Wednesday, December 21, 2016
“O Radiant Dawn”
The Responsorial Psalm
calls us to: “Exult, you just, in the
Lord! Sing to him a new song.” We exult because “our soul waits for the
Lord…” with deep longing, and he is given to us (Psalm 33).
Song of Songs 2: 8-14 is a poem of desire between lover and beloved. She awaits; he invites:
“Arise, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!... See, the winter is
past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth.”
Advent is a time of triple expectation: we await the celebration
of Christ’s coming to earth at Christmas; we await his coming in glory at the
end of the world; and we await his coming for us, as lover to beloved, at the
moment of our death.
No one of these expectations makes sense without the other. They
are all elements of a single desire: the desire for union with God, for whom we
were made, for union with Jesus Christ who came to make this union possible,
for union with him now and forever, in life and in death.
The liturgy encourages us, who are the beloved, to “Exult in the Lord! Sing to him a new song,”
because he comes. Our hearts say, “Let me see you, let me hear your voice. For
your voice is sweet….”
Luke 1: 39-45 brings this expectation into focus in daily life. Jesus comes to
us constantly, daily, in the form of inspirations, movements of heart,
encounters with him present in other people—speaking to us in them, through the
Scriptures, through experiences in our family and social life, at work and at
school. He is like the “Radiant dawn”
(O Antiphon): the same eternal light
shining, like the sun, as new and different every day through different people
and events.
We recognize him when our hearts “leap for joy.” The leap may be a
tiny skip, a brief second of feeling loved, of perceiving truth or beauty.
Then, if we are aware that this is a response to the divine presence, we say
like Elizabeth, “How does this happen to me,” that the voice, the touch, the
beauty “of my Lord should come to me?” Then our hearts “Exult in the Lord” more than “sentinels in the dawn” (see Psalm 130).
Initiative: If you want to
live life to the full, be Christ! Keep yourself aware that Christ is in
you, speaking through you, showing love to others through you. If you remain
aware of his presence in you, you will experience his presence in others.
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