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Today is the first Sunday of
Advent and we begin a new Church year. While the commercial world begins
playing Christmas carols and advertising the number of shopping days
remaining till Christmas, we are invited to search the horizons of our
lives for the advent of our God. It is very difficult to celebrate this
time of year in a truly Christian way. We can easily get caught up in
the commercial and forget the religious significance of these important
days.
The trimmings of Christmas are very beautiful. The manger scenes, the
Christmas cards, the holiday feelings are delightful in their own way.
However for many they have lost any real religious significance. But we
celebrate the God-made-flesh for us. Jesus is not coming back as a
little child again; he did all that once. This Christmas, we celebrate
the way in which Jesus is alive in each one of us.
Our Advent is a time of searching, waiting, looking, and awakening to
the God-made-flesh in our lives. The readings we hear proclaim this time
of yearning. The color of the season is dark blue, the color of the
night watch. The mood is stillness, quiet expectation.
Be sure you have a plan to make some time for this Advent season in your
life. You may want to commit yourself to daily Mass, perhaps you will
celebrate with an Advent wreath for your home, maybe a simple family
prayer before you retire at night. Watch the bulletin for additional
times for the sacrament of Reconciliation.
This year the fourth Sunday
of Advent is Christmas Eve. It's like a week of preparation time is
missing! Unless you have a plan the holidays will get away from you and
these moments of awakening to God's power in your life will be lost.
If we can seize this time and open ourselves to the mystery of the
Incarnation, we will have a great deal to celebrate this Christmas. We
will not just remember what God did in Bethlehem so many years ago.
Instead, we will celebrate what He is doing right now in our lives. The
Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. |
