by Pope Benedict XVI – “Seeing the Salvation of God.”
Advent is not only a time of waiting for eternity—it is also in a very special sense a time of inner joy that cannot be driven out by suffering. This can perhaps be understood best if we look closely at the inner content and meaning of our Advent practices…. The people of God have, as it were, translated Scripture into a visible form. In Psalm 96, for example, we read: Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes. In our Advent liturgy, these words have been joined to words from other psalms and the whole has been extended until we have: Mountains and hills will sing praises before God and all the trees of the wood will clap their hands, for the Lord is coming, the ruler, to an eternal kingdom. Our decorated Christmas trees are really nothing but an attempt to make these words visible. The Lord is there. Our ancestors believed this and the trees of the wood had therefore to go to meet him, bend down before him, and be a song of praise to their Lord….
Even our Christmas fare has its roots in the Church’s Advent liturgy, which echoes the wonderful words of the Old Testament: On that day the mountains will drip sweetness and the rivers will bring down milk and honey. It was in words such as these that men in the past expressed their hopes in a redeemed world…. [God] as it were distributes honey and it must therefore be true that the earth flows with it. Where he is, there can, after all, be no bitterness. In his presence, heaven and earth are in harmony and God and man are at one. Honey and all the sweet things of Christmas are the sign of this peace, concord, and joy. Christmas became the feast of giving, and in this we imitate the God who gives himself and also gives us life [and] that one Love which cannot be threatened by death or unfaithfulness or deceit.
All these elements come together in our joy that God became a Child who encourages us to trust as children trust, to give ourselves, and to let ourselves receive. It is perhaps quite difficult for us to accept this joy when we are troubled by questions and when physical illness and spiritual problems attack us and make us rebel against the God we cannot understand. But this Child is a sign of hope, and that sign is made on those who are in any way distressed. We ought to celebrate Advent by allowing the signs of this special time to penetrate freely into our hearts…and then, full of trust, accept the immeasurable goodness of the Child who made the mountains and hills sing and transformed the trees of the wood into a song of praise.
