In the Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent (Luke 3: 10-18) we learn that, on hearing the words of John the Baptist, "the people were filled with expectation." Once thought of as a sort of "little Lent" with its own repertoire of spiritual preparations and penances, since the promulgation of the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar in 1969, it is now more commonly recognized that Advent is the season of "devout and joyful expectation."

What is it that we are to expect? Christ's coming: The One who has come in the mystery of the Incarnation; the One who will come again at the end of time. But just as much, during Advent we prepare for Christ's constant coming --- here and now; in our own time and place.

But how are we to see the Christ? How to recognize the Christ who has come and is coming?

The answer is given by Jesus himself in the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent (Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36): "Be vigilant at all times." Be alert; awake; attentive, as was the woman of great faith of whom we hear in the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Luke 1: 39-45): Mary, the one "who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled."

During this season of expectation, are we willing to be open, as she was, to being asked to accomplish much more than seems humanly possible? Are we able to be open to the coming of the Word, even and especially when it seems terribly inconvenient? Are we living in the expectation that the Word will come to us as well, often in the most astonishing and unsettling of ways?

Welcoming the Word, as Mary did, is often terribly inconvenient, disruptive and disorienting. Our most cherished plans are sometimes unsettled. Such welcome calls for a generosity --- especially during "the holidays" --- which seems in short supply. We get caught up in the sheer volume of clutter and cacophony that surrounds us. We fail to see --- because of the clutter of so much "stuff" in the stores, under our Christmas trees and in our stockings stuffed to overflowing. We cannot hear because of the cacophony of interior and exterior noise that accompanies this time of year.

But even in the midst of all this, if we find a moment to pause and ponder, to "be vigilant at all times," we might hear that still inner voice that speaks of welcome; and see the face of another crying out in need. Can we be generous enough to leave our own "comfort zone," our safe place and attend to the God who lives in unexpected places, events and persons? In our own time and place it is here that Christ has come and is coming, waiting for our response in love. At this time in our history as a nation, in our here and now, Christ comes in the stranger, the alien, the immigrant.

Advent is occasion for us to prepare for the coming of the Christ who once came in the flesh and blood of a homeless infant, whose parents faced a long, dangerous and arduous journey to a faraway land. How inconvenient! Such a precarious time! They risked all manner of danger, perhaps above all, the loss of her pregnancy as the time of the delivery of her child drew very near. But they continued to respond in a way that left them open to a God who already seemed to be asking much more than they could accomplish.

If we are to live in the trust that God's Word to us will be fulfilled, then we, like Mary, must welcome the God who comes in unexpected ways, events and persons. Our unwillingness to welcome the ways in which God comes, and is coming, is at cross purposes with the "devout and joyful expectation" that is the "reason for the season" of Advent.

To enter into the spirit of Advent requires that we welcome the ways in which this God of unexpected ways comes. It is our gift and task to be open to those events, ways and people in whom God comes.

Real trust in the God who is faithful does not cling to what is safe and known, but it lets go of the spiritual safety rail. With arms wide open and feet firmly planted, we move ahead into the unknown, trusting that even amidst the darkness of our lives, our resistance to welcome, our inability to allow the grace of God to touch the unconverted corners of our hearts, Christ is constantly coming. Toward us.

This Advent, expect the unexpected!