2nd Sunday of Advent
And all flesh will see the salvation of God. Lk 3:6
Already – Not yet. I love mysteries and read at least one a week. This particular one is my advent teaser. At mass today -2nd Sunday of Advent,- this quote by Luke of the prophet Isaiah, struck me as once again, putting in the future an event which already happened in the past. Where is the salvation of God, announced by John the Baptist and accomplished in the birth of Jesus?
Today an other element is added to the puzzle: The salvation in question, the kingdom of God if you wish, is a very physical occurrence. “All flesh” will “see”. I do not have to go into some kind of mystical out of the body experience to see. But it brings more questions than it solves: if it is physical, it has to be in the here and now of my own body-self. It has to take place within the limits of the 2 dimensions we, as human being are stuck into, along with the whole created world: space and time. Indeed the conundrum is getting more complicated. On the one hand there is the time dimension of the already/not yet, and on the other, the space dimension promising me salvation in my own flesh. So the solution has to be in the here-and-now, right? But how? If it is not in the here-and-now, in the who-and-where I am today, it does not do me any good. It is not relevant and has no purpose for me. But if it is, how does it work?
