“To You O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; Truly my hope is in You.”

We sang these words in church this morning. The melody is haunting and the verses plea with God to send us goodness and hope that someday we will see Him face to face.  In our preparations for the Christmas holidays, we know there will be moments of stress and anxiety. Can we provide all the gifts our children ask for? Another question is SHOULD we provide all the gifts our children ask for? Are we traveling to spend time with family, or just take a well-deserved vacation? Where do we get the time to decorate both the inside and outside of the house adequately? Are we competing with our neighbors in this activity? If we work a 40-hour week, how do we manipulate our time to do all that needs to be done? And on and on and on. We know from past years that we will rush to accomplish all that needs to be done. We will probably spend more money than we should on gifts. Oh, yes. We will plan to go to church, either on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to celebrate the anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

All the above notions help in this celebration if we keep in mind the meaning of what Christmas should be in our lives. So the Church provides us with the month of December to help us prepare, not just for the gifts, meals, reunions, decorations, and all the visible things of the holiday, but to remember that over 2,000 years ago, a young woman said, “Yes” to the most profound question asked of anyone–Will you be the Mother of the Savior, the God-Man who will come from Heaven through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit?

Every year we are reminded of that moment in Mary’s life.

Someone once asked why we prepare for the Savior’s birth when He already came? I think the answer is we prepare for the celebration and remembrance of His birth. Extending that, we should be preparing for the time when He comes again. As Christians, we are taught there will be a second coming at the end of time and our destiny will be sealed. We should spend our lifetime on earth preparing for that moment in the way we live our lives. Jesus left us a legacy to show us the way to Him and to the Father through the Sacraments, Prayer, and readings found in Sacred Scripture.

My resolution this Advent will be to strengthen my knowledge through spiritual reading and more conscientious effort in praying. How will you raise the bar on your spiritual life these next few weeks?

:To You, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits; Truly my hope is in You.”