The Art of Care  

Matthew 24:37-44

The first Sunday of Advent invites us to turn our gaze to the heart of things–to creation, which is pleading for our care. In Noah’s time, and in our own as well, life needs to be cared for, tended. Christmas reveals this to us: a divine Child entrusts himself to the care and nurturing of a young couple surprised by an unexpected life and all its promise.
The First Sunday of Advent proclaims the good news that God, our Creator, has faith in each and every one of us and entrusts himself to us. God believes in the frail and fallible human beings he created–human beings who often betray and disappoint him but whom when, poetically speaking, he bends over the world in order to take care of them, he transforms into his own image and likeness–that of a God who creates and recreates in love.

It is appropriate to begin our Advent journey with the symbolic act of entering the Ark. To enter the Ark does not mean to leave the world behind. It means re-entering ourselves interiorly so as to be saved from all the banalities that threaten to blur and distort the contours of creation drop by drop. Re-entering ourselves helps us realize that what we are seeking is Someone to take care of us. It is only and always the art of care that saves us, and because of this we continue to seek Jesus, incarnated in every kiss bestowed on our wounds.