ADVENT: A RESET OF THE HEART
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.
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