How often have you heard someone say, “I hate this time of year. You get up in the dark. You come home in the dark. I hate this time of year.” And it’s true. Last June a typical day in Pittsburgh was nine hours of darkness and 15 hours of sunlight. Now in December, it’s just the opposite: nine hours of sunlight and 15 hours of darkness. At this latitude, the shortest day of the year always occurs right before Christmas - which is precisely why early Christians chose to celebrate the Birth of Christ on December 25th. Christmas marks the celestial turning point when the days start to lengthen again. The Light comes into the world.
So I don’t hate this time of year at all. It brings the hushed and holy season called Advent. This weekend, as we light the first candle on the Advent wreath, whether in Church or hopefully at home too, maybe we could remember the reason for this season. Not Christmas, but Advent. It is a time of anticipation symbolized by an evergreen wreath with purple and rose candles. We don’t light them all at once, but slowly, one at a time each week. The light grows and grows. Soon and very soon, we will sing the haunting Advent hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Come into the darkness of this war-torn world. Come into the darkness of human hearts. O Come, O Come.
How does He come? St. Bernard said that actually there are three comings of Christ. Over 2000 years ago, Christ was born as a helpless babe to a poor couple in Bethlehem. And Christ will come again at the culmination of history at the last judgment. But in between the first and the last coming, Jesus comes to each of us spiritually, to dwell in our hearts by grace. This is the coming that we are eager to receive in Advent - His coming to us now when we prepare a quiet room for Him in the inn of our soul.
The saintly Dorothy Day said that Advent reminded her of a pregnant woman, waiting patiently for her child to arrive. A pregnant woman, she said, lives in a garment of silence… listening for the stir of life within herself. That’s Advent - a time to listen quietly to what stirs within. Advent stirs us to find opportunities for silence, solitude and quiet prayer. That is always difficult in our media-whipped culture where electronic devices poke at us all day long. It is even more difficult at this time of year with the hustle and bustle, jingle bells and shopping. Yet to prepare the way of the Lord, we do well to find quiet moments when we can sit with God without distraction. The Lord does not come flamboyantly. God’s voice is not a shout. It’s a whisper. We can make Advent a quiet season to find silent moments to lift our hearts and say: Come, Lord Jesus. It can be as simple as that. Come, Lord Jesus. If we withdraw from the fa-la-la-la-la around us, and find time to look within and pray more deeply, then the One who came in Bethlehem and who will come again, will come to us now, stirring within a garment of silence.
No, I don’t hate this time of year at all. It can be a pregnant season, listening to what stirs within. This year, within a garment of silence, have yourself a merry little…. Advent!