Advent Musings


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Advent season is foreign to most people. They are preoccupied with Christmas shopping, decorating, sending cards, and baking. They have no time to reflect on waiting with hope, anticipating with quiet joy, looking forward to God becoming human all over again. Sometimes I think the frenetic busyness most of us succumb to during the four weeks before Christmas is a way to blot out the fact that we are spiritually lacking but don't want to face that reality. Certainly it is good to give gifts to loved ones at this time of year, but we shouldn't lose sight of the greatest gift of all, Christ himself. The mystery of the Incarnation is quite unfathomable, but it one of the greatest love stories ever written. Advent is an opportunity to wonder at a God so in love with us that he chooses to become one with us. It's a time to ponder the wonderful Advent scripture readings that prophesy the coming of the Messiah. If we could experience the longing of the Israelites as they looked for the fulfillment of the promise made thousands of years ago, we might come to know true hope that keeps us going through all darkness around us. I love the Advent antiphon: "Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you." (Eph. 5:14)  May Christ bring light to the darkness of our world.

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