Feel it, savor it

We run from one experience to another; we look for different adventures because we never stop to just savor what we have, the present moment.
Time is not only chronos, that is, a sequence; time is also kairos, a deep immersion in order to discover the various layers of the same experience.
This is what Advent offers us - a deeper immersion into whatever it is we are experiencing at the moment, and discover the Faithful Presence that gently leads us.

Advent

There was an ache in my heart as I left Krakow yesterday. I was leaving behind an experience that for almost ten years have engaged me. I was cutting close ties with people whose lives have somehow intertwined with mine.
How wonderful to do it at autumn when nature itself reminds me to surrender, that it is necessary to lose, to say goodbye and to live little deaths; that somehow life goes on.
How wonderful that I do it at Advent time when the Church goes on a journey of simplicity, of inviting us to the things that reallhy matter. The Lord comes and makes his visitation. I may lose everything. Nay, I am called to lose everything for it is the law of life.  But when the Lord is present, life goes on.

Jesus Christ, the visible expression of God

"By giving us, as he (God) did, his Son, his only Word, he has in that one Word said everything. There is no need for any further revelation ...
Therefore, anyone who wished to question God or to seek some new vision or revelation from him would commit an offense, for instead of focusing his eyes entirely on Christ he would be desiring something other than Christ, or beyond him.
God could then answer: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear him. In my Word I have already said everything. Fix your eyes on him alone for in him I have revealed all and in him you will find more than you could ever ask for or desire."

(From "The Ascent of Mount Carmel", by Saint John of the Cross)

When I look all around me, I cannot but believe in the existence of God, that is, of Somebody who is greater than the greatest human person.
But I have been blessed all the more because I know that this great God loves me. He is loving, compassionate, merciful, respectful, forgiving. He is a God who waits for us and who loves us unconditionally. Most of all, I can call Him Father, and that is just what He is.
Thanks to Jesus, God is no longer an object of speculation.
Through Jesus' person and message, we have come face-to-face with God. And this God is not somebody to be afraid of. He is a God who has first reached out to us and who continues to reach out. He is a God who has our best interests. He is a God who wants us to have the fullness of life.
Aren't we, Christians, just so blessed to have such a good God?
May this Advent season be an experience of gratitude for this God who is our Father.

Advent is waiting

We are in the Advent season. It is the four-week preparation for Christmas.

I have made a resolution for this Advent. I am not going to play any Christmas song. I will let Advent be Advent, a period of waiting, a period of longing. I hope that as the days advance, the longing for Jesus will be more intense.

I know that in the coming days I will be bombarded by Christmas songs, Christmas lights and decorations, parties here and there, Christmas greetings to send, gifts to pack, etc.

In many ways, instead of preparing us for Christmas, these things make us tired and, at times, exhausted, to really celebrate Christmas when it comes.

This year, I will not rush Christmas. I will let Advent be Advent. I will watch and pray. I will wait. It is not easy. Our society is quite allergic to waiting. Everywhere quality is measured when waiting time is lessened or totally cancelled.

But it is in waiting that we come to discover and fortify the strength that is already within us. Waiting purifies us. Waiting makes us see what it is that really matters in our lives.

Waiting requires discipline. But more than discipline, waiting needs a soul in order to persevere.

We wait in hope even when the waiting is long.

We wait in faith because we believe that God is true to His word.

We wait in love because God has loved us first.

Advent is waiting in hope, faith and love.

Advent

For faith does not mean that all our doubts disappear. It does not imply that we are free from struggle or darkness. Like John, we will know the night and the haunting questions that arise from our exile. Advent is the church's way of giving us time to question, to wait, to cry out in the night, and to weep for the coming of the Lord. It is the season of exiles and sentinels; a time for prophets who struggle to understand and accept the implications of their lives.

(Fr. James Donelan SJ)