Prepare for Advent

Once again we prepare for Christmas. With so many distraction from buying, writing, visiting and partying, having a profound experience of Jesus this year can be difficult. We need a bit of quiet time to pray and set a direction for the coming weeks. Reading the Bible is important. The Gospel accounts in Luke and Mathew are good. Fortified with the Word of God, we then can search out ways to allow Christ to be born in the people we meet. One of the best ways of doing this is forgiving someone who has hurt us. Then we can look for people in our lives that are lonely, lost and forgotten. We can spend time with them to find their goodness and value. These people can be homeless, the check out lady at the grocery story, your wife or the priest in your parish.

Christmas is more than a memorial of Christ's coming. Christmas is a challenge to be like midwives and allow Christ to be born in the lives of the people in our lives. We do that by loving and empowering them.