O Come Divine Messiah

This is positively my favorite time of the Liturgical Year.

The anxious anticipation to our Lord's birth is crescendoing and the excitement is building. The church is still draped in purple to foster a solemn spirit of penance as we wait, but with that glorious splash of pink to remind us of the joy that is just on the horizon.

But still...we must wait. And though all signs point to His imminent arrival, He's not here yet. Our hope, our Salvation is within grasping range, but it can't be hurried.

The Church in her wisdom doesn't just randomly make us wait for 4 weeks. The 4 weeks of Advent parallel, according to tradition, the to the 4,000 years that God's chosen people waited for the Messiah. From the Fall of Man, through the Covenant with Abraham, through the captivity of the Hebrews in Egypt, through the time of David all the prophets until at last...4,000 years after sin entered the world, God finally sent His Son to Redeem mankind. This is an important point:

The promise of a Redeemer was made in the Garden of Eden but He didn't deliver on that promise for 4,000 years.

And during that time, He permitted his Chosen People to be purged and scourged as they waited for the Messiah.  He allowed His people to endure wars, pestilence, a great flood, desert wanderings, repeatedly falling into slavery and captivity by foreign pagan nations and even in-fighting among the 12 tribes of Israel which eventually caused His beloved nation to divide itself. God permitted these trials and sorrows to both test His people and their faith but also to demonstrate in no uncertain terms how His Son would reverse all this. Christ would be the New Adam who would free us from the slavery of sin; the Good Shepherd who would gently lead for His flock; the Divine Physician who would heal, restore, mend and unite.

Waiting...seems to be the story of my life.  Of us all--some to more of a degree than the rest. But we all wait. And though it's very often frustrating and even painful, waiting is good. It strengthens virtue (patience, forbearance, etc.) and trains us to submit our wills and desires for those of God's. I know this is not a new idea under the sun so I won't belabor the point. But here's my point:

We live in a push-botton society where we instantly want to know and have everything RIGHT NOW. We don't want to wait...for anything. We have an economic crisis in our country because people couldn't wait until they actually earned the money for the things they wanted. We carry smart phones so we have up-to-the-minute social networking access and get impatient when our text messages aren't replied to within 15 seconds. We have IVF clinics and sperma/egg donors for those who don't want to bother with the hassle of fixing the organic problem of infertility. I could go on...

But then there are the times where it's not by choice that we wait and there is nothing we can do to hurry the hand of God. And it's during that time of waiting that we are obliged to slow down, reflect and more importantly, to submit. The spiritual effects of waiting well are limitless, though I for one have only begun to scratch the surface of this concept (much less how to accomplish it). But the 4,000 year wait of the Chosen People gives me new insight into the great divide between God's timing and ours.




And so Advent is a perfect time to foster this concept of the virtues attached to waiting, especially with little ones. We tend to decorate our home for the season sparsely at first; but gradually, incrementally our home is transformed. But we purposely do so slowly--much to my children's dismay who can't wait to bust out every single Christmas trinket we own right after Thanksgiving. Instead we try to savor these preparations and enjoy the time it takes to reach Christmas.

The tree going up on the First Sunday of Advent (we call it an "Advent Tree"...decorated only with white lights) signals a beginning of something about the happen, the need for change and the need to make rooms in our hearts for Someone about to arrive. The space it requires in the living room and the soft, quiet ambiance it creates in the evening serve as reminders for the need to clear away the debris that clutters our ability to look outside ourselves. This change, this transformation of our hearts, doesn't happen overnight.

Actually, we use the tree as our Jesse Tree so you do see some of those figures hanging there

Each evening we light the candle(s) of the Advent Wreathe and sing a verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel before saying grace...

Each day we add another figure on the Jesse Tree and read a brief corresponding scripture verse relating to Salvation History...

Each day, we add just one more figure to the manger scene...

The Magi wander throughout the house looking for Baby Jesus and gradually draw closer and closer to the dining room (the sight of the manger scene)...

Each day during the Octave before Christmas, we add one more block to the O Antiphon House...

And the boys gradually build, by making little sacrifices and acts of kindness, a soft bed of straw for the manger (one piece of straw for every good deed/sacrifice)...

And this year, we've been reading one chapter a night of a fantastic little Advent read-aloud that follows the journey and adventures of a young boy through Israel in the days leading up to the Savior's birth.

We'll then decorate the tree on Christmas Eve. This is also the week that I spend doing most of my Christmas baking and enjoying the Christmas cards coming in the mail.

Now, do we refuse to take part in any pre-Christmas company holiday parties, cookie exchanges, neighborhood caroling parties and the like? Of course not. But in general, our theme for Advent is: Slow down. Get ready. Wait for the appointed time to really celebrate: December 25 and it's octave that follows until Epiphany.

This transformation of the home (and the heart) demands that we not hurry...and this is especially true for myself. I get frustrated with the kids' poor behavior throughout the day. I get frustrated with my own poor behavior when I react to their poor behavior. But then I am reminded that He comes not for the sinless but for the sinners.




O Come, Divine Messiah!
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing it's triumph, 
And sadness flee away.


Dear Savior haste;
Come, come to eart
Dispel the night and show your face
And bid us hail the dawn of grace.


O Come, Divine Messiah!
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing it's triumph,
And sadness flee away.