Mother Teresa did so much to reach out to the poor of the world. She used to say, however, that the emptiness and loneliness that afflicts so many in our world was a far greater poverty. Most of us have experienced from time to time a deep longing for God and a feeling of futility with our lives. We perhaps could echo Isaiah's passionate wish that God would tear open the heavens and come down. Advent is a season of yearning and longing for the coming of the Lord, but the Gospel reading has a word of warning: Be awake and alert. We do not expect the sudden and dramatic return of Jesus in the same sense as the early Christians, and yet being awake and alert is more important than ever. Not only is God all around us, but God is intimately present in our lives in so many ways. The people who cross our paths each day, the challenges and struggles that we meet, and the needs of others, are all the hidden ways by which the Lord comes to us. As we begin Lent, let us yearn for the coming of the Lord, but at the same time we know that He has already come and continues to come each day. Let us not be blind to His presence. Every day is Advent, but every day is also Christmas, when the Eternal Word is born in our hearts.