As we come to the last days of Advent, the season in Christianity of waiting, I am reminded of the words of Sr. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister of Erie Pennsylvania, known for her social justice stance and working with and for the marginalized. “Advent is that unchangeable season when the same concepts, the same words rise over and over again, year after year, to challenge our hearts and plague our minds. Advent is the season of waiting. And who hasn’t waited? When we are little children, we wait for gifts from our parents. When we are young adults, we wait for the lover who will take us to the magic world of Everything. The problem is that the presents pale and the magic world sags all too quickly into reality. But then Advent comes, relentlessly and throughout life, with its words of hope and faith—shepherds and magi, crib and star, Emmanuel and glory—and stirs our hearts to pinnacles of possibility one more time. Ruben A. Alvez wrote, ‘Hope is hearing the melody of the future; faith is dancing to it today.’ The real Christmas gift, for which Advent is the process, is learning to hum hope, learning to dance the divine.”
I was riding the subway with my husband. We were headed towards Penn Station, returning home after seeing a Broadway show in Manhattan. It was rush hour, the subway was crowded and I was lucky to get one of the last seats. It was amazingly quiet for such a crowded car. Most people were looking at their phones or listening to a device. There were quite a few pairs of wireless earphones on people. Their heads nodded slightly to the beat of noiseless music, or their eyes glazed over as a mystery book played in their ears. There was a rich variety of humanity on that single car- multiple ages, ethnicities, races, ages and income levels. I marveled at the diversity and the peaceful coexistence in this tiny piece of New York City. My eyes glanced over to the man sitting next to me. He was holding a book and reading it very intently. Reading an actual book is a relatively rare occurrence these days, but what truly caught my attention was the unusual prin
Beautiful imagery of the pure essence of Advent.....thank you!
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