ADVENTures 13Advent is not only about preparation and vigilance. It is first of all about hope. For why should we wait when we do not hope that Him whom we wait would come? We prepare and keep watch precisely because we hope. We wait for the Lord because we hope in the Lord. And we are certain of our hope not because we already see the object of our hope but because the Lord, who gave us His word, is always worthy of our trust. ADVENT SHOULD BE AN ACTUAL CELEBRATION OF OUR UNWAVERING HOPE IN THE LORD AS INDIVIDUAL AND AS CHURCH.
Hope funds our waiting. And waiting tests the quality of our hope. To tamper with the needed waiting is dangerous, quite often bringing about catastrophic results. Indeed, we are simply powerless to bring about what we hope for; all we can do is wait. But that isn't powerlessness at all; rather that is precisely our power within: HOPE.
Advent tells us that we also need to wait for God. God is beyond our grasp. We cannot possess Him. We cannot see Him. We cannot hurry Him. All we can do is to LET GOD REVEAL HIMSELF TO US WHEN HE WANTS, WHERE HE WANTS, HOW HE WANTS, THROUGH WHOM AND THROUGH WHAT HE WANTS. There is really something very deeply moving about this view on Advent: WHEN WE WAIT FOR GOD, WE ACKNOWLEDFE OUR OWN INCOMPLETENESS. Until God arrives in our life, we are never complete. Moreover, waiting for God is humbly recognizing that there is always more to God than what we already know about Him and what we already experience in Him. Rightly understood, ADVENT IS US PROCLAIMING OUR HOPE IN THE GOD WE CAN NEVER "HAVE" AND WE CAN NEVER "HAVE" ENOUGH.
When we wait for God, with hearts filled with hope, our waiting becomes a PRAYER, GIVING CLEAR WITNESS to the UTTER POVERTY of our HUMANITY and the UNFATHOMABLE WEALTH of GOD'S MYSTERY.
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