“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes of three advents. One is in the PAST: Christ was born to the Blessed Virgin Mary when God Incarnate came to rescue the world. One is in the PRESENT: now is the time to prepare our hearts for Christ’s dwelling. And one is in the FUTURE: Christ will come again in glory. During the Advent season I usually only consider the past Advent, Christ’s Nativity. After all, it’s complete and all that I need to do is remember what has happened and celebrate on Christmas morning what Our Lord has done. The other two advents require more of me. How do I prepare my heart for the Son of God to enter it? And perhaps even more difficult: How can I bear waiting for Christ’s return in exile, amidst grief, pain, and uncertainty?
In the advent carol the first step is to long for Christ. O come, O come, Emmanuel, God with us. We long for Him because we have come to understand the difficult reality of our situation. Until we realize that placing our security in anything of this life is fruitless, we will not be able to long for Christ as we ought.
“Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel”
-- Haley Stewart, excerpted from her blog carrotsformichaelmas.com
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