Have you heard that to lose weight, skipping works better than jogging? How is that? Skipping breakfast, skipping lunch, and skipping dinner.
Can you remember the days when walking was too boring for you and so you “skipped?” We would skip going to school and especially coming home. When we get excited and if our bodies are young enough, we skip.
Today, as we enter the final week of Advent, we are told of young man who was so much in love that he skipped (Song of Songs 2:8-14).
“Hark! My lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. My lover is like a gazelle stag.”
Walking was too slow for him; so, he sprang and leapt across the hills and even the mountains. Nothing could stand in his way of his getting as quickly as possible to the one of loves. Suddenly he reaches his destination.
“Here he stands behind the wall gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices.”
He has reached his beloved’s house. With great eagerness he looks through the windows hoping to catch a glance of her.
Finally, he calls:
“Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one, and come! For see the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth…the fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vine, in bloom, give forth fragrance.”
Meeting with his beloved awakens the spring. Suddenly, the flowers bloom and the grape vines give forth fragrance. Is there anything more beautiful and spring-like than a young couple in love. They spring, leap, and even “skip” so powerful is their love.
So, why does the Church begin that last week of Advent with this selection? There is nothing more important or more beautiful than the coming of Jesus. He is leaping and springing as he approaches his beloved, the Church. When he arrives he calls out: “Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one and come!”
Do we hear the sound of his voice telling us to rise, get dressed, and open the door? He is already standing at the door knocking. Are we too unmotivated to get out of our beds and go joyfully to meet him? There is nothing more important in our lives than opening the doors of our hearts and letting Jesus come in. He is the one our soul longs for and the fulfillment of our deepest desires. In fact, the success or failure of our lives depends on one decision: will we give our lives totally to Jesus or not.
This is why the Church spends a whole month urging us to prepare for the only event that really matters—the coming of Jesus Christ into our lives. So, we take steps to prepare, knowing that when we least expect it, we will hear his voice, and feel him knocking on the door of our hearts. With eager expectation we await the unfolding of this greatest moment of our lives.
In the gospel story, we see another person skipping (Luke 1:39-45).
“Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste…”
In haste! Mary was as eager to bring Jesus to Elizabeth as the young man in the first reading was to visit his beloved. Mary is skipping toward us, right now, to tell us that Jesus is here. She tells us to waste no time in openning the door to Him.
Let us be like Elizabeth and welcome him with joy.
“For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust” (Ps 33:21).
