Advent: Season of the Seed

Franciscan Sisters, TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother

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Sr. Sophia Grace as a young girl
at a father-daughter dance
with her father

“Advent is the season of the secret, the secret of the growth of Christ, of Divine Love growing in silence. It is the season of humility, silence, and growth.” - Caryll Houselander.

Advent is a season of reflecting on Christ growing in the womb of Mary. It is a time of great anticipation and active waiting, waiting to meet her Son. It is a season that I will never experience in the same way again.

In November of 2012, a week before the beginning of Advent, my dad was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of leukemia.

Each day we waited.

First it was to see if he would be able to start chemotherapy, then we waited to see what was going on inside of his body.

Was the cancer dying? We waited to see if his body would respond to the treatment.

We waited for a miracle. We waited…

In those 3 ½ weeks between the diagnosis and dad entering into eternal life he was never really able to talk, first because he was on a ventilator and then because of swelling in his throat.

What was happening in the secret and silence of his heart? Was the seed of Christ growing in him?

It is a mystery that I will never know completely but trust with all my heart. Dad, in his time of waiting, was experiencing his own Advent.

Each day as I prayed with my dad I prayed that he would know the personal love of God, and in a specific way that he would know God as his loving Father. As the weeks unfolded God allowed us glimpses of what I believe He was doing in my dad.

My aunt was praying a rosary for him one morning and very clearly in her mind’s eye saw the words “Be patient my son”. Then several days later on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, three days before my dad passed away, they played a song at my aunt’s church with the words, “soon and very soon, we are going to see the King”.

To me these events were signs that Christ was indeed growing in my dad’s heart, showing him how to be a son and preparing him to meet his Father in heaven.

In his last few minutes on earth I was able to encourage him that his heavenly Father awaited him with open arms and that God had been waiting so patiently for him to be ready.

Then my dad gave us a little smile and went to the embrace of the Father.

Martin Huschka
May 28, 1949- December 19th, 2013

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Franciscan Sisters, TOR of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother

Founded at Franciscan University in 1988, the Franciscan Sisters T.O.R. of Penance of the Sorrowful Mother are a Franciscan religious community of women committed to making known God's merciful love through their life of prayer and works of mercy.