Advent is not simply an interior event, nor is it simply something between you and God. Spiritual preparation necessarily has a communal dimension. So, I’d like to invite you to think not only about the word metanoia, but also the word “comfort.” The Hebrew word used is nacham, whose root comes from the word for sighing or breathing heavily, so it has the connotation of relief.
To whom can you give comfort to this Advent? Whom in your world can you bring relief to? Is it someone in your family who is struggling with a financial problem or an illness? Is it an LGBTQ person who feels unloved by God or excluded from the church? Perhaps it is a whole people or community suffering during war or famine. How can you comfort them? How can you give them relief?
Last year, in a letter to [Fr. Martin's Ministry] Outreach, Pope Francis wrote of God’s “style" as “closeness, mercy and tenderness.” Who in your world can you share that “style” with? Who can you comfort? Whom can you show tenderness to? In short, how can you live Advent both interiorly and exteriorly?
--Fr James Martin,
Outreach, Dec 9-10, 2023
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