“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”
This famous hymn is the perfect summation of the Advent season. We anticipate the coming of Christ, and we do so with great joy.
But joy is not just happy feelings. We can be joyful in any circumstance, because, as Fr. Mike Schmitz from “Ascension Presents” defines it, “Joy is an abiding sense of wellbeing that comes from the fact that I know that God knows my name, and He loves me.”
This aspect of joy is important to recognize because Advent is about more than just Christmas trees and Santa Claus. Nor is the season only about parties and twinkle lights. Fr. Mike Schmitz explains that “Advent is also preparation for Christ’s second coming.” Not only do we celebrate Jesus’s birth, but we also prepare for when he will come again. Although Jesus’ second coming will not be quite as festive as Grandma’s turkey dinner, it requires infinitely more preparation.
So, of course we can spend our Advent in joyful celebration filled with decorations, music, and food. But, the most important part of the preparation is prayer! When Joseph and Mary searched for a place to stay, there was no room for them in the inn. By devoting our Advent to prayerful preparation, when Jesus comes again, we will have ample room to greet him with open arms.
In fact, we can joyfully prepare for every time we encounter Jesus. Many of the saints write about how we experience countless intermediary arrivals of Jesus in our prayers, and most especially in the Eucharist.
As St. Francis de Sales writes, “Oh, but the most holy Nativity of Our Lord is a truly great mystery. Each and every one [of us] can find in it much consolation, but especially those who are better prepared and have, in imitation of the shepherds, watched carefully over their flocks.”
Our favorite saint reminds us that Christmas is a wondrous day which can provide us with both spiritual and material consolation, but we need to be prepared in order to receive these amazing gifts. And this advice applies for every encounter with Jesus. God longs to pour out His grace upon us, but we need to ensure that we have prepared a space for Him in our hearts, preserving our “flocks” from the wolves of sin.
So, let us live out this Advent with joy! We can use this time to prepare for Christmas festivities, but also carefully prepare for the second coming--confident in God’s love.
Genevieve O’Connor, DeSales University
Oblates Social Media Intern
