Quote/s of the Day – 3 December 2017 – The First Sunday of Advent
“In the first Coming He comes in the flesh and in weakness;
in the second, He comes in spirit and in power;
in the third, He comes in glory and in majesty;
and the second Coming is the means
whereby we pass from the first to the third.”
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Doctor of the Church
It is Advent. All our answers remain fragmentary.
The first thing we have to accept is, ever and again,
the reality of an enduring Advent.
If we do that, we shall begin to realise
that the borderline between “before Christ” and “after Christ”
does not run through historical time, in an outward sense
and cannot be drawn on any map;
it runs through our own hearts.
Insofar as we are living on a basis of selfishness, of egoism,
then even today, we are “before Christ.”
But in this time of Advent, let us ask the Lord to grant
that we may live less and less “before Christ”
and certainly not “after Christ,” but truly “with Christ and in Christ” –
with Him who is indeed Christ yesterday, today and forever.
AnaStpaul 