Second Sunday of Advent - A Reflection by Fr. Leo
Luke roots today’s narrative in historical time. It is the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pilate is governor. Herod is in Galilee and Philip and Lysanias had their regions too. Seems like over kill to have to mention so many contemporaries at one time, but Luke wants to place John the Baptist in human time. This becomes the back drop for the entrance of the eternal timeless presence of God. Luke writes that “The Word of the God came to John.” This the the same thing we hear in John’s Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word….and the Word was God.” So God comes to John the Baptist and it is God’s spirit that prompts him to proclaim the coming of the Lord. To those who open themselves up to this same Holy Spirit the road will be made smooth. The winding ways made straight and a vision or “knowing” of the presence of God experienced. This is the essence of Advent; the breaking in of God on the consciousness of souls. The same Spirit became incarnate in Christ who models for us our own potential for the indwelling of God’s spirit.
In our own ‘historical’ time, measured in the linear sense of human time, the infinite timeless Spirit moves us to a new awareness of God and a new vision of ourselves as one in God. A part of us is timeless, a part of us that contemplation or centering prayer brings into consciousness; a consciousness of which we may not be fully aware. I believe the effect of God’s spirit in our lives is a smoothing of the rough ways. Our negativity lifts and we grow in an inner sense of peace and joy. Love becomes the operative mode of our living, and we bring Christ into the world as God’s love becomes real in us. This smoothing of the rough times however, is not a removing of all pain so that only bliss remains. This “smoothing” teaches us how to hold the pain and bliss together so that the experience of one implies the experience of the other, and both then can be an experience of something beyond bliss and pain. I think of young couples who recieve their first child. Gone are the quiet nights and restful evenings; they are sacrificed to the nurturing of new life and with the sacrifice however, comes a new joy. I sat with a young father the other day who told me had tears of joy as he beheld his 16th month old son naviagting the wonder of life.
It is when we move beyond ourselves into relationship with another that we find our true selves. It is the relationship that we live for and in it we discover ourselves. So, sacred are our relationships, as they are moments of light participating in the primary light of all things, God. In this Advent season we sit in the darkness waiting upon the coming of the light. In prayer, as we commune with God, we experience the light that is within us and is with us now! Let us ask the Christ to bless our prayer and our celebration of the Eucharist, that the Spirit may unite oursleves with him and bring to completion God’s work in all things. Come, Holy Spirit, and help us see your manifestation in all things; that in you all things are sacred. May God’s peace reign in our hearts and bring all creation to live together in peace!