He stoops down from on high
A story is told of a man walking along the road one day when he falls into a hole. The walls are so steep, he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and the man shouts up, “Hey you, can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down into the hole and moves on. Then a lawyer comes along, and the man shouts up, “Excuse me, sir, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?” The lawyer writes out a note explaining his rights, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. “Hey Joe, it’s me, can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Our man says, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.” The friend says, “Yes, but I’ve seen this before. I can show you the way out.”
Advent is our time of preparation for the greatest moment in human history, when God stoops down from on high in order to lead us back to himself by showing us the way. He condescends to become one of us, not because he has to, or is forced to, but out of love — for the sake of friendship.
Our preparation for the feast of Christmas takes the form of a renewal of our acceptance that God comes so close as to be one of us. That he, even now, gives us that share in his divine life, his grace, which sanctifies and perfects us. His grace makes us righteous.
The beautiful “Advent Prose” which is sung at this time of year makes just that plea, that by God’s generosity, the sky will rain down the Just One who comes to make sense of past wrongs, to bring healing and peace and does this mostly by his presence, by his solidarity with us. And so we prepare to accept him anew in our hearts.
We are not asked to take on great fasts and penances in Advent (though a little of either doesn’t hurt), but rather to clear the decks of those empty promises of help, those things which don’t offer the real help we need (like the doctor and the lawyer in our story). It is a time to read the scriptures, perhaps the Gospel from Mass each day. It is a time to beef-up our prayer life, to return to our devotions with more heart and care. It is a time to begin again at showing charity for those around us in word and deed. We talk a lot about resolutions in Lent, but perhaps not so much at the beginning of the Church’s year, even though this too is an acceptable time of God’s favour.
So what in your life could benefit from a spiritual restart, a holy new beginning? It’s time to ask the Lord who is shoulder to shoulder with you to help you with just that.