Advent

For me, the best image has always been the night sky on a crisp December evening. Small pinpoints of light in the darkness. The air just cold enough to make your eyes crinkle, but not so cold that your lungs hurt. The world is quiet, as though listening for the stars to speak. This is Advent, that special time before Christmas bursts upon the dawning world.

We aren’t especially good at waiting. More than three people in line at the grocery store? Call another cashier. Too many cars in the drive thru? Go across the street to the next fast food place. The car in front of you not quick enough when the light changes? Honk. The line at the bank snaking toward the door? Complain loudly. Patience is a lost virtue.

Mary was the master of waiting. Imagine what she went through. The angel appears and tells her she will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and that she will bear a son who will be the Savior of the world. She waits to see how Joseph will react. She spends three months with her cousin, Elizabeth, helping with the birth of John. She makes a difficult journey at the end of her pregnancy, giving birth in a strange place. She flees to Egypt, waiting until the threat of Herod’s jealous reign is over. She spends days searching for her adolescent son, only to have him chide her for worrying when he was about his Father’s business. For thirty years she waits for him to show himself as Savior, God With Us. At the foot of the cross, she waits for him to die.

And so the Church gives us Advent, a time for us to wait and to prepare. Of course we know that Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. Of course we know that Christmas is December 25th, just like it has been for centuries. Of course we know that Jesus died and rose from the dead, giving us the promise of eternal life. We don’t wait for those things to happen again. No, we wait in silence and anticipation of how Jesus Christ will come again – in our hearts now and at the end of time. 

Go out and look at the night sky. Soak in the quiet and the wonder. Forget the hustle and bustle for just a moment. Look deeply into your heart and ask yourself what it is for which you wait. As the light from those distant stars pierces the dark, remember Mary and allow the light of the Christ Child to answer your prayer.