Advent: Incarnation and Anticipation

Dec 4

The season of Advent (a word which means simply coming) prepares us to celebrate one of the two greatest moments in salvation history: the Incarnation, the breathtaking expression of God’s love for us in which God (who created us in His divine image and likeness) took on our image and likeness in the person of His Son.

Fr. Louis Brisson said the following regarding Advent:

“This is a time set aside for the preparation of Christmas…The first great Advent is when Jesus came to this earth to save us. He wanted to come to us little, humble and unknown. He was born poor to show us that there is no disgrace in being poor. He willed to be a working man to teach us to love work just as He loved it.”

“The second Advent of Our Lord is made in our hearts. Every time we have a good thought, every time we take the Good God with us, every time we make an act of fidelity and every time that we tell God that we are all His, an Advent takes place.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 37)

We might also add that every time we do something good for others – every time we imitate Jesus in our thoughts, affections, attitudes and actions toward/with others – we bring about an ordinary Advent.

This is where the practice of Anticipation comes in.

Anticipation is associated with expectation or prediction. From a Salesian perspective, the Advent message to be “watchful,” to be “on the lookout” for the coming of the Messiah, is to anticipate opportunities for us to engage in simple, everyday acts and expressions of love for and with one another. To paraphrase Bl. Louis Brisson, he would predict that every time we do that, we bring about ordinary Advents. We do our part to make Jesus visible and tangible to all those whose lives we touch.

Each new day brings fresh opportunities for us to give birth to the Messiah within each of us through our love for one another. What steps might we take just today to anticipate opportunities to do just that?