Next Sunday, we begin the season
of Advent – a season of hopeful waiting.
What are we waiting for? We are
not waiting for Christmas! Christmas came
two thousand years ago. Christmas is
simply an important commemoration of a
past event that has transformed human
history. What we are waiting for now is the
coming of Jesus into our lives daily and our
coming to him at the end of our lives. How
does Jesus come into our lives daily?
Jesus comes to us in prayer, in the
scriptures, in the sacraments and in the
events and persons of our daily lives. The
season of Advent invites us to do
something very radical in our contemporary
world – slow down! We all move too fast
through life today. Advent is a season that
reminds us that we must choose to slow
down so that we are aware of the ways
Christ is trying to enter our lives both to
assure us of his presence with us and to
invite us to consider how our lives need to
change so that we are faithful to the way
that will lead us to him – lead us into eternal
life. Advent is not a penitential season – a
season in which we focus on our sinfulness
and our need for God’s mercy. Advent,
instead, is a season when we remember
how Jesus wants to enter our lives each
day so as to help us follow the way that will
lead to eternal life with him.
This is why our waiting should be
filled with hope. Jesus does not come into
our lives to punish us. Jesus does not
come into our lives to remind us that we not
worthy of him – which is true! Instead, Jesus
comes into our lives to assure us of his love
for us and of the Father’s love for us. Jesus
knows that we are sinners. Jesus knows
that we are not always faithful to the way
that leads to eternal life with him. This is
why he comes to us daily. He wants to help
us to know and follow the way that leads to
eternal life with him. He has no desire to
chastise us or punish us. His only desire is
to show us the way that will lead to eternal
happiness with him.
Use this season of Advent well.
Make the time to spend time with Jesus
who is the incarnation of God’s wondrous
love for us.
Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J.