in love for all? – the very reason for Christmas. What will that love look like? How wide and inclusive will it be? Perhaps each day of the season as I greet the morning I might ask, not “what will I do today but rather, how will I love today? May our love continue to grow as we once again approach the celebration of the birth of Christ in the world, the world of our times. And as we love so will we be and become like Christ, hope for a new day, the joy of Christmas!
-Sister Mary Rowell, csj