The news of 20 children and 6 adults whose lives were ended
all too soon in an elementary school in Connecticut make it difficult to put
words on paper right now. The dashed
hopes and fears of children and parents are more than we can process; It’s
tempting to turn away to shield ourselves from the horror.
“How many things have we become used to in the course of the
years, of the weeks, and months so that we stand un-shocked, unstirred and
inwardly unmoved? Advent is a time when
we ought to be shaken and brought to a realization of ourselves.” So wrote
Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, awaiting execution for being accused a traitor by
the Nazis in 1945. Then, the great Advent question is when do we awake from our
sleep and complacency?
The tragic events of the last 2 months make it clear that we
are unable to muddle through alone. It’s no secret that we find it necessary to
turn to one another. Isn’t this what God wants for us? In many ways we, like
the virgin, nurture our fertile soil as we absorb our pain and suffering and
that of those around us, and give birth to Christ as we share his love with one
another.
Henri Nouwen writes that Elizabeth and Mary, as models for
the Christian community, were filled with hope.
Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled but fulfilled according to
His will and not according to our wishes.
The Christian community is the place where we keep that hope alive among us. He
tells us that we need to wait together like Elizabeth and Mary to be present to
one another; to keep each other at home spiritually so that when the Word comes
it can become flesh and have a whole
new life in us.
Perhaps the words of David Steindl-Rast make it possible to understand
how what began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago can apply to today’s recent tragic
events: “By focusing our human efforts on cultivating tender connections and
caring relationships we can give birth to a world conceived by the Holy Ghost.”
Our readings are in Luke 1:39-45(46-55)
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