Advent longing
I had a great conversation with Sr. Gen Petrak at a time when she felt more caught in the busy-ness than in a contemplative Advent mode. I had asked my her to share about she entered into Advent this year. This is what Gen said:
“You don’t want to hear my thoughts on Advent. I’ve hardly had a chance to think about your questions.” I just sat expectantly so she continued, “Oh well I guess this is real. I started out well, relishing the consoling Scriptures, but then found my self caught up in the ‘messiness’ of so much to be done. I guess the question for me is how to bridge the gap between the deepest part of me, which is in the longing of Advent and the other part that is sometimes pretty consumed in my responsibilities, like planning liturgies.
In Advent we celebrate the already and the not yet. Christ responded to our human longing two thousand years ago–the already, but the human heart continues to long for something-the not yet. Maybe that’s what Advent is about, hanging in there in the midst of daily life, knowing the longing, and being open to the glimpses of God coming to us every day.
When I was a junior sister our director, Sr. Helene Berry, IHM quoted a passage from Janet Erskine Stuart that has never left me, ‘Holiness is in the now just as it is.’ Maybe my Advent isn’t as bad as I thought it was.”
