[Advent] is a slow, step-by-step journey with a clear destination; the way is clearly marked but requires intention and grit to follow it; the experience will transform the traveler.
Longfellow understood Advent’s promise: Jesus will be on the scene every time, in every circumstance. He is coming into our grief, pain, bewilderment, and even despair, so as to set things right.
The prophet Jeremiah tells us that God knew and “dedicated” each of us before he even formed us. In other words, he has staked out a unique and unrepeatable calling for each and every human being.
Advent is a time of self-reckoning. It is a season of intense intellectual and spiritual honesty, so that we may come to realize that, without Jesus, we are hungry, homeless, and cold.
