Vigils Reading

THE ADVENT OF GOD

From “Pathways in Holy Scripture” by Dom Damasus Winzen

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The word Advent had for the people of old a magic sound. It put before

their eyes the glorious scene of the king’s return from a victorious war. Preceded

and followed by the might of his arms, carrying with him the spoils of victory,

the hosts of the captives, the treasures of the enemy, he stands on his chariot,

vested in the purple of triumph, the golden wreath of victory on his head. The

whole city is in a delirium of joy. The festive throngs of the citizens line the

streets. They greet their king with the royal shout, acclaiming him as savior and

kyrios with incense and hymns. In the evening thousands of lights appear on

windows and doorways, on temples, gates and palaces, for the light is come, and

the glory of the king is risen upon the city.

The Advent of our Ecclesiastical Year does not celebrate the triumphant

entry of an earthly king into his capital, but it sees the King of kings whose might

covers the earth like a cloud, returning to the world which He had left because of

its sin, crushing His enemies, extirpating sin and establishing a kingdom of

peace for those who believe in Him. This is the Divine Action of salvation which

constitutes the real meaning of history, although it may take centuries and

centuries to be accomplished. That the birth of Mary’s little babe in the humble

manger of Bethlehem is the beginning of this glorious Advent would be hidden

from the eyes of men, had the glad tiding not been announced from heaven and

had the Holy Spirit not spoken in times past to the fathers by the prophets. It is

really the vision of the prophets which opens the eyes of the faithful to see

beneath the humble form of man the glory of God, and to realize that Christ’s

First Coming in patience and charity is the beginning of the Day of judgment

which will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven to receive the

Eternal Kingdom from the hands of the Father. It is the unique gift of the

prophets to see sign and reality, the human and the divine, the present and the

future in their compenetration. Therefore, they “rendered service not so much

to them selves but to us,” [as it is written in the first letter of Peter, us] who

celebrate the Advent of God in that incomparable compenetration of visible sign

and divine reality which is the liturgy of the Church.