Advent Notes

ADVENT AS PILGRIMAGE OF HOPE, FAITH AND LOVE

The biblical figures of Isaiah, Joh the Baptist and Mary synthesize advent. 

Isaiah represents the Old Testament with the promise and vision of the future Messiah inspiring us to hope despite great odds and the seeming adverse twists and turns of history.

John the Baptist represents the transition period to the New Testament in an honest-to-goodness wrestling with the novelty of this humble and suffering Messiah inviting us to deepen our faith in Him and witness Him to others.

Mary finally represents the New Israel of the New Covenant with its renewed vigor and new found intimacy enabling us to provide an entry point and vital space to Christ through love of one another.

Through this pilgrimage of hope, faith and love, advent heightens the drama of our encounter with God made man who made man himself; was created of a mother whom he created; was carried by hands which he formed; nursed at the breasts which he has filled; cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute (St. Augustine).