Today is the first Sunday of Advent. The season celebrates the coming of Jesus into our world. Mary and Joseph experienced the nine months of expectation before his arrival. In shortened form, we relive that amazing event. But the beginning was far earlier than these brief events. It stretched back to the very creation itself. When the Word of God was present with the Heavenly Father, and by the Word, the world was made.
Prophets and heroic women and men looked for his coming even before they fully understood what his coming to us would mean. The hope of all ages was vested in him even before the world really even knew how to hope.
The 4th century hymn picks up the ancient theme: “Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the Source, the Ending, He Of the things that are, that have been, And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore.” In our hymnal, the tune is titled Divinum Mysterium (Divine Mystery). This mystery from before creation delivered to a simple manger in a tiny country so long ago, that still echoes through the ages.