This Sunday we begin the season of Advent, and in the readings we will hear St. Paul telling us, “It is time for you to wake up from your slumber” (Rom 13:11), and Jesus reiterating the same message: “Stay awake!” (Mt 24:42).
With these two similar calls, we enter fully into the spirit of Advent. It is a time, then, to awaken, to be attentive, to scan the horizon and perceive in it the signs of God’s presence, which is coming and will be born to us at Christmas. Advent is also a time to identify the breaches that Jesus mentions in the same passage: cracks through which our good intentions, our desire to be good people and to live according to the Gospel, can slip away.
In these times, in which we live immersed in the digital revolution, perhaps an analogy with technology can help to illustrate what this season of Advent is all about. We know that every now and then we must restart a computer or a phone. We reset them or reboot them. Sometimes we humans also need a reset, and Advent gives us the opportunity to do so.
We restart our computers because something isn’t working properly: some harmful habit persists in the system, an error that has remained, causing problems, and that needs to be fixed. And we also restart our computers to access updates that are now available and that, once installed, will allow everything to work better.
To restart a computer, you have to turn it off. The same goes for us. Every now and then, we need to «shut down the system» in the sense of silencing the many noises that deafen us, that come from all sides and prevent us from thinking clearly. There is a lot of noise in politics, on social media, in television talk shows, and there is also noise that arises from within us in the form of old grudges and open wounds that we haven’t been able to heal. All this noise leads us to accumulate tensions, anxiety, resentments, bewilderment, and anguish.
In Advent, let’s begin by turning off the noise. One of the main characters of this season is John the Baptist, who went to the desert: that is, he distanced himself from the noise. From John, we can learn his choice to refuse to live amidst a whirlwind of activity, constantly absorbing information and noise, without time to process it. In the desert, John will offer a clear and new message because he has known how to distance himself from the noise—to then be able to think, and to understand what God wants from him.
And so, in Advent, after switching off the system, let’s restart it —with a different attitude. We can identify what was wrong within us before: what unhealthy habits were bothering us. Perhaps we had entered a cycle of negativity and pessimism. Perhaps we had started drinking too much or wasting time with other activities that brought us nothing positive. Perhaps we had begun to fuel a conflict with someone, to cultivate hatred, resentment, that kept growing. In Advent, we restart the system, our lives, from scratch, without those harmful habits.
And, in Advent, as we restart—as we awaken—we also seek new updates: we prepare to look at others with fresh eyes, to begin healthier habits. We watch for resources available to us, that until now we had not been using: people we should listen to a little more, readings that could enlighten us, acts of solidarity with the poor, which will strengthen our faith. Advent can be all of this: a true reset of the heart.
