We watch. We wait. We assume that we know what to look for, just not when it will arrive. But what if time is not the unknown factor? What if our Parent's love and salvation is already here, just not in a form that we recognize? After all, do the servants expect their master to look the same after traveling for so long? And could they possibly recognize the strange gifts brought back from distant lands? If most of our siblings were unable to grasp the reality of the first Christmas, why are we so confident in our own powers of perception? How many blessed souls have we looked right through, because we could not even begin to imagine them as bearers of grace? So be alert! Look closely at the faces you encounter this Advent, for the Lord of the kingdom is certainly among them.