The very meaning of the word advent (from the Latin adventus = arrival, coming) offers us the perspective that every Christian should strive to adopt during this season. In fact, all of Sacred Scripture speaks to us about the continual advents of God in human historycomings that find their complete fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus, God is an eternal pilgrim along the highways of the world, patiently but insistently knocking on the doors of our hearts. But for each of us personally, who is the One who comes? (In the Greek version of the text, the verb to come is used in the present tense, not the future.) Our honest answer to this question will point us in the right direction, which leads to God and our brothers and sisters. Advent is a time of searching, vigilance, discernment. If we expect the One who is coming to protect us, solve our problems, remove any obstacles and sufferings from our lives and at the same time absolve us from the hard work of believing and of loving and forgiving others wholeheartedly
then Advent is meaningless.
In chapter 24 of his Gospel, Matthew tells us to be prepared (Greek version: continue to be prepared) and then proceeds almost immediately to recount the Lords Passion. Why? Arent we supposed to be heading toward Christmasa time birth, celebration, joy, gifts? Of course! In fact, we are urged to rejoice profoundly because the One who comes is the Lord Jesus who, born on a specific day and hour in Bethlehem (which in Hebrew means house of bread), offered human beings the highest proof of his love by breaking the bread of his life for us on the cross of rejection and hate. Jesus prepared himself all his life to open the doors of the world once and for all to the God who comes.
