| I never paid much attention to the Emergency Broadcast System until I was in an actual emergency. Years ago, you would hear a loud, shrill sound, and then the announcement, "This is a test, this is only a test."
 I'll never forget the time I heard that sound followed by the words, "This is NOT a test." The system is designed to help us to be aware of and prepared for disasters.
In recent years our national readiness for disasters has been severely tested and, in many cases, found wanting. Events like Hurricane Katrina, the California wildfires and the San Francisco Bay oil spill have exposed our lack of preparedness for natural or environmental catastrophes. While many states and communities have response plans in place, the responses to a real, serious emergency are often very different than responses to simulations and tests.
Advent, of course, is a season of preparation when we are called to be ready for the arrival of the Messiah into our world and into our lives. The season challenges us to examine our own readiness to identify and to respond to the presence of Christ - not in some far-off day of calamity but right here, right now.
The difference between a pending emergency and the arrival of Jesus Christ is that Jesus is already here. He is among us, calling us to live better, richer, more fulfilling lives. Advent is not a test or a drill. Advent reminds us that God is here today. God is present in our assemblies, present in our Eucharistic celebrations, present in our prayer and service, present in the face of the stranger in need of assistance.
If we are prepared for God's presence, we just might find that we are more ready to face adversity, to learn from it, to grow from it, and to be changed for the better by it.
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You likely don't spend most of your time with your eyes peeled, looking for signs of Christ in the world. I don't assume when something takes place in my life that it is the work of God, and ponder how to enjoy it and experience it more fully. Instead, I tend to drift through my work and my responsibilities, hoping things will go according to my plans.
Fortunately, God does not work according to our plans. Often, that feels to us like a disaster. My plans call for uninterrupted success and prosperity and calm. God often brings me failure, neediness and turmoil. If we are prepared for God's presence, and prepared for it to arrive in the way God intends, we just might find that we are more ready to face adversity, to learn from it, to grow from it, and to be changed for the better by it.
Being prepared means being willing to accept a new reality that is different from the one we had planned for. We may not find ourselves flooded to the rafters, or chased from our homes by fire. We may, however, find ourselves far from where we hoped we would be in our relationships, careers, families and communities.  God, we are to assume, has not stopped working when these things take place. God is always working, providing you and I opportunities to accept and embrace God's plans for us rather than insist on our own agendas. We must be prepared for spiritual and emotional disasters. And we must be prepared for the different reality they lead us to.
Bill Peatman writes from Napa. |
