Closing the Gap (An Advent Homily)

One of our major experiences of Advent should be by now the diminishing distance between us and our Lord. At least spiritually, we feel closer to Him. This effort of thinning what separates us is the great lesson of Advent.

The coming of the Lord (close to us) shows that it is possible to blend, in an organic way, the sacred and the profane in our lives. It is possible - says Advent - to undo the painful contrast, nay, division between them. ‘God is present only in the church but not in real life.’ Advent has shown us that it is no longer true. ‘Christians behave differently in the temple than in their real life’. No longer true. Moreover, this reconnecting the two can be done joyfully and in peace.

Advent wants to become a permanent feature of our life and thinking. As we prayed, Incarnation is real, and our unum necessarium, our only vital need. ‘O God, who, seeing the human race fallen into death, willed to redeem it by the coming of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, that those who confess his Incarnation with humble fervour may merit his company as their Redeemer. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.’