The WORD in ADVENT - December 21
Christmas Novena - Day 6
Song of Songs 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-45
If we had noticed, we would be aware that we have been seeing some dangers of missing the Lord these days in the Word. From today, we shall reflect from the Liturgy, on some necessary dispositions to behold the coming of the Lord and to behold the Reign amidst us.
One of the needed traits to receive the Lord, pointed out in the Word today, is Eagerness! Looking forward to meet the love of your life - that is the kind of disposition required if we really want to behold the coming of the Lord, counsels the liturgy of this day. The Song of Songs expresses the longing that one has for the beloved. Waiting for the Lord is not a passive waiting, but an active preparation, an active seeking, an active going towards the Lord. Waiting for the Reign too, is not an inactive procrastination, but an involved collaboration towards the Reign.
The eagerness that we need to have for the Lord, is like that innocent sweet child who, at the end of her busy day of birthday celebrations, asked her father with a broad smile, "Daddy, when will my birthday come again?" That eagerness, that longing, that yearning like the parched land for water, like the deer for the running streams, like the drowning person for a breath above the waters... that is the eagerness we need to have, if we really want to encounter the Lord who visits us this Christmas!
The antiphon of the novena today is based on Isaiah again (9:2 and 60:1-2). O Oriens... the latin term literally means O Rising Sun or Dawn. For poetic sense translated as Morning Star, it refers to the power of God's light to lead us from ignorance to knowledge and from mere knowledge to enlightenment. The Symbol is the Rising Sun, which dispels the darkness of the night and wakes the light of the morning, inviting all to life and activity. The coming of the Lord for us is a wake up call, an invitation to live as people of the light and not of darkness!
The prayer today is for enlightenment, that in these times of confusion and crisis, confounding choices and staggering philosophies, we might remain always in the light of faith, that not only helps us see the Lord, but see with the eyes of the Lord (Lumen Fidei).