What Do You Long for This Advent

 

Take a moment and think about your favorite memory of getting ready for Christmas. I'm sure it didn't take long to remember a tradition that brought a smile to your face. These memories build our anticipation for Christmas morning. Tree lightings, Christmas carols, and parades  get us in the Christmas spirit. In this season of Advent, the Church prepares us spiritually for the coming of the Messiah with its traditions -- liturgies, Advent wreaths, and nativity scenes. Advent is not simply about remembering a past event. It's about rejoicing in the present reality of the anticipation for the birth and rebirth of the Messiah in our lives right now.

 

During Advent, we enter into the sacred history of Israel and are reminded of all those centuries ago when people waited and longed for the promised Messiah. Liturgies are filled with the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and John the Baptist. We relive the events of the first Christmas through the eyes of the valiant women of Mary and Elizabeth and the righteous dreamer Joseph. We expectantly wait, as if for the first time, for the coming of the Savior as a baby in a manger, but also for the end times when the Lord comes again in glory and His kingdom has no end. In Advent, the beginning and end times meet. The Church prepares us to wait for the One who has already come.

Advent gives us the time to reflect more deeply upon one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith - The Incarnation. God made promises throughout the centuries - first to Abraham, Noah, Moses, and David. In Jesus, the mystery comes to a climax. "In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to deliver from the law those who were subject to it" (Galatians 4:4). The mystery of the Incarnation is that the Jesus assumed a human nature and became one of us in everything except sin to save God's people by defeating death -- the ultimate enemy.

The Incarnation is about God our Father who loved us so much that he sent his only son down from heaven to be Emmanuel - God with us. At Advent, we may think we go in search of Jesus, but the reality of the Incarnation is that God comes in search of us. God seeks us first; our encounter with God is always a response to God's desire for us. The apostle John tells us, God loved us first, and that gives us the ability to love others (1 John 4:19). The story of salvation is about God pursuing his people and offering himself over and over again in covenant relationships, when in fullness of time God's thirsts for us and sends Jesus to be with us.

We learn from the Gospel of John that Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down at the well. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." Jesus thirsts. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2560) explains that Jesus' request for water arises from the depths of God's desire for us. God thirsts so that we may thirst for him. Thirst leads to a sense of longing, just as David cried out for God in the Psalms: "My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1)

Our bodies cannot survive without water. Likewise, our hearts cannot survive without God. "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw us to himself.  Only in God will we find truth and happiness. In relationship with God all of our thirst is satisfied (CCC 27).  Since we do not know the hour or the day when Jesus will come again, we wait in joyful hope for the fulfillment of God's promises, where every tear will be wiped away and there will be a new heaven and new earth. In the mystery of God's plan of salvation, all must happen in proper time. At Advent, we practice living in great patience.

Why all the waiting? To experience something as truly sublime, first there must be longing. Can you value something that came easily? If you can have anything you want, whenever you want it, then everything is cheap and of no value. Waiting and working long and hard makes the achievement ever so special. Longing is sublimely consummated when one is properly prepared. Waiting reminds us that this is God's time, God's story, God's plan, and God's promises.  

Waiting, longing, anticipating, mystery... Advent gives us the time to examine the basics of their relationship with God.  Is there a longing within me to be formed in the image of Jesus?  Have I put my hope and trust in Jesus?  Is their room in the 'inn of my heart' for Jesus to take up residence? As a time of reflection, prayer, and conversion, these four weeks of Advent leads us to contemplate where God is leading us. Ultimately, this life is part of something much larger for we are destined for eternity. We wait and wonder what the world would look like when the Messiah comes to bring wholeness, healing, and peace in our own lives and the whole world. Our longing then is a hunger and energy that causes our hearts to expand, to hope in new ways, and grow in intimacy with God.

May your Advent be the most spiritual, joyful, and hopeful ever, knowing that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel -- God with us now and forever.

Journaling with Jesus                

Begin with a few minutes of silent prayer becoming aware of God's presence and humbly seek the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. Then focus on the following questions for personal reflection and journaling.

•  What is the longing in me as Jesus draws near?
•  What do I need to be taught, rescued, saved, and freed from during this Advent season?
•  How do I respond to my Annunciations - good news and bad news; when what I had planned for my life doesn't turn out like I planned?
•  Do I believe all things are possible with God?

Listen for Jesus' response through Scripture, personal insight, and encounters with others. What do you think Jesus might be saying to you at this time?