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First Sunday of Advent

Readings of the Day 
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This year has felt like a strange, dark trip away from life as we know
it. Although literally stuck at home, I feel akin to the man Mark
describes, who leaves his home - I've long left the home
of old-normal. Loss of normal, of routine, of expected, and for many,
much greater losses. Loss of stability from reliable employment, loss
of financial resources to pay for food, rent, clothing, and even loss
of life. All this loss has brought greater numbers of individuals and
families experiencing challenges to rely on the holy work of Catholic
Charities. 

Today's readings speak amid our current moment with global
pandemic, protest and complacency, polarized neighbors, and disordered
and disastrous cycles in our earth's climate. Maybe Isaiah is
right to claim that we have all withered like leaves. It can feel like
it. The Psalmist asks the Lord to give us new life, and I feel my
bones begging for this, aching for the arrival of renewed life,
hopeful that what is unfolding will be better, more equitable, more
inclusive, more closely resembling God's vision for all of
creation.

As you wait, God is faithful.

I find deep grace in tethering my flimsy life to the liturgical
calendar. For all that has been upheaved and tossed about this year,
for all the virtual gatherings and delayed visits, the abnormal
holidays, the unconscionable loss of life, work, stability, and
security ... for all of this, here we are again at Advent. We
arrive as we did last year, and the year before that, and the year
before that, and so on. An echo of normal. I feel drawn in from the
seeming tomb of quarantine to the quiet wondrous womb of Advent. God
is faithful. Spirit is doing something here. New life is coming. 

There is a glimmer of light coming at the end of this Covid tunnel.
When it dawns, our newly formed selves that have been worked over so
rough-tenderly by our potter-God's hands will step out into the
light, for there remains much work to be done. As I wait, I watch for
what our faithful God is shaping into being.

 

Kelly Hickman is active in several parishes in the Archdiocese of
Seattle, serving as a Catholic Relief Services (the international
sister agency of CCUSA) Ambassador and as Spiritual Advisor to her St.
Vincent de Paul Conference.




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