Advent: Perfection, in insecurity
(Jer 33:14-16; Lk 21:25-28.34-36)
What kind of Coming is it? A shortcut or an act of power that evens out our stormy waves?
Indeed, it does not seem in the style of 'good news' to speak of «the roar of the sea and the billows» or to reiterate: «watch over the weighed-down hearts».
But in the expectation of his «Promises» - and that He will even manifest himself as «our-righteousness» [first Reading] - we find it difficult to proceed beyond the exterior.
In the observant tradition of all peoples, insecurity is perceived as a disadvantage.
So we wait on our Lord in times of economic troubles, that He may profit us with a win; in humiliating events, that He may lift us up.
In loneliness, so that we can meet the right person.
In the dangers... wishing that at least He conveys strength to turn the situation around.
And in sickness we imagine He restores youthful vigour.
So in babel, let [finally, at least] communicate relaxation - better, triumph.
But the Faith detaches itself from this. Faith evaluates with opposite mentality.
For example, it happens that we fail to meet a friend because we get the time and place of the appointment wrong.
It also happens with God.
The insecurity proclaimed in the Gospels resembles a «roaring of the sea and the billows» (v.25)... but it is Glad Tidings!
In the mind of the man who dodges oscillations, that kind of «wave» that comes to make us think about old things is immediately identified as an identity danger.
Providence itself - the «wave» that sees ahead - is perhaps branded with disquiet.
In the ideal man as chiselled by the most normalising moralisms, the swampy «water» of the drives is the one that fouls and drags to the ground; and Heaven would always be clear and clean “above” the earth.
Instead, it is often an upstream cultural identification that produces insecurity, far more than the objective reality that ‘comes in’ to refresh our souls and make them as light as the (crudely embodied) «sea foam».
Today's Gospel wishes us to be highly critical, and even insecure: it does not say «you must be like this», nor «you are this».
We have to 'dive' into the «waves», we have to know these «billows»; because our fixed point is not in external things.
Missionaries are driven by this certainty: the best 'stability' is instability: that «roar of the sea and the billows» where no wave resembles another.
Thus, on the basis of the Word of God... even the liturgical colour violet should perhaps take on a lively reinterpretation - much more biting and profound than we thought we understood.
To internalise and live the message:
Advent: why do you want the Lord... to Come and make Himself Present in your life?
[1st Advent Sunday (year C), December 1, 2024]
