The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14
“Let us contemplate with faith the mystery of the divine incarnation and in all simplicity let us simply praise Him who in His great generosity became man for us.”
Maximus the Confessor (580-662) Christian monk, theologian, and scholar, in “Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice” 13 in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth, Volume 2 (London: Faber & Faber, 1981) 167.
The OT prophets did not announce that God would send help. They proclaimed that God would come to us! And, so that all would know how God would arrive, Isaiah prophesied that a miracle would happen: a virgin would have a baby boy! The divine incarnation is a mystery that would change the course of human history, and it must be accepted by faith.
Why recount it from the perspective of Maximus the Confessor as the season begins? Monks, who are known through church history for their daily routines and annual traditions, would anticipate the arrival of Jesus with activities on four Sundays before Christmas. This pattern took root in the church during the days of Maximus and is observed by many in the Christian church to this day as Advent.
How should we approach this season? Since “Advent” means “coming” in Latin, let’s prepare our hearts for the “coming” of our Savior with simplicity and faith. Practically speaking, consider fasting from some form of noise in your life (such as TV or technology) for a block of time today (that’s the simplicity part) and contemplate how the divine incarnation (which can only be fathomed by faith) reflects God’s great generosity.