The Altar of the Former Abbey Church Decorated ... - St. John's Abbey

Illumination: “Madonna and Child” from a
15th century French Book of Hours, courtesy
of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library. The
scene is from Revelation 12:1-6.
Sleepers, Wake!
by Eric Hollas, OSB
Advent wakes us and proclaims that our lives are
pregnant with possibility.
In a world headed every which way
but on the path to God, Advent is
a wake-up call. It’s an invitation
to stir from sleep and consider what
really matters in our lives—even if
that involves just a touch of anxiety.
For centuries the biblical readings
that introduce the Advent liturgies
have shaken Christians to their very
bones. They have generated fanciful
notions of the end-times when Jesus
will return to rule a kingdom that will
never end. But prior to his coming,
signs in the moon and stars will usher
in cataclysmic events that have allowed
Christian imaginations to run
wild.
Some expect an enormous war—Armageddon—which
will rock the
Middle East. Others envision the four
horsemen of the Apocalypse sweeping
across the sky, showering horrors
on the doomed and salvation on those
who recognize Jesus Christ. Still others
long for the rapture, in which the
saved will be snatched from the ranks
of the damned. And yet another variation
of this theme promises that the
exile of Palestinians from Palestine
and the return of all Jews to Israel will
hasten the glorious reign of Christ.
Apocalyptic thinking has cropped
up regularly in Christian history, and
yet it has never claimed a lasting
foothold among Catholics
or mainline Christians like
Lutherans and Episcopalians.
The reason it hasn’t is because
our shared sense of history reminds
us how often Christians
have looked to the skies to fi nd Jesus
Christ, only to discover that he was
already in their midst.
Whether in the New Testament community
or in the year 1000 or at other
moments of unbearable stress, some
have longed for the sudden appearance
of Jesus Christ to set things right.
The apostles expected the imminent
return of Christ. The same conviction
animated those who watched as the
bravest among them suffered martyrdom.
Whenever Christians have been
unable to fi nd a way out of terrible
challenges, they have joined in the
simplest of prayers: “Come, Lord
Jesus!”
Most of us go for long stretches
without refl ecting much on our lives
because getting through the day is
about all we can handle. But Advent
wakes us and proclaims that our lives
are pregnant with possibility. Advent
teaches that we should neither despair
about life nor see the signs in the
moon and the stars and the world as
SPIRITUAL LIFE
forces that will inevitably crush us.
Rather, in Advent we see Jesus coming—dimly
at fi rst—but ever more
intensely as Christmas nears.
Yet it is easy for us to be caught up
in the chaos of creation. Like a leaf
in a stream, we can be sucked into
an ocean that overwhelms us. But
Advent cautions us not to be weighed
down or swept away by the cares of
this life. Rather, we must take hold
and open ourselves to new life and to
all its potential. We must be standing
ready to see Jesus when he comes. If
we are really alert, we will discover
that he has been with us all along.
Eric Hollas, OSB, is Saint John’s senior
associate of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
For future dates and topics of
Benedictine Day of Prayer go
to www.saintjohnsabbey.org/slp
and click on “Day of Prayer”
or call 320-363-3929.
The Abbey Banner Winter 2004 page 27