Below is the recent post written by Daniel for Vaughan Park's Advent series
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The Word, 'Change'
2 December 2016
‘…for God in every way
would become like one of them;
he would come to them
and dwell with them,
and so God would be man,
and man would be God.
He would walk with them,
and with them he would eat and drink…’
These
words from the Spanish poet and mystic, John of the Cross summarize
both the heart of the Advent season and the essence of the Gospel. The
moment of Christ’s coming to earth, breaking through the ceiling of
human history, marks the beginning of a new world order. Change is in
the air as God fully embraces humanity (and by extension creation), so
that human beings may know heaven on earth.
Throughout
Advent we are invited to prepare ourselves to celebrate the first
coming of Jesus – the mystery of the God who walked our roads, ate our
bread and drank deep from our joys and tears. We are also encouraged to
watch expectantly for the second coming of the Son of Man, as foretold
in the New Testament, and to join in the song of the church with the
cry: “Maranatha!”. Yet, the most challenging invitation of this season is twofold: to live in the present and
to embrace change. That is, to drink from the sources of deep ancient
wisdom able to transform us more and more into the likeness of Christ,
into the likeness of God. This invitation is to seek, hope and open
ourselves to the Spirit of God, the God of surprises who makes all
things new (Rev. 21.5) in the world and in our lives. The word ‘change’
is at the core of the Gospel, at the heart of all life.
May the God of change continue to transform our humanity so that we may know fullness of Life on earth, as it is in heaven.
©Daniel Muñoz
