THE MEANING OF ADVENT

THE MEANING OF ADVENT

In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Friday, December 5, 2014

    Advent "- what does it meant? "Advent" is a Latin word that can be rendered in English as "presence, arrival". In the language of the ancient world it was a technical term expressing the arrival of an official especially the arrival of kings or emperors in the provinces.

    It could however, equally denote the arrival of the deity who appears out of concealment and powerfully manifests his presence or whose presence was celebrated in cultic ritual.

    The Christians adopted the term to proclaim their special relationship to Jesus Christ.

    For them, he is the King who entered this wretched province, our world, and gifted it with the feast of his visit. He it is whose presence in the liturgical assembly they profess.

    With this expression they intended to say, in general, "God is here." He has not abandoned this world. He has not left us alone. Even though we cannot see and touch him like so many things - he is present, nevertheless, and visits us in many ways.

    Advent is a two-fold reminder for us: for one, that God's presence in the world has already begun, that he, in hidden ways, is already here; and that his presence has only just begun and not yet reached completion but still is growing, developing and maturing.

    His presence has already begun, and we, the believers, are the ones through whom he desires to be present in the world... "the Light of the world" has already appeared in the darkness of the night in Bethlehem and has changed the unholy night of human sin into the holy night of divine forgiveness for this sin.

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      Advent is not mere remembrance and representation of something of the past but that Advent means this present time, this our present reality: the Church here does not indulge in play but refers us to something that represents the truth about our Christian existence as well....

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    One of the fundamental elements of Advent is waiting, which at the same time is hoping.  Advent thus expresses the essence of Christian chronology and the essence of history as such. Jesus has illustrated this in many parables: in the story of the servants who wait for the return of their master or else, forget about his return and act as though they were the owners; ... and in the parables of seedtime and harvest...

    For the gifts of Jesus Christ does not merely reside in the future but indeed extend into the present. He, though hidden, dwells here already. He speaks to me in manifold ways - through Sacred Scripture, through the Church season, through the saints, through the various events in everyday life, through all of creation, which takes on a different appearance when he is standing behind it rather than being shrouded in the fog of dubious origin and dubious destiny.

    I can talk to him; I can wail before him and offer him my sufferings, my impatience, my questions, knowing that he is lending me an open ear.

GEORGE H. KUBECK, -                                                                                                                                                                   

FROM THE CLASSIC BOOK BY CARDINAL RATZINGER, CO-WORKERS OF THE TRUTH, DEC. 3-5.  DAILY MEDITATIONS