Advent is a time for rousing. We are shaken to the very depths so that we may wake up to the truth of ourselves. The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding advent is renunciation, surrender. We must let go of all our mistaken dreams, and conceited poses and arrogrant gestures, all of the pretenses with with we hope to deceive others and ourselves. If we fail to do this, stark reality may take hold of us and rouse us forcibly in a way that will entail both anxiety and suffering.
Alfred Delp