I
think we’d all agree that over the past fifty or sixty years our society has
become increasingly more distant from Christianity. There is now a gaping chasm between what we believe as
Catholics and what society offers.
I
would argue this gulf is most apparent during Advent. There is no other time during the year when our faith and
society are more distant. First,
consider the calendar of upcoming events.
For society, the “holiday season” begins on black Friday and ends after
all the gifts are opened Christmas morning (or even Christmas Eve). For us, Advent begins today and ends on
Christmas Eve. Christmas lasts eight
days (through January 1st) and the Christmas season ends this year
on January 11th. I love
telling people “Merry Christmas” in early January—they often haven’t a clue it
is still Christmas!
What
is meant to be a season of quiet, stillness and waiting has become a
bombardment of advertisements, sales and chaos.
“Merry
Christmas” has turned into “Happy holidays”.
This is a season to sacrifice. Yet we constantly hear why we need buy
this, shop for that and spoil ourselves and children.
Children are often more excited
about Santa Clause than Jesus Christ.
Most
everyone will put a Christmas tree in their house, while neglecting to ever
hang a crucifix—the very reason for which Christ was born.
This
morning, consider the preparations you will make to prep for family traditions. You will probably spend time hanging up
the lights, putting up a tree and decorations, baking, cooking and cleaning to
host loved ones. These are good
traditions, but think for a moment—will you spend as much time preparing your
soul for the coming of Jesus as you do preparing your home for guests? Will you spend as much time preparing
your soul as preparing your home?
I
love the Advent season—it is probably my favorite Church season of the
year. Like Lent, it is a time I
need to look in the mirror and discern what my life needs to be rid of, and
what must be added. Unlike Lent,
it is only three and a half weeks!
(Do you ever feel like Lent goes on for six months?) It is a quick season, short enough to
make realistic goals and achieve them.
Interestingly enough, psychologists say that it takes twenty days to
build a habit. What habits will
you build this Advent?
I
challenge you to do three things to prepare for Christmas. First, give something up—chocolate,
alcohol, television, complaining.
Pretend it’s Lent in this regard!
Second,
spend ten minutes a day in quiet prayer.
Ten minutes—the time of two sets of commercials in a TV show. I promise that if you spend ten minutes
a day for the next three and a half weeks, your life will be better. Plus you will be more engaged in the
quiet and stillness this season entails.
Third,
come to our mission this week. We
deliberately scheduled our mission at the beginning of Advent to help us open
our hearts to Jesus Christ. This
will be a powerful week of fellowship, prayer, adoration, confession and,
please God, conversion. We will be
giving you books and cds to help you grow in your faith. Please come and bring your family and
friends, especially those who have been away from Church for a while.
I
have been listening to some cds by Matthew Kelly. His basic message is that we should become the best version
of ourselves. We do this by
assessing where we’re at and setting realistic goals to become better. This
is what Advent is all about. I
guarantee that if you give something up, pray ten minutes a day and enter into
our mission, you will be a better person in twenty-five days. And there is no better gift we can give
you our family, spouse, parish, workplace or God than the best version of
ourselves.
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