Advent begins the Church year with a gospel that imagines the end — Jesus’ coming in glory. The gospel fairly froths with frightening images. Scary gospels can hardly worry us more than our everyday events and headlines.
Whole nations fall apart in war; their people anguish. Refugee families seek asylum from the wars that destroy fields, schools, homes — so many are children who need food, school, and health care. Where fields become deserts or lawless groups kidnap and pillage, migration follows.
On our home continent coyotes prey on migrants who pay to cross the Rio Grande. Refugees pile up at our borders awaiting asylum.
The gospel reminds us that no matter how threatening personal or world events, we live from beginning to end in the embrace of God. In our experience of being alive, we find God within us. In turning to one another and bridging our separate selves, we find God among us. In experiencing our human limits, we find we have heart and hope for mystery — God beyond us. The God of our beginning is the God of all we will become.
- What gives you hope this Advent?
