THE POETRY OF ADVENT

When I was in high school, my sisters were really into literature and poetry – always trying to talk me into reading what I called “chick lit,” things like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. I eventually grew to like some of the less “girly” literature, but I never really came to like poetry very much. 

But that began to change when I was in seminary and realized that there are some truths about God and our faith that just can’t be expressed very well in prose. The Catechism is good (see #1020–1050), but we need visuals and images to appeal to the heart and imagination. 

This is especially true of some of the mysteries we celebrate in this Advent season: the coming of Christ in mystery (His Real Presence in the sacraments) and in glory (His coming again to complete His judgment of the world by fire so that all creation will be renewed). Scripture helps amplify the truths of the Catechism in poetry – not necessarily verses that rhyme, but wordpictures that help us better understand God’s glory. 

One great example of this is the prophecy from Isaiah about the coming of Christ the Savior (11:5–9): 

“Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall graze, together their young shall lie down; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the viper’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.” 

This poetic prophecy shows a beautiful image of a “holy mountain” (always a symbol of the heights of God’s beauty and majesty) and the utterly complete harmony of all creatures in nature – even those that are currently enemies. We, of course, recoil instinctively at the thought of a defenseless baby playing near a vicious snake, and we realize that everything we fear in this earthly life – every danger, every hostility – will be wiped away by the power of God’s love when He comes again in glory. This is a “word-picture” of the joy of Heaven that we won’t easily forget. 

Or consider this powerful image from St. Matthew’s Gospel, recording the words of St. John the Baptist about Jesus Christ: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3) An old-school farmer knew just how tightly the wheat clung to the chaff, because he had to work really hard with that fan to separate them. It’s a great image of what the Lord does for us in Confession – separating sin from our good nature. And it’s certainly a sobering reminder of how important it is to remain in communion with Jesus Christ in our earthly life, so that we do not suffer the fiery torments of eternal damnation.