In the Church we are celebrating the liturgical season of Advent. This season is full of significance for each of us in our lives. Advent speaks to us principally about God coming to be with humankind. In fact, it speaks to us of how God passionately seeks us out with endless love “right to the end”. That is why Advent is a time of hope. In the prophecy of Isaiah God says, “Comfort, comfort my people…” (Is 40:1). The prophet goes on to say, “lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid … Here is your God!” (Is 40:9-10).
The entire history of salvation written in the Bible is simply about God patiently and persistently reaching out to humankind. In the Old Testament, God calls on human beings through the prophets’ proclamations. In the New Testament, when the fullness of time had arrived, God sent his only begotten Son, a human being like us, who died and rose again for our salvation. The prophet Isaiah said, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Is 40:11). This image of God as a shepherd who cares for his flocks shows us how God treats each one with great dignity and esteem. Saint John Paul II’s faith filled him with wonder, and he wrote in Redemptor Hominis, “How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he ‘gained so great a Redeemer’ […] In reality, the name for that deep amazement at man's worth and dignity is the Gospel, that is to say: the Good News. It is also called Christianity” (no.10). The season of Advent is a time for us all to renew our sense of wonder.
God is seeking us out but we human beings always escape. We try to hide from God and often even reject Him. We say “no” through our sin, pride and indifference. The current world crisis is more than a financial or social crisis. It is first of all a “crisis of God”. Herein lies the key to finding the best solutions to meet the many serious challenges that afflict humanity. God must return to the centre of our lives and the life of the world. It is crucial that people today return to seeking God. The Advent season reminds us not only that God is reaching out to us, but also that God wants us to look for Him. It is a providential time to reawaken in our hearts our desire for God and our waiting in expectation for God. As the psalmist says: “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you” (Psalm 63:1). We are all called to seek out God in our lives. This includes the baptised, Christians involved in the Church and its mission. Pope Francis has spoken often of a “restlessness of heart” (cf. Holy Mass for the beginning of the General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, 28 August 2013). This restlessness can be expressed in three ways. The first is the restlessness of spiritual seeking. The Pope urges us to, “look into the depths of your heart, look into your own inner depths and ask yourself: do you have a heart that desires something great, or a heart that has been lulled to sleep by things? Has your heart preserved the restlessness of seeking or have you let it be suffocated by things that end by hardening it?” This is followed by the restlessness of seeking an encounter with God. The Holy Father encourages us to ask: “am I anxious for God, anxious to proclaim him, to make him known? Or do I allow that spiritual worldliness to attract me which impels people to do everything for love of themselves? […] Have I, so to speak, made myself comfortable in my Christian life […] or do I retain the force of restlessness for God, for his Word that makes me ‘step out’ of myself and go towards others?”. The Pope then speaks of the restlessness of love. He asks some incisive questions: “Do we believe in love for God and for others? Or are we unconcerned by this? Not in an abstract manner, not only in words, but as a real brother to those we come across, the brother who is beside us! Are we moved by their needs or do we remain closed in on ourselves […]?”.
May these questions posed by the Holy Father be a healthy provocation for all of us this Advent. Searching for God means conversion of heart because we do not settle for anything less. As Saint Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you”.
