Dear Friends,
Advent
approaches. Awaken. You are surrounded by angels and alleluias. Accept the
coming of God with anticipation. Be attentive to the prophecies of Isaiah and
John the Baptist. The new Ark of the Covenant, whom we call Mary, already bears
the seed of God’s life and our future. Let us arouse Faith, Hope and Charity in
ourselves for the sake of others.
Drop down dew,
O heavens. The Desired of the Nations comes. The Daystar rises. The desert and the parched
land will exult (Is.35.1) Let us disturb our too easily contented lives and
determine what need to be done to welcome the Holy Child into our hearts and
homes. Let the anticipation of Christ’s coming reach into us deep down and
bubble over. Let us decorate our lives, our words, our gestures and homes and
places of study and work with splashes of color that bring attention to God’s
great delight in the children of earth.
View the world
from God’s vantage point. Venture
out into the darkness. Volunteer to go to people who know darkness as the only
way to live. Visualize the biblical figures who stand before and after and around the Holy
Family. Value the depth of these days of waiting.
Extend a hand
to those who want to come with you into Advent waiting. Evoke God’s name on
their behalf. Empathize with those who do
not understand this waiting. Entreat those who are coming along too slowly and
invite them to pick up their pace. Emit sounds of joy that make a happy sound
in other people’s lives. Expect Emmanuel. Know that the Empowering
One will make all things new.
Nourish your
soul for this Advent journey with songs and psalms and tasty reading from
Scripture and writers of faith. God is near. Nearby, too, are the holy ones who
have been faithful or have returned to faithfulness. Nuance the value of what
you hear, take in, absorb, believe. The newness of God is near!
Trust. The
power to trust is given. Touch the lives of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all who
stand around them with tenderness. Treat all people you meet with the
realization that God in Jesus is in them. Say over and over again: “Truly my
hope is in you.” Teach others to say that too. Treasure this time without measure. Tune in, be attuned, be tuned. From the stump of
Jesse, the Tree of Life is growing. The timelessness of God’s presence is
renewed.
The season
of the seed, the secret, the star and the silence is upon us.
~Sister Joan Sobala
