Suddenly (Saturn and Jupiter Conjunction 21 Dec 2020)

Suddenly things have their stakes. It has been always the case in personal life. Finding a job, finding a school for our children, learning of someone’s being unwell in the family. On this level of everyday existence stakes were higher or lower: our story always felt like real.

When a society lives in peace, and wars do not affect it directly, history becomes somewhat ‘weightless’. An undisturbed local culture, like that of the privileged West, glued to the screen, loses the sense of history. It no longer resonates sensitively in all of us, we no longer feel how sensitively all of us vibrate along its joint strings. It is only a matter of time when ‘the real strikes’ again, and history becomes painfully real. Covid-19 entered our life, and we are aware of our vulnerability again. In parallel, however, we again awaken to solidarity, that history embraces us all - and is formed by all of us.

I don’t know if there is a connection with this sudden change, but a parallel fact is also certain. God, whom now generations found (missed out?) as ‘weightless’, can enter our collective life again. Yep, we Christians are convinced that this sudden straightforward return would be beneficial for us. We could see things more clearly and could make better decisions. We could handle conflicts better on an international level.

Yet, the big question is there. Can, will the Lord return into our lives, with all the benefits only He can bring? The prophet makes us cautious. ‘And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple’ (Malachi 3:2) At the same time, he leaves this question open. Is it only for the seekers, who will experience the Lord’s return to his Temple (Church, and History)? Or is it through the faithful waiting of those who have faith, that hastens and welcome this Return? Or our world simply will remain alone with all the pains which the aforementioned ‘weight of history’ brings along? And we shall be without God’s helping hands, just because we did not contact him in time?

​Advent’s wisdom helps us to converge our answers. ‘The Lord will suddenly enter’ history again. Thus, the real question is how shall we respond to this big change, the arrival of his Power?
 
23.12.2020