This is the contradiction of Advent. As Victor Preller preached to us so unforgettably on Christ the King Sunday, the way of the conquering Messiah is the way of his suffering. Advent tells us that Christmas is not really Christmas if all we are thinking about is a nice little baby. The baby will grow up, and all the violence that the rulers of this world can devise will expend itself upon his broken, bloody, naked body. As Flannery O’Connor wrote, “Grace . . . operates surrounded by evil.”13 From the time of John the Baptist until now the kingdom has suffered violence. The shadow of the cross
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