We are waiting

The following is taken from The Cistercian World: Monastic Writings of the Twelfth Century, Penguin Classics, 1993. It is written by Guerric of Igny.

We are waiting now for the anniversary day of Christ's birth, which we shall shortly see, God willing, Scripture requires, it seems to me, that our spirit should be so lifted up and transported with joy that it longs to run towards the approaching Christ; and, projecting itself into the future, it chafes at delays as it strains to see what is yet to come. I think myself that the many passages in Scripture exhorting us to hasten towards him refer not only to the second coming but also to the first. How so? Because just as, at his second coming, we shall run towards him with physical energy and joy, so do we hasten to Bethlehem with jubilant heart and spirit. You know that at the resurrection, having put on new bodies, according to the Apostle's teaching we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall be with the Lord for ever. But even here there is no lack of clouds that will carry our spirits to high things, and then we shall be with the Lord if only for half an hour. . . this coming of the Lord to the individual soul is frequent in this middle time between his first and final comings, conforming us to the first and preparing us for the last. (from "The second sermon for Advent," p. 129-133 of Penguin edition)