Spirit of Advent
Spirit of Advent
Spirit of Advent
I
COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN
The beloved season of Advent is now upon us, with its dark, snowy evenings, its deep
silence, and its enchanting hymns, filled with Old Testament longing for the coming of
the Redeemer into our hearts and world to fill us with splendor and light. We sing during
Advent:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel
To thee shall come Emmanuel!
connected by a common human flesh on this night made radiant by a heavenly light. His
elect, who believe in him, are filled with this light, a light not of this world, for this is
why he came, that our darkness might be turned into light, our captivity to sin ransomed
back, our exile from God ended, and our union with him completed. In him, God is with
us, and we are made new, a new creation, filled with light, our steps illumined by the
light of his resurrection. He has made us sons of God, and heirs with him to a heavenly
kingdom.
During Advent we long for his coming. We long for his parousia, when he will come
on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, when he will send out his angels
with a loud trumpet call to gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other (Mt 24:31). It is for this coming that we now prepare ourselves. But we
also long with Israel to be ransomed from our lonely exile here, to be filled with all the
fullness of God, which the Son of God has come to bring us.
In our waiting and prayer along with Israel, we experience the same longing they did,
and we long together with them, using their divinely inspired words and images, as we
await a deeper coming of the Lord to fill us with his heavenly light and a peace that
surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). In the liturgy, in our prayer, in our worship, in our
adoration, and in the eucharist, he comes to us. The Lord comes. We are the new Israel,
to whom shall come Emmanuel. Therefore we rejoice as we wait, and as he comes.
Advent is a time of coming, of receiving the Son of God who comes to bring us great
light.
How the earth was changed by the birth of the Son of God in the manger in
Bethlehem, surrounded by singing angels and adoring shepherds! How this night has
changed history! No longer is God distant from us. He has become incarnate in the body
of this infant lying in the hay in the manger. Henceforth, for those who believe in him,
he is God-with-us. He is within us, for we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus, born
on this most holy night. We consume his flesh and drink his blood, so that his divine life
might be in us and divinize us. We remain human, of course, but the sanctifying,
divinizing life of God incarnate is now within us, transforming us into a new creation (2
Cor 5:17). Jesus Christ was born to transform the earth into the Kingdom of God, into a
new creation. Behold, he says, I make all things new (Rev 21:5).
This is, therefore, a splendid season, a time of grace and transformation, a time of
splendor and light, a time of renewal and recreation, a time of joy and welcoming of the
Son of God to the earth.
Advent is a time when we prepare our hearts for all these comings, that when he
comes, as come he will, we will be ready, and he will find us prepared and eagerly
awaiting him in purity and prayer, in adoration and joyful expectation. So now we watch
and wait for the day, cleansing ourselves of sin through the merits of Christs death on
the cross, that he may find us ready to welcome him with joy.
Besides all this, says St. Paul,
you know the time, that it is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, for our
salvation is now nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the
day is at hand. Let us then put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of
light; let us walk becomingly as in the day, not in gluttony and drunkenness, not
in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Rom
13:11-14).
We are moving toward that time now. Each day brings us closer to our final
salvation. It should also make us more worthy, more ready to receive it. We must sleep
no longer, deceiving ourselves amid the pleasures of this world, the pleasures of the flesh,
which cloud the mind, weigh down the spirit, and make our hearts forgetful of God.
Advent is the time to wake up, to renew ourselves in the Lord. Jesus also tells us,
take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and
drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a
snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But
watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things
that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man (Lk 21:34-36).
That day will come. We are to be watching and praying for it, that it may find us
ready, detached from the worldly pleasures that weigh us down, divide our hearts, and
make us incapable of experiencing the subtle sweetness of the Lords presence in our
hearts.
The day is already at hand, St. Paul tells us. The night of this present old age is
already far spent. The dawning of the day of salvation and fullness of redemption is at
hand. Let us clothe ourselves then with Jesus Christ, and not let the desires of the flesh
and the delights of this world lead us. Rather, we are to be sons of light and sons of the
day, for we are not of the night or of darkness (1 Thess 5:5). You are to confide ever
more in the merits of Jesus Christ, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in
holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints
(1 Thess 3:13). Only the merits of the death of Christ on the cross can do this for us,
making us blameless in holiness before Godat the coming of our Lord Jesus with all
his saints (1 Thess 3:13).
