Airline travel is booming, especially during the holidays. I even read a story about a flight from NYC to Dublin. One hour into the flight, the airline attendant announced: “There has been a terrible mix-up. We have 200 passengers, but only 100 meals. Anyone kind enough to give up a meal will get free unlimited drinks during the flight.” Two hours later she gave an update: “We still have 100 meals.” That must have been a merry flight!
Tis the 2nd Sunday of Advent. The Advent season is about waiting for a new adventure. We do plenty of waiting. In stores. In a doctor’s office. On the phone. For a livestream. Yes, we wait. So did the ancient Hebrews: but theirs was a different kind. They often waited for the Messiah to rescue them. The Messiah often seemed hidden.
Some would say this is everyone’s story. We may pray for God to save us from a crisis of some sort—a shattered relationship, a workplace shakeup, or a serious illness.
God sometimes seems silent. But is God silent? Our faith proclaims loudly that God is among us. Do not be afraid, Jesus proclaimed. I am with you always. Seek God especially in silence as you meet life’s paths and potholes and opportunities.
The word of God gives us reasons for hope. First, Baruch, in the sixth century BC. Those were catastrophic times for the Hebrews; everything they thought would endure suddenly disappeared. Yet, Baruch spoke of hope: a splendid new Jerusalem, a faithful people who will reflect the glory of God and be forgiving, compassionate, generous, honest, joyful, peaceful, and loving. The word of God may ask if we try to embody these virtues.
Paul, in his letter to the Christian community at Philippi in Greece, prays that we will possess true wisdom to always do the right thing. Paul may be asking whether we pray for the wisdom to know what truly matters: our relationships with God and one another.
In the Gospel, John the Baptizer proclaims repentance: prepare our hearts anew for the Lord (Advent). Yes, ask God to help us hear the word in our hearts and inspire us to live a more God-centered, other-centered life.
Why? So that we may see clearly the way to walk, the truth to speak, and the life to live. God is asking whether each of us, like John the Baptizer, is preparing afresh to make Jesus a priority.
Now, during Advent the bible focuses on three personalities in particular: Isaiah, John the Baptizer, and the Virgin Mary. Each of these, in their encounters with God, delivered a special message.
Isaiah spoke of a future Messiah, a liberator, a savior for us.
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God: who through his death and resurrection created a future for us whereby in death God will transfigure us, as God transformed Jesus on Easter morning, into a new kind of indescribable mode of existence beyond the limits of space and time.
The Virgin Mary became the living temple of God, the ark of the covenant. She carried within herself the Word made flesh, the Christ child, Emmanuel, God with us.
The Advent biblical readings also reference Joseph. Joseph had a dream in which the angel said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary (as) your wife.” For the Spirit of God has conceived a child in her. Joseph acted with honor.
Like Joseph, couples also dream when they learn that they will be parents. Their first dreams are usually for a safe birth, a healthy child. Then parents may dream that their son or daughter will excel: perhaps in sports, science, arts, music, or literature.
Along the way, parents' dreams may change very quickly. Where they once thought about a Nobel Prize, Mom and Dad may settle for their child graduating. The desire for a World Series champ may be forgotten as they wait and hope for their child to recover from a life-threatening injury or illness. Their image of a tech genius may all but disappear when they pray that their child will overcome an addiction.
Yes, thinking of Mary’s and Joseph’s dreams about the child Jesus, I think of many people. Challenges may change our dreams and force us to get our priorities straight.
The most important things we can dream for family are these: that they always know we love them, we accept them for who they are, we are always ready to forgive them their so-called peccadilloes (as we hope they forgive ours), and that we always pray God will grace them throughout their lives.
Let us pray this Advent season to see God’s presence in all things; to value people as a gift from God (even if it’s not quite the gift we hoped for); and to be a source of positive support to one another.
