Within
A Reading from the Prophet Isaiah:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you … For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Homily:
Lord, we pray for the preacher, for You know his sins are great.
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
And so our journey toward the Christmastide begins. Advent is a season of preparation, of waiting. It is a pilgrimage, not of the external sort, but an inward expedition, into silence, into darkness, into the still small voice, awaiting us all in our souls. This is not our journey to God, mind you, but God’s journey to us. Advent means arrival, a coming toward. And that’s what we await: the Advent of our Lord.
He is here but hidden: within the womb of Mary; within the bread and wine; within His future glory. God in Christ descends to us, as one of us, taking on humanity so that we may take on the divine. Here we have the Incarnation, the crux of Christian faith. When we could not climb up to heaven, when we could not undo our Fall, heaven stoops to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. In Him, God and Man, earth and heaven, Creator and Creation are one. And all of it is mercy, all of it is grace.
It is a humbling thing to realize that we cannot earn love. Yet what bliss, what joy, what ecstasy to find that we don’t have to—to see at last revealed in full the love of God in Christ, poured out freely, endlessly, extravagantly from His Cross and wounded side. His is love without limit, love without ceasing, love beyond all mortal ken. And here it is for you, given fully for you, in the Good News of His Kingdom, in the waters of rebirth, in the wedding feast of the Lamb forever offered on this altar.
Here amidst the dark and cold, the ice and snow, God unleashes generosity: light in the night, warmth in the chill, feasting by the fallow fields, gifts when all seem scarce. It is an inside-out, an upside-down celebration, where a King is laid in a manger, and angels serenade shepherds. Everything is different at Christmas, everything is better. We see how life should be for all the live-long year, for all of eternity. We love the magic and the miracle of Christmas, for that’s how reality ought to be, because it is more real. All of Nature is alive in her rejoicing! Why else do you suppose we speak of elves?
So I get it, I truly do, why we see Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, before Halloween. We need a world with Jesus in it: a world where trees light up indoors, where children laugh with glee, where every food is sweet and every interaction love. Come, Lord Jesus. We cannot wait. Come and be born among us, born within us. Come and enter our homes, our hearts, our sanctuaries. Come and make us yours, our Brother, our God, and our King. You are the one for whom we all long. You are the promised Messiah.
But lo, I tell you a mystery. Even in the waiting, Christ is with us. He is with us in our preparations, with us in our worries, with us in anticipation as we rush and hurry—saying softly, gently, truly: “Peace, O my beloved. Peace, O my brethren. I am coming soon, coming to you even now, in ways beyond imagination. Simple ways, mysterious ways, common ways, wondrous ways. I am with you in your neighbor. I am with you in your child. I am with you in the Gospel. I am with you in the wild.”
Christ growing in us awaits His revelation through us. We are called, as Mary was, to inculcate the Word of God within, to be one with Him body and soul, so that Christ may be born anew for our own generation, in and with and through us all. In Advent, we are pregnant: Mary is, the Church is, the world is, and all of these are one—María, Ekklesía, Sophía—the three women who are our past, our present, and our future, through whom Christ is born. Behold, He comes even now: in history, in mystery, and in eternity.
Advent is a season of preparation, and silence, and darkness. It is also a time for wonders, and mysticism, and persistent silent bliss. Don’t be afraid, my friends, to hope. Christmas is on the horizon: the birth of God the Son. And He shall prove sufficient to warm the coldest heart, and kindle in each hearth the spark of joy.
In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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