This is the blessed day that we now await, when Jesus Christ will return with all his
saints and angels in great glory and power; and in that day there will be a great light
(Zech 14:6). That is the light and the day that we now live for and prepare ourselves for,
that renewed by the death of Christ, who has made us a new creation in his propitiatory
and expiatory death, suffering the punishment due for our sins in our place, we might
even now be blameless in holiness before our God and Father (1 Thess 3:13), and
continue to grow in this purity and blamelessness right up unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus with all his saints (1 Thess 3:13).
It will be Jesus Christ who will sustain us blameless unto the day of his coming.
Indeed, says St. Paul, you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will
sustain you to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:7-8). This
is certainly not something we ourselves can do for ourselves. Only Christ can do it for
us, and this work of his is already under way. He cleanses us from our sins and makes us
righteous, taking our sins upon himself, so that we might be righteous in him with his
righteousness. Indeed For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). And so when he returns
he will find us ready if we remain faithfully united to him, ever renewing ourselves again
in his justifying grace should we fall into sin or imperfections, and ever bringing forth the
fruits of our justification in a holy and blameless life. In this way he will find us ready,
blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
with all his saints (1 Thess 3:13).
Therefore May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit
and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
(1 Thess 5:23). This is our Advent goal, our Advent program, to be ever more sanctified
by God, cooperating with his justifying grace in Christ and bearing the fruits of our
justification in good works, growing each day more, coming ever closer to our goal of
holiness of life, right up to the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. May our
preparation now make us ready when the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels in flaming firewhen he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and be
marveled at in all who have believed (2 Thess 1:7,10).
Advent, then, is a time of quiet inner joy and moderation, when we seek to be near to
the Lord who is near to us. We do not want to expel him from our hearts by loud talking
and motions, but rather we are to preserve a quiet and peaceful demeanor and manner of
living, letting our moderation be known to all, for the Lord is near (Phil 4:5). Advent
should, therefore, be a time of much silence and quiet, of peaceful, reflective, and
prayerful work, rejoicing in our hearts, recollected within ourselves, and ever awaiting
that gift which is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). Advent is
a time of silent, peaceful joy, of quiet rejoicing in the Lord. It is a time when we want to
guard silence more strictly than usual, and treasure our silent and solitary hours of quiet,
peaceful work before the Lord in a spirit of prayer, for at this time the Lord is near
(Phil 4:5).
St. Paul, therefore, tells us during Advent,
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known
to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4-7).
Advent then is a time of joy and moderation, of quiet, silent joy in the Lord.
II
PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD
Advent is also the time when we go out into the desert with John the Baptist, to let him
teach us how to prepare the way of the Lord. The desert is the place where we empty
ourselves of the pleasures of this world, to make our hearts ready for God, ready for his
coming into us in a richer and fuller way. The desert was the place chosen by God finally
to prepare his people for his coming; and the one he sent to proclaim this preparation was
a desert dweller, John the Baptist, an ascetic, dressed in camels skins, with a leather
girdle about his waist, who ate locusts and wild honey (Mk 1:6). John was certainly not a
man clothed in soft garments (Mt 11:8). Although he was sent by God to introduce the
King of the Universe to his people, and to prepare Israel to receive him, he did not live in
the palace of a king (Mt 11:8), but rather in a desert cave, clothed in animal skins, eating
locusts and wild honey. He came as a penitent, a renunciant, an ascetic, a desert dweller,
who lived far from human habitation. He lived alone in a barren landscape, in silence
and solitude.
During Advent we go into the desert with John, to find the Lord, to be forgiven for
our sins, and cleansed of our guilt through repentance and by calling on the name and
merits of Jesus death on the cross with faith, especially in the sacrament of
reconciliation, which gives us so much peace, precisely because it sacramentally channels
the merits of Christs death on the cross personally and individually to us (Mt 18:18; Jn
20:23). Here then in the desert, we lay down our burden and are cleansed and prepared
for the coming of the Lord. We prepare in the desert the way of the Lord.
