At each Mass after the Lord’s Prayer the priest prays, “Deliver us O Lord …” which concludes “as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” Although Advent is a short season of only four weeks, its great themes of waiting, coming and hope are contained in this prayer that is prayed at each Mass. It can be said that Advent is always before us when the Eucharist is offered.
Because we expect the Lord to come again, vigilance and patience must accompany our expectation as we await His breaking into this time as once He entered into time, according to the flesh, by His Incarnation and His Birth. We long for the Lord, who died on the Cross and rose to life, to come and rescue us. This time “the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ” will be a glorious coming and encounter with God. We long for what is to be as we wait with what is.
The ancient Advent prayer of the Church is: “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” To this prayer we can add even more intense supplications such as: Come Quickly; Come Now; Come, Show Yourself; Come, Save us. This traditional Advent prayer seeks, even begs for, God to act in our lives. We pray that now the Lord act in our individual lives and that He act in what is yet to be in our individual lives.
Advent begins the Church calendar. It starts a new year of God’s grace. With God, there are always beginnings. We can move on, grow and change. We are not held in chains by our past. Into our present, into our Now, the Lord acts. Advent also looks to the end of time. To the Lord’s second coming; not as the Infant of Bethlehem but as the Lord of Glory and Might, our Savior, who is “our blessed hope.” For Him we long.
An eighth century Advent hymn, CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM, sings:
“Creator of the stars of night, Your people’s everlasting light, O Christ, Redeemer of us all, We pray you hear us when we call.”
During this Advent 2020 in which we continue to deal with a pandemic, a situation none of us ever previously faced, we need to do a lot of calling to our God who has given us such a Redeemer. I recently read LETTERS OF TRIBULATION, a book written in 1987 by Father Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis) about the suffering endured by the Society of Jesus in the 18th century as it faced suppression by the Holy See. It is a collection of letters, from a few Superior Generals of the Society in which they encourage their confreres to find a spiritual path in times of “confusion and tribulation.”
There are many tribulations we personally face, such as family problems and illnesses, and other tribulations that we face together such as the sicknesses and deaths realized by the COVID-19 virus or the suffering caused in our Church by the disgraceful history of the abuse of minors by clerics which has caused its victims wounds that will never go away. These atrocities must be acknowledged and condemned. Forgiveness must be sought from the wounded and from the good people of God who have been deceived by church leaders. Penance and prayer must be offered; conversion and justice must occur. Above all, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to renew and heal. We need the Lord to deliver us from useless worries as we prepare for this Christmas.
Advent 2020 is an opportunity to do this. Let us pray: Come Lord Jesus, Come. We need Your consolation. Come, now. Show Your might. You are our blessed hope.