Advent is a time of remembering, acknowledging and revering

 

God’s promise

We remember the expectation of the Virgin, when she waited for the birth of her son.

We remember God’s frailty.

We acknowledge God’s vulnerability.

We revere God’s purpose.

We remember that God loves his fallen creatures so much that he took on our flesh and lived among us, fully human and fully God.

We remember what God has promised to complete in us His Beloved.

 

Waiting, longing and hoping

Advent is also a time of waiting, longing and hoping.

We wait with the most broken places of our world and hope for the day when all this brokenness will be overcome; when we will reach out to share life with the hurting, suffering, sick or infirmed.

We wait for the day when wars will end and nations will join hands in unity.

We long for community and connection with others.

We wait and watch with eager expectation.

 

Advent is God’s search for us and our search for God.

God meets us in our vulnerability and loneliness and enables us to offer hope to a world in need.

Advent is a union with the sheltering God of the thousands of our world who are impoverished, lack protection and shelter or cannot find a place called home.

 

A birth of peace and love

Advent is the birth of peace.

We pray that all conflicts and wars will cease and that all destructive weapons will be turned into peaceful instruments and tools to produce food.

It is a time for making amends and rebuilding bridges. Our desire for love and our hope for forgiveness are sanctified during advent as light breaks forth in our darkness allowing us to experience the fullness of our worth and dignity.

The power of Advent often seems to get lost in our secular Christmas preparations.

While we busily decorate our homes, do big shopping, plan visits and holidays we often fail to experience how the power and presence of God’s glory transform the world in every aspect.

Advent celebrates the seasons in our lives and challenges us, to share God’s love with those we meet. A true experience of advent is the fulfillment of our yearning to renew the kingdom of God within us.

Throughout advent we acknowledge the presence of God in our world in spite of the war and conflict. We celebrate God at work despite the trauma and tragedies of life. The message of advent is that salvation has come.

 

Sr Lucy Alexander, D.J.