It's the final countdown! The excitement is building! The final preparations are being arranged! This is it...the final few days of Advent. The waiting changes to anticipation..and joy is all around us. But...it's not quite Christmas yet. We still have some lessons to learn before we can truly enter into the great celebration that is Christmastide. All of our readings at Mass point us to the promise of Christmas, they point to Emmanuel "God with us." Maybe this reminder is timely for us. In the midst of the craziness of the commercial Christmas we have ourselves lost the true message of Christmas. In our Gospel today we hear about the man, Joseph. And I think he has a lot of things to teach us in this final week of Advent. Jospeh is a central character to the story of salvation...yet in the Gospels we don't hear him speak a word. What we do see is all about his character, about who he is and about how we are called to emulate him. Joseph is a steadfast, faithful man who enfolded Mary in love at a time where she could have literally been put to death for being pregnant. We hear he is a man of trust and a man of protection. Who better to raise God's Son alongside Mary? In Joseph we find a clear example of how we can be this Christmas. Like Joseph, we are called to watch, not only watch but also participate in the celebration of the birth of Christ. But like him, we are not needed to speak and pass judgment about what actually happened. We are called to trust. We are called to be a witness to Christ. We are called to have faith, like Joseph. To protect Jesus in a world that isn't ready to receive His message. We are called to walk alongside Jesus, with Mary, and to live the message of Christmas - that God is with us, Emmanuel! Want some epic Catholic socks?!?!?! Check out www.sockreligious.com
The Saint Jospeh ones are some of our favourites.
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Nowadays we tend to find our way around by using the maps on our phone - if we're lost we can pinpoint where we are and indeed the directions to where we need to go in seconds. Or perhaps in the family car there still sits a handy Sat-Nav waiting to talk you through your journey. There have been many times where I've fully relied on this technology, so much so that I really don't have any idea of where it is I'm going or indeed how to get there. And there has been the dreaded scenario of no service! What to do?!?! We can find ourselves completely lost. In those moments we yearn for an answer...we yearn for direction...we yearn for that safety of knowing where we are going. The people of Israel knew that feeling. We hear, all through the Old Testament, the Prophets pointing towards what is to come, or more specifically WHO is to come. Just look at the First Reading in today's Mass... "Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage! Do not be afraid. ‘Look, your God is coming, We see this promise made to the people of Israel. And we can just imagine what that promise would have meant. It is the promise of safety. It is the promise of joy. It is the promise of a faithful God. The Old Testament can be seen as preparation leading up to that first Christmas...and the New Testament is everything leading from the coming of Christ until He comes again in glory. That is what our Second Reading from the Letter of St James speaks about - the Second Coming. We know that patience is incredibly difficult. We live in the age of instant entertainment, of Next day (sometimes same day) delivery. We struggle with the waiting. And now we are in the Church's season of waiting - ADVENT. To help us to navigate this season we are given same direction and the promises we hear in the First and Second Reading all beautifully encompassed in the verses of the Responsorial Psalm "It is the Lord"So let us remember this simple fact this Season. It is the Lord who we wait for this Advent. It is the Lord who gives us the direction we truly crave in our lives. It is the Lord who came down from heaven to meet us at our level. It is the Lord who gave us the best example of how to live here on earth. It is the Lord who meets us face to face in the Sacrifice of the Mass. And it is the Lord who comes to meet you again this Christmas.
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success // Alexander Graham Bell Preparation. Preparation. Preparation. You will have probably heard this from your teachers or maybe from your sport's coaches. Preparation is key. We know this though right? That if something is important we have to prepare for it. Think of a school presentation...or if you were going to run a half marathon... there's no way you would go into either without some prep time first, that's just crazy right? In the First Reading we hear the words of preparation given to the people of Israel. They are words of prophesy. They are words of what is to come, or more precisely WHO is to come. We hear of a someone who "does not judge by appearances" does this sound like someone we know? We hear that the spirit of the Lord rests on them... a spirit of wisdom and insight, of counsel and power. It's easy for us to recognise Jesus in this description. He is the glue that the readings talk about. He is the FAITHFULNESS and INTEGRITY that binds things together. Let's face it Jesus is the glue that brings Christmas together, and especially this time of Advent. He is the key to our preparation for Christmas... obviously right?! And so how do we prepare the way, like John the Baptist? Well the Second Reading helps us there. We hear that in the Bible we find examples that are meant to teach us. When was the last time you picked up your Bible? It is God's love letter to us, His people. In order to be more like Jesus, we need to spend time with Him. We can do that in several ways...
1. Go to Mass and meet Jesus face to face in the Eucharist 2. Read the Bible. It is literally the Word of God, divinely inspired! 3. Pray. Have a heart to heart with Jesus. This is a great step by step preparation we can do as we prepare for Christmas. Our Advent 'training plan'. When we do this we imitate Christ more and more - and that is a key part of why Jesus came to us as a person, God incarnate, God made man, so that we could imitate Him. So think this week about your preparations for Christmas, not the gifts, the tree etc, but how you are going to prepare your heart and make a way in your life to welcome Him. Wake up!Sometimes we can go through our lives without really living - it can feel like we're doing life 'asleep'. You must of had days like this? You get to evening time and you can't really remember what it is you've done, who you spoke to or even where you've been that day. Life is so busy, with our schedules and our routines, that without realising it we walk around in a kind of daze. We're frazzled! We're non stop! It's usual that in a standard season busy is our normal. But add in December (well make that November, and sometimes October) we have the added busy that is the Christmas season. When it comes to Christmas Prep we have so much on our lists...food, parties, what Advent calendar we're going to have, chocolate, cards, the tree, presents... Theres a big lesson for us to learn in this season of Advent and its all about slowing down and being awake to what is actually going on around us - and what we have at the moment ISN'T CHRISTMAS - it's Advent - and it is a special time in itself. We can be blinded by Christmas and forget to really prepare properly. The Readings at Mass this First Sunday of Advent are an invitation - in the First Reading we hear "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord' and we see the joy of answering that invitation in the Psalm " I rejoiced when I heard them say, 'Let us go to God's house.'" This Advent God is inviting you into the story - and if you say yes you will also find that joy that the Psalm is talking about. And Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that He is a God of surprises - He tells us to be ready and to wake up. Would we even know if Jesus came to us in the midst of our busy Christmas prep? Im not sure. That's probably why Advent is so important - because if we celebrate Advent well we can be really ready for Christmas. You don't want to miss out on this Season of Advent. Don't blink and miss it - don't deprive yourself of the joy of Advent before we get to the EPIC Christmas joy like this... |
ADVENT with CdÓAdvent...the time set out by the Church for us to prepare our hearts for Christmas. With this in mind we will be focussing on the Sunday Gospel each week and be asking "What are you waiting for?" Allow yourself this Advent to BREATHE...to REFLECT...and to WAIT. Easier said than done in our crazy world where Christmas has been promoted since October - but there is not better witness than YOU. Celebrate Advent well and then Christmas will come alive as a feast where you truly welcome Jesus into your heart ArchivesCategories |