“My dear Daughters, let us begin the season of Advent. All Roman literature is filled with calls and desires directed toward the Messiah, and with longing for his coming. Is this time only a commemoration, the memory of that long wait of four thousand years during which the patriarchs and prophets cried out with burning desire for the One who was to give the world a perfect law, a law of love? Yes, it is that, but not only that. When the Church places these invocations to Jesus Christ on our lips, it is not merely to remind us of the cries of ancient times, but above all to stir us to desire the coming of Christ within us.”
What do we do when we wait? We all know it is not the same to wait for something — a package — as to wait for someone: a visitor, a friend, a brother, a child. Sometimes we use those moments to catch up: calling someone who is ill, reading a book or an article, checking — or stalking — social media, replying to emails, or listening to music. Other times, we simply sit and contemplate. Some people pray the prayer of the Russian pilgrim or silently sing an antiphon; others let the beads of the rosary slide through their fingers in prayer.
The season of Advent may once again be an opportunity to realise that the One we await is the Son of God. And it is true, as Saint Marie Eugenie reminds us, that the Messiah was beautifully announced by those great “publicists” and creators of messianic content: the prophets, especially Isaiah. And John the Baptist? He is the humble witness who always points to Another, who accepts his role in History without fear, confident that he is the forerunner of a light and a path greater than himself. A witness unafraid to recognise his smallness, for the One he prepares the way for is the very One whom Elizabeth recognised even in Mary’s womb.
The Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, the promise of salvation, takes flesh in Mary’s womb. Her “yes” opened for us a waiting filled with a hope that does not disappoint. Mary’s yes opens futures, a future embodied in a child named Emmanuel: God-with-us. We have four weeks to savour inwardly the meaning of Maranatha: “Come, Lord Jesus! Come, for we are waiting for you!”
Four weeks to prepare ourselves! The violet colour of waiting, softened by the rose of Gaudete Sunday; the light that grows in the Advent wreaths until the true Light comes to dwell in our hearts and enlighten every person of good will. We have time to pray, knowing that the hope we Christians long for is a hope that looks to heaven without turning away from history — a history woven with colours, sorrows, and joys unique to each child of God.
Have you ever stopped to consider the many symbols, characters, readings and songs that help us wait, preparing the way for Jesus, Messiah and Saviour? He must be very special indeed, for everything is so beautifully cared for!
Perhaps you feel you are someone who leaves everything to the last minute. It’s all right! For that final week, the Church’s tradition offers us the beautiful “O Antiphons”, so called because they begin with the exclamation “O”. Each day, in the Magnificat antiphon at Vespers or in the Alleluia verse, we invoke Christ with a different title: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, Emmanuel. The initials of these titles, read backwards, form an acrostic: ERO CRAS (“I will be tomorrow”, “I shall come tomorrow”).
Using this chapter from Marie Eugenie, I would like to pause on the fraternal affection that, for me as a Religious of the Assumption, continues to shine through after so many years in the way she addressed the first sisters and those of us who, today, as Asunción Juntos, read her writings. We are children. We are beloved children. Whose children? Each of us may think of the parents who gave us life, of spiritual mothers and fathers, and of the fatherhood of God. Perhaps today Marie Eugenie would say to us: “My dear children, be attentive, make an effort in your time of waiting. The Lord is coming! He is the Son of God who becomes incarnate to give us life. He is God-with-us!”
Ana Alonso, ra
Province of Spain