This is the reality which we prepare to celebrate; a time of preparation we call Advent – the coming. The Feast of Christmas comes, our recollection of Christmas in Bethlehem comes, Christmas in our family homes and churches through the generations comes, and our deepest awareness of Christ’s presence to us day by day comes.
There is something circular about this. The depth and power of our Advent observances will contribute greatly to how we will celebrate this Christmas. The measure and power of our immersion in the “Emmanuel, God with us” truth can also shape more wonderfully and beautifully these fleeting weeks of Advent.
The primary “app” for this season is the Advent wreath. I suspect that there are other means in the world of the internet to mark the passage of the days and weeks until Christmas. In our common use as Church, we will use the purple and rose candles touched with flame each week to gather our thoughts and prayers, our hopes and disappointments, our sins and our strengths, our honesty as human beings and our hunger for the Divine Son of God become Son of Mary.
People we have loved in this life have passed beyond our seeing and hearing since last Christmas. People we are only getting to know as they learn to walk or talk, as we get to know the tone of when and why they are crying, marveling at their “grip” as they cling to our fingers with their own tiny, seemingly fragile ones have some into our lives since last Christmas. Or, perhaps there is a new neighbor, work colleague, classmate, or member of the service staff at our favorite dining-out spot. Each of these is a coming or going in Christ. Each of these has deeper meaning because of Christ, and our access to His meaning deepens daily in all of these, if ...