The Work of Advent

The Advent season began last Sunday. The liturgist read Psalm 25. It began with the words: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” The soul which was breathed into me by God I lift up to God as an offering of myself. My mortal human self lifts up to God my immortal soul. For the psalmist, it was how the prayer began. Lifting my soul up to God, which was from God, acknowledges that I am the creature and God is the Creator. It also reminds me that my body is indeed a temple because it contains the very breath of God.

This Psalm could have been Mary’s answer to the angel Gabriel’s news that she would be Theotokos – God-Bearer. “To you, O lord, I lift up my Soul.” Mary said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be with to me according to your word.” Mary acknowledges that she is the creature and that the Lord is her Creator. The Creator’s work that started in her mother’s womb is being completed in her own.

For me, the preparation work of Advent is humility. It takes humility to acknowledge my Creator, and to cast off any delusion that I am a self-made man. How can I echo Mary’s words – “Let it be done to me” without first placing my soul in the hands of my Creator God? Lifting my soul up to the Lord is both an act of praise and surrender. It is giving thanks and praise to God and surrendering my will to God’s will.

As I write this reflection it occurs to me that the Mary’s words – “Let it be done to me” become the words of Jesus – “You did it to me” from Matthew 25. Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta would end her prayers touching each finger on one hand saying, “You did it to me.” To be able to treat the least of us like Jesus I must first lift my soul up to God and say let it be done to me. This is the work of Advent.