Advent is hearing the groans of all creation and believing that our world has a gracious and joyful destiny. It is listening to a prophet shouting in contemporary deserts to make the way straight for the coming of our God. Advent is the smell of burning wax and pine cones and incense bound into a circle green with hope and prayer. It is the smell, too, of our shared humanity, not yet fully redeemed but already so much graced by Christ s first coming. It is the aperitif that sharpens our appetite for the feast of Christmas.
Advent is the touch of summer rain on sunning soil, carrying the promise of the harvest.
It is waking up and watching and listening, more carefully than usual, and even in the rushing crowds, to the Lord who comes in unexpected places in our sisters and our brothers.