Christmas Preparations

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.” (Luke 21:34) Advent is usually a busy time for everyone, and we all risk missing the point. For us priests, it may be that we are too worried about pleasing the new people who will come for Christmas, and not so much about pleasing the little Baby Boy who will come. Too busy scheduling confessions for others and forgetting about our own confession. Too worried about other people’s opinion of us, and not so much about Jesus’ opinion. And Christmas comes, and goes by, and the Baby is born, yes, but not in our hearts, because there was not a place for Him in “the inn”, on the inside of ourselves. He was left in the stall, in the cave, in the heart of the poor in spirit, those who love Him above everything else and have nothing but Him.

You, as lay people, may experience something similar in your worries about gifts for people (“What would they like to receive?”) or in preparing meals or the house for guests (“I want everybody to be happy with what I did.”) or in attending dinners and meetings (“If I don’t go, they will be upset.”). We are concerned about others’ opinions of us—which is a way of focussing on ourselves. And that day, Christmas, may catch us unexpectedly. After preparing so many gifts for others, we may realize we forgot one gift: the one for Jesus. Preparing rooms for others, we forgot one guest: Jesus. Attending so many dinners or meetings, sometimes we don’t even make it to Mass, or we come to Mass, but not as if it were the most important dinner. We are too worried about other things and other people, and we forget the most important Person: the birthday guy.

Imagine it is your birthday party and everybody coming through the door greets everyone in the room except you, and all the adults and children in the room are noisy and busy exchanging gifts, and they leave you in front of the cake, with your little funnel-hat, alone and forgotten. Is it not what people sometimes do with Jesus at Christmas time?

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.” Advent is our preparation for meeting Jesus, to welcome Him. Jesus is the Light of the world and the Light of our lives. Jesus is the only person who can make us truly happy, an inexhaustible treasure (not like our debit accounts), an unfailing source of happiness (not like the pleasures of life). Were we to see that Light, were we to know who He really is, we would desire nothing else. It is to meet that light that we get ready. St. Augustine says: “You will see the light itself in all its purity and brightness. It is to see and experience this light that you are now being cleansed.”

Let’s starting getting ready right now . . . First question: Have you in mind what gift you will give Him this Christmas? … when and where and how you will get that gift for Him…?

They say that, when St. Jerome was in the Holy Land, studying and doing penance, the Child Jesus appeared to him. St. Jerome was translating the whole Bible from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, and writing many other wonderful things. The Child Jesus asked him: “What gift will you give Me?” “My Lord, he said, I have given you my whole life, I have consecrated myself to You in this desert.” “Thanks. And what else?” “Well, my Lord, I have given you all my efforts to write and translate the whole Bible for your Church…” “Very good. Don’t you have something else for Me?” St. Jerome was confused: “My Lord, I have given You everything I had, what else could I give You?” The Child Jesus looked at him tenderly and mercifully and said: “Give me your sins. All those other things you gave to Me are good, but maybe they make you feel that I need you more than you need Me. It is the other way around. Make me feel that you need Me. Let Me forgive your sins. Will you tell Me that you run out of sins? Will you tell Me that you are not tempted every day? Give Me your sins, let me be your God, let Me forgive you and make you as good and as blessed as I am. I can do that. I am God. This is the gift I want. Let Me forgive you.”

. . . Another question we may ask ourselves: Am I ready to be changed, so changed that my crooked ways be made straight . . . ?

Or this question: Have I made my list of things that have to be done for the real banquet, the real deal…the heavenly banquet . . . ? In that Banquet, Jesus rejoices not so much in wine, but in your good works, and you rejoice not so much in food, but in Jesus Himself. What good work needs to be done, so that you are prepared for this Banquet? What evil deed, or bad attitude, needs to be removed, so that you are not distasteful to Jesus? What worries or things need to be removed, so that you can receive Jesus and pay attention to Him?

Let us ask our Blessed Mother to help us get ready for Jesus in the silence of our hearts. Let us ask Him what He wants from us . . . and like Mary, stay quiet—waiting and listening to hear His answer . . . Let us allow Him to surprise us. Let us allow Jesus to make us happy. Have a blessed Advent.