Here we also take on a desert way of life, which is a contemplative way of living, a
life focused solely on the Lord, renouncing the pleasures and delights of this world, for
the sake of the greatest delight of all, the light of Christ shining in our hearts (2 Cor 4:6),
illumining us from within. In the city, in the world, it is difficult to perceive the subtle
joy and sweetness of our new life in Christ. We need to be far from its endless,
superficial conversations, diversions, delights, noise, distractions, and entertainments, to
hear the still, silent voice of the Lord speaking to our hearts, as Elijah heard it in the
desert at Mount Sinai.
And here is John in the desert of Judea, by the Jordan,
a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his
paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made
smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Lk 3:4-6; is 40:3-5).
Here we see the desert transformed, becoming a vast plain, smooth and easy cross,
where all flesh shall behold together the salvation of our God. Here is the desert, a place
of dryness, lacking all the pleasures of life; yet it is a place of heavenly manifestation, of
brilliant light in its emptiness and plainness. With only locusts and wild honey to eat, one
rejoices all the more in heavenly delights, for our senses and heart is not divided and
distracted by other attractions. Wearing rough and rude animal skins, one is clothed in
Jesus Christ (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14). Lacking human society, one is filled all the more
with the fullness of God. No wonder the desert has always been the place of predilection
for monks seeking after God, longing to live in his light and inner radiance.
Are we surprised then that God chose the desert as the place to prepare Israel for his
coming into their midst? And we, who do not live in an actual desert, nonetheless spend
Advent in the desert with John, preparing the way of the Lord, living simply and in much
silence and solitude. It is when we go to the desert to prepare with John the way of the
Lord that we find every valley exalted and filled in so we can easily cross them, and
every mountain and hill made low for us to pass over them. See how God transforms the
harshness and difficulty of the desert for us, and allows all who come there in faith to see
the glory of the Lord. The desert shall then be transformed for us, becoming a place of
revelation and divine presence, of inner joy and heavenly light, and of the peace that
passes all understanding; in short, a place of heavenly manifestation.
And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain (Is 40:4 KJV).
The uninhabitable land shall become for us the place of the habitation of God with his
5
people. It shall become our Advent abode, our dwelling place with the Lord, our
hideaway in the wilderness, our place of inner transformation. The desert is the home of
our spirit during Advent. It is there that we go to prepare ourselves for the coming of the
Lord. It is there that we will find our peace with God in union with him. During Advent,
we become desert dwellers. We become an Advent people, people of the desert, people
who live with God in simplicity and moderation, in plainness and austerity, in heavenly
manifestations and in a peace not of this world. We are therefore to prepare in the desert
the way of the Lord. Thus do we prepare for the Lords coming into our lives. This is
how it is done. This is the way God chose to prepare Israel for his coming: He sent John
into the desert to prepare the way. Let us answer this invitation, this desert call, this
summons to enter into the peace of the Lord, for now the time of his coming is near. Let
us eat locusts and wild honey with John. Let us dress in camels skins and live in a desert
cave. Let us spend our time in silence and solitude, and in heavenly light with God, so
that the Lord may come to us and fill us with all the fullness of God.
III
COME LET US ADORE HIM
Advent is a time of longing.
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel
To thee shall come Emmanuel!
During Advent we long for a fuller dose of salvation, and we rejoice in that salvation
and in Emmanuel, for in him God dwells with us, filling us with heavenly joy and a peace
not of this world. In Christ all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God
(Ps 97:3). We rejoice in this manifestation to the world of Gods salvation in Jesus
Christ. We rejoice in his righteousness, that has made us resplendent and righteous in his
sight. We rejoice in the light that radiates from the new-born infant in Bethlehem. He
fills us with light. He is the focus of this season. In him all the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God (Ps 97:3).
In him the Father has made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light (Col
1:12). We now live in that realm of light in him who unites our nature to his own divine
nature to fill us with his light. In him we share the lot of the saints in light (Col 1:12).
