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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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 |