Originally, the balls and the lights on Christmas trees symbolized the hope that nature would eventually overcome the cold and darkness of winter, and produce once again fruits and crops for our nourishment. May those fruits of conversion also bring hope and light to a world that is still in a deep moral winter.
When he spoke of God’s wrath, John had no clear idea of how it would manifest. The wrath of God is an image that recurs often in the Old Testament. It is not intended as an explosion of hatred on the victim. It is an expression of God’s love: he is fighting evil, not the person who does it. He does not want to hit the person but to free each one from sin.
Advent is our time to build our spiritual ark, that safe space which gives us the courage to battle our own iniquities and the assaults of worldly affairs. It is also a symbol of a new beginning, a chance at transforming one’s life to conform to the expectations of our heavenly Father.
Many of us become embroiled in conspiracy theories regarding the end of the world, and most often it is the Bible that is misused and misquoted to propagate false ideas. As Catholics, the cautionary words of Jesus about nobody knowing the day or the hour but the Father, must remind us that the important aspect of our faith is being prepared, at all times.
While on earth, our relationships may not be perfect and are not representative of what they will be like in heaven. But in heaven they will be perfected and come to truly reflect the love of God in all its glory.
A lack of understanding of heaven and God’s true nature led to the construing of a twisted idea of resurrection, one where there was a continuance of the base pleasures of this world. But the true resurrection is an entirely different reality in which one can hope to be completely detached from the things of the world and sublimely integrated with God.