In the waning days of Advent, and with the Christmas season approaching, parish shepherds from around the Diocese had the spiritual preparedness of their flocks at the forefront of their minds.
As one lives between the “two Advents” of Christ’s Birth and his second coming, these days are a perfect time to “ask who we are,” said Father John Fisher, OSFS, rector of Camden’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. “Are we recognizing God as the center of our lives? Are we continuing to prepare the way of the Lord?”
Father Cosme de la Peña, pastor of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Absecon, asked faithful Catholics to exchange the “holiday” for the “HolyDay.” “In focusing on the ‘holiday’ – the presents, the parties,” people realize the happiness derived from such things is not lasting, it’s “an illusion.”
Instead, he continued, by setting their hearts on the “HolyDay” of Christ’s Birth, people better understand the upcoming Christmas season, “the culmination of Christian joy,” and the “light, hope and love” that can be found.
Father Peter Gallagher, parochial vicar in Woodbury’s Holy Angels Parish, encouraged the faithful to “prepare fully, mind and heart, to encounter Christ’s presence.”
One way to do that, he said, is to “familiarize ourselves with the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that surround the Christmas story,” especially Mary’s acceptance of God’s will.
“Like Mary, we, too, can have confidence that when God asks us to do something, he’ll give us the grace to do it,” Father Gallagher said.
To help derive spiritual strength from Mary, Father de la Peña suggests a daily recitation of the Rosary during Advent to “continuously deepen our relationship with Jesus, through the Blessed Mother.”
Reception of the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation, which bring “conversion, inner peace and inner freedom,” he said, are also good steps to take in this next week, along with a prayerful time to “talk to God and reflect on the mystery of salvation.”
Because of God’s love, he continued, the faithful can realize there is something beyond our tears and suffering, which have been so prevalent during the pandemic. “There is peace, healing and joy” in the Nativity, he said.
Father Fisher added that through “debilitating and disheartening” times, all can walk confidently in the knowledge that “God is always in our midst, in every moment,” and, thus, find joy in understanding that “where we are is where God wants us to be.”
With Christmas around the corner, Father Gallagher sees now as a good time to practice patience. Be confident and unafraid in what’s to come, he said, now and always. “We know the end of the story. Christ wants to save us, bring us to himself.”
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