One often hears that “Advent is a time of spiritual preparation,” and so it should be. (Indeed, every moment of our lives should be a time of preparing for God.) But what is this “spiritual preparation,” and what is one suppose to prepare for?
Perhaps the prophet Amos answered that “what for” most concisely: “O Israel, prepare to meet your God.” In light of Christ, we know that the goal of human life is a complete union with God, “I living in you, you living in Me.” Along the way to complete union, each of us is offered opportunities to encounter the true and living God. The moments of divine-human encounter may be rare or happen more often, but they are life-transforming. In Advent the Church invites us to concentrate our minds and hearts on awaiting our complete union with God, and preparing to meet him here and now, as the LORD wills--and we cooperate.
What is a fitting “spiritual preparation”? “Be watchful,” “pray,” “keep alert,” for “even now the axe is laid to root of the tree.” Recall that in last week’s Gospel, we heard Jesus tell us, Watch!” But he did not tell you what to watch for, or how to watch. He left that utterly open: “Be attentive!” And then we have the classic call, “Repent, for the Reign of God is at hand.” Let’s flesh those words out a little: “Change your heart, your attitude, your ways, because God’s Presence is here and now. Open up to it.” Consider, too, the negative preparation that each must go through in life’s trials and preparations: giving up our illusions, our false expectations, our insistence that God dance to our tunes, our foolish attempts to force God into history. It is, rather, for us to adjust our ways to the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, and not seek to manipulate God by magic spells, illusory beliefs, selfish demands, special words. And that spiritual work is far more demanding than we may have yet understood.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Listen, open your heart, attend to His Presence. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Without the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, you and I cannot open up to the Divine Presence, to live in God and for God. By the Spirit we “give up childish ways” and “enter into the joy of our LORD.” Easy to say, but in reality, “costing nothing less than everything.”
Perhaps the prophet Amos answered that “what for” most concisely: “O Israel, prepare to meet your God.” In light of Christ, we know that the goal of human life is a complete union with God, “I living in you, you living in Me.” Along the way to complete union, each of us is offered opportunities to encounter the true and living God. The moments of divine-human encounter may be rare or happen more often, but they are life-transforming. In Advent the Church invites us to concentrate our minds and hearts on awaiting our complete union with God, and preparing to meet him here and now, as the LORD wills--and we cooperate.
What is a fitting “spiritual preparation”? “Be watchful,” “pray,” “keep alert,” for “even now the axe is laid to root of the tree.” Recall that in last week’s Gospel, we heard Jesus tell us, Watch!” But he did not tell you what to watch for, or how to watch. He left that utterly open: “Be attentive!” And then we have the classic call, “Repent, for the Reign of God is at hand.” Let’s flesh those words out a little: “Change your heart, your attitude, your ways, because God’s Presence is here and now. Open up to it.” Consider, too, the negative preparation that each must go through in life’s trials and preparations: giving up our illusions, our false expectations, our insistence that God dance to our tunes, our foolish attempts to force God into history. It is, rather, for us to adjust our ways to the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, and not seek to manipulate God by magic spells, illusory beliefs, selfish demands, special words. And that spiritual work is far more demanding than we may have yet understood.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Listen, open your heart, attend to His Presence. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Without the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, you and I cannot open up to the Divine Presence, to live in God and for God. By the Spirit we “give up childish ways” and “enter into the joy of our LORD.” Easy to say, but in reality, “costing nothing less than everything.”
