Grant your faithful, we
pray, almighty God,
The resolve
to run forth to meet your Christ
With
righteous deeds at his coming,
So that,
gathered at his right hand,
They may be
worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.
Through our
Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God,
for ever and ever.
Advent is for waiting –
if people know one thing about Advent, it’s probably that. We’re waiting for Christmas, which isn’t very
long to wait and we’re waiting for Christ to come again, without knowing how
long that will be. Regardless, we’re
waiting. So why did our opening prayer,
our collect, talk about running? “Grant us the resolve to run forth to meet
your Christ.” That’s what we prayed at
the start of Mass. Running: it’s a
fascinating and compelling characterization of what Christian waiting looks
like.
