How
many of us grew up with the concept that Advent was just Lent, only
for Christmas? As a child of the '90s, my experience tells me “not
many.”
Don't
worry, this isn't going to be the standard “spirituality over
materialism” Christmas special that you usually get this time of
year. After all, if 40 years of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” isn't
going to convince the Internet, then one blog post isn't going to tip
the balance. Besides, if you're reading this post, it is unlikely
that you need convincing. I can't see many of my readers involved
in a Black Friday shootout over the latest gadgets.
However,
how many of us take the time to prepare ourselves, spiritually, for
the coming of Christmas, and Jesus' birthday? Assuming that neither
you nor I are involved in the latest riot at a toy store – my gift
shopping was done in August – we are free from any special
psychosis-inducing event that comes with the materialism of the
season. But what of the day-to-day?
Let
us consider, for a moment, just how special Christmas is. Yes,
Christ was incarnate, etc, etc … does that really matter? After
all, Christmas isn't
considered the most important part of the Catholic calender, Easter
is. There's a reason that Handel's Messiah
has the “Hallelujah Chorus” in the section covering Easter. And,
for Easter, we pull out all the stops, don't we? We fast, we abstain,
we confess.
What
do we do for Advent? If we go by what your average church encourages,
probably not as much as we should. While Easter is the
day
in the Eucharistic calender, Christmas is what makes Easter possible.
So,
something to dwell on, if you would (I abhor the word “meditation”);
try something that our Pope would be familiar with – the Jesuit
practice of imagining. In this case, just imagine if you were the
creator of every speck of dust and every watt of electrons, and you
make a choice to become – at best – a foot-long, 12-pound
creature without the brainpower to utter a coherent sound. And you do
this so that you can clean up the mistakes of people who really
should have known better. Isn't that a strange thing to do?
It
was Fulton Sheen who once described the reason that Jesus had to be
incarnate in order for our salvation. He explained it very simply as
a form of retribution, of repayment. If you steal my watch and ask
me to forgive you, I will, but I want my watch back. Now, what
happens when you offend against an infinite Being that is so far
beyond our experience, the wonders of time and space are dwarfed?
What kind of repayment can we utilize to make amends? Only something
just as infinite – in this case, someone.
Yes,
I agree, this is quite of bit of depth coming from someone
who dedicates pages to shootouts in between bits of history
just so he can revenge himself on Dan Brown, et al, but I have my
moments.
In
the memory of the Infinite Being who became a mewling infant, let's
try to put in as much effort to Advent as to Lent. Visit a
confessional, give up something if you like. Just … something.
As
for me? I take a page from St. Augustine, who once said that “Singing
is praying. When one sings, one prays twice.”
There's a reason
that I'm always on the hunt for a perfect rendition of “Angels We
Have Heard On High”.
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