Advent Icons

     An ICON is an image of the sacred.  Those of our friends from the Churches of the East are very familiar with icons.  Rather than statues they celebrate these stylized images into the holy.

     There are two primary icons for the great season of Advent.  The first is the image of Mary presented to us as an Advent reminder that ALL are called to the Son of Mary, that ALL are equal in the eyes of God, that ALL are pregnant with hope and anticipation of salvation and new life, and that the message of the Christ is not reserved for a few but meant for ALL.  She is an invitation to life.

     In early December we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne.  She was chosen and prepared for her mission of giving flesh to the Son of God by being conceived without the burden and stain of Original Sin.  She was given the gift of holiness before her Son won that gift for us.  Our holiness rests in our YES to his invitation to accept the redemption that he won for us and the grace to walk in the way of holiness.  Her YES did not protect her from sin but allowed her to be strong in the resistance of temptation and to walk confidently along the path of holiness.

     On the 12th we looked to the patroness of all of the Americas in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This feast celebrating the appearance of Mary as a young native girl with child to Juan Diego, a convert to Christianity, was an important moment in God's plan.  The fact that she appeared to a peasant, a native of the place and not the ruling class or the upper crust was shocking.  The fact that her image was that of a native person rather than that of a Spanish maiden was even more shocking.  That fact that she is carrying her child in her womb was unexpected.  All of this happened in the 1500's in Mexico and led countless peoples to embrace Our Lady of Guadalupe and her Son, Jesus.

     And now within a week we will hear the story and see the image of a young mother giving birth to her first-born son in humble surroundings in Bethlehem of Judea.  That image of Mary with Joseph and the child, Jesus, is the featured image - primary icon - of Mary.

     The other primary icon of Advent is our friend, John, the son of Elizabeth and Zachariah, the one called the Baptist.  He too points the way and makes known the savior.  He too calls us to repentance and a change of heart so that we might live in Christ.  He too is an invitation to life.

     Advent is a time of realizing who we are in Christ, of realizing the need for repentance and conversion, and a time of hearing in our own lives and becoming for others "an invitation to life".  Thank God for these two tremendous icons of Advent.