How can we best prepare to receive the Lord during Advent?
Advent is a penitential season, a time during which we prepare to receive light into our lives. But there is so much we have to let go of for that to happen! After returning from exile, the people of Third Isaiah are faced with having to rebuild everything, and this causes them to feel distance from God. However, they are confused as to what their own responsibilities are: why do you let us wander, o Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? It is as if they are blaming the Lord for their own sinfulness, when in truth, only they can allow God into their heart, to soften it, for where love is allowed to work, hardening of heart cannot take place. Similarly, in Psalm 80, the people ask, Lord, make us turn to you – when in truth, the ability to turn to God lies with the people themselves; it’s their own choice. God planted the vine, but they have become not what God intended, but what they have themselves chosen, which is distant from the Lord, and it is up to them to open to God’s will. It may be, as the people say in Isaiah, that God is our father; we are the clay and you the potter – but ultimately, the choice to be soft clay in the hands of God lies with us.
In like manner, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus places the responsibility for being watchful on the shoulders of his disciples: Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. If we are constantly focused in God, if our lives are unceasingly directed toward his service, if we are dedicated to loving the human race at every moment, then we are indeed watchful and alert. But we must stay focused, ready for whatever God calls us to rather than stuck in our own plans. The Corinthians are not there yet. Paul notes that they have been given all they need – I give thanks… that in [God] you were enriched in every way, he writes. Paul preached to them, taught them, gave witness to them by his life, yet they still clamor after something else. Only if they open to God’s love, the source of all grace evident in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, can they remain firm and irreproachable in the end. But they must remain watchful, alert, and aware of their own responsibilities, setting aside their own strong-willed natures in order open to the will of God. As we move through Advent this year, may we all remain watchful and alert, aware of our own responsibilities in our relationship with the Lord, but also open to the power of his love at work in us all.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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