Note: This was originally posted on November 27, 2016
Dear God, I need Advent. I need the lights flickering in the darkness, the purple and pink against the wreath of green. I need the swollen belly of Mother Mary, her patient, jubilant waiting for a baby she didn't plan, for the conclusion of a pregnancy she never foresaw but nonetheless saw through. I need the Eternal, flesh-and-blood beacon of hope to clear my glassy-eyed view of a world I both know and no longer recognize. Dear God, I need Advent. ----- Dear Jesus, I need Advent. I need the creeping, humbling movement towards Your birth; the steady, unfaltering flow towards a life beginning and ending in a human cry. I need the jubilance of Aunt Elizabeth, the kicking fancy of Your cousin John in her womb as he heard Your mother enter their home. I need the striking, steely confidence of peasants in Nazareth and Bethlehem and Judea; the assurance that You, O Son of God and God-With-Us, lived your 33 years among the poorest of the poor. I need the reminder that You were shielded and cared for by the humble time and time again when You, Infant Lowly, could not shield or care for Yourself. Dear Jesus, I need Advent. ----- Dear friends, I need Advent. I need the breathless, despair-battling waits on nights that fall too early and last too long. I need the glorious anticipation of a Redeemer come down to earth, nurtured and grown in the belly of a Woman like me, a Woman whose courage encourages me. I need the company of shepherds and angels. I need the exquisite yearning that arises in counting down the weeks until I join an eternal choir that declares "Glory to God in the highest!" I need the Divine descent to incarnation that I, and all of my [human] race, might be raised up. I need Advent with every fibre of my being. And, thank God, Advent is here.
1 Comment
9/13/2019 11:43:45 pm
I think I am about to succumb to a nasty episode. All I wanted is just to make someone happy. I don't understand why I had to feel this way. It doesn't feel right anymore. How come others are enjoying the same things while me alone feel defeated. Isn't this supposed to be natural? Why does it feel wrong all the time? Am I just afraid of being left alone in the end? How would I feel if I am on the other side? Will I be comfortable knowing someone else is making my loved one happy?
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