Advent
is a season of hope, a hope founded on what God can do, because of
what He has already done. Rom. 15:4 "Whatever
was written previously was written for our instruction, that by
endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope."
How
does the history of the Old Testament gives us hope? Certainly
not by the sinfulness of the people of God. However, their
maintaining of their faith in God is strong. Most importantly,
though, our hope is founded on this fact that we find in the story of
the people of Israel: God has not abandoned them. He loved them
even while they were sinners, and eventually, as we celebrate in just
over two weeks, He came to them, loved them unto death, and restored
those who receive Him to perfect communion.
That
is our Hope, God's infinite love. And, as John the Baptist
reminds us, (as even Christ Himself says in His first words in the
Gospel of Mark), the hope we have should demand within us a
change. "Repent!
Turn away from sin! for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"
For Christians, repentance is the first thing and the last thing we
are called to: within this one call is contained all the other
demands of the Gospel.
We
spend a lot of time working on the right gifts for people. This
year I drew my brother's name for the exchange. When I told my
sister, who has had him for the last two years, she looked at me with
the sober eyes of a traumatic flashback and said shortly, "good
luck." He is infamously difficult to purchase for because
he knows what he likes and besides those things, not much else
matters. So what did I do? I went out and bought the
first thing I could find. I hope it works!
But
seriously, we spend lots of time and energy on these gifts because
they are important. They are concrete signs of our love. But
we are tempted to get things out of priority and forget the spiritual
preparation that is absolutely necessary to make this season truly
beautiful and really meaningful in the long run. This holiday
season exists because of God, because of the joy we have in Jesus.
As Pope Francis said in his recently-released exhortation Evangelii
Gaudium,
"Joy...
always endures, even as a flicker of light, born of our personal
certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely
loved."
why don't we spend time preparing for the gift we can give Jesus this
Christmas? What does He want more than repent
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?
What greater gift can we give than to truly turn our hearts to
Him, to satisfy the longing of his Sacred Heart, pierced and bleeding
out of love for us. He wants to be loved.
Indeed,
let us prepare the way for the Savior to enter into our hearts. Let
us clear the humble stable of our souls for Him to find a place ready
for Him, small but full of warmth and love. Let us wrap up the gift
of true conversion and repentance, the gift of daily prayer, the gift
of weekly attendance at Mass and regular confession. This alone is
the gift for which He truly longs, for which we truly long.
No comments:
Post a Comment