Monday, December 24, 2007

Back on the borderline...

Advent for us means acceptance of this totally new beginning. It means a readiness to have eternity and time meet not only in Christ, but in us, in Man, in our life, in our world, in our time. The beginning, therefore, is the end. We must accept the end, before we can begin. Or rather, to be more faithful to the complexity of life, we must accept the end in the beginning both together.

The secret of the Advent mystery is then the awareness that I begin where I end because Christ begins where I end. In more familiar terms: I live to Christ when I die to myself. I begin to live to Christ when I come to the "end" or to the "limit" of what divides me from my fellow man: what I am willing to step beyond this end, cross the frontier, become a stranger, enter into a wilderness which is not "myself," where I do not breathe the air or hear the familiar, comforting racket of my own city, where I am alone and defenseless in the desert of God.

The victory of Christ is by no means the victory of my city over "their" city. The exaltation of Christ is not the defeat and death of others in order that "my side" may be vindicated, that I may be proved "right." I must pass over, make the transition (pascha) from my end to my beginning, from my old life which has ended and which is now death to my new life which never was before and which now exists in Christ.

Thomas Merton. "Advent: Hope or Delusion?" in Seasons of Celebration. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1965, pp. 96-97.

5 comments:

June Butler said...

Mike, how apropos are Merton's words about sides being vindicated in the midst of the turmoil in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church.

May you and your loved ones have a Blessed and Happy Christmas.

Mike Farley said...

Absolutely, Mimi...

And may you and yours have a glorious Christmas too!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful quote, Mike. It makes me think of "The New Man."

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas - peace, joy and many blessings. So happy to have met you online, and looking forward to having more time in 2008 to read your archives!

Mike Farley said...

Thanks, Gabrielle - hope your Christmas was as good as ours... we're just home from spending Christmas with Carly (very pregnant!) and Andy, and their two lovely mad cats. Won't be long before our first grandchild - we're quite ridiculously excited!

Anonymous said...

Don't blame you!