December 1
Begin your Advent season with an inspiring reflection from Art Liebscher, S.J. ’69. His message will guide you through this special time of preparation and anticipation, as we await the celebration of Christmas.
Beginning Again
As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. . . . Deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents, and all your waves and breakers sweep over me. [Ps 42:2, 8]
Thanksgiving season now gives way to Advent and the expectation of Christmas. With Thanksgiving, we celebrated the fulness of what our Creator and our existence have given us. Now, the year turns to Advent, the season of yearning, and it brings a renewed glimpse of our vocation as a faithful people in an incomplete world.
Between Thanksgiving and Advent, many Christians marked Christ the King Sunday, an important feast overshadowed by the swirling holiday season. For Catholics, Episcopalians and the Anglican Communion, Lutherans, Methodists, and others—a big swath of Christianity—the feast of Christ the King celebrates, well, pretty much the fulness of everything. To borrow images from the opening of John’s gospel, our idea of Christ as king begins with the depths of the Trinity, with Word present before all things, through whom our existence was created. Becoming flesh—material and alive—the Word brought divine light and life into the world. Through him, we discover God’s glory, grace, and truth poured out upon all. [John 1:1–18]. Jesus Christ, the Word, the Redeemer, gathers us into the life of the Trinity. Thus, we call Christ king, but the kingship is greater than anything we can imagine. Creation and salvation have reached fulfillment in his birth, life, death, and resurrection. The job is done.
Except, of course, it isn’t. Christian life places us in a reality of two truths. This thing we call salvation has come to completion, and it remains very much unfinished. We sometimes call this situation “the already but the not yet.” Christ’s infinite Kingdom is complete, but, in finite time, he gives us the commission to build out the Kingdom, that is, the communion of Christ’s love on earth.
As we begin Advent, we feel this tension—already but also not yet. The life that Christ gives us longs for fulfillment—deep calling to deep, as the psalmist wrote. As we look forward to marking Christ’s birth, we recommit ourselves to bring the Kingdom of faith, hope, and love in our earthly world.
Fr. Art ’69 assists the Alumni Office with spiritual services deemed important to the University. His many good works include attending to those in special need, representing the University in liturgies, participating on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and helping build Santa Clara’s Jesuit outreach to younger alumni, special boards, and other constituencies.