God works in time. The Jewish prophets knew that and however faithless their people, however dark and desolate their situation, they believed God was at work. God’s kingdom was coming.

Christianity knows this too. The seed the sower sows grows in time; the field has a treasure waiting to be found, servants get gifts to trade till their master’s return, storms threaten the sea, but God’s plan for peace unfolds in time. “In the fullness of time God sent his Son.” (Galatians 4,4)

Storms can be fierce, however, and make us “ready to die of fright”; we can also get tired waiting and, like the servants in the parable, fall asleep, a dangerous sleep.

Feasts and seasons are there to give us hope and wake us up. The four weeks of Advent and the feasts and days of Christmas and Epiphany waken us to God’s presence, the presence of God in the Incarnation of his Son. Advent begins a holy time; let’s welcome it. “Today if you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”

Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, true God and true man, born of a woman, revealed to all people has come to save our world. He came once and he will come again “to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”

We know the mysteries of God slowly, however. ( Luke 24,25) Only little by little, as time goes by, do we grow in awareness, an awareness that can ” ransom the time being from insignificance.” ( W.H.Auden)

Advent culminates in two great feasts, Christmas and Epiphany.

What to look for in Advent and Christmas?

In the four weeks of Advent the Prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary of Nazareth are key messengers of God. Isaiah, the first voice we hear, brings a message of hope.

Isaiah was a priest in the temple of Jerusalem in the 8th century, a time of devastating wars and religious and political turmoil in Israel, when the powerful armies of Assyria were ravaging the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

God came to him in a vision in the temple’s Holy of Holies (Isaiah 6) and Isaiah was overwhelmed by a Presence more powerful than any on earth. Human plans and schemes were not the answer, he realized; reliance on God was. No matter how bad the times, God is “Emmanuel,” “God with us.”

This was Isaiah’s message then, and it’s his message today.

“ I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ ‘Here I am,’ I said; ‘send me!’” (Is 6,8)

Isaiah’s prophecies pervade Advent time, beginning with the first week. They may seem unreal to us, as they must have seemed unreal to those who first heard them when Assyrian armies were laying waste to Palestine.

Could anyone believe that all nations will stream toward the mountain of the Lord’s house, laying down the arms of war and seeking wisdom? Can all peoples, all nations, all races ever live in harmony and peace? Can families and neighbors live peaceably?

Today, in our splintered world, the prophet’s promise seems an impossible dream. But this holy time of Advent revives and expands our hope, not just a personal hope for ourselves and those dear to us, but hope for the whole world.

God loves the world and sent his Son to save it. Hard though it is to imagine, God’s coming kingdom will bring the world peace.

Sin is behind the fragmentation of our world. But sin is destroyed by God’s grace and ‘the grace of God has appeared,” the Child born to us is our Savior and Lord. “He will come to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” The peaceable kingdom, seemingly impossible, is not impossible for God.

Advent and Christmas time ends with the Feast of the Epiphany and the Baptism of Jesus, who manifests himself to the gentiles and calls all nations into his kingdom.

” The season of Advent has a twofold character. It is a time of preparation for Christmas when the first coming of God’s Son to us is recalled. It is also a season when minds are directed by this memorial to Christ’s second coming at the end of time. It is thus a season of joyful and spiritual expectation.( General Norms for the Liturgical Year, 39)