Psallam​​ TIBI​

 

NE TIMEAS

 

FEAR NOT the day of the coming of the Lord, but prepare yourselves in earnest, so that you yearn for it as for your own consummation. This is truly a season to put our houses in order, to order our desires towards the very reason for our existence. For as we anticipate the coming of the One who was born for us, we come to realise that we were also born for Him, that we have been chosen for a life that is extraordinary in the eyes of the world. Glance back at how He has drawn you to Himself; how the path of your life, though sometimes winding and arduous has, even in times of darkness, emerged into the guiding light of His word. And then look forward, into the source of that light, and see in it not something to be feared, but your heart’s sole desire.

 

Then will your heart rejoice in His coming and in the hope of His return. Let not the supplication of our Advent prayer – “Come, Emmanuel” – be a mere tagline for that which we already have. For He came and we have had God-with-us. Recollect, rather, through prayer on how truly we have been in communion with the One who came to be with us. For it is only in embracing fully the Emmanuel as He came, that our hearts orientate towards the horizon of His return; finding that we are not yet complete, that there is much for which the heart still yearns, that the joy of the Incarnation as perceived with the eyes of man will give way to an even greater joy, the likes of which the resounding song of the Angels on that first Christmas will prove but a pale reflection. On that day we shall see that He came to live among us but for a short while, so that we might live in Him for all eternity.

 

Pray, then, “Come Emmanuel”, with such fervent desire that your heart is raised high in expectant hope and with a pure ardour that leaves you breathless for the heavenly light to break forth once more into our world, this time no longer just to be with us, but to bring to perfect fruition the reason for His coming, that reason for which we were called from the womb: to know the true bliss of being with Him. So, with our Blessed Mother, may we hear the message of the Angel, “Fear not,” for we, too, have been chosen and set apart for the immense gift of God’s grace. For it is inconceivable, given the magnitude of the gift already received in the Incarnation, to permit our souls to languish in the worldly comfort of chestnuts, carols, and the candles illuminating our Advent wreaths, when a deeper connection with the Word Made Flesh invites in this season. It is a connection rooted in the unravelling of the great mystery of the divine love; a history of love revealed across the timeline of God’s plan of salvation, and equally in the record of our own lives; a certainty of love that entered into dispels all fear, except that most precious of the gifts of His Spirit, which lifts us to the very presence of God, there to stand in humble awe of His love, as with Mary we offer our 'fiat'.

 

Ne timeas Maria, invenisti enim gratiam apud Dominum:

ecce concipies, et paries filium, alleluia.

Antiphona Magnificat, ad Vesperas Dominica I Adventus

Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with the Lord;

behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son. Alleluia.