As they say in the movies, bring it on! As a new liturgical year of the Church begins with this First Sunday of Advent, I say the same. Advent leads right into Christmas and so unfolds my favourite time of year, a time full of expectation and excitement, with Christmas Day as its climax. Thjs time of year acts like a rocket booster for life in my annual calendar, reminding me how good life could be and should be. This time happens during Advent when a key gospel message for us is to stay awake.
This 'stay awake' is a good reminder call, telling us to live life to the full, to treat it as a banquet, not as a food snack, taken on the run. Truth is we can too often be so mean in life, being overcome by all that is wrong in the world, sharing a communal sense of despair, not enjoying what is on offer in our world. This line of thinking is not to define life. Life is not limited by what is measured out by others, nor by what we passively accept or are forced to accept. It is beyond all that weighs us down. I keep telling myself this and know it to be true. It must be so. This is not the thought of some deluded idealist.
Yes, life is a struggle, but it is not defined by the struggle, mess or chaos we may know in our reality. Life is so much more. This is revealed to us when approached within the perspective of the grand, human narrative, the divine narrative, and not confined within my own, small narrative. Let us take the risk, step out of our narrow worlds, engage the wider world, encounter others. Life is an adventure, a journey. Carpe diem! Happy New Year!
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