ADVENTure is here.

So, here we go. It’s a new ecclesial year; it’s that season where we cannot avoid even the subtlest reminder that a long, long time ago-the world was changed for ever. Believe it or not, it is true that as soon as that little baby was born things have never been the same. When I fell in love with the writings of Flannery O’Connor in one of my undergraduate literature classes, I think it was partly because of her piercing approach to understanding who Christ is. I remember we took apart the following excerpt from A Good Man is Hard to Find:

And on the subject of Jesus he continues, “Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead and He shouldn’t have done it. He thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.”

Once I thought about it, it made such sense. We are either with Him or we are against Him. Though I have often thought I have been with Him, I sometimes realize that I am more like the Misfit. No, I have never murdered or set fire to anyone’s home, but I certainly have done “meanness.” We all have.

This advent season is a season where we begin to hope for that coming or visitation of the man who as arrived to establish peace. It is a journey away from our clutter, our fears, our meanness, and our loneliness towards the humble manger where the bread of life awaits. Pope Benedict once described it as, “a time to mean God is here, he hasn’t retired to his world, he hasn’t left us alone.” Many times when we want to destroy evil or pain we rush to action. Now, we have a chance to trust and be calm and wait. We can start a new adventure in following that life that changed the world for ever. It is our opportunity to keep trying to throw away everything and follow Him.