More Reflection on the Third Coming - 2021

VOICES began this Advent with reflections on the Three Coming of Christ. The unique character of the Third coming is that it is not visible to ordinary sight, it's really present but invisible. It is rooted in our very nature that when we love deeply we are driven by a desire to behold our beloved. We have already noted that Jesus, by remaining hidden, disarms the demand of "seeing is believing". But what of those who believe, why are they not permitted to see? The answer to this question is rooted in the mystery Love. In James 2:19 we read, "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror."  In his First Coming, Jesus revealed himself as someone who could be seen; in his public life, his teaching, his miracles, his resurrection and ascension. With these "seeing-is-believing" has been addressed. We are now in the time titled Jesus' Third Coming. Faith continues to be awakened through the witness of the First Coming, but now something deeper is unfolding. To faith and hope LOVE now becomes the focus of this Third Coming.  The desire to see Jesus' face continues, but not as proof of him who is, rather because of the unquenchable desire one has for union with the beloved One. St. John of the Cross in his Mystic Ladder of Divine Love describes it this way. 1st step: Love causes the soul to languish with great profit for God’s glory. The soul no longer desires earthly things nor finds pleasure in them. 2nd step: Love causes the soul to seek the Beloved in all things (thoughts, words, works, etc) without ceasing. 3rd step: Love causes the soul to work and gives it fervor so that it fails not, desiring to die a thousand deaths to make up for the scantiness of its service. 4th step: Love causes in the soul the boldly follow after God in the spirit of suffering for His sake. The soul is now strong, seeks no gain for self, and its sole desire is to please God at any and every cost. 5th step: Love makes the soul desire and long for God impatiently. 6th step: Love makes the soul run strongly and swiftly to God. 7th step: Love makes the soul become vehement in its boldness and the soul begins to receive what it so lovingly prays for. 8th step: Love causes the soul to seize Him and hold Him fast without letting Him go, even as the Bride says, after this manner: 9th step: Love makes the soul burn with sweetness from the gift of the Spirit as God bestows upon the soul indescribable riches and blessings. 10th step: Love causes the soul to become wholly assimilated to God, by reason of the clear and immediate vision of God which it then possesses; when, having ascended in this life to the ninth step, it goes forth from the flesh. We must not think that this dynamic of love with Jesus is only for the super spiritual. Jesus wants everyone to engage with him in love. On Thursday of the 2nd. Week of Advent, in the Office of Readings we have this inspiring sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus. When God saw the world falling to ruin because of fear, he immediately acted to call it back to himself with love. He invited it by his grace, preserved it by his love, and embraced it with compassion. When the earth had become hardened in evil, God sent the flood both to punish and to release it. He called Noah to be the father of a new era, urged him with kind words, and showed that he trusted him; he gave him fatherly instruction about the present calamity, and through his grace, consoled him with hope for the future.  But God did not merely issue commands; rather with Noah sharing the work, he filled the ark with the future seed of the whole world. The sense of loving fellowship thus engendered removed servile fear, and a mutual love could continue to preserve what shared labor had effected. God called Abraham out of the heathen world, symbolically lengthened his name, and made him the father of all believers. God walked with him on his journeys, and protected him in foreign lands, enriched him with earthly possessions, and honored him with victories. He made a covenant with him, saved him from harm, accepted his hospitality, and astonished him by giving him the offspring he had despaired of. Favored with so many graces and drawn by such great sweetness of divine love, Abraham was to learn to love God rather than fear him, and love rather than fear was to inspire his worship. God comforted Jacob by a dream during his flight, roused him to combat upon his return, and encircled him with a wrestler’s embrace to teach him not to be afraid of the author of the conflict, but to love him. God called Moses as a father would, and with fatherly affection invited him to become the liberator of his people. In all the events we have recalled, the flame of divine love enkindled human hearts and its intoxication overflowed into men’s senses. Wounded by love, they longed to look upon God with their bodily eyes. Yet how could our narrow human vision apprehend God, whom the whole world cannot contain? But the law of love is not concerned with what will be, what ought to be, what can be. Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation. Love refuses to be consoled when its goal proves impossible, despises all hindrances to the attainment of its object. Love destroys the lover if he cannot obtain what he loves; love follows its own promptings, and does not think of right and wrong. Love inflames desire which impels it toward things that are forbidden. But why continue? It is intolerable for love not to see the object of its longing. That is why whatever reward they merited was nothing to the saints if they could not see the Lord. A love that desires to see God may not have reasonableness on its side, but it is the evidence of filial love. It gave Moses the temerity to say: If I have found favor in your eyes, show me your face. It inspired the psalmist to make the same prayer: Show me your face. Even the pagans made their images for this purpose: they wanted actually to see what they mistakenly revered.

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