Thursday of the Third Week of Advent:

When you think of “Advent,” what is the first verb to come to mind?

Praying? Lighting candles? Rushing? My own instinctual answer is “waiting.” Although I believe that a joyfully expectant spirit is at the heart of Advent, “waiting” has begun to feel a bit superficial for me, given how it can be misconstrued as passive. Reflecting on today’s readings, though, helps me to flesh out what the “waiting” of Advent might entail in an active, full-bodied sense. Our First Reading (Sg 2:8-14) presents many active verbs to ponder and attempt to put into practice: “springing,” “leaping,” “gazing,” “peering,” and “pruning.” Although each of these verbs are worthy of reflection, let us focus for a time on “leaping.” 
The lover described in the Song of Songs is “leaping across the hills,” beckoning their beloved to “arise.” They are not the only ones leaping amidst a reunion with a loved one. In today’s Gospel account of the Visitation (Lk 1:39-45), Elizabeth shares with Mary that her baby (John the Baptist) “leaped in her womb” at the sound of her dear cousin’s greeting. Mary and Elizabeth, like the call of today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33),  are “singing a new song” as they bring new life into the world through their immense love and God’s abiding grace. 

Speaking of verbs, Joan Chittister, O.S.B. writes beautifully about how Mary and Elizabeth embody a “tend-and-befriend” stress-response rather than “fight-or-flight.” I highly recommend reading Sr. Joan’s short article linked below. In what must have been a profoundly stressful time for young, unmarried, pregnant Mary, she responded by traveling “to the hill country in haste to the town of Judah” to reconnect with her beloved. As I read this verse, I imagine Mary “leaping through the hills” as she can hardly wait to reach Elizabeth – the person she knew would tend to her in a way that no one else could. 

I wonder: 

What are the “hills” that you have traversed recently? 

What would it look, sound, smell, taste, and/or feel like for you to “leap” throughout these precious remaining days of “waiting” for Christmas?

To whom might you turn to “tend-and-befriend”?

Who might be seeking to “tend-and-befriend” you? 

Works Cited:

Joan Chittister,"The Visitation," in Holiness & the Feminine Spirit: the art of Janet McKenzie (Orbis: 2009) https://joanchittister.org/word-from-joan/tend-and-befriend

Blessed Are You, Ansgar Holmberg, CSJ