How is your Advent? Advent represents a time of waiting, expectation, and change. If we are open to it, Advent is a time of spiritual journey, of change. It can be a time of hammering out our issues in preparing for the coming of Christ. Or more properly put, it is a time when we may allow God to hammer out our flaws – if we are willing to let him.
I was graced last week to encounter a most generous group called In the Arms of Mary at Catholics at Work OC event. This is not the first time that I have experienced this groups generosity. Earlier this year, they gave away to members of Catholics at Work OC the book God Alone Suffices, a book I shared with all who were interested. This past week, they shared yet another book, Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock, as a gift at our last event before Christmas.
I highly recommend both books, and have been repeatedly brought up short by the insights of these books. They are heavily based on some intellectual and spiritual heavyweights and the insights can change your life. This advent one of the images that struck me was one of the Dead Sea and the Jordan river. The Dead Sea is 1385 feet below sea level, the lowest point on the Earth’s surface that is not beneath water.[ref] Because of its hypersalinity (more than 1/3 salt) there is essentially no life in the sea. It is fed only by the fresh waters of the Jordan river, which are turned saline in the Dead Sea.
The analogy compares the Dead Sea with our pride, and the fresh water with the life giving and transforming grace of God. Our pride can kill that grace, and is the essential source of our sin. Our preoccupation with what we want, our narcissistic self love, and desire to follow our own will are like the saline sea that turns the life giving waters of into dead water. It is only if we turn away from our sin, or self-love, and surrender to God’s will that we can be transformed. This dieing to ourselves is not just a one time event, because our predilection to pride is so strong, we must constantly watch against it and continually surrender to God’s will.
This ongoing process of sanctification is not without pain. To free us from our pride, God reveals to us who we are inside. When we see our true selves, it can be painful. We see our sin and our arrogance, how we treat others, and how we treat God. It is easy in such times to despair. But we must also remember that God loves us in spite of all of our failings, and he is calling us away from this – if only we will let him. We must become truly humble – able to recognize our own sins, failings, corruption and inadequacy AND recognize that God loves us beyond all measure and wants to transform us. If we can do that, then we can be transformed and progress spiritually and get beyond the pain of our own inadequacy.
As we prepare to celebrate our Saviors coming in history, look within yourself and prepare for his coming there. It is time to unseat the usurper pride from His rightful throne in your heart.
