A Second Sunday of Advent Thought to Start the Week Off Right
By now we should all be in the swing of Advent. Besides directing your mind and heart in your prayers and other pious practices to the coming of Our Savior, there are Advent calendars, Advent wreathes with their 3 purple and one pink candles, maybe a bit of Kristkindl (where we secretly, as it were, perform charitable deeds for a chosen family member) especially if you've got a family with young children.
If you're not in Advent mode yet, this is the time to re-focus. Try to set aside all the "holiday season" hub-bub as best you can and keep you eye on the ball here: It's about the coming of Christ at Christmas; and about His Second Coming. But He's not here yet; we need to prepare. Think of your heart as a stable: You don't want him showing up to an empty stable, cold and alone, do you?
Last week, we mentioned the aspiration "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts." I learned this as a kid in grade school. We were encouraged to repeat it often during Advent. Back then (and now too, one hopes), we were urged to keep the "Advent spirit" alive by limiting our celebrating, even performing penitential acts - not quite up to our Lenten discipline, but a sort of "Lent-Lite." The idea was something like this: While the secular world indulged in the pre-Christmas "holiday" spirit, you abstained as best you could from the goodies and held off until the great day itself. It distinguished the eagerness of our anticipation of the celebration of Our Lord's birth from a kid's natural excitement at the prospect of receiving gifts from Santa. We always remembered that the real joy in Christmas was the birth of Christ, and, ultimately, our salvation. And, you know what, it worked - at least it did for me.
But back to that aspiration: "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts." As we sprinkled this in our prayers and at random times throughout the day, there was a palpable effect that reinforced that Advent spirit. That's why over the years (after a hiatus of decades where I was "too old" to indulge in such a "childish" practice) I've come to repeating this such that it totals one aspiration for every year since that first Christmas. As mentioned last week, it can seem mechanical, but it shouldn't be characterized simply as that. I hope you see why. Just like any effective repetitive exercise that builds some sort of strength or endurance, this aspiration builds stronger, more lasting devotion.
Another way to think of repeating this lovely prayer is this: It helps prepare your heart as a kind of stable, as we mentioned above, to welcome Our Lord on Christmas Day. Think of each aspiration said as a piece of clean, fresh straw that fills the manger.
Now here's something pretty interesting. It's got to do with the fact that a manger is the place where the animals would come to eat. Our word "manger" derives from the French, "manger," which means to eat. (The French derives, of course from Latin: "manducare" - to chew, devour.) Most of us have learned that Our Lord's lowly birth was intended to help us to not only accept any privation, but also to develop the virtues of meekness and humility in our own lives. Our knowledge that the King of the Creation so subjected Himself to such circumstances, along with His grace, inspires us in these spiritual endeavors. But here's something else we can chew on (pun intended) here: Our Lord, being laid in the manger, provides the first sign - from the very moment of His Birth - that He Himself will become food for us. Just as the manger held food for the animals. we see at Christmas the Baby Jesus lying in the manger, soon to become our spiritual food and drink in the Holy Eucharist. Pretty cool, isn't it?
So, can you see how it makes perfect sense to think of each of our repeated aspirations as a piece of straw in the manger of our hearts?
Summing up for today: Advent directs our attention to His coming into our world on that first Christmas Day; more importantly, it reminds us of His Second Coming at the end of the world. In the end, it presents us with the perfect opportunity, coming as it does at the beginning of the Church's Liturgical Year, to start this New Year off on the right foot, maybe even with a bang. Our special devotions, expressed in a sincere and loving manner, open our hearts to Him who would condescend to become a man, like us, to show each of us, by His example, how we can rise above our fallen human nature and spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Holding off from too much early celebration, saying special prayers, mortifying our senses, and, most importantly, learning to accept the everyday difficulties, sorrows, and sufferings (our crosses) that come in the course of our daily lives will draw us ever closer to Him, born in the manger on Christmas Day.
And since we referred to the French origin of the word "manger," this lovely French carol urges us to "bring a torch" to the stable. Perhaps this sprightly urgent performance will help move us to us bring those bits of straw into our hearts during this holy season.
