In the gospel of Luke, chapter 3, Luke reports to us the news of an historical event that has taken place in the desert of Judea:  “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.” (Lk 3,1ff)  This news, that Luke clearly places in time as an historical event, is an adventus, a “visitation”.  God visits John in the desert through his word that is sent to reveal his divine presence among his people.  As the prologue to the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, in the past, God has visited his people in many various ways.  There were many “advents” that took place in the past through angels and prophets.  This adventus to John calls to mind the promise of God to the prophet Hosea, “Therefore, I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her.” (Hos 2,16)  And later, “Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord; as certain as the dawn is his coming.  He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” (Hos 6,3f)  

    The adventus of God to John is a visitation to prepare the way for the fulfillment of a promise that was made long ago.  God intends to cleanse and purify his people for a new beginning to a new life of intimacy in a faithful and eternal bond of love sealed in a new covenant which is God’s marriage to his bride the Church through Jesus Christ the bridegroom.  The adventus to John in the desert is to prepare the way for the great Adventus of God in Jesus, the Son and Messiah, who is the bridegroom through whom God will marry his people to himself.  As the Letter to the Hebrews reveals to us, “in these last days, he spoke to us through a son.”  (Heb 1,2)  God speaks to us in Jesus, the Son, the final and definitive word of love that binds him to his people forever.  This final word of love is spoken to us by Jesus in his sacrifice on the cross, the sacrifice of blood that purifies the bride and seals the bond of love forever between God and his people.  We celebrate this eternal sacramental union in the Eucharist, the wedding feast of the Lamb.  The liturgy of the Church becomes a continual sacrifice of praise that is offered to God through the Lamb, the Son, Jesus the Christ.  The liturgy is an eternal celebration of God’s adventus, his visitation of his children, as he comes to us in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

    The event of the Advent of God, the coming of God to his people, the visitation of God in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh, calls us to a time of preparation.  We are called to prepare the way for God’s coming in the season of Advent.  Hosea suggests to us the way for this preparation, “Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord.”  It is the journey of faith that leads us to this knowledge of the Lord and prepares us for our encounter with Him.  The gift of faith is given to us as a wedding garment that we first put on in baptism and that we strive to keep clean for the day in which he will “come to us” in glory.  We wear the white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, cleansed by the love of the bridegroom, Jesus, and gifted to us to be worn at the wedding feast of the Lamb.  Advent is a time to prepare ourselves in faith for the coming of the Lord, for his visitation.  St. Paul tells the Philippians, “And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1,9ff)

    We must remember and “discern what is of value” in the gift of faith that we have been given.  Faith prepares us for the great Advent of God in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh. Without revelation we could not come to the intimate knowledge of the Lord that leads us to recognize what is of true value in our life.  “The word of God came to John in the desert,” and that word continues to come to us in this desert time of Advent to prepare the way for his coming to us in love.