Advent Reflections First Week





“When we are no longer able to change a  situation, we are  challenged to change ourselves.”

Victor Frankl

 
Behind every door is a living Advent of longings and needs;  people who might welcome a visit, the poor, the sick, the bereaved, the lonely, the battered, the lost, the addicted.  There are problems that need basic and more complex solutions.

So often our cry becomes "If only we could make the world look more like the heaven  that we already see by faith."


As Christine Sine says

"We can become overwhelmed with all the brokenness and need in the world and our  limited ability to speak and act into that need. But the reality of  Christ incarnate makes possible the planting of little mustard seeds of  hope, joy, celebration, healing, and reconciliation all over the world;  seemingly insignificant acts emerging, growing, and becoming “far more  than we can ever ask or imagine.”


Behind every closed door is a human heart that can be filled by the love of God.



The poor have to be cared for, the hungry have to be fed, the  homeless have to be sheltered, and the sick need to be healed but it is naive to believe that all the pain of human unfulfilled needs will be healed. Nevertheless, the human hope that Christ can  change us remains.

At the start of  Advent we train our eyes to see God  even without the angels and trees,  the crèches and stars. 
We have to focus instead  on the basics of light in  the darkness, silence in the chaos, and  stillness in the turmoil.

  It’s almost as if Advent calls us to faith in  the Real Absence of  Christ—to believe in Emmanuel even in our darkness,  in God-With-Us even  when we hear no answer, and in the Incarnation even  when we feel  nothing at all. 

Two songs; one summing up the human recognition that striving for the material is worthless but giving love away is never futile and the second is the need to acknowledge our dependence on God.

Throw it All Away by Abbey Lincoln



Be Thou My Vision




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3 comments:

Fran said...

Such a beautiful post, thank you.

Blue Eyed Ennis said...

Welcome nd Many thanks Fran- thought people were sleeping off Thanksgiving it's so quiet here !!
Blessings

RJ said...

Thank you for these insightful words re: darkness and faith... and great song: Throw It All Away.