Bishop Robert Morneau

Calling us to a larger attention

December 3, First Sunday of Advent

	Questions for reflection: 1. What grabs your attention? 2. Do you tend to live in the past? present? future? 3. What Advent practice can help you stay alert to the Lord's coming?

Several weeks ago someone sent me a poem that was written by a dog addressed to its owner (actually Mark Doty who spoke through the dog to make his point composed the verse). And the point? That we live in the present moment.

After admonishing its owner for spending too much time in the past regretting things that were unchangeable and worrying about future events over which we humans have no control, the dog (Beau by name) exclaims: "This shining bark, / a Zen-master's bronzy gong, calls you here, / entirely now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow."

I like this dog. I like its challenge to be attentive to the day - to tumbling leaves, scared squirrel, "any thrillingly dead thing." Yet Beau is devoid of two faculties so important to our human life: memory and imagination. The past is significant and helps to define our lives. The future and what can be is the land of dreams and desires, so important to the virtue of hope.

Advent is a season of hope. We again prepare to celebrate the great Christmas mystery, the birth of the Lord. The Gospel challenge is to stay awake, be alert to the visitation of our God. We are also be aware of the dark side of life, all those attitudes and practices that bring about destruction, not life. The dark side we call sin and evil.

I don't know if Jeremiah had a dog like Beau calling him entirely here, now. I do know that the prophet looked ahead to the days when God's promise would be fulfilled. These would be days of honesty and integrity, days of salvation and liberation. Jeremiah was not caught up only in the here and now. His sense of hope and confidence sustained his faith in God and in the future.

St. Paul had the marvelous ability of integrating the past, present and future. What unified these time zones for him was the grace of love. Always St. Paul is concerned about the community growing in love, which will take care of the past, enrich the present, and lead to holiness in the future. That love is grounded in the person of Jesus who shares his Spirit with whomever is open.

Barking dogs do get our attention. They call us to the here and now. Prophets, like Jesus and Paul and Jeremiah, call us to a larger attention - to note the marvelous deeds of God in history, to taste the present moments of grace today, to be disposed to the weeks and years ahead when the Lord will come to us in new ways.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese.)