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JOURNEYING TO CHRISTMAS THROUGH ADVENT

By Father Allan Weinert, CSsR

To capture the true spirit of Christmas, it is necessary to begin with Advent, a time to keep alive and deepen the real meaning of the season. We are a society that finds waiting difficult. It is empty time that occurs before something really important happens. Yet Advent is waiting for what has already come, preparing again to receive Christ, who is with us even now, who is carried within us, and who depends upon us to be given birth every day. Advent offers the opportunity to think about the way we prepare for Christmas in order to come to a deeper, more prayerful sense of joy and contentment.

The image of Christ sometimes gets crowded out by so much frantic activity and noise. Many celebrations leading up to Christmas leave us exhausted, wishing for its ending rather than its beginning. Many find themselves pressured and tired. Many are lonely. The outward signs of celebrating do not correspond to the inner reality. But this is not the time to express bitterness over the excesses that overshadow our holy time because the season is what we make it.
The love of God for us is what Christmas is all about. God has shrunk down to our size, put on our clothing, and become one of us. Nothing in any store can substitute for that deep conviction. Jesus came to tell us, unimaginable as it may seem, that we are welcomed in to the life of the Holy One.

Our hope is that our Advent preparation will bring us to celebrate the kind of Christmas that meets our high expectations, fulfills our children’s wishes, and above all, keeps that special spiritual quality that is true to the Scriptures. During Advent we remember that revelation to humanity came with the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. Jesus was first welcomed onto our earth by a young woman who loved God and had the courage and faith to give her life that he might be close to his people. This humble story about an obscure birth is proclaimed and celebrated once again.

Out of silence came the Word. Christmas brought light to the dark side of every human heart, making us people of hope. God embraces our humanity with all of its pain and brokenness and re-teaches all things their loveliness. He understands all of the empty places in our hearts and the burdens we have to carry. He knew that we would need a Savior because, in so many ways, we cannot save ourselves. We cannot save ourselves from our addictions. We cannot save ourselves from terrorism, or from natural disasters. Christ shares our darkness so that we can share his light.

God became like us so that we can become like him. Christmas teaches us again that anything we do to show love is worthwhile. If we can make a home for Christ in this restless world, if we can complete just one act of love or selflessness, we know that it will make a difference. As we see the light of Christ in ourselves, we will see it in others too. It will be impossible not to love that part of Christ in them.

(Father Weinert was editor of LIGUORIAN Magazine from 1989 to 2002. Currently he is Treasurer of the Denver Province of Redemptorists.)