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| The
Great Event of Advent |
| One of the less
appealing characteristics of American culture
is that it doesn't seriously prepare for many
things. We are an instantaneous culture. We don't
like to wait for things: we have fast food, fast
delivery, fast cash and on-demand banking. We
have Fed Ex "when it absolutely has to be
delivered overnight" and instant just-about-everything.
Patience is not a virtue in this culture because
we can have it all and have it now - or at least
we think so.
But God isn't that way.
He has a time for everything under the sun, and
no one rushes Him to meet deadlines. His Plan
has been stored up for an eternity and presses
on to completion with divine serenity. All things
operate in their proper order and arrive at their
completion in His time. Most importantly, God
prepared this Plan of salvation with divine foresight.
The Archangel Gabriel told Zechariah with utter
certitude, "All I have said will come true
in due course." But the question is always
the type of reception God's Plan will find in
our world. As the Virgin Mary and Joseph prepared
a manger with swaddling clothes to receive the
Son of God into the world, so every man must prepare
his heart to receive the Son spiritually.
The Church gives us the great event of Advent
to help us get over the cultural sloth and make
our hearts ready for Christ. Here are three simple
but effective ways to prepare the throne of your
heart to better welcome the King on the great
Feast of Christmas:
- Walk with Mary: the
best preparation for the feast of the
Son is to live well the feasts of the
Mother. Ah, if we would only treat the
Immaculate Conception (this coming Monday)
not as a day of dutiful "obligation"
but as a chance to bind ourselves to this
pregnant mother in purity and faith. We
need to see the sublime Mystery of Christ
through Her eyes. Next Friday is the feast
of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the evangelizer
of the Americas. How we need Her zeal
for Christ to conquer our culture of death
just like She did for the Aztec culture
in the 16th century! Let us walk with
Her this Advent, and She will help us
in the preparation of our hearts. Show
your desire for preparation by praying
the Rosary regularly or making a consecration
to the Virgin this Advent.
- Pray more: there is
no better antidote to cultural lethargy
than to admit to ourselves that we are
not spiritual enough. Yes, we have to
live in this world but often we are too
much of this world! Prayer pulls us out
of the work-a-day world of instant everything
and places us before the serene Plan of
God to see that all reality is not material.
Faith grows, hope strengthens and charity
inflames when we are prayerful. We just
need to pray more in Advent, and we will
be more spiritually prepared to receive
Him. Why not make special visits to the
Blessed Sacrament or, lacking that, dedicate
a time each day for silent prayer.
- Devotion to duty: finally,
and not least, is the need to do what
God has asked us to do with deepest fidelity
and zeal. Are there natural responsibilities
that you have been neglecting? Now is
the time to renew your fervor for them.
Have you been apathetic or cowardly towards
the difficult dimensions of your Christian
duty? Has your family suffered because
you have been involved in too many trivial
matters that put family in second place?
Return with all your heart and increase
your enthusiasm toward those things He
asks you to do for His Kingdom. A season
of grace and favor awaits those who dedicate
themselves with blessed ardor to their
God-given callings.
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Thank God for Advent! We are purified and challenged
by the message of salvation preached to us by
the Church in this great season. If we live it
well and prepare our hearts to receive Him, we
will know the Truth in a new way at Christmas
and beyond, and the Truth will set us free.
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Website: www.hli.org
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First
Sunday of Advent
November 30th |
| ADVENT:
Waiting in Silence
(From the Missionaries of Charity Prayer Book)
The Silence is Meekness ~
When you do not defend yourself against offenses;
When you do not claim your rights; When you let
God defend you; The Silence is Meekness.
The Silence is Mercy ~
When you do not reveal the faults of your brothers
to others; When you readily forgive without inquiring
into the past; When you do not judge, but pray
in your heart; The Silence is Mercy.
The Silence is Patience ~
When you accept suffering not with grumbling but
joyfully; When you do not look for human consolations;
when you do not become too anxious, but wait in
patience for the seed to germinate; The Silence
is Patience.
The Silence is Humility ~
When there is no competition; When you consider
the other person to be better than yourself; When
you let your brothers and sisters emerge, grow
and mature; When you joyfully abandon all to the
Lord; when your actions may be misinterpreted;
When you leave to others the glory of the enterprise;
The Silence is Humility.
The Silence is Faith ~
When you keep quiet because you know that the
Lord will act; When you renounce the voice of
the world to remain in the presence of the Lord;
When you do not labor yourself to be understood
because it is enough for you to know that the
Lord understands you; The Silence is Faith.
The Silence is Adoration~
When you embrace the cross without asking “Why?”;
The Silence is Adoration.
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| Preparing
For Christmas |
| Reflections
from Pope John Paul II
Advent means: God who comes…He comes to
take away sin…Every year Advent reminds
us that grace…is more powerful than sin.
Christ is now near. We must all wait for the Lord
and be ready to receive Him in the right way:
with faith, commitment and joy.
Jesus in fact, was born only once; but the church
makes us remember His birth every year not only
to worship Him and thank Him, but to have the
same gifts which He brought to the shepherds and
to the Wise Men…grace, love of God, kindness
to one’s neighbor, humility.
God has come near…born at Bethlehem…lying
in the manger…and in spite of the fact that
2000 years separate us from His birth, He is always
ahead of us, always goes before us. We must “run
after Him,” and try to “reach Him.”
Let us not lose Jesus! On the contrary, like shepherds,
be witnesses to His love! This is the Christmas
wish that I express to you from the bottom of
my heart.
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