At any time, God's gaze is upon us

December 1, 2002 -- First Sunday of Advent

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. How do you image God's gaze? 2. How does God shape and mold your life? 3. How vigilant are you to God's comings?

Iain Matthew is a Carmelite who has done parish and youth ministry work in England. He is also an author and wrote The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross. Here is a paragraph in which he reflects on the gospel and God's gaze.

"So the gospel has eyes which are not dispassionate, nor merely passive. Their gaze is not an art gallery gaze, wandering from exhibit to exhibit and leaving what they see obviously unchanged. Their gaze engages what they see and affects it: 'For God, to gaze is to love, and to work favours.' These eyes are effective: 'God's gaze works four blessings in the soul: It cleanses the person, makes her beautiful, enriches and enlightens.'" (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995, 28).

During this season of Advent we are invited to feel God's loving gaze more deeply. We are to have "a sharp eye," as the gospel states in reference to the servant ordered to keep watch at the gate for the master's return. At any time, God's loving glance is upon us. So it is possible to miss another Advent in that we are not on guard or vigilant to the Lord's coming.

But if we live in faith and truly believe that God cannot look without loving, then we have nothing to fear. God's gaze will cleanse us of our sin, will make radiant our darkness, will fill us with blessings, will empower us to see. Love is transformative. Advent is a season for being seen by a loving God.

St. Paul knew God's love through the person of Jesus. In and through Christ, grace and peace poured into Paul's soul and made him a new creation. It encourages the Corinthians to "wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus." Then he goes on to say that God is faithful and the promised fellowship with Christ will be theirs. Again the waiting and watching and vigilance. God is ever near. God's gaze of love is universal and available to all.

In the Isaiah passage, we are given another image of God that moves from the eyes to the hands. God is presented as a potter, we the clay. The prophet speaks of God's hiding his face from us, or so it seems. Might it not be that we doubt God's glance because of our guilt and shame? Yet even here God reaches out to shape and mold our lives to his image and likeness. (In a recent confirmation letter a senior said that her mother was "one of God's great works of art.")

If God's gaze changes our life, so too the touch of divine providence. Advent is a time for once again discerning how God is working in our homes, at the office, in school, in our culture. God does hold the whole world in his hands and we are called to trust in this faith fact. Even in times of tragedy and crisis, God is working to bring healing and reconciliation. Our task is to be on guard, to be watchful, to be wide-awake.

In our responsorial refrain we sing out: "Lord, make us turn to you, let us see your face and we shall be saved." It is God's face turned toward us in Jesus that saves us. It is God's touch through the working of the Holy Spirit that sets us free from sin and death. It is this Triune God who comes to us in unique ways during this Advent season to fill us with anticipation and hope.

Another passage from The Impact of God has St. John saying: "Live only in dark and genuine faith, and sure hope, and unmitigated love . . . Be joyful and trust in God" (98). Here is a motto that carries us all the way to Christmas and into eternity.

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