ADVENT – COMING

“Brothers and sisters:
You know the time;
it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. . . .
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:11,14

“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.’” Matthew 24:43-44

Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ: both his first coming, as a baby in Bethlehem, and his second coming at the end of time.

Will we make of this year’s Advent Season, a good Advent for us? How are we preparing to celebrate Jesus’ first coming many years ago? And how are we preparing to meet God at death and at Jesus’ second coming?

A tradition of my and most religious communities is the spending time during the Advent and the Christmas seasons to look back over the past and see if we have drawn closer to God than we were last year, to be contrite and, as we say in the Act of Contrition, “firmly resolve to amend our lives.” I find this tradition helpful. Reflecting on the recent past, helps me see more clearly, the progress and slippages in my journey toward seeing God face to face. I highly recommend it

Perhaps take a few minutes each week to think about what happened to you during the year, what you spent most of your time on, what you see as progress and as slippages in your journey toward seeing God face to face. How much of that time did God come into your mind and how much of those times did you do something (or stop doing something) and connect with God? Jesus says that He is Emmanuel – God with us. How much of “your” time did you spend with God? Should you be aiming to change this? How?

PRAISE GOD; STRIVE TO LET CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD GROW DURING THIS NEW LITURGICAL YEAR

Let us begin our new Liturgical Year with an Advent season filled with gratitude for all the joys of our life that come from God and are leading us to God.

SUGGESTED PRACTICES

For instance, let us spend some time, perhaps weekly, remembering and thanking God for God’s goodness to us and to others.

Pray a hymn of praise to God, like the one below. (Playback speed can be adjusted. Try 1.25.) Then lead yourself through something like the Daily Examen suggested below, hoping for insights into what more one can do to fill the world with the love of God who sent His Son not only to forgive our wrongdoing, but also to save us from circumstances that cripple us, that threaten us, that destroy our life and our humanity. Jesus came that we may live fully, and He asks us, as his disciple, to do likewise: lift away the burdens – save those around us from circumstances that cripple them, that threaten them, that destroy their life and their humanity.

Have a wonderful and blessed Advent.

Sister Loretta

(If the video links below do not work, use these:  O God Beyond All Praising and Examen