Advent Reflections
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2022
By Ben Mickens ’23
E pluribus unum is a phrase many Americans know well. It means, “Out of many, one”. It is a political statement of unity, describing the thirteen colonies welding into one nation following the revolution. If we turn this phrase, E pluribus unum, a bit on its head and towards our reading for the day, we find it a useful tool to discover something.
Out of many idols that may tempt the Israelites or the early Christians, or us, there is one God separate from them who is Lord. Not all roads lead to Rome. The road to Rome, to the Church, to Christ's embrace, is one always available but not always easy to see. Our culture builds large bustling highways next to the Lord's path. Yet these highway’s foundations are weak, they are earthly, and they are not leading us where we want to go. There is one road which leads to salvation. That path is the Lord’s, and there is no other.
Christ opens that one, single, path to us. He implores the Baptist’s followers to return to John with the news that the blind see; that the crippled walk; that the dead rise. Through Christ's ministry and miracles, culminating in the Passion, the one path forward is revealed. Blessed are those who take no offense at Him.
E pluribus unum, for our purposes, is not unifying as it is in the American political context. Instead, it shows us that out of a myriad of wrong turns, faulty GPS’s, wobbly compasses, and misleading guides, there is only one path to take. Advent is our time to not only recall the opening of that path through Christ's Nativity, but to look forward to the Second Coming and see the end of the path He laid out.
Out of many places to put our faith, there is only one true God to commit ourselves to.