Advent Hope
Advent, as we well know, is a season of waiting and anticipation, when the Church invites us to reflect on the mystery of our Lord’s coming — past, present and future. In the writings of St John Henry Newman, our Cardinal, we find some profound insights as to how we are to live this season of anticipation. St John Henry reminds us of the importance of interior preparation. In one of his sermons, he writes: “We are not simply to believe, but to watch; not simply to love, but to watch; not simply to obey, but to watch.” This watchfulness is at the heart of Advent — and it is not a merely passive waiting, but an active, intentional readiness for the coming of the Lord. Newman’s words are a challenge to go beyond the surface, to put away distractions and to prepare our hearts to receive the Lord with purity and devotion. Advent, for our cardinal, is meant to be understood as a call to self-awareness — not to drift through life without a clear sense of purpose, for the Christian has a definite work to do and an important goal in mind. “Respice finem!”
Newman’s life and theology is deeply infused with hope, a truly Advent virtue, which looks forward to the end and fulfilment of things. “Faith tells us of things we do not see, but hope tells us of things that are to come.” Advent is marked by this hopeful longing, not just for the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord at Christmas, but also of the future, when “He shall come again in glory, to judge both the living and the dead.” For Newman, hope is not some wishful thinking: it is rooted in trust in God’s promises and a confident expectation that they will be fulfilled. The Cardinal, clung on to this virtue during the course of his long life; especially during the many trials and difficulties he faced, which he endured in faith with great hope, trusting always that God “knows what he is about.”
At the heart of Advent is the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word becoming flesh and living among us. Our Cardinal contemplated this profound mystery of God’s love for his world, seeing it, the generosity of God towards us, and his humility in becoming one like us. In one Christmas sermon, he reflects on the amazing fact of the Lord’s humility: “And with a wonderful condescension he came, not as before in power, but in weakness, in the form of a servant, in the likeness of that fallen creature whom he purposed to restore.” And in his sermon The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life: “He became as one of his own creatures, as one of ourselves, born of a woman, having flesh and blood, bones and nerves, like ours.” This truth should fill us with awe and gratitude, as much as it did the Church Fathers of the early centuries, as they struggled to present the Catholic Faith coherently, formulating the Creeds, so that Christians could express what they believed with a united voice and heart. The Incarnation continues today, because Jesus Christ is still Emmanuel, “God with us”, here and now, living among us in his Word and in the Sacrament of the Altar. Let us then foster the true Advent spirit, of watching and “waiting in Blessed Hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ”.