Yipee! It’s Advent again

Yipee! It’s Advent again

Posted by on Nov 27, 2010 in Featured, Inspiration, Spirituality | 1 comment
 
The blue between sunset and nightfall.

I can scarcely contain myself: it’s Advent again. The season of hope, of expectation, of patient waiting. It’s an exquisite time, sublime. Coming on the heels of a feast — Thanksgiving — it leads us to the borders of less.  

Advent is a mystical time, where we live between experience and interiority. We can watch preparations for the Christmas season unfold around us while knowing that it’s not yet time to celebrate, not yet time to commemorate the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.  

Advent is the dark blue that was its liturgical color for a while. It’s the color of the sky as it shifts from sunset to night, that rich, enveloping blue that marks the passing of another day, suggesting the warmth of a blanket to wrap against the night.  

Advent offers an opportunity to pare down for a while, to invite metanoia to take hold of our hearts and transform them. As Richard Rohr notes, it’s a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on “the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ.”  

Sunrise over the Atlantic.

This weekend at liturgy we’ll hear the words from Isaiah 2:1-5 “’Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.’” This powerful reading invites us to a new way of living, to a place where all nations leave behind war and walk in the ways of the Lord. No easy peace, this journey is the crux of our faith and our hope in the good news of Jesus Christ.
The prospect of winter doesn’t look so grim from an Advent perspective; with our attention diverted to patient waiting, we can put aside the increasing darkness of the days. Then suddenly, it’s December 21, and light is again on the rise. 

I’ll make my Advent wreath today. We’ll light the candles most nights, and recall with prayer this joyful season. Christmas will come in time — but not too soon. Let me enjoy Advent patiently, one day at a time. May you have the opportunity to do the same.  

By the way, St. Anthony Messenger Press has some great products to complement and guide your Advent journey. You’ll find them here.  

 

  

 

 

 
 

About the Author

Mary Carol Kendzia is a product development director for Franciscan Media Books. She lives in Rhode Island, where she occasionally dips her toes into the Atlantic and reflects on the mysteries of life, among other things.
 
 
 
  • Sera Richards

    Thank you for this!