Thomas Merton on "the Advent Mystery"

The following quote by Thomas Merton appears in Dignity Twin Cities’ December 2007 newsletter. It’s excerpted from Merton’s 1950 book, Seasons of Celebration (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishers).

It is important to remember the deep, in some ways anguished seriousness of Advent, when the mendacious celebrations of our marketing culture so easily harmonize with our tendency to regard Christmas, consciously or unconsciously, as a return to our innocence and our own infancy. But the church, in preparing us for the birth of a “great prophet,” a Savior, and a Prince of Peace, has more in mind than seasonal cheer. The Advent mystery focuses the light of faith upon the very meaning of life, history, humanity, the world, and our own being. In Advent, we celebrate the coming, and indeed the presence, of Christ in our world.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Advent Thoughts
My Advent Prayer for the Church