As Advent rapidly advances toward its happy conclusion — Christmas and the celebration of Jesus’s birth — we do well to ask ourselves an important question. That is, how have we made use of the season of Advent this year? 

 

Stated more succinctly, what have we done so far to prepare for Christmas?

 

In a time and place where faith in Jesus is diminishing and even being lost among whole generations, the question is revealing about the health of our spiritual lives. 

 

In fact, there has been a great shift in recent years in how Christmas is celebrated. It is a shift that honors the societal influence of business more than the eternal kingship of the Savior born in the manger.

 

In the past, the season of Advent was the time when preparations for Christmas began in earnest. And the preparation of Advent certainly was marked by the signs of waiting. 

 

At Mass, the hymns are to be expectant, looking forward with Israel to the coming of one to save us and our world. That is, of course, the meaning of “O come oh come Emanuel.” With the Old Testament people of Israel, we lift up our voices praying for the day of the Lord’s coming.

 

Then, only with the calendar turning to Christmas Eve do we hear in church the Christmas hymns and carols that celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is only then that we sing “Joy to the World” or “Away in a Manger.” 

 

The Church’s liturgical and prayer life celebrates the whole week from Christmas to New Year’s Day as an octave, an on-going celebration of Christmas. 

 

And the Christmas season, to give it due honor but also to extend our joy, does not end until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This year that celebration, which takes place on the third Sunday after Christmas, falls on Jan. 13.

 

Don’t we see how this logical rhythm and breath of preparing for Christmas and then celebrating the incarnation of Jesus has been altered?

 

As a society we have given in to the weighty intrusion of materialism and consumerism on the spirit of Christmas. How often do we hear that it is the Christmas season (that is to say Advent) that is the “make or break” for the year end bottom line of businesses and corporations. As a result the advertising season is lengthy and relentless.

 

This year I was walking through a store while the employee began putting up Christmas themed decorations next to the still timely Halloween goblins and ghosts. When I made a sad comment, the employee smiled and said she too thought it was too early.

 

Did you see, as I did, a television advertisement not for Black Friday, but for sales beginning on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day? In that advertisement, a family unnaturally wolfed down its elegant Thanksgiving meal and then left everything on the table to race out together to begin shopping for Christmas presents to honor the Lord born in the stable. Even in its parody, the ad is an example of how materialism empties our lives of meaning.

 

And isn’t it sad that as we drive around on Dec. 25, Christmas trees begin to appear at the curb for pickup. And Christmas lights become less common, and the stores immediately put away the Christmas decorations. It is as if the birth of Jesus brings to us the sadness of conclusion instead of the joy of a true beginning.

 

So at this midpoint of Advent we should ask, what have we done to prepare spiritually? 

 

Do we have a crib scene in the house to honor the season? Have we done any act of penance or of charity to the poor? Have we gone to an Advent Mass during the week just to be with Jesus who came to be with us in this world?

 

And because Jesus came to free us from our sins, have I been to confession this Advent? That question is all the more important if it has been a number of Advents since our last confession.

 

The world was forever changed by the events of the night 2,000 years ago. The Son of God took on our flesh and nature and came to live with us.

 

What have we done to prepare for Christmas? What are we doing to prepare for when He comes again?