The first week of Advent is here! If you didn’t know it was happening, you might even miss it; the signs of the new liturgical year are subtle. A change of hymn here, a purple color there, a modest wreath, and all is done with a quiet simplicity that makes one think, “Is there something going on here?”
The quiet of Advent mirrors the understated beauty of the Incarnation: a little boy born without fanfare, out of sight in a humble country barn. God comes to earth in human form, with only a few shepherds to form the welcoming committee! And yet, these are the divine ways, so different from our own.
In these weeks of preparation before Christmas, the Church invites us to be watchful and alert. In the midst of our own quietude, we can be all the more ready—with spiritual ears perked—to hear the first sound of the angels’ announcing trumpet!
“For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven…” (Wis 18:14).
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