Advent is a time to grow in our Faith, Hope and Charity
During Advent the monastic liturgy allows us to follow very closely in the footsteps of the Virgin Mary. In the Gospel, we see how great Mary’s faith was and how it continued to grow throughout this time of waiting. Her YES to God deepened every day from the Annunciation to the Crib, as she cooperated with an ever greater offering of herself to God’s plan of salvation.
We also discover Mary’s Hope: “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1). This is the mystery of hope: we accept that we are poor, we accept that we need a Saviour. The Church must always accept to be a Church that moves forward, that hopes, and that looks only to Jesus, that relies only on Him, that is the mystery of Mary and her Hope.
The Virgin Mary never ceases to show us too that it is only through love that we can truly await the coming of Jesus. Jesus wants to come to us, he wants to return at the end of time because of the intensity of the charity lived in the hearts of men, in each of our hearts. Advent is a time of conversion, a time when the Virgin Mary teaches us how to live an interior conversion in our faith, hope and charity. She desires to help us grow in our faith, so that our faith is pure, and constantly nourished by the Word of God. We learn from Mary to live a radical conversion of our Hope, understanding ever more profoundly our need to be saved, and our need of the presence of Jesus in our hearts and in our suffering world. Advent invites us to love Jesus and our neighbours with a more compassionate and tender hearted love. So let us wait for Jesus by keeping watch in prayer and by loving one another.
Let us be part of that church which awaits the coming of Jesus with great hope during this Advent season, so that wherever we are, we can hasten Jesus’ return with a burning Faith, a conquering Hope and an ever-victorious charity!
Sisters of Mary Morning Star, Lynton