We once walked in darkness, but now we have seen a great light. We once sat in a land
of deep darkness, but now the light has shined upon us (Is 9:2). The light shines upon us
in this infant. God shines into our hearts in him. By his radiance we are illumined from
within.
It is God the Father who has rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us
into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col 1:13). We rejoice now in this Kingdom of
light, this Kingdom of Christ, for Through him we have redemption, the forgiveness of
our sins (Col 1:14). We revel, therefore, in the light, the light in the desert, the light in
the darkness of this world, in which we shine as luminaries in the world, for this child has
made you blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Phil
2:15).
We are these lights in the world of darkness, for Christ the Lord, born this day in the
city of David (Lk 2:11), has shone upon us, giving us the light of life, for with him is
plenteous redemption, and he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities (Ps 129:8).
Indeed, in him all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God (Ps 97:3).
And we do not tire of this salvation, but are ever renewed by it. It fills us with heavenly
peace and light, for only in him are our sins taken away, and only in him does the light of
his resurrection dawn upon us.
This is the light in which we now walk. We walk in the light of his countenance, and
exult in his name all the day long. His glory is our strength, and in his favor is our horn
exalted, as the psalmist prophesies about us:
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light
of thy countenance, who exult in thy name all the day, and extol thy
righteousness. For thou art the glory of their strength; by thy favor our horn is
exalted (Ps 88:15-17).
So, during Advent, we rejoice in the salvation of our Lord and King come into our
midst. We long with Israel for it, that is, to have it ever more abundantly, ever more
deeply, ever more surely. We long in the words of the prophet Isaiah, saying with all
Israel,
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness:
let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring
up together (Is 45:8 KJV).
And may we rejoice ever more in it, renewed, illumined, and rejoiced by it. Indeed,
this righteousness drops down from the heavens above, like dew. It is not ours, but
Christs. He has come to clothe us with it, in a robe of righteousness, like a bride (Is
61:10). We are to be clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14), clothed in the light that
streams forth from his resurrection, clothed in splendor. So let this righteousness from
above pour down upon us in the birth of this child of light. In him, the earth will open
and bring forth salvation. Our nature will be renewed. He will be an interior light in our
heart, burning to illumine to world.
In him, the light has come into the the world. We turn to this light during Advent to
be illumined by it, to have it shine within us.
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon
you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And
nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Is
60:1-3).
This is Christmas morning, filled with glory. A great light has come into the world,
and the glory of the Lord shines upon his people. All else is surrounded by darkness; but
all are attracted to this light. Deep darkness covers the peoples, but the Lord has arisen
upon us, and his splendor is seen within us, illumining our hearts, attracting even kings to
our brightness. So we are to both arise and shine, for our light has come. The Son of
God is born upon the earth. Let us adore him. We fall down before his manger and are
filled with light. He has come to make us new (Rev 21:5), a new creation (2 Cor 5:17;
Gal 6:15), new men (Eph 4:22-24) in Jesus Christ, through his incarnation, death, and
resurrection. In him we are illumined. In him is our peace.
This holy night, therefore, shines beyond all other nights with the radiant new light of
Christ the Lord, born in the city of David, for the illumination and salvation of his elect.
He makes them new. He makes them righteous. He makes them to shine with his own
radiant light, newly come into the world this holiest of all nights.
Advent is our fervent preparation for this coming. It is a time of adoration before his
crib, for
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the
throne of David, and over his kingdom to establish it, and to uphold it with
justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore (Is 9:7).
He comes to bring to the earth a Kingdom of righteousness and peace without limit,
to rule upon the throne of David forever, to establish it in righteousness for evermore.
His Kingdom is to rule over the whole earth, transforming all who accept him in faith,
filling them with divine love and heavenly peace, illumining them from within with
splendor and light. He makes all things new (Rev 21:5). He makes us new when we
believe in him. He fills us with light. He is our peace (Micah 5:5), for he shall be great
to the ends of the earth (Micah 5:4). Come, let us adore him, and be illumined and made
new by him.