Sunday, November 30, 2008
Happy First Sunday of Advent
Happy New Year! Today we begin the Liturgical New Year in the Catholic Church. And how to we begin? By waiting! By being watchful! By preparing! We emphazize both the coming of Christmas day and the second coming. If you check out the Mass readings for today at the side of my blog, you'll see that the Old Testament reading (First Reading) is from the book of Isiah--clearly he is awaiting the birth of the Christ. In today's Gospel, we are reminded to keep watch and await faithfully the Second Coming of Christ. I love how we do both at this time of year.
Obviously it is difficult to keep a traditional advent in our culture, what with Christmas carols being played everywhere now, and the focus on buy buy buy. But the next time and every time I hear or read __ shopping days until Christmas, I am going to ask myself "If it is __ days until Jesus's second coming, is he going to find me ready for Him? What do I need to do so that He find me watching and waiting for Him? Am I preparing for His coming either in the Isaiah sense or the Second coming sense, or am solely I getting ready for red and green holiday? "
Come Lord Jesus, Come! I'm getting ready! I look forward to you Coming! I love you!
In the words of Tiny Tim, God bless us, everyone. Lovingly, not so tiny Helen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Oh, Helen! That is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. It puts me in the Christmas spirit more than any holiday/winter super duper sales extravaganza ad ever could.
I love the idea of the advent countdown in lieu of the shopping days one. Thanks. You have blessed my morning.
WV: "cryou" - Whiney bald kid on PBS cartoon.
Beautiful song, beautiful message.
I love the importance the Catholic church places on advent and lent.
DOes a much better job than the protestant churches as far as creating daily reminders to focus on true meanings behind these sacred holidays and applying them to our own relationship with our SAVIOR!
Thanks for reminding me. I think I'll have to attend a few of their services this season.
veriword/ "slyvan"
What the cool guys drove in the seventies.
Oooo...me too! I love this song! I was singing it to myself late Friday evening while driving home from my parents' house. And thank you for the reminder that not only did God come down as a tiny baby, but he's coming again!
This is beatiful Helen! I always, always, cry when I listen to Silent Night on Christmas Eve. I also remember growing up...my grandmother made sure we had an Advent calander every year. My mom always was typically her German strict self...and of course...we were only allowed to open the window for that day. :) It was always exciting to open the window for a particular day.
The more I think on it...it is such a nice memory to have experienced this.
Post a Comment