A Season of Advent

Advent I: "Let us adore the Lord, the king who is to come"

Preamble:

These are private meditations with the Advent Season in mind. It has long been my practice to make notes whilst reading the Scriptures, a habit that helps crystallize the thoughts suggested by the text, making the words part of my own prayer. The word of the Lord thereby comes alive, perhaps as it lived for the author of the Song of Soloman when he wrote: "when he spoke my heart melted"; or for St John of the Cross: "God's speech is the effect he produces in the soul". Reading Psalmody through the course of a month provides a frame-work for meditation and, mostly, my rough jottings have only occasionally been re-written as a formal essay such as those that follow here. The psalms and other references are from the Divine Office for Advent, through to the celebration of Epiphany.

There is no conscious attempt here to produce a theology of Advent. These are personal reflections, simply that which helps me enter deeper into the wonder and inspiration of the Advent Season. As a believer, of course, my thinking is always informed by the theologies absorbed over the coarse of a life-time. Psalm quotations are from The Grail*, a Singing Version "arranged to the psalmody of Joseph Gelineau", and the psalm numbering follows the Greek Septuagint numeration which generally differs from the Hebrew as in the Authorized Version, shown (where applicable) in brackets.

*A translation from the original Hebrew text which "allows the translator to stay close this unique literary form, with its repetition of words, its own peculiar images, its stylistic peculiarities and its poetic rhythm". From "A new Translation Singing Version" - Collins Liturgical Australia, 1990).

HOW GREAT YOU ARE!

Psalm 102 (103)"The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. His wrath will come to an end; he will not be angry forever. He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults.

"But the love of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear; his justice reaches out to children's children when they keep his covenant in truth, when they keep his will in mind."

In these few words I can recognize a call to emulate our Lord in his life of goodness and virtue, practicing those things which lead us deeper into the love and knowledge of God. It means, among other things, refusing to let myself become caught up in the world's madness, it's contempt for spiritual values and ignorance of the things of God who is the beginning and end of all things.

Motivated by fear, how easy it would be to turn myself into his/her enemy; to silence that gnawing doubt by concentrating on my own needs and desires to the exclusion of all others.

Ignoring God as inner presence, driving the thought of him from my mind in search of material satisfactions, would amount to contempt for spiritual things; to abandon myself to the mindless futility of it all. I know the path God has chosen for me is never going to be easy, the only certainty being the knowledge it is the only path I can take if I am to know anything of the peace God only gives. Spiritual instability, even distress, is simply part of "the way" before the Lord shows me his face. Spiritual readiness, a disposition towards listening, seems to be the secret of the psalmist's conclusion that "the Lord is worthy of all praise".

Following in his footsteps, I too must be guided to this understanding of the way God acts, and will continue to act, in my life. By reflecting on the words meditated, contrasting the more negative or darker thoughts of the psalm as they come with the psalmist's more positive ideas and images; letting harsh-sounding words heighten the impact of Scripture's more gracious words (literal meanings aside), my soul is nourished with "food for the road".

It seems clear that the psalmist's first efforts were to listen and to search his heart; to discover the truth about himself, facing up to his inner, spiritual situation which often left much to be desired. Like me, he was not always thinking nice, constructive thoughts! The psalmist's self-honesty can be startling, but then, perhaps God was not so distant from his spirit as I often feel he is from me. Remote as he probably seemed at times, his God was within, and very near: "close beside you, with you, within you" is an ancient, universal principle, restated by Jesus when he said "the kingdom of God is within you".

A personal commitment to the Christian life of faith, to keeping a good conscience and a desire that in all things God's will might "be done", as also a willingness to forgive as I am forgiven, all these things point in the same direction: with the psalmist, to say "With you I can break through any barrier, with my God I can scale any wall".