As we draw closer to Christmas, we do well to enter fully into the season of Advent. Advent is a full four weeks this year, but even so, this short season should draw us into what God’s plan of salvation did in anticipation of the birth of the Son of God.

 

First, that means that we should be aware of the connection between Advent and the time of the whole Old Testament. It is all too easy to largely absent the Old Testament from our attention of Scripture. But the whole of the Old Testament is the story of God, who loves us so much and does not give up on the human race. He begins immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve to prepare the world again for the victory of His love and His plan.

 

Advent, in these short few weeks, reminds us that we are the beneficiaries of that preparation. We are not disconnected from the words of the prophets and the failures and successes of the people of Israel. Rather, Advent is a time for us to prepare for the coming of Jesus, in the stable of Bethlehem and in glory at the end of time. For us, that task is real and it is urgent.

 

Have we made straight the path of the Lord to our hearts? As always, the gift of the sacrament of confession is a personal embrace, on our part, of God’s offer for healing mercy. It is the way for us to fulfill the call of John the Baptist to repent in preparation for the Lord’s coming. Please do not let Advent pass without going to confession, which is all the more necessary if you have been away from the Church or that sacrament for some time.

 

We can also imagine in the Advent season our own walking with Mary in the course of her pregnancy. She is a model our modern society so desperately needs. 

 

Mary began by making her choice, her response to God. When the angel Gabriel brought her God’s question as to whether she would be the mother of the Savior, her response was quiet, firm, whole and unreserved. “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”

 

 Like Mary awaiting the birth of her son, we are pointed to the goal and the end of all our longings. Like her, we are awaiting the face-to-face meeting with Jesus.

 

This season reminds us that each of us also has a choice placed before us. With our lives we must answer. Will we choose God? Or will we instead choose something else?

 

We also can see ourselves in Joseph, the quiet and good man. He does not speak in the Gospel. But he puts aside his own judgment of Mary to accept, in love, God’s plan. Joseph will care for her, guiding their trip to Bethlehem and arranging the lowly accommodations for the great event.

 

Together, Mary and Joseph give witness to God’s plan for marriage written into our hearts. It is the sacred and holy commitment of a man and a woman. And the Gospels show us the price and also the joy of the sacrifice of marriage. Today when there is much confusion about marriage and the dignity it provides to the couple and to society, we need this model of Mary and Joseph.

 

Then too, this whole season of Advent is marked by the gift of new life. We are conscious with Mary that the child conceived within her is not simply a choice. The child is already the human person taken on by the divine person in the Incarnation. Every one of us, and every child now waiting inside his or her mother for the day of birth, is already joined to Mary and to Jesus.

 

Advent may be brief but it is rich in spiritual lessons. Let’s take advantage of the wisdom of God and the Church by immersing ourselves in the lessons of Advent as we prepare for Christmas.