Advent - Why, When, & What To Do?!

Time2bCatholic.com

WHY. I seriously have enough to do to make "Christmas happen" at home, at work, in the community, within my budget... So WHY is that line from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

dancing in my head: "Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

WHY am I contemplating for the first time in my life what that thing called ADVENT is?

Probably because I think it'll add more to my Christmas to-do list? Ah, but what if the things you already do - can be done with a shift toward doing them for God...?

Bottom line. If you're decorating and buying gifts and fussing for Christmas...and you're not at all focused on the Birthday Boy whose birthday you're technically decorating and fussing for...the emptiness of that secular void can be a recipe for stress and joylessness. But more to the point, it's not what God wants. Funny how we'd never cut out decorating the tree which involves hauling out boxes, the emotional energy of hanging each memory, then storing the boxes away (not to mention a month of vacuuming needles)--but the part of Christmas we do cut out of our schedule, is Relaxing and Uplifting, and Just as Productive: checking in with Jesus - whether in prayer, Adoration, Mass, ...visiting/helping the sick or poor, ...OR coming together with others to decorate/celebrate FOR God's sake - not our own.

When we put God first in anything, He will bless it.

When you let yourself truly feel the anticipation of Advent, you savor the excitement, and share in the two-fisted squeek "I can't wait!" kind of anticipation of Christ's coming to earth. Were you the one who "got through" your wedding day - or the one who was so excited by the time you got to the church that you floated to him down the aisle? ...You can be the one who collapses into bed having "finished" Christmas...but consider

Advent, is a yearly opportunity, if you let it,

which promises that "More" that God wants to share with you-

-it can make every bit of Christmas prep a heart-tug of Special. Joy. Love.

So WHEN is Advent?

2025's Season of Advent lasts 26 days -

From Sunday November 30th 'till Christmas Eve.

THEN comes the Season of Christmas which lasts 12 days:

from December 25th 'till January 6th,

Epiphany, the Day the Three Kings brought baby Jesus Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

In the same way that a long car ride or flight teaches us how important the family we are visiting for Christmas is--(they must be important if we subject ourselves to all that travel entails), Advent involves waiting, preparing, ...without whining "are we there yet!?" Because Christmas is important, hopefully we travel Advent happily. And for the most part I do, but I have also been guilty of doing some Advent tasks numbly--without crabbing, true, --but also with small j "gettin' it done" joy - not all caps singing 'round the house JOY. We are called to slowly savor and contemplate the coming of Christ to Earth. God could've popped into the world as a fully-grown man - perhaps glowing like at the Transfiguration. Consider - Savor - why does God want us to wait? Wait 9 months for a baby (like Mary), wait to embrace every growing-up milestone, wait 33 years for Jesus' Easter, wait for the dough to rise, for the cake to bake, for true love to show itself, wait for someone to invent a sink that auto-loads the dishwasher...?

The goal of Advent is to find joy in doing the waiting, the prep, all of it. St. Teresa of Avila reminded that in doing the mundane have-to's, "The Lord walks among the pots and pans." St. Teresa of Calcutta advised, "Wash the plate not because it's dirty, not because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next." Well, if I embraced that Jesus' birthday celebration is what I'm stringing lights outside in the cold FOR, rather than getting excited for myself for "another task down", I might contemplate his and Mary's suffering (swaddling clothes in a manger is not a clean onesie at home). I might stop to pray, and take the opportunity to enjoy some hot coffee WITH Jesus rather than "to just get myself warm." 'Warm my soul as well as my body.

So teach kids to think of others, to wait - for Jesus... Perhaps bake Linzer cookies ("Saintly Christmas Cookies" article in the Monthly Cath. Life tab above) instead of a quicker recipe, so that you have to wait for them to cool otherwise the jelly will melt... Those moments of waiting give them the opportunity to learn to tidy the kitchen while you share the two St. Teresa quotes above, as well as a Stigmata conversation (from that article). Want more ways to pass on Catholic Advent? Pop onto the other tabs here at Time To Be Catholic for simple suggestions. In the Book List tab above check out Kendra Tierney's book (or blog) Catholic All Year, or Maria Von Trapp's book Around The Year With the Von Trapp Family. Both of those ladies inspired me HOW to advent - not just WHAT to add to Christmas prep. The "Picky Eaters No More" post on the Faith Through Food tab above suggests ways to grow patience, healthy eaters, and faith...

Advent is SO so much more than a countdown to Christmas. Those Advent Calendars with the chocolate behind each door miss the opportunity to pass on to the kids that Jesus is the sweet joy we're waiting for. The opportunity of Advent, the "reason for the season" is the journey toward God--not anything measurably specific. No adding to our lists, no stressing and checking it twice, no nightly chocolates--just the sweet challenge of waiting, for the next 26 days, NEXT TO and FOR JESUS - for him to become more alive in our hearts - for his birthday celebration - his being a gift to the world. Let's lighten up with the Christmas chores! Can I get an Amen?! Happy Advent.