Second Week of Advent

This is the second week of Advent, and the quotes posted for are reminders that this is the time of waiting, and usually waiting in darkness - but simultaneously, hope. Waiting in the assurance of the light of Christmas, of joy and celebration, and hope, realized.

“Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus,” Richard Rohr writes. Advent is a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on “the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ,” who challenges us to empty ourselves, to lose ourselves, to surrender.  

As we know, Christmas, perhaps especially in the Church, has been sentimentalized. But as Father Rohr reminds us, as contemplatives, we are not waiting for the baby Jesus. We are not interested in a memory from 2000 years ago, however special - and it was.  No matter what others may be doing, for Christ seekers, Christmas is the celebration of the great sign of God's love for mankind and the infinite possibility it opens for us.