1st Sunday of Advent
We begin the season of Advent today as we turn our attention to waiting for the coming of the Lord. It may not be as simple as in the past. Our attention span and our ability to focus have decreased steadily over the past 20 years due to the rapid pace of the world around us, the need to multitask to keep up, and the increased demand for our attention via the internet.
This decline in focus challenges our ability to wait. A shorter attention span leads to a greater need for immediate gratification, leading to greater difficulty in waiting with patience and focusing on what is here now and what lies ahead.
What a gift Advent is to us. We have four weeks to slow down and wait! A concentrated time to reflect on the Lord’s coming in the past, in our lives today, and in the future. We have everything we need to focus on His coming.
The story of our salvation, as told in Scripture, opens us to moments of the Lord’s coming in the past and to what to expect—an end to war, weapons becoming ploughshares, and a time of peace. The almighty Word leaping down to be one of us.
That Presence remains with us today in the Eucharist. We hold in our hands the Christ who came as an infant in a stable, who gave his life for us on the cross, and in each Eucharist. The one who prayed we would become one with Him and one another as He is with the Father.
It is the hour now to wake from your sleep. May our waiting be an active one that challenges us to act now, recognizing His coming as we respond to the needs of others.
How will I focus on Christ’s coming during Advent?
Let Us Pray:
Lord, let us respond to the invitation to climb the mountain of the Lord that with You we may look down upon our lives and world and see the places where you long to come and make us whole. Give us the wisdom and courage to change our weapons of hurt and hate into ploughshares of life for those we know and the strangers who call to us for help. Enable us to find moments of both restful and active waiting during this Advent. Amen.
