Where is He?
December 7, 2022
Fr. John Riccardo
“Let us live justly and devoutly in this present age, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of our great God.” Titus 2:12-13
Sometimes, perhaps, you have moments in prayer that seem rather awkward, when God reveals something to you that seems so elemental that you should have known it (and perhaps did) but it is revealed with a piercing clarity that is striking. I had one of those moments last week praying with this text from Paul’s letter to his friend, Titus.
The revelation centered around that word “coming.” The Greek word used can also be translated as “appearing.” It can furthermore mean “shine, light up, manifest, come into light.” Finally, it can be translated as “advent.”
Here’s where the piercing clarity came.
I’m not sure about you, but when I think about advent, whether it’s the season, the word, or the emotions centered around it, it usually goes something like this. The Lord “came” once in the flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, and He will “come” again at the end of the world, when all things will be made new. In the meantime (at least this is how it is often pondered in my mind), the Lord is somewhere else. I mean, that’s why we’re waiting for His coming, right? When we say a person “is coming” it means He is coming from somewhere else to this place.
But is that correct? Is the Lord “somewhere else” right now? Didn’t He promise us, “I am with you always, until the end of the age” Mt 28:20)? Didn’t we just hear this past Sunday in the Gospel, “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand”? That is, in Jesus, who is with us always, the kingdom of Heaven has approached and drawn near.
No, the Lord isn’t elsewhere right now. He’s not far away, not absent, not distant, not looking at another corner of the universe. We’re not waiting for Jesus to return to us from someplace far away. We’re waiting, instead, for His glorious, majestic, royal presence – which we are supposed to be aware of constantly – to become visible and manifest to all.
Many of Jesus’ contemporaries thought that when the new age came, it would bring to a close the age of old – the age of death, injustice, war, sin and evil. But it didn’t. Instead, what happened was something more: two ages colliding. In Jesus’ Incarnation, the kingdom of God broke into this world that has been held hostage to the kingdom of darkness since the events of Genesis 3. And even though the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection has already defeated the powers of Sin, Death and the true enemy, that victory He won is not yet fully actualized.
That Day is going to happen. For now, however, we are living in a time where there is work to be done, both in ourselves and in the world. That work consists of cooperating with the power of the Spirit to become ever more conformed to Jesus and to making this world a place where God’s will is done “as it is in heaven.” This is what we pray every day in the Our Father, after all.
This can sound so basic, but it can have profound effects on us. We daily read and hear about events that make us wonder, “Where is God?” But He’s right here with us, just not visible, bestowing various graces to each of us who trust in Him.
One day, though, what the Scriptures call “that Day,” He will become visible to all! He will manifest Himself to all. And on that Day, only the Kingdom of God will remain. All things will be made new. Justice and peace shall reign. Death will be swallowed up in victory. And the tyrant will be no more.
In the meantime, people of God, let us hold on! Let us persevere, dear brothers and sisters. Let us keep the faith. Let us run the race. Let us fight the good fight. Let us live with unshakable hope. Let us love greatly. And let us do everything this day for the glory of God.