WAITING IN ANTICIPATION

 Mary said “I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it happen to me as You have said” [Luke 1:38]

The liturgical year begins with the Advent season. May this season of Advent enable us to enrich our lives as we remember, celebrate and believe in the coming of the Savior.

This is also the time to prepare spiritually for ways that Jesus can be born to us, each and every moment of each day. It is also an occasion to revisit the Nativity scene that taught us how the word was made flesh so as to be among us, to save us and educate us to live in love with eyes fixed on God our Father.

Though the season is filled with love, joy and cheer; Advent implicates arrival; that also reminds us to await Jesus the King who will come again to take us to our Eternal Home.

Unlike the lent season which is devoted to repentance, penance and the Sorrowful Passion of our Lord, the advent breezes in with  joyous preparation, expectation and some sweet, small sacrifices of desires that brightens the arrival of the Baby Jesus.

Advent activities can be encouraged by elders for children spreading more zeal and diversion in their busy schedule.  Reminiscing about our own religious experience, our childhood Christmas’ makes them delighted and a new hope filled with anticipation looking forward to welcoming our Savior.

We recommend you not to burden the little hearts of the children by imposing strict rituals that have been blindly followed for years; rather enable them to enjoy while partaking in the family preparations. Our actions are a child’s best teacher. They keenly observe, learn and repeat what we tend to do and even when we fail to reach our limits.

So, as we step into the season of Advent today, let us entrust ourselves to be more spiritually committed and our minds always active, to make the days holy and more family oriented. Let us today take the first step to clear our own spirit, so we are able to present ourselves to others in a better conduct and to share and spread the grace that we have received.

This year of advent, let us like the Holy Mother Mary who obeyed God’s Word, bear in our heart God’s declaration which can pierce you and change you into a new being.

Let us begin this sweet journey of advent in ways and deeds that are pleasing to God, with a sprinkle of our sacrifice to enhance the season’s taste and lighting the first candle which reminds us that we are preparing for the arrival of Jesus, the light of the world.

On the first day let us begin it by visiting our sick neighbor, or by providing a meal for a person…in our own little ways we can offer these little deeds of ours thus bringing contentment and joy for ourselves and the others.

With love filled blessings, 

Your Sister in Christ