Loving during Advent

Many Christians take Lent seriously but neglect Advent, forgetting that all the liturgical seasons are given to us to nourish us and for our spiritual growth. If I neglect Advent, I will live it as a pagan, placing the emphasis on the material or the social and forgetting the spiritual. In our largely Christian countries, even without wanting to, it is hard not to be influenced by the cultural, social, and material aspect of the end-of-year festivities, including Christmas: the greetings, the gifts, the gatherings of friends and family, decorations, and celebrations. These aspects, which may be desirable, lose their true meaning if we neglect the spiritual preparation of Advent.  It is true that even in desiring to live this season well, some may not know what to do. During Lent, the Church recommends to Christians periods of fasting and sacrifice, as well as the Stations of the Cross. What can I do during this season of Advent to better prepare for the coming of Christ?

Jesus is the Father’s gift for us. He is the Father’s gift to mankind, because he loved them so much (Jn 3:16-18). God is love; all his deeds are love. It is out of love that he gives us Jesus. It is out of love for us that Jesus consents to come into the world. Advent is therefore a season in which I can work to grow in love for God and for others. ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ What is the state of my love for Jesus? Do I love him enough? Here is a year drawing to its close. Can I say I have grown in my love for him in 2011? Do I love him today more than in the previous years? If I have grown in the love of Jesus, I will care more about what most concerns him. I want men and women to have life in abundance. What, then, has been my concern this year for building the kingdom of God? Do I love my friends, my companions, my partner, and my children better? My in-laws? Has my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ diminished? In making this examination of conscience, I will also take resolutions to better begin the new spiritual year with the season of Advent. When I was meditating on my spiritual year, I was not satisfied with my relationship with Jesus. It is true that I saw the good acts I had performed, as well as the things I had done to please him. But I also saw that there are many things I ought to have done and did not do. I said to him in my prayer: ‘Lord, help me to live a new life, to love you even more, to love you greatly.’

The first person to love in this season is God. The first commandment is ‘to love the Lord your God with all your heart.’ I can therefore decide during Advent to begin anew a good life of the sacraments, by making a good confession, knowing that when I go to confession, it is to God that I speak through the priest, and it is he who forgives me. I can decide not to miss Mass, or to live well all the Masses of this season, even if some are not as lively as I would have wished. I can also intensify my life of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, going regularly to meet Jesus in the Tabernacle, if only for a few minutes. I can decide to begin anew a good life of prayer by being faithful to my intimate morning prayer.

Some members have not been faithful to the reading of the daily words. Another resolution may be to revive my reading of the Word of God. My love for Jesus can also be expressed in the decision to live his Word more intensely in this season of Advent. To avoid sin. To make a small pilgrimage, even of a single day, particularly by attending the Word of God gathering organized in my country. To be more joyful or more smiling. To hand over every little worry to God.

If we grow in our love for God, we will be better disposed to love our brothers and sisters with joy. We will thus be able to perform acts of love toward them, for God. These acts can be of several kinds: to draw up a list of the people to whom I especially want to show love in this season of Advent. To decide to love even those I would not have wanted to contact, or those with whom I do not get along well. God loved us while we were still sinners (Rom 8:5). Perhaps sending messages to some will suffice, or else setting aside a few minutes from time to time to telephone or write to them, to send them cards, a spiritual book. To pay a visit. To give or send a small gift or a little money. To help a poor person.

If we live Advent in love, we would give joy to God, who is love and who wants us to love one another. We would thus have better prepared his coming, and on December 25 we will be happier to celebrate the feast of Christmas.

Henri Bayemi