An Advent we never expected

Looking back at last year’s celebration of the season of Advent and Christmas, it is almost unfathomable to think about how dramatically our lives have changed since then. Many of us have searched our hearts and souls to ask God what message he might be sending us during these times of uncertainty, what wisdom we might glean from the extraordinary experiences we have all been living through during this pandemic.

I can think of no better time than Advent – when the darkest days of the year are upon us, when the colder weather sends us indoors, when the comfort of family and friends looms large – to set aside some time in our busy lives to try to hear God’s message in these unique days.

No doubt, our holidays will be very different this year – we will have to do without Christmas parties, crowds at the mall, standing-room-only Masses, and maybe even simple family gatherings – so much will be greatly curtailed. While this will surely weigh heavily on us, might this finally be the Christmas season that so many of us claim every year we want to observe?

Perhaps this year God is giving us the opportunity to finally spend less time on shopping, the pressures of decorating and entertaining, and all the frenetic activity that leave so many of us feeling empty and exhausted. This year we have the chance to spend our time quietly searching our hearts for the Word God wishes to speak to us during this period of peace and silence that has been imposed on us. Perhaps this year, in spite of how difficult it might be to forgo some of our most cherished Christmas traditions, God truly wants us to discover in a new way the extraordinary gift that we celebrate each year in the birth of His Son.

As we look ahead to this season of Advent, I invite you to use this unique time to prepare in a special way for a celebration that may seem more similar to that very first Christmas in Bethlehem than any we have experienced before. Like the Holy Family, we might be celebrating Christmas this year under conditions we never expected and probably would never

have chosen. Let us use this Christmas to rediscover the joy that made the angels sing and the shepherds rejoice, the joy that so often seems elusive on Christmas morning.

In choosing to use this season as a time of preparation, we would do well to remember that the Church offers us many beautiful traditions to guide our prayer and reflection during Advent. For instance, many of us observe the tradition of lighting an Advent wreath – perhaps this year we could take more time, alone or as a family, in prayer before the wreath, contemplating the coming of the Light of Christ into a troubled world.

We might take time each day to read and reflect on the daily Advent liturgical readings, which are especially inspiring in their message of waiting in hope for the coming of the Lord. Another beautiful Advent tradition is to meditate on the “O” antiphons, which, since ancient times, the Church has prayed during evening prayer of the last week of Advent.

Finally, we can use this season of preparation to consider how we might share the light of Christ with others – with a lonely neighbor or relative who could use a call, with a cranky child or grandchild who wants our undivided attention, with a tired spouse who needs an extra word of love and affection.

Yes, the weeks and months ahead, like so much of this past year, will be like none we have ever lived through. Let us ask God that this coming year will be a time when Jesus will be born anew in our lives, perhaps in ways we never expected.

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