Its Not Christmas Yet. Embrace the Advent Season!

The entire media complex is telling you that the Christmas season is upon us but the Church will instead begin celebrating Advent on December 2nd. This is a liturgical season but it is one that can be embraced to the benefit of all. Advent is a good thing. Of course, we will still celebrate Christmas but in the Church that celebration begins the evening of December 24th and lasts until January 14th. It includes Epiphany which commemorates the Three Wise Men who, unlike the depiction of most Christmas Eve manger scenes, actually came days after the birth of Jesus.

Advent can be a good thing for all because it is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ, not a celebration of the event. It can help us to retreat somewhat from the merchandising frenzy and get some perspective on what we celebrate on December 25th. Advent includes the four Sunday weekends before Christmas. It remembers the world that awaited the birth of our savior while reminding us that He is returning. The season is meant to help us come to realize the great gift we have been given while reminding us that our life is also a gift, one that leads to the Resurrection when Jesus returns.

Advent should be a time of reflection as well as happiness. The secular celebrations can help us to be grateful for God’s gift of His Son but our realization that the true celebration has yet to begin can help us to resist the temptation to overspend, overeat, over commit and overlook the true reason for the season. It can be a great family project to use this time to prepare for the true celebration by emphasizing prayer, time together, helping others, and increasing our efforts to make the best use of this time given us to follow the lead of Jesus Christ and form ourselves in His image.

Jesus Christ is the great gift from our God who loves us enough to share our existence and who gave His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins. The best way to prepare for that gift, the one already received and the one to be received when He returns; is to allow God’s love to come forth in us. We best do that by practice. We practice by loving one another, by seeking to love those who are rejected by others, and by seeking to return His love to God through our conversion in the name of Jesus Christ. Advent is a time to make this effort the center of our lives. Then, when the time comes to truly remember the birth of our Lord, we will be ready with open and loving hearts, being strengthened by the love of our family, friends, and our growing relationship with God.

This does not have to be a time of rushing around, anxiety, and stress. We can make it a peaceful, loving, and fun time by stressing the love in our lives. We don’t have to divorce ourselves from the hustle and bustle around us but we can control that activity so that this is a time of growth, not exhaustion. We can participate in the parties without overdoing it and can shop for gifts without financial stress as we instead emphasize the relationships the gifts celebrate. Then, on December 25th, we can gather with those we love and enter into a true Christmas season of giving thanks to God for all of His gifts and realizing just how blessed we are. Now have a very Merry Christmas!

Father Steven Foppiano