Dear Parishioner,

   You probably know the song, ‘Abba, Father, you are the potter, we are the clay, the work of your hands’ – words that come from this Sunday’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah, one of the great voices of Advent. ‘Abba’ is the word that Jesus himself used in talking to God. It is a very intimate form of address, equivalent to our ‘Daddy,’ and it indicates how Jesus invites us to know God as being that close to us, holding us as, above all, a loving Father.

   God being God, there must always be more of him for us to know, more of his love for us. We can never say that we have got to the end of that, nor can we ever say that we have got God fully worked out, weighed up, perfectly understood. God’s love, including his love for us, must be immeasurably greater and deeper than we can ever fathom.

   Advent is the time of looking forward in hope and expectation to the more of God who is with us already here and now, but is always drawing us closer and closer into union with himself. That union is pictured in the four last things which Advent has traditionally emphasised, the possibility of ultimate complete union with God (which includes also the possibility of disunion). 

   Jesus tells to be on the watch and alert, but how can we prepare ourselves for his future coming that will lead us further into union with God? A form of this question was put once to St. Francis of Assisi. He was doing some gardening and was asked, ‘If you were told that this was going to be your last day on earth what would you do?’ They expected him to say something very “religious,” but after reflecting for a while he merely said, ‘I would go on gardening.’ If God is in all things, everything we do can be a means of union with God if we do it with that intention, which means giving ourselves as fully as we can to the experience of the present moment where God is. Then we shall be ready for God’s coming to us at any and every moment.

   Wishing you every blessing,     

   Fr. Robin.

    

 

 

.