In his famous poem, "The Dark Night of the Soul" Saint John of the Cross writes: "I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved; all things ceased; I went out from myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies."

Of course there are many ways to describe this poem, but one of them surely is to say: this poet knows the right way to respond to God.  He gives his whole self - throughout the poem and St. John's commentary on this poem, we see him give up his pride, his lust, his gluttony, and all the rest of his possession of the seven deadly sins; his imperfections, his worries, and his emptiness.  He gives them all to God, and because of this he finds himself face to face with God, who loves him beyond anything he could have imagined.

While we read today’s gospel lesson (Matthew 11:16-19) nearly every year on the second Friday in Advent, I find it especially poignant today when we remember Saint John of the Cross, who was trying to show a path to God.

Jesus suggests that this generation of people is doing all the wrong things at the wrong times, and that prevents them from knowing God.  “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we played the dirge for you and you did not mourn.”  The people did not, apparently, know the right ways to respond to flute playing and dirges -  their signals were crossed.  Likewise, the Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 48:17-19) tells us simply that if we follow God, we will be doing the right things and God will reward us.  Unlike the New Testament generation Jesus describes, we will know the right thing to do if we are following God. “Wisdom is vindicated,” Jesus says. 

How might we, too, learn to be wise?  How do we know that we are following God and doing the right things at the right time? 

 I have two thoughts about this.  First, perhaps the scripture is calling us to realize our arrogance, to realize that we are not as smart as we think we are about what needs to be done, and need to practice a little humility.  This is certainly the first thing Saint John of the Cross suggests occurs for beginners on their spiritual journeys. God may well be asking us to do something different than what we have done before.  So as we wait for Jesus, perhaps we are being asked to reflect on the times and places where we have been (and are) a bit too sure of ourselves. 

Second, I think the scripture is reminding us to pay attention to the present circumstances in which we find ourselves, rather than living too far into the future. The future is often very different than what we imagined, so living for whatever future we might imagine takes us down a false path. 

Christmas will come, the Light of the World will be here, and we have hope in that.  But at this present moment, we are waiting, and there is something important about the waiting itself.  In the very act of waiting, we create space in our lives for God to be with us.  God is always with us now, where we are.  If we are imagining the future too much, we will miss that God is with us right now.  And so we will be foolish, because we’ll be looking for God where God is not.  

Saint John of the Cross offers much wisdom for our journey this Advent.  Today, may we strive to follow his advice.

- Jana M. Bennett