Come, Lord Jesus: Advent Meditations

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By Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.

The watchword of the Advent season, writes Mother Mary Francis, p.c.c., is “Come!” The word has a rich duality, signifying both quietude and urgency—the stillness of waiting for the guest and the pressing activity of preparation for that selfsame guest. This simultaneous waiting and preparing is an art form, and few spiritual masters are better equipped to encourage participation in this art than Mother Mary Francis of the Poor Clares. Come, Lord Jesus offers an engaging series of Advent reflections focused on the coming of Jesus at Christmas, deeply immersed in the truths of sacred Scripture and the practical and spiritual insights of contemplative religious life so well-known (and well-lived) by the author and her community.

Qui venturus est veniet et non tardabit, et iam non erit timor in finibus nostris, quoniam ipse est Salvator noster.
“He who is to come will come and will not delay, and now there will be no fear within our land, for he is our Savior.” (Entrance Antiphon for December 19)

An instruction, in the words of Alice von Hildebrand, that “the liturgy keeps offering us precious insights that most of us do not perceive as precious jewels,” Come, Lord Jesus is a warm invitation to wait upon Christ the Lord, born into poverty in order to raise us up to the riches of eternal life.

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Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., (1921–2006) was abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Roswell, New Mexico. Her many books, essays, poems, and plays circulated her contemplative wisdom to a worldwide audience, making her one of the twentieth century’s most popular spiritual authors. Her works include A Right to Be Merry, My Beloved Is Mine, and But I Have Called You Friends.