Thursday of the Second Week of Advent (December 14, 2023)
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
-Isaiah 41:17-20
Advent is a season of tension. It is a time to reflect on promises fulfilled, but somehow still incomplete. This built-in tension of Advent reflects the experience of waiting and expectation that is an unavoidable part of life. When we think of a child (and some adults!) counting the days until Christmas or listen to the hopes and excitement of parents awaiting the birth of a children, we can see the frustration (and even pain) that goes with expectation. (It’s worth mentioning here that our word patience comes from the Latin word passion: to suffer.)
Unfortunately, many people today live lives that are almost always oriented towards the next thing: we love novelty and distractions so much that we often forget about the gift of the present moment. Advent isn’t only about the past and the future. This season also invites us to see what God is doing at this moment. This Advent vision calls for us to look for those signs and movements that point to God’s action of bringing to fruition the restoration of creation envisioned by Isaiah which we hear in the First Reading of today’s Mass.
“The Hand of God” from Sant Climent de Taüll, Catalania, Spain
If we spend our lives always looking into some far-distant future, always scanning the horizon for signs and wonders, then we can miss the miracles of the present moment. More often than we think, God comes to us in the people and simple things of our lives, and this is all part of the recreation of the world that is an essential part of the promise of Advent.
In the communion antiphon for the Mass of Thursday of the Second Week of Advent we ask that we may “live justly and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope and the coming our the glory of our great God” (cf. Titus: 2:12-13).
Wait. Live in the tension of Advent.
Watch. Because he is coming to you today.
Stir up our hearts, O Lord,
to make ready the paths
of your Only Begotten Son,
that through his coming,
we may be found worthy to serve you
with minds made pure.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for Thursday of the Second Week of Advent
*This reflection is adapted from my book Lights for a Waiting World: Celebrating Advent with the Saints
