Advent reflection 1

Veni Redemptor! Come, Redeemer!
Maranatha! Come, Lord!

I love the season of Advent, with its identification with the messianic longing of our forebears in faith. For what long ages they looked to God to deliver their redemption! When it came, how few of them recognized His coming. Among these, some yet maintain their trust in God's loving care for them while still awaiting the promised Messiah. Others, because of the incomprehensible horrors wrought upon them, have lost the capacity to believe that the God who proclaimed that David's kingship would never be destroyed could possibly exist. Some who still consider themselves Jewish have come to believe that Jesus is indeed the Promised One whom they've sought for so long. I relate to these feelings of hopeful longing, resigned disappointment, and jubilant celebration.

I love the season of Advent, with its recognition that none of us who walk this earth has fully embraced Christ's coming into our own lives. Some of us, like our Jewish brethren, don't recognize Christ's presence among us. Even for those who do, there is a transformation which God is working in each of us which no earthly person experiences in its fullness. The season of Advent reminds us that Jesus longs to come into our lives more fully, to heal our flaws and restore us to the perfect love for which we are created. I'm convinced there is no level of maturity in Christ at which we can feel that we've "arrived." Just the opposite! The more we grow, the more we recognize how great are our shortcomings. We see that we have no hope of ever reaching Perfection, yet we come to know that, in loving grace, our Redeemer never fails to reach us. He doesn't keep us apart from himself until we achieve the ideal to which we are called; rather, God brings us into His perfect presence to draw us more and more deeply into union with Him. By the Holy Spirit's movement in our lives, we are drawn ever further into our true being, in ways we could not hope to accomplish by our own efforts. As we are thus redeemed, becoming filled with Christ's love, it reaches through and beyond us to those around us who have also failed. Our longing becomes for them to be transformed with us!

I love the season of Advent, with its anticipation of the eternal divine kingdom to come. Of course, Christ has established a kingdom of love here on earth. Yet our world is still fallen, still afflicted by sin. Even we who strive to be His followers sometimes fail to fully dwell in the kingdom of God's love. We look for the day when we will no longer stumble, no longer cry, no longer feel the pain of living in a broken world. As people of faith, we recognize how our brokenness and pain yet serve to reveal the love of God, who works through all sorts of horrendous circumstances - those natural, those born of our own choices, those spiritual - to reach those with his love who would otherwise reject him. "The problem of pain," which causes so many to reject God's existence, abounds in our world, and yet through it God brings more and more precious children into the kingdom of light. Yet we eagerly look toward the day when there is no more pain, no more brokenness and failure, but only the eternal joy of dwelling in God's presence.

I love the season of Advent, with its timelessness, its small glimpse into eternity. Past, present, and future, all intertwined and experienced simultaneously. It has-always-been/is/always-will-be this way, as God has revealed to us in our past the Redeemer who comes to us now to lead us into the eternity which will be ours in our future. Having looked for Jesus, in this moment receiving Jesus, we eagerly await the fullness of Jesus.

Veni Redemptor! Maranatha! Come, Redeemer, Lord!

Family stuff

I'm boggled at how other people's brains work, especially when they're brains I had such an influential role in forming.

Our oldest daughter has been baffling for some time now, but it just keeps getting worse. Okay, so she's only in touch when she needs something. I suppose that's her prerogative. I'm glad when she calls anyway.

So about six weeks ago she asks us if we'll go ahead and pay for our oldest grandson's next swimming class and they'll pay us back on the weekend. No problem.

If you think this is going to be a tirade against never being paid back, you're only partly right.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, youngest daughter is expecting her second child in December, a little boy this time, so not much in the way of hand-me-downs from his big sister, or there'd be a greater likelihood of her dealing with her own baffling adult offspring in twenty years. So the wife is stuck planning the shower with no help from anyone, including the two sisters. Middle sister at least chipped in a little money, but no input from oldest at all.

Friday night is the last swim class of the aforementioned session. And for at least the third time in this class, wife shows up at grandson's lesson, only no grandson! Sunday afternoon, oldest calls her little sister with regrets for not being able to make the shower, because the kids are sick. Oh, and don't call,

A wonderful day

What a day of blessings. Sleeping in. Very nice Mass, with the Rite of Acceptance. Got home and was contemplating a bike ride when Teri reminded me I had a flight planned for this afternoon with a friend from prayer group. So I was able to combine the two, riding my bike about 10 miles to the municipal airport, flying with Jim for a couple hours, then riding home. What a great afternoon! Came home to discover "my" NFL team, or at least as close as I have to one I root for, had beaten the local team, on top of a surprising win for my college team yesterday. A nice evening with my wife, teaming up on getting dinner cooked and the dishes cleaned up.

Too many blessings to list all of, really. It's been the sort of day that some people chase after all the time, and become filled with angst if they don't have them regularly. But I don't really look for days like this. I just trust God to put me where I should be, and try to let Him make me the person I'm called to be there. Along the way, sometimes there are wondrous days like this. But the best day here is a passing shadow compared to the eternal joy God has waiting for those who will accept the gift of grace.