Longing for Jesus

by Adam Storey | December 20, 2023

As Advent began this year, I was struck by the collect, also called the “opening prayer,” from the First Sunday of Advent. 
The prayer asked the Father for the grace to “run forth to meet your Christ.”

This longing to meet Christ, and an exhortation to be watchful as we await his coming, was a theme throughout the prayers of the Mass, and in fact is a theme of Advent. 

Now, I am as excited about Christmas as the next guy, but I am mostly excited about seeing my kids open presents, good food, and family time. 

While I do truly love this liturgical season, I do not know how ready I am to run forth to meet Jesus. 

This made me think a bit more about my desires, because while I can often feel longing in marriage and family life, I do not know if I had often connected it to a desire for Christ. Most often, my desires are much more mundane—like a desire for my children to be successful, or for sibling squabbles to be resolved peacefully, or for financial security. Amid all these desires, I am forced to ask myself how deeply I desire Jesus’ Incarnation in my life.

These mundane desires are not bad, and in fact Pope Benedict XVI spoke of them in his encyclical Spe Salvi, where he described them as the “greater and lesser hopes that keep us going day by day” (SS 31). 

However, he goes on to remind us that these hopes are never enough without “the great hope, which must surpass everything” (SS 31). In fact, the daily highs and lows are meant to orient our hearts to Jesus, who answers the deepest desires of our hearts, and who transforms all the ordinary circumstances of life into a graced encounter with his own life! 

As we wrap up Advent and head into the Christmas season, my prayer for myself and us all is that our hearts may truly long for Jesus. When he comes, may we all run forth to meet him!

Adam Storey is vice chancellor of the Diocese and mission lead in the Evangelization & Mission team. He can be reached at 515-237-5056 or astorey@dmdiocese.org.