May Our Lord's grace be showered on each of us to help increase our Advent spirit these weeks before Christmas. And may we all enjoy a peaceful, restful Second Sunday of Advent.
If you're not in Advent mode yet, this is the time to re-focus. Try to set aside all the "holiday season" hub-bub as best you can and keep you eye on the ball here: It's about the coming of Christ at Christmas; and about His Second Coming. But He's not here yet; we need to prepare. Think of your heart as a stable: You don't want him showing up to an empty stable, cold and alone, do you?
Last week, we mentioned the aspiration "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts." I learned this as a kid in grade school. We were encouraged to repeat it often during Advent. Back then (and now too, one hopes), we were urged to keep the "Advent spirit" alive by limiting our celebrating, even performing penitential acts - not quite up to our Lenten discipline, but a sort of "Lent-Lite." The idea was something like this: While the secular world indulged in the pre-Christmas "holiday" spirit, you abstained as best you could from the goodies and held off until the great day itself. It distinguished the eagerness of our anticipation of the celebration of Our Lord's birth from a kid's natural excitement at the prospect of receiving gifts from Santa. We always remembered that the real joy in Christmas was the birth of Christ, and, ultimately, our salvation. And, you know what, it worked - at least it did for me.
But back to that aspiration: "Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts." As we sprinkled this in our prayers and at random times throughout the day, there was a palpable effect that reinforced that Advent spirit. That's why over the years (after a hiatus of decades where I was "too old" to indulge in such a "childish" practice) I've come to repeating this such that it totals one aspiration for every year since that first Christmas. As mentioned last week, it can seem mechanical, but it shouldn't be characterized simply as that. I hope you see why. Just like any effective repetitive exercise that builds some sort of strength or endurance, this aspiration builds stronger, more lasting devotion.
Another way to think of repeating this lovely prayer is this: It helps prepare your heart as a kind of stable, as we mentioned above, to welcome Our Lord on Christmas Day. Think of each aspiration said as a piece of clean, fresh straw that fills the manger.
Now here's something pretty interesting. It's got to do with the fact that a manger is the place where the animals would come to eat. Our word "manger" derives from the French, "manger," which means to eat. (The French derives, of course from Latin: "manducare" - to chew, devour.) Most of us have learned that Our Lord's lowly birth was intended to help us to not only accept any privation, but also to develop the virtues of meekness and humility in our own lives. Our knowledge that the King of the Creation so subjected Himself to such circumstances, along with His grace, inspires us in these spiritual endeavors. But here's something else we can chew on (pun intended) here: Our Lord, being laid in the manger, provides the first sign - from the very moment of His Birth - that He Himself will become food for us. Just as the manger held food for the animals. we see at Christmas the Baby Jesus lying in the manger, soon to become our spiritual food and drink in the Holy Eucharist. Pretty cool, isn't it?
So, can you see how it makes perfect sense to think of each of our repeated aspirations as a piece of straw in the manger of our hearts?
Summing up for today: Advent directs our attention to His coming into our world on that first Christmas Day; more importantly, it reminds us of His Second Coming at the end of the world. In the end, it presents us with the perfect opportunity, coming as it does at the beginning of the Church's Liturgical Year, to start this New Year off on the right foot, maybe even with a bang. Our special devotions, expressed in a sincere and loving manner, open our hearts to Him who would condescend to become a man, like us, to show each of us, by His example, how we can rise above our fallen human nature and spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Holding off from too much early celebration, saying special prayers, mortifying our senses, and, most importantly, learning to accept the everyday difficulties, sorrows, and sufferings (our crosses) that come in the course of our daily lives will draw us ever closer to Him, born in the manger on Christmas Day.
And since we referred to the French origin of the word "manger," this lovely French carol urges us to "bring a torch" to the stable. Perhaps this sprightly urgent performance will help move us to us bring those bits of straw into our hearts during this holy season.
May Our Lord's grace be showered on each of us to help increase our Advent spirit these weeks before Christmas. And may we all enjoy a peaceful, restful Second Sunday of Advent.
Divine Infant of Bethlehem
Come and take birth in our hearts!
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