This past weekend, I helped lead an Advent Retreat at the Marianist Retreat and Conference Center just outside St. Louis. It was the eighth time leading this annual event (taking a year off for COVID in 2020) with my friends and colleagues Lucia Signorelli and Fr. Tom Santen.
The title of the retreat was, “The Word is Still Becoming Flesh,” and through talks, songs, prayer and even a contemplative photography experience inspired by Thomas Merton, we looked at the many and diverse ways that Jesus keeps “breaking into our lives.” And that is the power of Advent, of course. It’s not just about getting ready for Christmas and remembering that historic event that happened in Bethlehem roughly 2,000 years ago. It is about that, of course, but it’s so much more.
Advent is a time to remember that the Incarnate Word of God continues to break into our lives, day in and day out, if we will only take the time to watch. Just as the Son of God interrupted the lives of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and so many others on one night so long ago, he keeps showing up for us even today. The question we need to keep asking, Fr. Tom challenged us, is “do you see what I see?”
I took the photo above just outside the doors of the retreat house. It’s a little hard to make out, I confess, but what it shows is a trickle of water from a fountain, which has broken through the ice of a small decorative pond. It spoke to me of God’s slow and steady work in our lives, of God’s living word that, if left flowing, will indeed break into our lives and change us in ways we can never imagine.
Today, I offer you a small sampling of advent reflections from prior years of this blog. Perhaps you will find something here that will meet you where you are in this holy season. I hope you will allow these words, and more importantly the words of scripture that accompany us these holy weeks of advent, to help you pay closer attention and perhaps find that small trickle of God that is waiting for you.