PREPARING TO MEET GOD FACE TO FACE

ADVENT: A TIME OF PREPARATION

Advent is a time to prepare for the celebration of 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?

Ponder: Why are we celebrating or even thinking about these events? What do we do interiorly when we prepare for someone’s birthday or anniversary of something be it a weddings, a career-related or family-related event, a death of someone?

ADVENT: PONDERING WHAT WAS, WHAT IS AND WHAT IS YET TO COME

A tradition of my and many Consecrated Life Institutions (Catholic communities of religious sisters and brothers) is spending time during the Advent and Christmas seasons looking back over the past to see if we have drawn closer to God now than we were at the beginning of this past year. We spend the seasons pondering who we are and what we have become through openness to the graces God offered us either directly or through the efforts of others, both of which we sometimes accept but more often reject. Hopefully, we are becoming a more genuine and grateful community of individuals dedicated to God and God’s people. That is all God asks of each of us religious and of every one of you, too! After all, our God is a Triune (Community-of-Persons) God, and we are “made in God’s image and likeness.” (Gen 1: 26) How much have I and we grown into that image and likeness? Am I, are we, better versions of our “image and likeness of God” now  than we were when the past year began?

Ponder: What are moments of grace? Might something not going the way I wanted be a moment of grace? What are some examples of graces “sometimes accept but more often reject”?

What does it mean to “grow into that image and likeness of God”? Do we need to think about this, or does it just happen?

So, Advent can, and should, be more than just decorating the house. It should be an annual time during which we acknowledge our personal and communal failings of the past year (Liturgical Year). It is a time to be contrite and, as we “true up” what we say in the Act of Contrition, “firmly resolve to amend our lives.” I find this tradition helpful for reflecting on the recent past. It helps me see more clearly, the progress and slippages in my journey toward seeing God face to face. I highly recommend this Advent-Christmas tradition as something you should consider adopting. It is a soul-searching mindset that, once learned, will take place inwardly as we go about all of the decorating, cleaning, cooking, gifting and visiting activities of the seasons.

Ponder: What do you think about while doing chores and during idle time, like when a TV or YouTube commercial comes on? Who or what decides what you are thinking about at these times?

Let’s let the Christmas music prompt us to do some soul-searching that leads us to the best Christmas present we can give to ourselves and others – and to Jesus and our Triune God: becoming the best of what God made us able to become. Each year we can work with the Spirit to become less ashamed of ignoring the fact that we and everything about our humanity and our world belongs to God.

Ponder: Do you think God wants that or doesn’t care about it? Why do you think that?

Each year we will be more of the “image of God” we have the potential to be, more ready to stand face to face with the God who creates and sustains us, even when we tend to ignore the God who is Love itself!¹

THE BEST GIFT WE CAN GIVE ANOTHER

So, let’s begin by acknowledging that each of us is part of lots of different communities: family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, parishioners, outreach groups, shoppers, etc.  In the past year’s days and moments, how have I  prepared myself and others (those individuals I met at home, at school or work, in stores and in churches): How have we helped each other to be more ready to meet God face to face? Is that more-ready-to-see-God-face-to-face version of myself the best gift I have to offer myself and others at Christmas?

Ponder: Is that the “best gift”? If so, am I intentionally) doing this or expecting it to just happen? How much time do I spend on this? Who or what is determining what I do with my time? Is that a good thing? Can I do anything about that? Do I want to do anything about that?

DISCOVERING HOW I AM PROGRESSING

Perhaps take a few minutes each day of these Advent and Christmas Seasons to think about what happened to you during the past year, what you spent most of your time on, what you see as progress or as slippages in your journey to see God face to face: how well have I done in helping myself and other to see the ever-present God face to face? How much of that time did God come into my mind and how much of those times did I do something (or stop doing something) and connect with God? Jesus says that He is Emmanuel – God with us. How much of “my” time did I spend with God? Should I be trying to change this? How?

Ponder:  What is it that is your gauge of when you are “on” of “off” target?

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 gifts that come from God and are leading us to God.

SUGGESTED PRACTICES

For instance, let us individually and communally spend some time, daily, weekly and monthly, remembering and thanking God for God’s goodness to us and to others. (Maybe add a notice to your cellphone calendar or reminders. And come to Mass where we join in our weekly celebration of Gratitude. The term “Eucharist” originates from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning thanksgiving.)

Perhaps try something like the Daily Examen video below. It may help you gain insight into things you now do or 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 asks us, as his disciple, to do as Jesus did: lift away the burdens – save those around us from circumstances that cripple them, that threaten them, that destroy their life and their humanity. His words, “You do not know when the lord of the house is coming, . . . May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

Let’s make this a “watchful” Advent, a time spent, not just decorating, shopping, cooking, celebrating, but a doing of all of those things while interiorly preparing ourselves to be face to face with the God who makes our heart throb in more ways than we see. Let’s offer the best gift ever: you and me more alive in Christ, better now, and better prepared for our glorious face to face meeting, the Second Coming, which is yet to come.

Have a wonderful and blessed Advent.

Sister Loretta

1. If you think of it, from beginning to end, God has been Emmanuel, the God who is “with us.” At the moment of our conception, the egg and the sperm may have been donated by our parents, but the process itself was created and engineered by God. Think of something that you personally have made: do you feel proud of it, both during the creating and perfecting of it and looking at it later? Why did God make you and me capable of experiencing this sense of pride? Perhaps God hoped it would make us realize that God has those kinds of “feelings” toward us!

If the video link below does not work on your device, use this link: Examen

If the video link below does not work on your device, use this link: Examen with an explanation of the effect St. Ignatius of Loyola hoped it would have on the life of those who practice it.