The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’
Mark 1:3
The season of Advent is one of my favorite times in the Christian calendar. Advent is like New Year’s Eve, the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts to seek God afresh for the coming year. Advent is like a revival, the Holy Spirit examines our deepest longings and speaks to our impure motives and attitudes. Advent is like a prophecy film, we are reminded that Christ is coming again and that this life is not as good as it gets. Advent is the Holy Spirit knocking on the doors of our hearts drawing us to Jesus. The expectation of Advent is the anticipation of Christ changing our hearts: minute by minute, day by day, month by month.
Advent is not an miracle out of the blue such as is offered by the preachers of revolution and the heralds of new ways of salvation. God acts in an entirely human ways with us, leading us step by step and waiting for us. The days of Advent are like a quiet knocking at the door of our smothered souls, inviting us to undertake the risk of stepping forward toward God’s mysterious presence, which alone can make us free.
Pope Benedict XVI, Seek That Which Is Above (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1986), 22.