Greetings!
“Advent should not be confused with Lent. The crimson-purple of Advent is not the black-purple of Lent. The former symbolizes yearning and longing, the latter repentance. The spirituality of Advent is about carrying tension without prematurely resolving it so that we do not short-circuit the fullness that comes from respecting love’s rhythms. Only when there is enough heat will there be unity. To give birth to what’s divine requires the slow patience of gestation. The sublime has to be waited for. In shorthand, that’s Advent.” – Ron Rolheiser, “Daybreaks”
Where do we experience something so powerful as this kind of creation? Certainly, in the birth of each child, we wait nine months. Now, let’s consider waiting in God’s time. Picture yourself at Yellowstone overlook viewing the bubbling hot-pots and the grand geysers that have boiled and churned since the beginning of time. Recall just two short years ago (doesn’t feel short, but in God’s time a blink) and then ask ourselves again, “What is trying to be born?” The description of Advent in the quote above speaks to the tension and heat that is always part of our process as we learn to wait with the hope of a new unified normal. Perched on that overlook, in God’s creation and the hot-pots and geysers of Yellowstone – God’s ancient world, over centuries, creating itself anew! Pandemic time, for us, can seem eternal. This is an opportunity to consider how we might assist in the birth of the new normal. I do believe the seeds are sown through the patient prayer we model for our communities, and the decisions each one of us makes to promote the common good. This graceful waiting while listening carefully for the voice of God and the work of the Holy Spirit will help to deliver the divine…in God’s time.
You remain in our prayers of gratitude,
Kristin and the OCS team
KRISTIN DIXON | Superintendent
Office for Catholic Schools | Archdiocese of Seattle
