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| A creek trickles into the old pit, now a marvelous garden in the Butchart Gardens Victoria, BC |
the words of a book;
And out of gloom and darkness,
the eyes of the blind shall see.
The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD,
and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Does the word expecting still mean "expecting a baby?" That's how it was used years ago; but, working in the Veterans Affairs Hospital, I'm out of touch with current baby talk.
In those days expecting usually meant something wonderful. We prayed for the child to be born, and debated whether it should be a boy or girl. Nobody knew which it might be until the baby was actually born.
I hope that expectation is still joyful for most people, although a lot of surprise, if not the mystery, has been removed from birthing by modern technology. When you already know the child's gender and relative health, and can choose the child's birthday there's not much room for speculation. When you can abort a child that doesn't fit your particular needs and preferences, the baby is no longer a gift from God; it's only a consumer product.
In any case, when the Church celebrates Advent and Christmas, we speak of expectation. We have a sacred obligation to scrape the rust off our neglected facility for expecting; and dig that theological virtue of Hope out of the old cedar chest of forgotten treasures.
We should expect surprise, and that seems to be the one thing people -- especially those who are expecting a baby want least: "Please, no surprises."
But, "Christmas is a good surprise!" we might say. And there's good reason for that, unless you happen to be on the wrong side of the Lord's mercy. The Herodians, Sadducees and Pharisees of Jesus' time preferred no surprises. They seemed to think they had God pretty well figured out, and could manage their problems just fine so long as He did what he was supposed to do and nothing more. "You're on our team, right?" might have been their prayer.
A lot of people today would prefer no surprises. They're fine with the way things are. "No new taxes; no more sacrifices; no reordering of anything except next year's fashions."
Advent promises surprises: the deaf shall hear; the blind will see; the lowly will find joy in the Lord and the poor shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. If it's true that the American dream of economic equality has passed us by, and that we can no longer offer our poorest the promise of upward mobility, we can once again expect divine intervention, a surprise that will be delightful to those on whom his favor rests.
Good homily! That hopeful expectation is needed this time of year. To look for the good. Most people do find what they look for.
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