Advent Reflection: Week One

I am always consoled by the readings from the prophet Isaiah that we hear during the first week of Advent. He proclaims that our God “will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken” (Is. 25:8). 

Our God is not some cold, distant God who watches and waits to see just what each of us is going to do with the life He has given us. Rather, our God created us to be in a loving relationship with Him and to spend all of eternity with Him, and every movement of this God of ours, every grace seen and unseen, is about our redemption. 

Yet, this is not just a distant promise to be fulfilled at the moment of our passing from this world. Advent reminds us that God is here among us now. He is Emmanuel—“God with us.” God never stops seeking us, He never tires of forgiving us, and His unrelenting desire is to be one with us!

In our searching for God, let us never grow discouraged by our own inconsistencies and our tendency to both seek God and then try to hide from Him. He understands our wayward hearts. This prayer by St. Anselm of Canterbury is both powerful and consoling and perhaps most appropriate for these Advent days: 

O my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You,
where and how to find You.
You are my God and You are my all and I have never seen You.
You have made me and remade me,
You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
Still I do not know You.
I have not yet done that for which I was made.
Teach me to seek You.
I cannot seek You unless You teach me
or find You unless You show Yourself to me.
Let me seek You in my desire,
let me desire You in my seeking.
Let me find You by loving You,
let me love You when I find You.
Amen.