Meditation on advent and Christmas

Fr. Leo Pabayo . 

DURING the season of Advent and Christmas the air will be filled with the sound of Christmas Carols sung in the churches and the neighborhood and brought to our living rooms by the air waves through the broad cast of radio and television.

A good way of celebrating Advent and Christmas meaningfully is by listening to these carols and meditating on the meaningful words that they carry. Christmas being preceded by Advent it would be good to start to start our meditation with the meaningful words of the Song of Hope of Advent as shown below and draw spiritual fruits from these. One of them is the song “Whispering Hope”.

Soft as the voice of an angel,

Breathing a lesson unheard,

Hope with a gentle persuasion

Whispers her comforting word:

The angels in the Bible are known as the good spirits who serve as messengers of God. They come to bring various messages from God to effect some good in the lives of people. They are known to announce their messages softly, gently, soothing and comforting. Their message is like the drop of water falling on a sponge. It is not tempestuous, irritating, and strident. These are the images used by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his counsel on the discernment of the spirit, as well as Elijah the prophet in his trying to discern the presence of God in his life. 

Wait till the darkness is over,

Wait till the tempest is done,

Hope for the sunshine tomorrow,

After the shower is gone.

Sometimes the dark cloud if disturbances, confusion, tendencies toward seeking base pleasures, worldly ambitions leading to the corruption, stormy relationships that damage what is good, what is true and beautiful in our relationship with God and friends engulfing us in darkness and desolation. It is a time when everything seems to be always wet and sodden.

It is at these times when the angel awakens in us the virtue of hope and to patiently wait for the sunshine tomorrow to light up our life.

Refrain

Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice,

Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.

If, in the dusk of the twilight,

Dim be the region afar,

When things begin to dim and the darkness of night begins to take over let us not let us fear the darkness but trust that another kind of light takes over to guide us on our way the way that the Star of Bethlehem guided the three wise men to Him who is the light of all light showing them the way of life that saves as exemplified by Mary the Mother of the child and his foster father Joseph.

Therefore when the darkness of the night deepens let not our heart sink away but instead keep vigil with them and the shepherds and “watch for the breaking of day.”

Will not the deepening darkness

Brighten the glimmering star?

Then when the night is upon us,

Why should the heart sink away?

When the dark midnight is over,

Watch for the breaking of day.

Hope is like the dawn. The dawn dispels the darkness of the night so that daylight may come. The dark episodes in our life are like the darkness of the night that longs to see the light of day. In time of failures or sickness or betrayal by a friend or death of a loved one, our minds and feelings are engulfed in darkness. But just like the night we know that the darkness will soon give way to the light.

Hope, as an anchor so steadfast,

Rends the dark veil for the soul,

Whither the Master has entered,

Robbing the grave of its goal.

Come then, O come, glad fruition,

Come to my sad weary heart;

Come, O Thou blest hope of glory,

Never, O never depart.

The greatest kind of hope is the one that Christ has brought into the world when he assumed our human nature and united it with his divine nature. From then on everything in the world began to assume a new life and light. This is what we are celebrating during this season of Advent and Christmas.