A Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent

Click here for readings

Advent has arrived on the heels of Thanksgiving, a day where we stop, pause and bring to mind all the gifts we have been given, and give thanks to God. But to be able to recall the blessings in our lives requires attentiveness throughout the year if our thanks are to be meaningful.

And so it is in Advent.  In the gospel for the first Sunday we are encouraged to “Be watchful!”  “Be Alert!”  It is a season of preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, as we “wait in joyful hope”.  But Advent presents its own seeming paradox: in order to be spiritually watchful and alert, we need to quiet ourselves, carve out some restful space and avoid getting caught up in fruitless distractions.

The Spanish poet Antonio Machado captures the invitation of Advent in his poem, “Is My Soul Asleep”:

Is my soul asleep?
Have those beehives that work
in the night stopped? And the water-
wheel of thought, is it
going around now, cups
empty, carrying only shadows?

No, my soul is not asleep
It is awake, wide awake.
It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches,
(with) its eyes wide open,
far-off things, and listens
at the shores of the great silence.

Advent blessings!