advent 3rd

Well we have reached midpoint of Advent. Two weeks are gone and two more to go. We are halfway through the Advent season, and then, we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The vestments that the priest wears at Mass, on this day, will be rose-colored (some will say “pink”). Why the change of color”, you ask? The change reflects our feelings and how we should be getting excited; our feeling of joy is rising. It is a time for joyful anticipation.

Don’t get me wrong, we should still be preparing ourselves. We should still be reflecting on our lives and our need to come closer to our God and Savior. But all of that preparation, all that reflection will be meaningless, if we don’t gaze at the person of Jesus, as an infant, as a young man, as a prophet and savior. He is coming! Once again, we must recognize that all of this, He has done……. for us!

The world has distorted what Christmas is. It takes the tradition of being joyful, of giving of ourselves to others, of seeing the needs of others and helping them, and instead replaces our deeds with things. How much should I spend on so and so? How many toys and gifts are enough for my children? Slowly, it replaces Christian love, Christian joy with things and pleasures. The world reasons that if we give enough things of monetary value, then we don’t have the responsibility to look at the person and see what they really need. What do I have that I can give them to satisfy their need? People don’t need things. People need people.

We have two more weeks of Advent left. There is still time to begin a love affair with our God. He is there patiently waiting for us to call Him, to look to Him and to tell Him of our love. He came to us as an infant because of His love for us. He wanted to show mankind how life is supposed to be lived, what is and is not important. He grew from infant to young adult and to adult. His life was not spent gathering drachmas. His life was totally spent giving to others. Giving to the nth degree, He died on a cross for mankind.

This is the person whose birth on earth we will soon be celebrating. This is the person for whom all the fuss is about. He gave us EVERYTHING we would need. But the world could not handle this person, so His giving became distorted into giving toys and candy.

Stop for a moment, and think about this God-Man. Think about His life. What is He telling us? What is He telling you? This is the reason for joy, this season. His message to us should be uplifting. If we truly think about His life and what it means, we should be truly excited about the celebration of His coming into the world. We should be excited as children, but not because of things, of worldly gifts. The excitement we will feel will be that of knowing our God really, truly loves us. Our hearts will be bursting with joy because Jesus shows the world that life is meant to be given to others. Maybe we can increase our love for Him and for others. We have two weeks left.