Advent is the Season of hope, a time of expectation and in today’s Gospel taken from
Matthew 24:37-44 a time to stand ready.
Christ the one who comes to us is the source of our hope. As the famous Advent song goes ‘O come, O come Emmanuel.’
Literally, Come, ‘Christ who is with us.’ Come into our hearts, our lives, our situations and the darkness of our world. We need you; I need you; the world needs you. Free us from all those things that make us captive and imprison us.
Help us to be awake to your presence, to recognize you, help us see you, even in seemingly hopeless situations.
You came in history and gave hope to those discarded, looked down upon and who believed that they were and gave them a new way of seeing. That they were loved, treasured,welcomed and forgiven. Who would have thought?
Who would have thought that in our own relationships we could forgive and be forgiven, that we could accept and be accepted and that the hurt we have endured and contributed to could be healed?
Take some time to reflect on those things in your own lives where your hope is being tested and ask Christ to sit in that place with you. Listen out for his gentle voice.
Perhaps ‘You are the Son’ from ‘Holy Land’ could resonate in your heart today.
Son of God and Son of man
Come to us in splendor
Awake in us your holy light
And give fresh vision to our sight.