The ache of Advent

I sprained or strained something yesterday. A sharp pain pulls at my ankle when I run, and so this morning when the cool air beckoned and the woods sang out for me, I couldn't go. I started to run, feeling the ache, thinking I could just power through, ignore it, move anyway. 

It stopped me at twenty yards and turned me around. Back to ice, back to rest, back to being still on the couch. I muttered angrily to myself about "Injuries!" and their inconvenience, and looked out at the water rippling across the pond, and it hit me.

Did I forget that Advent reveals the ache? 

Did I forget that Advent, the season of preparation, shows us where we are most broken? We await the coming of long-expected Jesus. We cry out for His light. We cry out for His joy. But why would we be crying out if there wasn't something in us that aches? If our muscles and bones weren't cracking and straining from the weight, from the falling down and falling apart? 

Isn't what makes Advent its own miracle is how the Light we wait for already shows us how much we need Him? When we light the Advent wreath, or pray a weekly prayer, or read a devotional, we are making ourselves ready for Him. We are clearing the field, resting the broken bones, taking time to be still and feel the ache for Him.

That's the point of Advent. It isn't to look busy when Jesus comes. It isn't to look pious when others come. It isn't to power through one more season or one more Christmas party or one more morning run. The point of Advent is the ache for the long-expected one. It is to let the ache fill you up so that when He comes, we know who He is. The point of Advent is to make space in your heart that aches for Jesus. 

How can we remember this? Pray with me, from a Catholic Advent Prayer?


Come, long-expected Jesus. 
Excite in me a wonder at the wisdom and power of Your 
Father and ours. 
Receive my prayer as part of my service of the Lord 
who enlists me in God's own work for justice. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. 
Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world, 
peace in my home, peace in myself. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. 
Excite in me a joy responsive to the Father's joy. 
I seek His will so I can serve with gladness, singing and 
love. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. 
Excite in me the joy and love and peace 
it is right to bring to the manger of my Lord. 
Raise in me, too, 
sober reverence for the God who acted there, 
hearty gratitude for the life begun there, 
and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son. 

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, 
whose advent I hail.

Amen. 


Today, may the ache of Advent fill you with the hope of His coming. 

Love,
Hilary