As a new Advent begins, my brothers, we once again hear this timely alert from Jesus in the gospel of Matthew: “Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. You must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Then we have our own St Anthony of the Desert reporting in with: “Every day I say to myself – today I will begin,” his drill, we might say, for staying on-the-lookout, as Jesus advises, and for maintaining “an Advent attitude.”
And in keeping with the rule of threes: Betsy told this story when she was here on retreat a while back. She had been a respiratory therapist at a nursing home and told of a resident, a precious women in the shadow of dementia, who awakened every morning with the absolute certainty that this was her wedding day. Her sense of jubilation, excitement and anticipation was unshakeable – the bridegroom was coming and the wedding feast was about to begin. She carried a little bouquet around with her and smiled warmly on all with a joy and a love and a wonder that no one could take from her. Her Advent Attitude, like St Anthony’s, began again every day!
Let’s take just a few minutes, then, unpacking and highlighting this practice. An Advent Attitude, may I suggest, can be a mindset throughout the year for approaching each day, welcoming afresh its new blessings, new challenges, new chances to grow into Christ, to welcome Him with an openness, eagerness and joy. It helps us to remember the Savior’s nearness, to recognize his advent in every moment, in the familiar, in the unfamiliar, and to receive Him with wonder. Advent Attitude helps us to slow down and see what we’re doing or not doing with greater clarity, to rejuvenate our priorities, to direct our thoughts and deeds into a consciousness, a mindfulness, to rekindle a fervor for this one day’s opportunity to build up the community of Spirit, the precursor of the eternal banquet.
And what else? It encourages a more engaged and serene acceptance of the unexpected, the unsavory, the unmanageable in our daily rounds, lending us a receptive, grateful and expansive response to whatever God’s perfect plan sets before us. It’s a readiness and willingness to start over frequently and to live a transformed life every day (or nearly!), conformed to the Spirit’s lead in every circumstance, at every turn, in every interaction. An Advent Attitude brings forth love, tolerance, appreciation, forgiveness, zeal, enthusiasm – a new way of thinking, seeing and acting – into all our affairs because it prompts us to remember not only those boundless mercies the Lord in his goodness has shown us thus far, but also those he has prepared for us in the life to come. Thus we can more readily let loose the resistance, the insistence, the defiance that may still dog us, and pray “your kingdom come, your will be done” — and mean it with all our hearts.
An Advent Attitude is spiritually hungry and limber, aware of its need, content to be less-than-fulfilled, anything-but-dazzled for now. It seeks no band aid solutions for the pain and struggle, but knows all will be made new in God’s time, in God’s way, and awaits this recreation confidently. Sure, our earthly sojourn can appear rather bleak, dull and dark at times, but over time we learn to view this landscape/this vale of tears as our Advent workshop and launch pad for the Kingdom. Our mysterious share in the dying and rising of Jesus and the events of life keep on with their work of liberating and renewing our souls with just enough Spirit’s light beamed in for assurance. The Son of Man is coming – preparation, transformation, conversion by his grace through love and service is our assignment again today. Anything else, umm- not so much.
So, brothers, may we assist and encourage one another with and from an Advent Attitude, so that, starting today, we might already dwell together in the realm of entirely new possibilities, surprises, revelations, growth, JESUS. May we daily ask God’s grace to awaken us and to prepare us for that great, redemptive hour: the Advent of our Emmanuel.
May the unswerving gaze of our souls this Advent and always be directed forward, upward, outward, and onward. May we watch with eyes set forward as we anticipate the coming of Jesus the Lord (Matt. 24:42; 25:13; Luke 12:37; Rev. 16:15). May we also look upward, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1–2). Like marathon runners, let’s not stare at our feet, but focus outward and onward to the finish line, indeed to Christ himself. Together, may we run this race set before us today “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” (Heb. 12:2) keeping watch, making ready, beginning today!