The Words of Advent: Come

The word “Advent” derives from the Latin verb advenio, to come to, to reach, to arrive at. During Advent, we should reflect deeply on Who is to come, on when He comes, and on how we must come in response.

So Who is to come? Jesus, our Lord and our God, comes to us. And with Him come God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Trinity, three Persons, one God Who loves us more than we can ever imagine.

When does Jesus come? He came in the past when He became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was born on Christmas Day. This coming we anticipate anew during Advent as we remember that God became a little Child for our sake. But Jesus also comes to us now. He comes into our hearts by His grace. He comes to us when we pray and read His Word in the Scriptures. He comes to us in a special way, an extremely intimate way, when we receive Him in the Eucharist, when He gives us His very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Jesus will come to us again at some unknown future time. He will come to us at the moment of our death when we will see Him face to face, and one day, at the end of time, He will come back, glorious and triumphant, to usher in a new Heaven and a new earth.

How must we come in response? We must come to Jesus with our whole hearts and minds and souls and with all our strength. We must come to Him with all we have and all we are. We must come to Him constantly at every moment. We must come to Him with all the love we have and, indeed, with the love He pours into us.

Come, Lord Jesus.