1st Advent God amid the Chaos

Once, a young poet was having difficulty living with his sorrow. So he asked the poet Ranier Rilke his thoughts. Rilke responded by saying we must always go into our sorrow; we must not avoid it, nor rush around it. We must seek to understand it and thus we gain wisdom from it. We are then able to transform the sorrow. Rilke implies that in the midst of that sorrow or darkness, the divine is present.

In our day we have many venues to outwardly express our emotions. We have many ways to proclaim to the whole world our thoughts & feelings, our dislikes, our outrage. By God I am upset and the whole world will know and accept this if they know what is good for them!!!! And unfortunately we believe this suffices as a way to find" closure" or healing.

Here is the thing though, first, "closure” is pure fantasy. Second, venting does not heal everything. It can start the process, but just pure venting rather, it seems to just increase the anger, the outrage, the sorrow; often to no benefit.

Ironically there is an older generation in which emotions and thoughts and opinions were told to be buried, never expressed. Especially for men, they could express opinions, but not show emotion. Women were told to not express their opinions, but okay with the emotions. And this wisdom has not been too helpful either. Lot of repressed energy there underneath those stoic faces.

So it seems there are two poles to this. Whether we wear our emotions on our sleeves, post them all over the internet; or bury them deep within; whether we express or repress, something is lacking.

Rilke the poet understood it. The great saints understood it.

Nobody here will ever be protected from chaos. We will all have to go through trials & tribulations; we will all experience sorrow and sadness, fear, anger.  Will we be controlled by these experiences, or will we have control? What can we do? How can we find healing and harmony?

Jesus reveals the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He speaks of this chaos-trials. He speaks of times when it can seem the whole world is ending and yet amidst that, there is God.  If we can see God there. If we can Trust God is there.

St John of the Cross was imprisoned by his own community, placed into a tiny room. They had rejected his ideas, his thoughts on reform. He was despondent. Yet he entered into that darkness of his heart and mind, exploring it, sitting with it, and in the middle of that darkness, John encountered the divine; there was wisdom and strength.  God was there to say "you are loved. Nothing can take that away! God did not cause the chaos, but God was there to guide him, us, all of this world through it.

Christmas is our special time to Reflect on God entering into our chaos so as to bring harmony. Advent is our time to reflect on our lives; to look inward to see how God has always been there, providing hope, a way through. There is no prescribed program for Advent; just anticipation and preparation. ( I do think there needs to be some quiet time but that is because I am an introvert to reflect and consider.) So that at Christmas, we truly rejoice at this incredible act of creation within us.  And renewed we go forward. So that when overwhelmed by our anger we can hear the words of Christ say "Forgive" and "Be Forgiven!

When confronted by our fears, We can touch the power of Love.  

Drowning in our sadness, we find hope
When our egos exert power, we Christ's humility expresses itself.

And when we become tired, forgetful, overwhelmed, we come here; God's power over all signified in the Bread and wine that become the Resurrected Person of Jesus, the Son of God. God is always with us.

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Addendum:  Fr. Luigi Giussani writes in his book "The Religious Sense"  Chapt 10, conclusion  "The mark of great souls and persons who are truly alive is an eagerness for this search [for reality], carried out through their commitment to the reality of their existence."  

Searching out Reality means entering into our lives fully, deeply, and not staying on the superficial.  What we will find is that there, at the core is God providing our Being.  The sorrow, the anger, the fear, the world cannot give that to us.  The reality is that we depend upon an Other, that other is God.